Horn of Satan Rises from Najd

The present heart-breaking crisis in Yemen has served to expose the satanic nature of the criminal Saudi regime. For a long time now, the Salafis have been blindly defending the increasingly despotic, corrupt, repressive and un-Islamic Saudi ‘monarchy’. It is one thing to affirm the principle of the Sunna which forbids Muslims to create dischord and rebel against a Muslim ruler so long as he is establishing the institution of Salaat; but to praise this government and claim that they are the champions of Tawhid is not at all warranted. The truth is that for the love of wealth and the pleasures of this temporal world, the Saudi ‘royal’ family have betrayed the values of Islam and even worse are attempting to satiate their lust for Muslim blood by inflicting unspeakable atrocities against the people of Yemen, including outright murdering of women and children. As the reader may know, there is an epidemic cholera outbreak in Yemen and little children are literally starving and dying. Yet this does not at all move the stone-hearted Saudis to relent from their horrific attacks on our fellow Muslim brethren; it does not stir their hearts in the least or bother their conscience, which only serves to confirm the words of the beloved Prophet ﷺ that they are:

رِجَالٌ قُلُوبُهُمْ قُلُوبُ الشَّيَاطِينِ فِي جُثْمَانِ إِنْسٍ

“Men who will have the hearts of devils in the bodies of human beings” (Sahih Muslim)

The fact there this is a conflict between the Saudis of Najd, from the dispraised Tamimite tribe, and the Yemenis, should grab the attention of Muslims who are aware of Islam’s apocalyptic narrative. The Prophet ﷺ said:

الْفَخْرُ وَالْخُيَلاَءُ فِي الْفَدَّادِينَ أَهْلِ الْوَبَرِ، وَالسَّكِينَةُ فِي أَهْلِ الْغَنَمِ، وَالإِيمَانُ يَمَانٍ، وَالْحِكْمَةُ يَمَانِيَةٌ

“Pride and arrogance are characteristics of the rural bedouins while calmness is found among the owners of sheep. Belief is Yemenite, and wisdom is also Yemenite” (Bukhari sharif)

جَاءَ أَهْلُ الْيَمَنِ هُمْ أَرَقُّ أَفْئِدَةً وَأَضْعَفُ قُلُوبًا الإِيمَانُ يَمَانٍ وَالْحِكْمَةُ يَمَانِيَةٌ السَّكِينَةُ فِي أَهْلِ الْغَنَمِ وَالْفَخْرُ وَالْخُيَلاَءُ فِي الْفَدَّادِينَ أَهْلِ الْوَبَرِ قِبَلَ مَطْلِعِ الشَّمْسِ

“There came the people of Yemen, they are tender of feelings and meek of hearts. The belief is that of the Yemenites, the sagacity is that of the Yemenites, the tranquillity is among the owners of goats and sheep, and pride and conceitedness is among the uncivil owners of the camels, the people of the tents in the direction of sunrise.” (Muslim sharif)

الإِيمَانُ يَمَانٍ وَالْكُفْرُ قِبَلَ الْمَشْرِقِ وَالسَّكِينَةُ فِي أَهْلِ الْغَنَمِ وَالْفَخْرُ وَالرِّيَاءُ فِي الْفَدَّادِينَ أَهْلِ الْخَيْلِ وَالْوَبَرِ

“The belief is among the Yemenites, and the unbelief is towards the East, and tranquillity is among those who rear goats and sheep, and pride and simulation is among the uncivil and rude owners of horses and camels” (Ibid)

 

Regarding the Najd (the homeland of the Saudis, and their capital ‘Riyadh’):

اللَّهُمَّ بَارِكْ لَنَا فِي شَأْمِنَا، اللَّهُمَّ بَارِكْ لَنَا فِي يَمَنِنَا ‏"‏‏.‏ قَالُوا وَفِي نَجْدِنَا‏.‏ قَالَ ‏"‏ اللَّهُمَّ بَارِكْ لَنَا فِي شَأْمِنَا، اللَّهُمَّ بَارِكْ لَنَا فِي يَمَنِنَا ‏"‏‏.‏ قَالُوا يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ وَفِي نَجْدِنَا فَأَظُنُّهُ قَالَ فِي الثَّالِثَةَ ‏"‏ هُنَاكَ الزَّلاَزِلُ وَالْفِتَنُ، وَبِهَا يَطْلُعُ قَرْنُ الشَّيْطَانِ

The Prophet ﷺ said, “O Allah! Bestow Your blessings on our Sham! O Allah! Bestow Your blessings on our Yemen.” The people said, “And also on our Najd.” He said, “O Allah! Bestow Your blessings on our Sham! O Allah! Bestow Your blessings on our Yemen.” The people said, “O Allah’s Apostle! And also on our Najd.” I think the third time the Prophet ﷺ said, “There (in Najd) is the place of earthquakes and afflictions and from there comes out the Horn of Satan.” (Bukhari sharif)

 

Najd lies directly to the east of Medina, where the Prophet ﷺ was based. The Prophet ﷺ often described it as the land in the direction from where the sun rises between the two horns of Satan. Furthermore, he ﷺ often described the inhabitants of that region as the people of camels and tents, who are full of arrogance and are hard-hearted, in stark contrast to the description of the people of blessed Yemen, who are tender-hearted, meek, people of sheep, full of faith, wisdom and Sakina (spiritual tranquility). The Prophet ﷺ blessed the lands of Sham and Yemen, but refused to bless Najd despite being implored to do so.

 

It should also be noted that the Saudi ‘royal’ family are descended from the Bani Tamim tribe, regarding which the Prophet ﷺ said:

 

يَا بَنِي تَمِيمٍ، أَبْشِرُوا ‏‏‏.‏ قَالُوا بَشَّرْتَنَا فَأَعْطِنَا‏.‏ فَتَغَيَّرَ وَجْهُهُ، فَجَاءَهُ أَهْلُ الْيَمَنِ، فَقَالَ ‏‏ يَا أَهْلَ الْيَمَنِ، اقْبَلُوا الْبُشْرَى إِذْ لَمْ يَقْبَلْهَا بَنُو تَمِيمٍ

“O Bani Tamim! rejoice with glad tidings.” They said, “You have given us glad tidings, now give us something.” On hearing that the color of his face changed then the people of Yemen came to him and he said, “O people of Yemen! Accept the glad tidings, as Bani Tamim has refused them.” The Yemenites said, “We accept them” (Bukhari sharif)

 

Some so-called ‘Salafis’ assert that the Hadith which condemn Najd as the place of the emergence of the Horn of Satan are in reality referring to Iraq and not the Najd of modern-day Saudi Arabia. The answer to this objection is that Najd is a broad region which definitely included parts of rural southern Iraq, but this does not negate the Najd of Saudi Arabia, which are in fact contingent regions divided by an artificial border. For example, the Punjab is a region whose western portion is in Pakistan and whose eastern portion is in India, while the Bengal’s western portion is in India and its eastern portion constitutes Bangladesh. Likewise, the Najd is a broad region, with part of it being in Iraq and another portion of it is in eastern and central Saudi Arabia. But having said this, one should still keep in mind that in general there is a distinction between the land of Iraq and the land of Najd which even the Prophet ﷺ observed when describing the Meeqaat, thus decimating the argument of these deluded Salafis:

مُهَلُّ أَهْلِ الْمَدِينَةِ مِنْ ذِي الْحُلَيْفَةِ وَالطَّرِيقُ الآخَرُ الْجُحْفَةُ وَمُهَلُّ أَهْلِ الْعِرَاقِ مِنْ ذَاتِ عِرْقٍ وَمُهَلُّ أَهْلِ نَجْدٍ مِنْ قَرْنٍ وَمُهَلُّ أَهْلِ الْيَمَنِ مِنْ يَلَمْلَمَ

For the people of Medina, Dhu'l-Hulaifa is the place for entering upon the state of Ihram, and for (the people coming through the other way, i.e. Syria) it is Juhfa; for the people of Iraq it is Dhat al-'Irq; for the people of Najd it is Qarn (al-Manazil) and for the people of Yemen it is Yalamlam (Muslim sharif)

 

This Hadith is an explicit proof that Najd and Iraq are in fact distinct, and that in the Prophet’s wording, Najd does not refer to Iraq, but rather the region directly east of Medina, i.e., the Najd of modern-day Saudi Arabia. And Allah knows best.