Sirah

The Letter to Khosrow

The torn letter at Ctesiphon, c. 6-7 AH / 628 CE

c. 6-7 AH / 628 CE

Imagined 360° reconstruction of The Letter to Khosrow

Educational historical reconstruction

Where

The hall of Khosrow at Ctesiphon (al-Mada'in), on the Tigris

33.0907, 44.5810 · View on OpenStreetMap

Background

Among the letters the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) sent to the rulers of the world after Hudaybiyyah was one to Khosrow II, Kisra Abarwiz, king of the Sasanian Persians, whose empire rivalled the Romans and whose capital, Ctesiphon (al-Mada'in), stood on the Tigris south of the site where Baghdad would later be built. The envoy Abdullah ibn Hudhafa al-Sahmi (radiyallahu 'anhu) carried the letter, which invited the king to Islam. By the famous account preserved in Sahih al-Bukhari and in the Sira of Ibn Ishaq and the history of al-Tabari, the king was affronted that the letter set the name of Muhammad before his own, and in his pride he tore it to pieces. When word reached the Prophet, he said, may Allah tear his kingdom to pieces (mazzaqa Allah mulkahu), and so it came to pass: within a short time Khosrow was overthrown and killed by his own son Shiruya in 628, and the Sasanian empire, exhausted by its long war with Rome, fell into a ruinous succession of murders and civil wars, so that within about two decades it was conquered by the Muslims, the fall of Ctesiphon coming in 637 (a separate scene). The great vaulted throne-hall of the Sasanians, the Taq-i Kisra, the largest single-span brick arch of antiquity, still stands in ruin on the Tigris as the most famous relic of that proud court. This scene depicts the reception: the colossal brick iwan of Ctesiphon and the torn letter cast down on its floor. In keeping with the Sirah tier no Muslim figure is shown and the envoy is kept distant; the king is not the focus.

What you see

A colossal vaulted hall of fired brick opens in a single vast span, the largest brick arch of the ancient world, the throne-iwan of the Persian king; this is the Taq-i Kisra at the Sasanian capital on the Tigris.

A parchment letter lies torn across on the floor of the hall, cast down rather than honoured; its small seal had read Muhammad the Messenger of Allah, and the king tore it in anger.

This is the reception of the letter of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) to Khosrow II (Kisra Abarwiz), king of Sasanian Persia, inviting him to Islam; affronted that the name of an Arab should stand before his own, the proud king tore the letter to pieces.

When the Prophet was told of it, he said, may Allah tear his kingdom to pieces; and within a short while Khosrow was murdered by his own son and his empire fell into civil war, soon to pass to the Muslims. The scene shows the great hall and the torn letter, not any Muslim figure.

The flat Mesopotamian plain and the Tigris lie about the palace-city of Ctesiphon (al-Mada'in), south of where Baghdad would later rise; the seat of the Persian empire that rivalled Rome.

The letter to Kisra, his tearing of it, and the Prophet's words are narrated in Sahih al-Bukhari and recorded by Ibn Ishaq and al-Tabari. This is the reception at Ctesiphon, distinct from the later Muslim conquest of the city (637) and from the dispatch from Madinah.

Primary sources

Sahih al-Bukhari (the letter to Kisra and his tearing of it): The Sunni narration that Khosrow tore the letter and the Prophet's words that his kingdom would be torn. The primary frame.

Ibn Ishaq via Ibn Hisham, al-Sira al-Nabawiyya: The envoy Abdullah ibn Hudhafa (RA), the text of the letter, and the king's response.

al-Tabari, Tarikh al-Rusul wa-al-Muluk (9th-10th c.): Sunni history of the Sasanian court, the killing of Khosrow by Shiruya in 628, and the collapse that followed.

Ibn Sa'd, al-Tabaqat al-Kubra (9th c.): The catalogue of the envoys and the recipients of the letters after Hudaybiyyah.

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