Imru' al-Qays followed his father 'Amr ibn Adi in using a large army and navy to conquer much of Iraq and the Arabian Peninsula from their capital at al-Hirah.

Raids on Iran triggered a campaign by Sassanid emperor Shapur II which conquered the Iraqi lands, and Imru' al-Qays retreated to Bahrain.

His conversion is mentioned in the Arab history of Hisham Ibn Al-Kalbi, an early ninth century scholar, but Irfan Shahîd notes "there is not a single Christian formula or symbol in the inscription.

According to his reading, the text starts by informing the reader that this inscription was the burial monument of the king, then it introduces him and lists his achievements, and finally announces the date of his death.

Many other scholars have re-read and analyzed the language of the inscription over the last century but, despite their slight differences, they all agreed with Dussaud's central viewpoint that the Namara stone was the burial monument of King Imru' al-Qays.

Below is Bellamy's modern Arabic translation of the Namara inscription, with brief added explanations between parenthesis: ومَلَكَ الأسديين ونزار وملوكهمْ وهَرَّبَ مذحج عَكدي (كلمة عامية تدمج الكلمتين "عن قضى"، بمعنى بعد ذلك) وجاء (اي امرؤ القيس) يزجها (يقاتلها بضراوة) في رُتِجِ (ابواب) نَجران، مدينة شمّر، ومَلَكَ معد (بنو مَعَدْ في اليمن) ونَبَلَ بنَبه الشعوب (عامل نبلاءهم باحترام ولطف) ووكلهن (اي عين نبلاءهم شيوخا للقبائل) فرأسو لروم (فاعترفو بسيادة روم عليهم) فلم يبلغ ملك مَبلَغَه.