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36 Nedjeraun, who had a church and bishop in common. The inhabitants of Yatreb too, according to Shahristan, were a mixture of Jews and Christians.

The troubles which followed the death of the tobbaa Amrou, the predecessor of Abd Celâl, were favourable to the extension of Christianity over the peninsula. According to the historian Nuweir, when Amrou had weakened the power of Hamyar, by the destruction of the chiefs who had instigated him to the murder of his brother, the opportunity was seized by Rabya Ibn Modhar, a descendant of Cahlan, who with a considerable army invaded the kingdom, defeated and slew the tobbaa, and assumed the sceptre. The kingdom of Hirah is said to have been given by the Persian monarch to his son. After his death the crown again reverted to the race of Hamyar, probably in the person of Abd Celâl, who was succeeded by a son of Hassan, only known by the appellation of tobbaa, which he was the last who rendered celebrated by his actions. It is recorded of him that he placed his sister's son, Amrou, as king over the Maadites, and that Mecca and Yatreb, and even Hirah, were subject to him. He adorned anew the temple of Mecca, embraced Judaism, and brought