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142 the doctrine of free will, which he is said to have learnt from the Christians of Hirah. He was descended from Adnan, and wrote in the reign of Khosroës Parviz, and his poem, in which he praises his mistress, and bids defiance to his enemies, was suspended in the Kaaba, where it remained till the capture of Mecca by Muhammed. Ascha was concerned in several quarrels between the Arab tribes, and was once taken prisoner and confined in the castle of Ablak, but he contrived to make his escape. The mondar who succeeded Amru ben Hind, Noman abu Kabus, who reigned at Hirah from the year 589 to 611, is said to have embraced Christianity. The progress, even the existence, of Christianity in the kingdom of Hirah, seems to have been always uncertain and inconstant, as it was dependent on the character and policy of the king, or rather on that of his master, the Khosroës of Persia. Christian bishops, however, were stationed there, at Hirah