Name Ashama ibn-Abjar | Died 632 AD | |
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The first Christian-Muslim King of Abessinia: Negasus Armah (Najashi)
Armah (reigned 614–631) was a king of the Kingdom of Aksum. He is primarily known through the coins that were minted during his reign. However, it has been suggested as long ago as 1895 that he was identical to Ashama ibn-Abjar or Sahama, who gave shelter to the Muslim emigrants around 615-6 at Axum.
Munro-Hay states that either Armah or Gersem were the last Axumite kings to issue coins. In either case, no gold coins of Armah have been found, and Munro-Hay speculates that "he had accepted that there was no purpose in producing them, as his kingdom was by now at least in part cut off from the Byzantine trade network."
Armah's silver coins have an unusual reverse, showing a structure with three crosses, the middle one gilded. Munro-Hay quotes W.R.O. Hahn as suggesting that this is an allusion to the Holy Sepulchre, as a reference to the Persian capture of Jerusalem in 614; if this is correct, it provides a date for Armah.