User:Al Ameer son/Qays and Yaman

The Qays–Yaman rivalry refers to the historical rivalry and blood feud between the factions of the Qays (who were Adnanites or northern Arabians) and Yaman (who were Qahtanites or southern Arabians) in the Arab world. The conflict first emerged among the Arab tribes that constituted the Umayyad army and administration in the 7th and 8th centuries. Membership in either faction was rooted in the genealogical origins, real or perceived, of the Arab tribes, which divided them into south Arabian descendants of Qahtan (Yaman) or north Arabian descendants of Adnan (Qays). Yamani tribes, including the Kalb, Ghassan, Tanukh, Judham and Lakhm, were well-established in central and southern Syria in pre-Islamic times, while Qaysi tribes, such as the Sulaym, Kilab and Uqayl, largely migrated to northern Syria and Upper Mesopotamia with the Muslim armies in the mid-7th century.

The Qays–Yaman feud did not effectively take shape until after the reign of Caliph Mu'awiyah I, who, along with his Sufyanid descendants, were tied to the Kalb, the leading tribe of Yaman, through marriage and military dependence. When the last Sufyanid caliph died in 684, the Yaman resolved to ensure continued Umayyad rule so as to maintain their stately privileges, while the Qays backed Abdullah ibn Zubayr's bid for the caliphate. That year, the Yaman routed the Qays at the Battle of Marj Rahit, leading to years of revenge-driven, tit-for-tat raids known as ayyam (days) because the battles were typically day-long affairs.

By 693, the ayyam largely subsided as the Qays reconciled with the Umayyads and were incorporated into the state. Umayyad caliphs attempted to balance the powers and privileges of both factions, but the rivalry smoldered until the Third Muslim Civil War, in which the Yaman killed Caliph Walid II for his dependence on the Qays. Yamani opposition continued under Caliph Marwan II, and the Yaman ultimately defected to the Abbasids when the latter conquered the Umayyad realm in 750. The Yaman and Qays briefly joined forces against the Abbasids later that year, but were defeated. The Qays–Yaman rivalry diminished significantly under the Abbasids who, unlike the Umayyads, did not derive the bulk of their military support from either faction. Nonetheless, the feud persisted at the local level to varying degrees in the following centuries, which saw occasional outbreaks of Qaysi–Yamani violence.

During the Ottoman era, between the 16th and mid-19th centuries, the rivalry saw a resurgence in Mount Lebanon and Palestine, and affiliation with either faction transcended ethnicity and religion and was made by families with little consideration to genuine tribal lineage. In Mount Lebanon, the feud was mostly fought out between different Druze clans until the Battle of Ain Dara in 1711 led to the near complete exodus of Yamani Druze. Across Palestine, the rivalry encompassed Bedouin tribesmen, peasant clans and townsfolk. Most actual fighting took place in Nablus and its hinterland and the area around Jerusalem. The feud gradually dissipated with the growth of Ottoman centralization in the mid-19th century.

Background

Genealogical alignments

Arabian society, the settled and nomadic components alike, was tribally organized. In the tribal system an individual belonged to a series of increasingly larger, paternal lineage groups. According to the historian Fred Donner, the genealogy of a particular tribe given in the sources, particularly the higher up in its genealogical tree, did not represent the tribe's "actual descent", though at least with northern Arabian tribes they did present "much accurate data on blood relationships between individuals" at the lower, later levels of the tree. Rather, the genealogies generally reflected political circumstances or recorded the history of power relationships among the different tribes. The names on the higher part of a tree generally represented an ancestry group, rather than an individual, which likely had functioned as a unitary group for several generations before subdividing into two or more groups. In the Arab genealogical tradition, the name of the supposed, distant ancestor group would be recorded as the father and the later descendants as his sons. In the process, the names of the intervening generations would be forgotten as they were not relevant to the genealogies' purpose of "record[ing] the affiliations between various groups and thus provid[ing] a framework for solidarity alignments in case of a dispute", according to Donner.

The origins of the Qays–Yaman division were traditionally based on an Arab tribe's northern or southern Arabian roots, real or perceived; the Qays were from northern Arabia, while the Yaman were from southern Arabia. Genealogically, the northern tribes were traditionally said to descend from Ishmael while the southern tribes were said to descend from Qahtan. Traditional Arabic sources sometimes referred to the southern Arabs as Qahtaniyya (Qahtanites), but more often called them ahl al-Yaman (people of Yemen) or al-Yamaniyya (Yemenites). By contrast, northern Arabs were seldom referred to as "Ishmaelites", possibly because that term came to refer to Arabs in general. Rather, the northerners were described as Adnanites after Adnan, a distant descendant of Ishmael, or called after one of the descendants of Adnan, namely his son Nizar (Nizariyya), the latter's son Mudar (Mudariyya), or one of Mudar's descendants, Qays (Qaysiyya). Moreover, not all of the northern Arabs came under the labels "Mudar" or "Qays"; the Rabi'a, whose traditional homeland was eastern Arabia, also traced their descent to Nizar. Regardless of their northern ancestry, the Rabi'a's allegiance vacillated between Qays/Mudar and Yaman, and traditional Arab sources often referred to them as a third party to the Qays–Yaman feud.

There is no mention of hostility between the northern and southern tribal groupings in pre-Islamic Arab tradition. The Qays did not function as a tribal confederation before the advent of Islam, and in the histories of the pre-Islamic Arabs, the tribes that comprised the Qays confederation were mentioned individually rather than as a collective. According to the historian W. Montgomery Watt, the Arab tribes began organizing themselves along northern (Qaysi) and southern (Yamani) lines during the Umayyad period in Syria (638–750) "so as to constitute something like a political party". It is likely the Qays and Yaman factions firmly took shape after Mu'awiya I's reign. Before then, differences between Qaysi and Yamani tribes were "fairly harmless", according to the historian Hugh N. Kennedy.

Group solidarity, known as asabiyya, became one of the major characteristics of the rivalry, with tribesmen defending their clan or tribe "for the simple reason that it was their own", according to the historian Patricia Crone.

According to Donner, the higher level genealogies of tribes were changed at times to "reflect more accurately the power relationships" created by political circumstances. In the pre-Islamic and early Islamic periods the Quda'a confederation, which included the tribes of Banu Kalb, Balqayn, Bahra', Salih and sometimes Tanukh, were generally counted as descendants of Ma'add, a northern Arabian tribe mentioned in the 4th-century Namara inscription. The traditional and modern sources often labeled the Quda'a as a Yamani group anachronistically. The Kalb in particular had been established in the Syrian Desert for a considerable period before the Muslim conquest. Other tribes later counted as Yamani, including the Tanukh, and Judham, had also long been settled in Syria before the 7th-century Muslim conquest. The Kalb and Quda'a resented sharing resources with the tribe newcomers, while the Qays resented the privileges and prosperity of the Kalb and Quda'a. Mu'awiya's reliance on Kalb troops and his son Yazid's mother being from the Kalb caused unease among the Qaysi chieftains. At the time, the South Arabian tribes which settled in Syria during and after the conquest also stood in opposition to the Quda'a, and according to the historian Werner Caskel, were the first to identify themselves as the Qahtan. During the Sufyanid period there were significant deliberations within the brother tribes of Judham, Lakhm and Amila to identify with the Quda'a or the Qahtan. A number of medieval Arabic historians held them to be descendants of Ma'add, a position advocated by one of their chieftains Rawh ibn Zinba to bring them in genealogical alignment with the Quda'a. Most sources claimed them to be descended from Qahtan, a position supported by their elder chief Natil ibn Qays.

The deaths of Yazid I in 683 and his successor Mu'awiya II several weeks later left the Caliphate in disarray. There were no obvious successors among the ruling Sufyanid house of the Umayyad dynasty, which the Kalb and the Quda'a in general were determined to preserve so as to maintain the administrative and military privileges they acquired under them. Thus, Ibn Bahdal, assembled the representatives of the pro-Umayyad tribes of Syria for a shura (council) in Jabiya wherein they chose an Umayyad outsider, Marwan (r. 684–685), to be the next caliph;

The Qays and Qahtan, including the Judham of Palestine and the Ansar of Homs, backed a rival, Mecca-based claimant to the caliphate, Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr and the latter's representative in Syria, the Qurayshite former loyalist of the Sufyanids al-Dahhak ibn Qays al-Fihri of Damascus.

Marwan conceded to the Kalb the same privileges they held under the Sufyanids, and extended similar privileges to the Kinda under one of its chiefs Husayn ibn Numayr al-Sakuni. The alliance between Marwan and the Quda'a and Kinda further consolidated Qaysi support to al-Dahhak.

The Battle of Marj Rahit firmly divided the Arab tribes of Syria into Yaman or Qays. According to a Kalbi genealogist cited by the historian Abu al-Baqa, the Quda'a established their alliance with the Qahtan in the aftermath of the battle to help counter the wrath of the Qays. Accordingly they switched their claims of descent from Ma'add to Himyar, which the modern historian Wilferd Madelung considers odd as they were the victors over Himyar at Marj Rahit. The descent of the Quda'a continues to be a matter disputed by historians, but regardless it was in the aftermath of Marj Rahit that the Yamani factional alliance was consolidated.

Geographical distribution

Map of Syria in the first decades of Islamic rule. The Yaman tribes, including the Banu Kalb, Ghassan, Judham and Tanukh, largely inhabited the districts of Filastin, al-Urdunn and Hims, while the Qays inhabited al-Jazirah, the Byzantine frontier and Qinnasrin

One of the bases of the Qays–Yaman division in Syria was geographical.

with the troops in Syria known as ahl al-Sham and those of Khurasan known as ahl Khurasan. In Syria they were organized into junds (military districts). Originally there were four junds, from south to north: Filastin (Palestine), al-Urdunn (the Jordan [River], centered around Tiberias), Dimashq (centered in Damascus), Jund Hims (centered in Homs. Under Mu'awiya I, or more likely his successor Yazid I, a fifth jund called after Qinnasrin was created out of the northern part of Hims.

The armies of the early Muslim conquests, during which the Medina-based caliphate annexed the Sasanian Empire (modern Iraq and Iran) and Syria and Egypt from the Byzantine Empire, were mainly comprised of Arab tribesmen. According to the historian Patricia Crone, it was generally difficult for tribes to take collective action in the period following the Muslim conquests because of their wide dispersion across the nascent Caliphate and their high level of differentiation within the same province. Nonetheless, as the Muslim armies were organized into tribal units, it was "not impossible" for soldiers with shared tribal origins in the same army to behave as units. The same possibility applied to soldiers with shared origins, real or perceived, in separate Muslim armies, as when the ahl al-Sham were deployed frequently outside of Syria and interacted with Arab garrisons in the other provinces, when they found such cooperation to be in their interest.

According to the historian A. A. Dixon, tribal rivalry in the Umayyad period in Syria seemingly stemmed from the socio-economic changes brought about during and after the Muslim conquest in the 630s and the resettlement of Arab tribes in the region. Many of the tribes which became part of the Yaman confederacy had already been long-established in central and southern Syria before the Muslim conquest, including the Kalb, Tanukh, Bahra', and Salih, all members of the Quda'a confederation, and the Ghassan, Judham, Lakhm, and Amila. Arab tribes established in northern Syria and the Jazira before the conquest included the Taghlib, Iyad, Tanukh and al-Namir ibn Qasit. During the conquests many tribes with more certain South Arabian roots formed a large part of the Muslim armies and settled in Syria. Many of the Qays tribes, particularly the Kilab and Uqayl of the Banu Amir, and the Banu Sulaym, were moved to the Jazira during the governorship of Mu'awiya I in 639–661, the future founder of the Umayyad Caliphate. At the same time, a number of Yamani tribes in Mu'awiya I's army, such as the Kinda and the Hadhram, joined other established Yamani tribes around Homs.

At the time of Mu'awiya's caliphate, the Kalb, Judham, Lakhm and Amila predominated in Filastin. The Ghassan, Kalb and other Quda'a tribes, and the South Arabian Madhhij, Akk and Hamdan predominated in al-Urdunn. In Dimashq the Quda'a, Ghassan, Himyar and smaller numbers of Quraysh and Qays lived in the city of Damascus, while the Lakhm, Juhayna of Quda'a, and the Qaysi Dhubyan predominated in the Hauran and the Golan Heights. Hims was dominated by the South Arabian tribes of Himyar, Hamdan, Tayy, Kinda, as well as Kalb and small numbers of Iyad and Qays, while in the area of Hama were Tanukh and Bahra'. In Qinnasrin, the Qays predominated in the vicinity of Chalcis and the surrounding steppe, while the province also contained groups of Salih, and the South Arabian Tayy, Kinda, Hamdan and Zubayd. Groups of the Qays and Rabi'a predominated in the Jazira, with the Taghlib in particular established around the Khabur River valley. The Qays also dominated the Byzantine frontier as far as Armenia. The Kalb alone occupied the vast region of the Samawa, i.e. the part of the Syrian Desert between Damascus and Kufa in Iraq.

The Qays/Mudar–Yaman conflict in Iraq, specifically Basra, was rooted in the mass migration of Azd tribesmen from Oman in southeastern Arabia to Basra just before the Second Muslim Civil War. Before then, Basra was dominated by northern tribesmen from the Mudar, led by the Tamim tribe, and the Rabi'a. The Azd became allies with Rabi'a, despite the latter's northern roots. With this, the "parties had been formed for future conflict", according to historian G. R. Hawting. Moreover, because the Arab troops of Khurasan originated from the Basra garrison, the Qays/Mudar–Yaman conflict carried over into the vast eastern province of the caliphate. The migration of Qaysi tribes to northern Syria and Upper Mesopotamia and of the Yamani Azd to Basra upset the tribal balance of power in these regions, which significantly influenced the Qays/Mudar–Yaman feud.

Socio-economic and political factors

The rivalry between Yaman and Qays may have stemmed from competition over grazing rights in Syria following the conquest. Open conflict between them occurred only during the Second Muslim Civil War (680–692). Such conflicts over pasture grounds and wells, important resources for nomadic tribes, characterized tribal feuds in the pre-Islamic period and continued under Islam with the migration of Qaysi tribesmen to Syria and the Jazira. Tribes previously established in the Jazira, particularly the Taghlib, opposed the new competition for such resources with the newer arrivals.

Domestic politics in Syria under the Sufyanid caliphs Mu'awiya I (r. 661–680), Yazid I (r. 680–683) and Mu'awiya II (r. 683–684) were tribal and the genealogical and political alignments of the tribes were different than under the Marwanid caliphs (post-684). Mu'awiya I forged a strong alliance with the Kalb, the centerpiece of the wider Syrian tribal confederation of Quda'a. The Quda'a held the prominent position among the tribes in the Sufyanid court, being accorded by Mu'awiya I and Yazid I the privileges of consultation and veto powers for all major decisions and significant, hereditary stipends for 2,000 of their chiefs. Yazid I's mother was a member of the Kalb's preeminent house, and the head of this household, Yazid's maternal uncle, Ibn Bahdal, held high office under the Sufyanids. The privileged position acquired by the Quda'a created a political dynamic in Syria whereby non-Quda'a tribes sought membership in the confederation or attempted to oust them from power.

Conflict during the Umayyad period

Battle of Marj Rahit

See also: Battle of Marj Rahit (684)

Marwan and the Kalb set up camp at Marj Rahit, overlooking al-Dahhak's Damascus headquarters, and were soon joined by the Ghassanids and Kinda. Other tribes that joined Marwan were the South Arabian Tayy, and the Balqayn and Tanukh of Quda'a. As the Qays under al-Dahhak marched toward Marwan's camp, a Ghassanid noble, Yazid ibn Abi al-Nims, led a revolt in Damascus that drove al-Dahhak's men out of the city. The two factions then fought at the Battle of Marj Rahit, which lasted twenty days, beginning on 18 August 684. The far more numerous Qays and Qahtan were routed and many of them were killed as they retreated, including al-Dahhak and eighty other Qaysi notables. 

The survivors among the Qays, led by Zufar ibn al-Harith al-Kilabi of the Banu Amir, fled north to the Euphrates town of Qarqisiya, while Marwan was made caliph in Damascus. According to Kennedy, the "Qays had many dead to avenge and the feud was to continue for generations", while Marwan "would be entirely dependent on the ... Yamani tribes who had elected him". Indeed, the Yaman helped Marwan assert his rule in Egypt and smoothly managed the accession of his son, Abd al-Malik (r. 685–705), following Marwan's death in 685. The Yamani leaders, Ibn Bahdal of Kalb and Rawh ibn Zinba of Judham, were Abd al-Malik's main supporters, other than his kinsmen. All the while, the Qays in Upper Mesopotamia and northern Syria under Zufar's leadership remained steadfastly behind Ibn al-Zubayr, and stymied the expansion of Umayyad authority to Zubayrid-held Iraq.

Ayyam raids

Caliph Abd al-Malik (685–705), depicted on this gold dinar issued by him, struggled to keep peace between the Qays and Yaman.

Following Marj Rahit, the Qays initiated a series of raids and counter-raids against the Yaman, particularly the latter's leading faction, the Kalb. Because each confrontation was typically a day-long, the raids were referred to by medieval Arab sources as ayyām (days; sing. yawm), with each yawm named after the place where the attack occurred. The sources of the ayyām battles were contemporary Arab poems and stories that were preserved in the Kitab al-Aghani, Kitab al-Hamasah and the histories of al-Mada'ini (d. 843) and Ibn al-Athir (d. 1233). Historian Julius Wellhausen asserts that "the accounts are mostly quite reliable, though partly without connection and chronology". The cycle of raids began following the battlefield defection of the Qaysi general and Sulaym chieftain, Umayr ibn al-Hubab, from the Ummayad army during the Battle of Khazir against the pro-Alid forces of al-Mukhtar in 686. The defection of Umayr and his troops, who took refuge with Zufar in Qarqisiya, was blamed for the rout of the Umayyad force.

Qays versus Kalb

Though the exact year is not available in contemporary sources, the first ayyām raid was carried out by Zufar against a Kalb encampment at Musaiyakh in the environs of Hims, in which twenty Kalb tribesmen were killed. The Kalb, led by Humayd ibn Hurayth ibn Bahdal, responded by killing sixty men from the Qaysi tribe of Numayr living among the Kalb in Palmyra. Afterward, Umayr led an assault on Iklil, in the vicinity of Palmyra, that killed between 500 and 1,000 Kalb tribesmen. Umayr evaded Humayd's pursuit and made it back to Qarqisiya. Umayr followed up on his victory by leading several damaging raids against the Kalb in their dwelling places in the Samawa (part of the Syrian Desert between Kufa and Damascus), including at a well named Kaaba, in which Humayd was nearly killed. The Kalb in Samawa ultimately fled for the Jordan Valley in Palestine as a result of the attacks.

Initial raids of Qays and Taghlib

Umayr later settled his Sulaym tribesmen along the Khabur River, where they encroached on the grazing lands of the Taghlib. The latter, a Christian tribe belonging to the Rabi'a, had settlements stretching from the Khabur eastward beyond the Tigris River. The Taghlib requested Zufar's intervention to evict the Sulaym but Zufar was unable to mediate the dispute. Instead, Umayr received sanction from the Zubayrids to assault the Taghlib, and with a large force he massacred numerous Taghlib tribesmen at the Khabur village of Makisin. Further Qaysi-Taghlib skirmishes, which also dragged in Zufar on the side of Umayr, took place along the Khabur, Tigris, Balikh and Tharthar rivers. The Taghlib under one of their chiefs, Ziyad ibn Hubir, received reinforcements from the Rabi'a tribes of al-Namir ibn Qasit and Shayban and mobilized against Umayr. The latter was informed of the pending raid, but his requests for reinforcements from the Tamim and Asad tribes were rebuffed and he faced the Rabi'a in what became known as the First Day of Tharthar solely with the Sulaym. The Sulaym were routed and a large number of their tribesmen were killed, including thirty of their women who had their stomachs cut open in revenge for Taghlibi losses at Makisin.

The rout at Tharthar compelled Zufar to directly participate alongside Umayr against the Taghlib. The opposing sides met again at the Second Day of Tharthar. In the ensuing fight, the Amir retreated in the face of a Taghlibi attack, but the Sulaym held firm and defeated the Taghlib. The Qays and Taghlib fought further skirmishes at al-Fudayn (along the Khabur between Makisin and Qarqisiya), al-Sukayr, al-Mu'arik, Lubba, Balad, the Balikh River and al-Shar'abiyya. The Qays were victorious in all except the indecisive battle at al-Shar'abiyya and the Taghlibi win at Lubba. In a bid to decisively revere these Qaysi gains, Ibn Hubir mobilized his nomadic tribesmen as well as his tribesmen or allies in the Jaziran towns. In the summer of 689, he ambushed the Qays at the Tharthar village of al-Hashshak, near Tikrit. The ensuing battle lasted three days. Towards the end, Zufar and the Amir retreated to Qarqisiya and abandoned Umayr, who was ultimately killed by the Taghlib. The latter sent Umayr's head to Abd al-Malik. Zufar justified his retreat as a necessary response to confront Abd al-Malik's army on its approach to besiege Qarqisiya.

Obliged to avenge the death of his Qaysi comrade, Zufar retaliated against the Taghlib. He left his brother Aws in charge of Qarqisiya and sent out a force under Muslim ibn Rabi'a of the Amir sub-tribe of Uqayl to ambush a group of the Taghlib. Muslim followed up by raiding the main body of the Taghlib at al-Aqiq near Mosul. The Taghlib fled toward the Tigris in a bid to cross the river to safety. When they reached the town of Kuhayl along the west bank of the Tigris between the Great and Little Zab rivers, Zufar pursued and dealt the Taghlib a heavy blow. Several Taghlibi tribesmen were slain and more died drowning in the river. Afterward, Zufar executed 200 captured Taghlib tribesmen. Surviving Taghlibi tribesmen were pursued and killed by Zufar's son and Hudhayl and his men.

By the end of the summer of 691, Abd al-Malik's siege of Qarqisiya pushed Zufar to accept a negotiated surrender to Umayyad authority. Per the agreement, Abd al-Malik incorporated Qaysi tribesmen into the Umayyad court and army. The entry of Qays into the reconstituted Umayyad army of Syria ended Yamani, and specifically Kalbi, monopolization of that institution; from then on Abd al-Malik sought to balance each faction's interest within the military. Abd al-Malik's forces also defeated the Umayyads' Zubayrid rivals and patrons of the Qays, Mus'ab ibn al-Zubayr in Iraq in October 691 and Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr in Mecca in September 692. These developments put an temporary end to Qaysi attacks against the Taghlib. Around this time, the Taghlib's celebrated poet and representative to the Umayyad court, al-Akhtal, recited a poem to Abd al-Malik boasting of the victory over Qays and their surrender to Abd al-Malik:

(Thanks to us) the men of Qays came forth hastening to pledge allegiance to you [Abd al-Malik] publicly after long denial.
May God never lead Qays back from their error; and may no one say 'Take care!' when they stumble ...
... They [Qays] lived in blessed abundance till they were caught in Satan's [Ibn Zubayr's] snares.
— Al-Akhtal, circa 691/92.

Kalb versus Fazara

Despite Abd al-Malik's accord with the Qays, the two camps continued to attack each other. Thereafter, the battles spread to the Hejaz and Iraq, unlike most of the early confrontations, which occurred in Upper Mesopotamia and the Palmyrene steppe. Thus, the Qays–Yaman conflict broke out of its Syrian confines and into the wider Islamic world. Humayd still sought revenge for prior losses the Kalb suffered at the hands of the Amir and Sulaym, but since those two tribes were now under Abd al-Malik's protection, Humayd resolved to attack the Qaysi tribe of Fazara. The latter mainly lived east of Medina, but their ruling clan inhabited Kufa. They were not previously involved in attacks against the Yaman. Humayd acquired a warrant from the Umayyad prince, Khalid ibn Yazid, to collect the cattle tax from the Fazara on behalf of Abd al-Malik's government. Using this legal cover, Humayd led a large expeditionary force of Kalbi clans against Fazara tribesmen in Iraq, killing and wounding many, particularly at a place called 'Āh.

The Fazara protested the assaults to Abd al-Malik, who responded by paying them blood money, which the Fazara, in turn, used to purchase weaponry and horses. In circa 692/93, the Fazara retaliated against the Kalb in a surprise attack against their encampment at the Banat Qayn wells in the Samawah, which ended with the deaths of 69 Kalb tribesmen. The raid on Banat Qayn was the most celebrated of the ayyam between Qays and Kalb. Infuriated at the Fazara's attack, Abd al-Malik ordered his general al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf to lead an expedition against the Fazara. However, the two main Fazara commanders from Banat Qayn, Sa'id ibn Uyayna and Halhala ibn Qays, surrendered themselves to avert a military assault against their tribe. The Fazara commanders were then executed to satisfy the Kalb, who accepted it as a compensation for their losses.

Continued raids of Qays and Taghlib

After a boast about the Taghlib by al-Akhtal to the chieftain Jahhaf ibn Hukaym of the Sulaym in Abd al-Malik's court in 692, al-Jahhaf sought to attack the tribe under the cover of a forged government order to collect taxes from the Taghlib and the Banu Bakr, a Rabi'a sub-tribe. At the head of a troop of Qays, he raided the Taghlib at Bishr (the mountains east of Palmyra), al-Rahub (south of Resafa) or Mukhashin. In the ensuing massacre of the Taghlib, a son of al-Akhtal was slain, while al-Akhtal was captured and inadvertently released. Al-Akhtal demanded Abd al-Malik punish al-Jahhaf, who fled into Byzantine territory to evade the caliph's reach. He was granted pardon by the caliph after lobbying by Qaysi elements. To appease the Taghlib and end the feud, Abd al-Malik demanded al-Jahhaf pay blood money for the Day of Bishr, while making his son al-Walid I, whose mother Wallada was Qaysi, compensate the Taghlib for their losses to the Qays in the raids before Bishr. Unable to pay the large blood money sum, al-Jahhaf obtained the funds from al-Hajjaj, himself a Qaysi by blood but motivated to help end the feud. Al-Jahhaf and his followers afterward made the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca seeking God's forgiveness. With the compensatory payments, the feud between the Qays and Taghlib came to a definitive end.

Tribal balancing in the state

Abd al-Malik's ability to end Qaysi–Yamani violence was mostly limited to issuing threats or paying blood money. Though he succeeded in transforming the Umayyad Caliphate into a centralized, bureaucratic state with decreasing reliance on the Syrian army, Kennedy notes that the "Qays–Yaman feud illustrated the problems of transition" in the caliphate from nomadism to settled life and governance. After 691, each faction became associated with an Umayyad prince; the Qays allied themselves with Abd al-Malik's brother and governor of Upper Mesopotamia, Muhammad ibn Marwan, while the Yaman were associated with Abd al-Malik's Palestine-based son, Sulayman. These affiliations played an important role during future intra-Umayyad rivalry. After the accession of al-Walid I (r. 705–715), Qaysi–Yamani tensions simmered, but did not result in serious conflict. Al-Walid, whose mother Wallada was Qaysi, afforded the Qays a degree of privilege. Nonetheless, the Yaman held significant influence with other branches of the Umayyad household, namely with Sulayman, but also Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz, who maintained the ties his father established with Yamani army leaders in Egypt. Moreover, with the accession of Sulayman in 715, the Yamani general Raja ibn Haywa of Kindah became his chief adviser and the Yaman regained their advantageous position within the Umayyad state.

There is disagreement among historians over the basis of the Qays–Yaman conflict during and after Sulayman's reign. Medieval Arab sources describe the conflict mainly as a tribal rivalry. M. A. Shaban asserts that the Qays came to represent the policies of Islamic expansionism and Arab governmental monopolization embraced by Abd al-Malik and the powerful governor al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf, while the Yaman supported stabilizing the caliphate's borders and assimilating non-Arabs into the state. The Yaman's allies and successive caliphs, Sulayman (r. 715–717) and Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz (717–720), pursued such policies. Kennedy argues against Shaban's theory, instead holding that the conflict "was between two factions based on tribal loyalties, which sought to control access to military power and the privileges that went with it". To that end, the ultimate goal for each faction was the caliph's favor and appointment to provincial governorships.

Qaysi–Yamani alignment among the Arab tribes was present throughout the Caliphate and avoiding association with either camp became increasingly difficult for Muslim leaders. In Iraq, the two major rival tribes, Azd and Tamim, became the central component of the Yaman and Qays, respectively, in that province. The Qays–Yaman rivalry also played out among constituent Arab tribes in the Umayyad army in Khurasan. Though Shaban characterized Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz as strongly pro-Yamani for his efforts to integrate non-Arab Muslim communities, the caliph evidently maintained a more balanced policy in regard to the rivalry and sought to end the tribal factionalism. His appointment of provincial governors was based on competence and loyalty to his authority. To that end, he appointed the Qaysi stalwart, Umar ibn Hubayra al-Fazari, as governor of Upper Mesopotamia and dismissed the Yamani governor of Iraq and Khurasan, Yazid ibn al-Muhallab of Azd, in favor of several governors, many of whom were not Yamani. Nonetheless, Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz's reforms threatened Qaysi interests and following his death in 720, the Qays helped restore the old order through his successor, Yazid II (r. 720–724).

During Yazid II's reign, Ibn al-Muhallab revolted in Iraq, capturing Wasit and Kufa. It is not apparent that he was supported by the Yamani tribes of Syria, and his revolt was crushed by a strong ally of the Qays, Maslama ibn Abd al-Malik. Umar ibn Hubayra's subsequent appointment to Iraq saw the violent purge of Yamani leaders in the province. Yazid died in 724 and his successor, Hisham (r. 724–743), managed to avoid entanglement with the Qays–Yaman rivalry, and appointed Khalid al-Qasri from the ostensibly neutral Bajila tribe as governor of Iraq. Hisham's reign was one of the most internally peaceful periods in the Umayyad Caliphate, and there were no violent incidents reported between the Qays and Yaman within the Umayyad army during that time. Toward the end of his reign and out concern for maintaining stability in the aftermath of his death, Hisham increasingly relied on Qaysi support. To that end, in 738, he replaced al-Qasri, who had possible Yamani sympathies, with the staunch Qaysi, Yusuf ibn Umar of Thaqif, and appointed another Qaysi stalwart, Nasr ibn Sayyar, as governor of Khurasan.

Third Muslim Civil War

Main article: Third Fitna

The Qays–Yaman feud persisted, but the caliphate remained stable and prosperous by the time of Hisham's death in 743. However, this situation unraveled as a result of the policies and incompetence of his successor, al-Walid II (r. 743–744). The latter left the state administration largely in the hands of Hisham's Qaysi appointees, and his arrest of the Yaman's patrons among the Umayyad family, rallied the Yaman against his rule. Walid II's governance was seen by members of the Umayyad family as so egregious that a section of them led by Yazid III decided to depose him, an unprecedented action in Umayyad dynastic history. Though much of the Umayyad family and other leaders were reluctant to back Yazid III, the Yamani tribes, partly led by the Kalbi chieftain Mansur ibn Jumhur, provided him critical support; the Yaman were motivated by a desire to reestablish their once dominant position in the state. The rebels captured Damascus, then besieged and killed Walid II in the vicinity of Palmyra in 744. Consequently, the Qays–Yaman conflict violently intensified. Kennedy asserts:

It would be wrong to imagine that all members of these two groups were implacably hostile; it would seem that the violence was begun by extremists like Yusuf ibn Umar for the Qaysis and Mansur ibn Jumhur for the Yamanis, but once it had begun, it was very difficult to stop and came to involve the whole Syrian army and political elite. It was this fatal division, more than anything else, which destroyed [the] Umayyad government.

Yazid III's reign lasted six months, during which he briefly appointed Ibn Jumhur governor of Khurasan. He was succeeded by his brother Ibrahim ibn al-Walid, but in December 744 the latter was overthrown by Marwan II (r. 744–750), a strongman favored by the Qays of Upper Mesopotamia and the Byzantine frontier zone. The Qays were the only part of the Syrian elite that backed Marwan II's usurpation, after which the leaders of Yaman were driven out of Syria. A rebellion in the Kalb stronghold of Homs ensued, but was suppressed by Marwan II in 746. Opposition to Marwan II sparked rebellions in the provinces east of Syria, with Ibn Jumhur throwing his lot with the Alid rebel Abdallah ibn Mu'awiya.

Marwan II dispatched the Qaysi Yazid ibn Umar to suppress the Alid-Yamani revolt in Kufa. Ultimately, the Yaman of Syria and Iraq, and the Kharijites under al-Dahhak al-Shaybani, were defeated by Marwan II's forces and a respite in the war was achieved by the spring of 748. However, by December 748, the Abbasid Revolution in Khurasan was in earnest and its leader, Abu Muslim, drove out the Qaysi governor Nasr ibn Sayyar from Merv and advanced westward. Yazid ibn Umar dispatched the Qaysi generals Nubata ibn Hanzala of Kilab and 'Amir ibn Dubara of Murrah to halt Abu Muslim's march, but they were defeated by Qahtaba ibn Shabib of Tayy. Iraq, with the exception of Qaysi-held Wasit, was conquered by the Abbasids under as-Saffah (r. 750–754) in October 749. Qaysi troops rallied behind Marwan II as he advanced against the Abbasids, but he was decisively defeated at the Battle of Zab in February 750; Umayyad power all but diminished as a result. When the Abbasid army reached Damascus in pursuit of Marwan II, Yamani tribesmen facilitated their entry into the city.

Post-Umayyad period

See also: Qays–Yaman war (793–796)

Although the Abbasid Revolution was "hotly pro-Yaman and anti-Qays", once the Abbasids consolidated power they "took up the tribal balancing policy of the defunct Umayyad regime", according to historian Khalid Yahya Blankinship. Much of the Qaysi leaders of Upper Mesopotamia and the Byzantine and Armenian frontiers, including Marwan's close ally, Ishaq ibn Muslim of Uqayl, eventually embraced the Abbasids. However, in the immediate aftermath of the Abbasid annexation of Syria in 750, the Qays of Qinnasrin led by Abu al-Ward and the Yaman of Hims and Palmyra led by the Umayyad nobleman Abu Muhammad al-Sufyani launched a revolt to reinstate Umayyad rule. However, the Qaysi–Yamani coalition was defeated relatively quickly by the Abbasids, with the Qays in particular suffering heavy casualties.

Following the collapse of the Umayyads and relocation of the caliphate's capital from Syria to Baghdad, the political significance of the Qays and Yaman factions diminished considerably. Watt asserts that "little is heard of the hostility" between Qays and Yaman following the advent of the Abbasids. Nonetheless, throughout the following centuries, Qaysi–Yamani alignment continued to serve as an "organizing principle for all sorts of feuds within or between tribes, clans, and neighborhoods, not just in Syria, but more generally throughout the Arab world", according to historian Robert Irwin. With time, the feud transcended nomadic Arab tribes and even Arabs in general; the Qays–Yaman division also existed among Kurds and Berbers.

Irwin asserts that in contrast to the scholarship devoted to the Qays–Yaman feud during the Umayyad era, the "importance of Qays and Yaman loyalties in the Mamluk period has been largely neglected" by historians. During the Mamluk period in Syria, nomadic Arab tribes (ʿurban or ʿarab), semi-nomadic Arab tribes (ʿushran or ʿasha'ir) and, to an extent, non-Arab tribes or groups often claimed belonging to either the Qays or Yaman factions. Historian William Popper wrote that the asha'ir, particularly the Druze, of the hills and valleys around Safad, Wadi al-Taym and Jabal Amil sometimes organized themselves along Qays and Kalb (Yaman) lines during the Mamluk period. During some occasions in which non-mamluks (those not part of the manumitted slave soldier tradition) partook in the internecine warfare between the Mamluk elite, they took up the Qaysi or Yamani label. For the most part, Qaysi–Yamani feuding does not appear to have played a role in the tribal strife of the early Mamluk period. The division became more pronounced, or at least recognized by Mamluk historians, during the closing decades of the 14th century. Even then, references to the factional feud were sporadic and do not establish the rivalry's continuity during the Mamluk era.

Ottoman era

Damascus and environs

During the early Ottoman era, the inhabitants of Damascus divided themselves along Qays–Yamani lines, with the residents of Bab al-Jabiya, al-Shaghour, Salihiyya, Shaykh Raslan, Masjid Aqsab and Qubeibat affiliated with the Qays and the residents of al-Midan, Mazabil and Mahruqa belonging to the Yaman. In the environs of Damascus, the chiefs of Zabadani, Wadi al-Taym and the Marj area (south of the city), and the Harfush dynasty of Baalbek were all Yamani.

Mount Lebanon

See also: Druze power struggle (1658–1667)

In Mount Lebanon during Mamluk rule, the local Druze nobility was split along Qaysi–Yamani lines, with the Alam al-Din and Buhtur families representing Yaman and Qays, respectively. When the Ma'an family supplanted Buhtur in 1516, the Qaysi clans rallied around them. The Yaman under Alam al-Din temporarily prevailed against the Ma'an under Emir Qurqmaz, but the latter's son Fakhr ad-Din II, successfully reasserted Qaysi dominance in Mount Lebanon until his death in 1633. Afterward, a Yamani attempt to control Mount Lebanon led to a massacre and civil strife, but by 1635 and until the end of the 17th century, the Qays under Ma'an leadership remained dominant. The Sunni Muslim Shihab dynasty replaced their Ma'an kinsmen as the leaders of the Qaysi Druze after the Ma'an's chief died without progeny in 1697. In 1709, the Qays lost their position in Mount Lebanon at the hands of the Yaman, but the latter were dealt a decisive blow during the Battle of Ain Dara in 1711, in which numerous Yamani fighters and the entire leadership of the Alam al-Din family were killed. Afterward, the Yamani Druze, besides the Arslan clan, emigrated from Mount Lebanon, with most taking refuge in the Hawran. The Battle of Ain Dara essentially ended the Qays–Yaman feud in Mount Lebanon. From then on, feuding factions were known after their leading clans.

Palestine

Qays–Yaman affiliation in Palestine had an extensive history. However, many who adhered to either Qays and Yaman, including some of the factions' leading families, such as the Abu Ghosh, were not ethnic Arabs, but of Circassian, Kurdish or Turkmen stock. Meanwhile, families that did claim Arab origin chose allegiance with either Qays or Yaman without much consideration to their north or south Arabian lineage; sometimes, branches of the same clan adhered to different factions because of intra-family disputes. Bedouin tribes, peasant clans and townspeople all identified with one or the other faction, including families whose origins were not clear.

According to historian Ihsan al-Nimr, the northern section of Jabal Nablus was designated for the Yaman, while the southern part was given to Qays by Mamluk sultan an-Nasir Muhammad (r. 1293–1340, with interruption). During Ottoman rule throughout the 16th century, there were frequent clashes between families across Palestine based on Qays–Yaman divisions. Most of the fighting was concentrated in the hinterlands of Nablus and Jerusalem during the 18th and 19th centuries.

List of Qays–Yaman affiliations

As seen in sources from the 18th and 19th centuries, the tribal division is shown in the following examples:

• The Zaydani tribe, to whom Galilee ruler Zahir al-Umar belonged, was part of the Qays tribe.
• The inhabitants of Bethlehem, both Muslim and Christian, belonged to Yaman and flew a white flag.
• The inhabitants of Hebron belonged to Qays, and flew a red flag.
• In Bayt Nattif and Sar'a, the Qays tribe ruled.
• The inhabitants of Abu Ghosh and Dura belonged to Yaman.
• The head tribe of Kafr Kanna was called Kais al Hamra (= Kais the red), according to Al-Dimashqi.
• Jerusalem was divided between the Husseini (Yaman), Nashashibi (Qays), and Khalidi (Qays) families.
• Nablus was divided between the Tuqan (Qays) and Abd al-Hadi (Yaman) families.

Bibliography

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External sources

• Qais and Yaman
• Beyond Qays and Yaman: The Tribe 'Amila and Factional Policies in the Umayyad Period
• The dwelling places and wanderings of the Arabian tribes, by Heinrich Ferdinand Wüstenfeld, in German
• Were the Qays and Yemen of the Umayyad Period Political Parties?