Was the Negus a Christian and what was his Bible

 6 - I heard two words from the Prophet, may God bless him and his family and grant them peace, one word and from the Negus another. I heard the Messenger of God, may God bless him and his family and grant them peace, say: Look at the Quraysh and take from what they say and leave their actions. I was sitting with the Negus when his son came from the scribe and read a verse from the Gospel. I recognized it or understood it and laughed. He said: Why are you laughing? Is it from the Book of God Almighty? By God, among what was revealed to Jesus, son of Mary, is that a curse will be on the earth if its rulers are children. Narrator: Amer bin Shahr Narrator: Al-Darqutni - Source: Al-Ilzamat wa Al-Taba’ - Page or number: 86

Imam Ibn Kathir mentioned in his book “The Biography of the Prophet” that when the Negus debated with Jaafar bin Abi Talib (may Allah be pleased with him) about what the Muslims say about the Messiah, and that the Muslims say that the Messiah is the servant and messenger of Allah, and His spirit and His word that He bestowed upon the Virgin Mary, the Negus lowered his hand to the ground and took a stick between his fingers and said, “What is the difference between Jesus, son of Mary, and what I said in this stick?” (i.e. that the Messiah is indeed the servant and messenger of Allah) his patriarchs quarreled and the Negus said, “By Allah, you will quarrel.” The Abyssinians rose up against the Negus and said, “You have abandoned our religion.” The Negus took a book and wrote in it that he testifies that there is no god but Allah and that Jesus is the servant and messenger of Allah, and he put it in his cloak at the right shoulder (his garment) and said to the Abyssinians, “What is the matter with you?” They said, “You have abandoned our religion and said that Jesus is the servant and messenger of Allah.” He said, “Then what do you say about him?” They said: We say he is the son of God. So the Negus placed his hand on his right shoulder (where the book he wrote was) and said: I bear witness that Jesus is the son of Mary. He did not say anything more than that, but rather he meant what he wrote. They were satisfied with him and left. It has been proven in the two Sahihs that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) announced the death of the Negus on the day he died and went out with the people to the prayer place, lined them up and said four takbirs over him.
I said: It is the funeral prayer, and with this I have that the Negus died as a Muslim, and Allah knows best. Otherwise, why would the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) pray over him?
The name of the Negus was (Ashama) according to the narrations.
As for the hadith that you mentioned, my virtuous brother, in the book (Al-Ilzamat wa Al-Tabaq) by Imam Al-Daraqutni, it is a follow-up by Al-Daraqutni to hadiths that were mentioned in Al-Bukhari and Muslim, first without graduation, and secondly with a defect. The defective hadith, as in (Al-Manzomah Al-Bayquniyyah), “is that which appears to be sound, but after investigation, a flaw was found in it. The defect is most often in the chain of transmission, such as a mursal or munqati’ connection, a mawquf chain of transmission, or the inclusion of a hadith within a hadith. Ibn Hajar said: It is one of the most obscure and subtle types of hadith sciences, and for this reason only a few of the people of this matter spoke about it, such as Imam Ahmad, Al-Bukhari, and Al-Daraqutni (in the book that you referred to). The estimate is that the hadith that includes an obscure and hidden defect is called (malled), and it is one of the types of weak.
Based on this, the hadith that was mentioned is defective

The book in which this hadith was mentioned by Imam Al-Daraqutni talks about his investigations into the two Sahihs of Muslim and Al-Bukhari, and thus includes the hadiths that have a defect and those that were not narrated, and Al-Daraqutni mentions his opinion about them. So the hadith mentioned has one of two things: either it was not narrated or it is defective.
The source that says that the hadith is defective is one of the types of weak, the book “Al-Qala’id Al-Anbariyyah ala Al-Manzouma Al-Bayquniyyah” written by Uthman bin Makki Al-Zubaidi and explained by Al-Azhari and verified by the Sheikh of investigators Ali bin Hassan bin Abdul Hamid.
This book (Al-Manzouma Al-Bayquniyyah) was also explained by Ibn Uthaymeen, may Allah have mercy on him, and he said at the end of his explanation of the defective hadith, “The defective hadith is one of the most important sections of the science of hadith terminology.. and knowing it is important because it may be read as authentic when it is not.”
So if the hadith mentioned in it is an indication that the Negus died as a non-Muslim, then this is subject to consideration and citing it as evidence is also subject to consideration because what is mentioned in the two Sahihs is contrary to that, as Ibn Kathir, may Allah have mercy on him, said,

Allah the Almighty said: “You will surely find the most intense of the people in animosity toward the believers to be the Jews and those who associate others with Allah. And you will find the nearest of them in affection to the believers to be those who say, ‘We are Christians.’ That is because among them are priests and monks and because they are not arrogant. And when they hear what has been revealed to the Messenger, you see their eyes overflowing with tears because of what they have recognized of the truth. They say, ‘Our Lord, we have believed, so register us among the witnesses. And why should we not believe in Allah and what has come to us of the truth and hope that our Lord will admit us with the righteous people?’ So Allah rewarded them for what they said with gardens beneath which rivers flow, wherein they will abide eternally. That is the reward of the doers of good. But those who disbelieved and denied Our verses - those are the companions of Hellfire.”
Al-Durr Al-Manthur - Al-Suyuti.
Abd bin Hamid, Ibn Al-Mundhir, Ibn Abi Hatim, Abu Al-Sheikh and Ibn Mardawayh narrated on the authority of Saeed bin Jubair regarding his statement: “That is because among them are priests and monks.” He said: They are the messengers of the Negus whom he sent with his Islam and the Islam of his people. They were seventy men whom he chose from among his people. The best of the best is in jurisprudence and age. In another version: He sent from the best of his companions to the Messenger. Allah’s Messenger, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, sent thirty men. When they came to the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, they entered upon him and he recited to them Surat Yasin. They wept when they heard the Qur’an and knew that it was the truth. So Allah revealed this about them, stating that among them were priests and monks.
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