Harb Al-fijar
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The Fijar Wars () were a series of battles that took place in the late 6th century mainly between two major tribal confederations of
Arabia The Arabian Peninsula, (; ar, شِبْهُ الْجَزِيرَةِ الْعَرَبِيَّة, , "Arabian Peninsula" or , , "Island of the Arabs") or Arabia, is a peninsula of Western Asia, situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian Plate. ...
, the
Quraysh The Quraysh ( ar, قُرَيْشٌ) were a grouping of Arab clans that historically inhabited and controlled the city of Mecca and its Kaaba. The Islamic prophet Muhammad was born into the Hashim clan of the tribe. Despite this, many of the Qur ...
and the
Hawazin ) , type = Qaysi , image = Hawazin Flag (20).png , image_size =170px , alt = , caption = Banner of the Hawazin at the Battle of Siffin , nisba = , location = , descended = Hawazin ibn Mansur ib ...
. Assuming the sources are correct, the fighting took place on eight days over the course of four years. The conflict takes its name from that fact that its battles took place during the sacred months during which warfare was prohibited—a prohibition that usually enabled commerce to take place without interference from tribal feuds.


Background

The war was between 'two great confederations including townsfolk of
Mecca Mecca (; officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, commonly shortened to Makkah ()) is a city and administrative center of the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia, and the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red ...
and
Taif Taif ( ar, , translit=aṭ-Ṭāʾif, lit=The circulated or encircled, ) is a city and governorate in the Makkan Region of Saudi Arabia. Located at an elevation of in the slopes of the Hijaz Mountains, which themselves are part of the Sarat M ...
': on the one hand, the
Qays Qays ʿAylān ( ar, قيس عيلان), often referred to simply as Qays (''Kais'' or ''Ḳays'') were an Arab tribal confederation that branched from the Mudar group. The tribe does not appear to have functioned as a unit in the pre-Islamic er ...
(excluding the
Ghatafan The Ghaṭafān ( ar, غطفان) were an Arab tribal confederation originally based northeast of Medina. The main branches of the Ghatafan were the tribes of Banu Abs, Banu Dhubyan and Ashja'. They were one of the Arab tribes that interacted wi ...
) and, on the other, the
Quraysh The Quraysh ( ar, قُرَيْشٌ) were a grouping of Arab clans that historically inhabited and controlled the city of Mecca and its Kaaba. The Islamic prophet Muhammad was born into the Hashim clan of the tribe. Despite this, many of the Qur ...
and the
Kinana The Kinana ( ar, كِنَاَنَة, Kināna) were an Arab tribe based around Mecca in the Tihama coastal area and the Hejaz mountains. The Quraysh of Mecca, the tribe of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, was an offshoot of the Kinana. A number of mod ...
. Various Qaysi tribes participated, included the
Hawazin ) , type = Qaysi , image = Hawazin Flag (20).png , image_size =170px , alt = , caption = Banner of the Hawazin at the Battle of Siffin , nisba = , location = , descended = Hawazin ibn Mansur ib ...
,
Banu Thaqif The Banu Thaqif ( ar, بنو ثقيف, Banū Thaqīf) is an Tribes of Arabia, Arab tribe which inhabited, and still inhabits, the city of Ta'if and its environs, in modern Saudi Arabia, and played a prominent role in early Islamic history. Durin ...
,
Banu Amir The Banū ʿĀmir ibn Ṣaʿṣaʿa ( ar, بنو عامر بن صعصعة) was a large and ancient Arab tribe originating from central Arabia, that dominated Najd for centuries after the rise of Islam. The tribe is an Arab Adnanite tribe and its ...
and
Banu Sulaym The Banu Sulaym ( ar, بنو سليم) is an Arab tribe that dominated part of the Hejaz in the pre-Islamic era. They maintained close ties with the Quraysh of Mecca and the inhabitants of Medina, and fought in a number of battles against the Is ...
. The
Lakhmid The Lakhmids ( ar, اللخميون, translit=al-Laḫmiyyūn) referred to in Arabic as al-Manādhirah (, romanized as: ) or Banu Lakhm (, romanized as: ) was an Arabs, Arab kingdom in Sawad , Southern Iraq and Eastern Arabia, with al-Hirah as ...
king of
al-Hirah Al-Hirah ( ar, الحيرة, translit=al-Ḥīra Middle Persian: ''Hērt'' ) was an ancient city in Mesopotamia located south of what is now Kufa in south-central Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of I ...
, al-Nu'man III commissioned a leader of the Banu Amir, Urwa al-Rahhal, to lead the king's caravan to the annual market at
Ukaz In Imperial Russia, a ukase () or ukaz (russian: указ ) was a proclamation of the tsar, government, or a religious leader (patriarch) that had the force of law. "Edict" and "decree" are adequate translations using the terminology and concepts ...
in the Hejaz. Al-Barrad ibn Qays, a member of the Kinana who had been expelled from his tribe, had requested the commission, but Urwa, who frequented the king's court, mocked al-Barrad for being an outlaw and persuaded al-Nu'man to appoint him instead. As he led the caravan to Ukaz, Urwa was ambushed and slain by al-Barrad, who proceeded to seize the caravan's goods. Al-Barrad's attack occurred during the sacred months when fighting was forbidden among the Arabs. In response, Abu Bara, the preeminent chief of the Banu Amir and its parent tribe, the Hawazin, called his tribesmen to arms. A leader of the Quraysh,
Harb ibn Umayya Ḥarb ibn Umayya ibn ʿAbd Shams ( ar, حرب بن أمية بن عبد شمس) was the father of Abu Sufyan and Arwa and the son of Umayya ibn Abd Shams. Harb is credited in the Islamic tradition as the first among the Quraysh to write in Arabic ...
, was allied to al-Barrad, but the Quraysh also had close relations with the Kilab, the branch of the Banu Amir to which Urwa and Abu Bara belonged. The Kilab and the Ka'b, another branch of the Banu Amir, belonged to the ''Ḥums'', a socio-economic and religious pact including the Quraysh and other tribes living in the ''Ḥaram'' (the area around
Mecca Mecca (; officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, commonly shortened to Makkah ()) is a city and administrative center of the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia, and the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red ...
considered inviolable by the Arabs). The Kilab and the Ka'b did not live within the ''Ḥaram''. They owed their membership to their maternal Qurayshite descent.


War


First year

The attack precipitated a conflict which lasted four years. The first three days of fighting (sometimes considered one war, sometimes three) consisted of brawls. News of the killing reached Ukaz, where al-Barrad's patron, Harb ibn Umayya, had gathered with other chieftains belonging to the Quraysh. Realising that the Banu Amir would be seeking revenge for the killing of Urwa, the Quraysh and Kinana set off for Mecca. The Taymite chieftain Abd Allah ibn Jud'an reportedly supplied armor to one hundred men of the Quraysh. They were pursued by the Hawazin, who attacked them at Nakhla; the day of the battle is accordingly known as ('the day of Nakhla'), and is usually counted as the fourth day of fighting in the ''ḥarb al-fijār'' and the first day of the second war (though it is sometimes counted as the fourth day of the first war). As night fell on the , the Quraysh and Kinana managed to escape to the ''Ḥaram''. At that point, the Kilab halted their pursuit in fear of violating the sanctity of the ''Ḥaram''. Abu Bara's and the Kilab's participation in the war was restricted to the day of Nakhla.


Second year

The next year, the warring groups met once more, this time at Shamta/Shamza, again near Ukaz. This day of fighting is known as the . The antagonists were the same, except that the Banu Amir were not joined by its sub-groups, the Ka'b and Kilab. The Hawazin were victorious.


Third year

Fighting recurred again the next year, this time at Ukaz; again the Hawazin won. The battle is known as .


Fourth year

The first battle this year is known as or . On this occasion, the Quraysh and Kinana won. However, another fight followed—the eighth day of fighting in total: , so named because it took place on the
Harra Harra is a village and a former municipality in the district Saale-Orla-Kreis, in Thuringia, Germany. Since 1 January 2019, it is part of the municipality Rosenthal am Rennsteig Rosenthal am Rennsteig is a municipality in the district Saale-Orla ...
near Ukaz, and again the Hawazin won. Peace was restored after a few further skirmishes.


Assessment

The motivations for the war have been debated. The underlying cause is usually identified as competition over control of the trade routes and associated revenues in the
Najd Najd ( ar, نَجْدٌ, ), or the Nejd, forms the geographic center of Saudi Arabia, accounting for about a third of the country's modern population and, since the Emirate of Diriyah, acting as the base for all unification campaigns by the H ...
. The Quraysh were successfully dominating these routes, and funded the arming of their allies in the . Notwithstanding the vicissitudes of the war, the Quraysh emerged dominant. Modern historians have generally assessed that the Fijar War was related to the Quraysh's attempts to close the caravan route between al-Hirah and Yemen through Ta'if, a town which commercially rivaled Mecca, or to redirect the route through Mecca. This common assessment of the war was questioned by Ella Landau-Tasseron, who posited that the Banu Amir and the Quraysh had been mutually interested in gaining greater, joint control of the annual Lakhmid caravans to Yemen. Moreover, the Ja'far (the preeminent clan of the Kilab and the Banu Amir and Hawazin in general) and the Quraysh were both seen as enemies by the Bakr ibn Abd Manat, the branch of the Kinana to which al-Barrad belonged. The animosity of the Bakr ibn Abd Manat toward the Ja'far stemmed from the canceling of a protection covenant by a Ja'far chief, Abu Bara's brother al-Tufayl (father of the 7th-century Kilabi chief
Amir ibn al-Tufayl ʿĀmir ibn al-Ṭufayl ibn Mālik ibn Jaʿfar () was a chieftain of the Banu 'Amir and a poet. He belonged to the Banu 'Amir's preeminent household, the Ja'far ibn Kilab. He succeeded his father as head of the tribe in its wars with the Khath'am ...
); the Bakr ibn Abd Manat had entered al-Tufayl's protection in Najd after the Quraysh had expelled them from Mecca. In the years preceding the Fijar War the Bakr ibn Abd Manat attempted to obtain commissions from the Lakhmids to guard their caravans. Although al-Barrad's killing of Urwa had been against the interests of the Kilab and the Quraysh, the latter were compelled to fight due to the Kilab's intent on blood revenge against al-Barrad's Qurayshite confederates. The Kilab's limited participation in the ensuing war may have reflected their desire not to breach the ''Ḥums'' pact.


Participation of Muhammad

The sources are consistent in claiming that the Islamic prophet
Muhammad Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد;  570 – 8 June 632 Common Era, CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Muhammad in Islam, Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet Divine inspiration, di ...
, who was a member of the Quraysh, had some involvement in the war, with his age at the time being given by different sources as between 14 or 15. Some, such as the ''
Kitab al-Aghani ''Kitab al-Aghani'' ( ar, كتاب الأغاني, kitāb al-‘aghānī, The Book of Songs), is an encyclopedic collection of poems and songs that runs to over 20 volumes in modern editions, attributed to the 10th-century Arabic writer Abu al-F ...
'', a large collection of early Islamic and pre-Islamic
Arabic poetry Arabic poetry ( ar, الشعر العربي ''ash-shi‘ru al-‘Arabīyyu'') is the earliest form of Arabic literature. Present knowledge of poetry in Arabic dates from the 6th century, but oral poetry is believed to predate that. Arabic poetry ...
, claim that Muhammad actually fought (courageously) at the battle of (where the Quraysh were defeated).


References


Bibliography

* * * * * *{{EI2 , last=Watt , first=W. Montgomery , author-link=W. Montgomery Watt , article=Kuraysh , volume=5 , pages=434–435 Battles of pre-Islamic Arabia 6th-century conflicts Quraysh Hawazin Kinana