Shurahbil ibn Simt
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Shuraḥbīl ibn al-Simṭ ibn al-Aswad al-Kindī () commonly referred to as Ibn al-Simṭ, was a Kindite commander in the Muslim army against the Sasanian Persians at the
Battle of al-Qadisiyya The Battle of al-Qadisiyyah ( ar, مَعْرَكَة ٱلْقَادِسِيَّة, Maʿrakah al-Qādisīyah; fa, نبرد قادسیه, Nabard-e Qâdisiyeh) was an armed conflict which took place in 636 CE between the Rashidun Caliphate and th ...
in 636 and later a Homs-based member of the inner circle of
Mu'awiya ibn Abi Sufyan Mu'awiya I ( ar, معاوية بن أبي سفيان, Muʿāwiya ibn Abī Sufyān; –April 680) was the founder and first caliph of the Umayyad Caliphate, ruling from 661 until his death. He became caliph less than thirty years after the deat ...
during the latter's governorship of Syria (639–661) and caliphate (661–680).


Life

Shurahbil was the son of the Kindite chieftain Simt ibn al-Aswad.Crone 1980, p. 101. Following the death of the Islamic prophet
Muhammad Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد;  570 – 8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet divinely inspired to preach and confirm the mo ...
, Shurahbil and his father loyally served the nascent
Medina Medina,, ', "the radiant city"; or , ', (), "the city" officially Al Madinah Al Munawwarah (, , Turkish: Medine-i Münevvere) and also commonly simplified as Madīnah or Madinah (, ), is the second-holiest city in Islam, and the capital of the ...
-based Muslim state and fought with distinction during the
Ridda wars The Ridda Wars ( ar, حُرُوْبُ الرِّدَّةِ, lit=Apostasy Wars) were a series of military campaigns launched by the first caliph Abu Bakr against rebellious Arabian tribes. They began shortly after the death of the Islamic proph ...
against the Arabian tribes that had defected from Medina. As a result, their star rose in Medina at the expense of
al-Ash'ath ibn Qays Abū Muḥammad Maʿdīkarib ibn Qays ibn Maʿdīkarib (), better known as al-Ashʿath (died ca. 661), was a chieftain of the Kinda tribe of Hadhramawt and founder of the one of the leading noble Arab households of Kufa, one of the two main garr ...
, a rival Kindite chief who fought against the Muslims in the Ridda and repented following his defeat and capture in Yemen. While in the mid to late 630s, Simt played a role in the
Muslim conquest of Syria The Muslim conquest of the Levant ( ar, فَتْحُ الشَّام, translit=Feth eş-Şâm), also known as the Rashidun conquest of Syria, occurred in the first half of the 7th century, shortly after the rise of Islam."Syria." Encyclopædia Br ...
, Shurahbil fought in the Muslim conquest of Iraq. The overall Muslim commander of the Iraqi front,
Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas , image = File:Saad ibn Abi Waqqas Masjid an-Nabawi Calligraphy.png , alt = , caption = His name in Arabic calligraphy , birth_date = , death_date = , birth_place = Mecca, Hejaz, Arabia , death_place ...
, appointed the young Shurahbil as commander of the Muslim army's left wing at the decisive
Battle of al-Qadisiyya The Battle of al-Qadisiyyah ( ar, مَعْرَكَة ٱلْقَادِسِيَّة, Maʿrakah al-Qādisīyah; fa, نبرد قادسیه, Nabard-e Qâdisiyeh) was an armed conflict which took place in 636 CE between the Rashidun Caliphate and th ...
in 636. Following the victory over the
Sasanian The Sasanian () or Sassanid Empire, officially known as the Empire of Iranians (, ) and also referred to by historians as the Neo-Persian Empire, was the last Iranian empire before the early Muslim conquests of the 7th-8th centuries AD. Named ...
s in Iraq, Shurahbil was appointed by Sa'd the governor of the Sasanian capital at Ctesiphon ( al-Mada'in in Arabic). He settled in the newly-established Arab garrison town of
Kufa Kufa ( ar, الْكُوفَة ), also spelled Kufah, is a city in Iraq, about south of Baghdad, and northeast of Najaf. It is located on the banks of the Euphrates River. The estimated population in 2003 was 110,000. Currently, Kufa and Najaf a ...
, but emerging as the weaker Kindite against al-Ash'ath in the rivalry for the leadership of the tribe in the city, he moved to join his father in Homs. After moving to Syria, he became a committed partisan of its governor
Mu'awiya ibn Abi Sufyan Mu'awiya I ( ar, معاوية بن أبي سفيان, Muʿāwiya ibn Abī Sufyān; –April 680) was the founder and first caliph of the Umayyad Caliphate, ruling from 661 until his death. He became caliph less than thirty years after the deat ...
during the latter's conflict with the Kufa-based Caliph
Ali ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib ( ar, عَلِيّ بْن أَبِي طَالِب; 600 – 661 CE) was the last of four Rightly Guided Caliphs to rule Islam (r. 656 – 661) immediately after the death of Muhammad, and he was the first Shia Imam ...
() in the
First Muslim Civil War The First Fitna ( ar, فتنة مقتل عثمان, fitnat maqtal ʻUthmān, strife/sedition of the killing of Uthman) was the first civil war in the Islamic community. It led to the overthrow of the Rashidun Caliphate and the establishment of t ...
. He served as one of Mu'awiya's envoys to Ali in June 657, a month before the
Battle of Siffin The Battle of Siffin was fought in 657 CE (37 AH) between Ali ibn Abi Talib, the fourth of the Rashidun Caliphs and the first Shia Imam, and Mu'awiya ibn Abi Sufyan, the rebellious governor of Syria. The battle is named after its location ...
between the two sides, which ended in a stalemate. During Mu'awiya's caliphate (661–680) he was a member of the caliph's inner circle. At some point during Mu'awiya's or
Yazid I Yazid ibn Mu'awiya ibn Abi Sufyan ( ar, يزيد بن معاوية بن أبي سفيان, Yazīd ibn Muʿāwiya ibn ʾAbī Sufyān; 64611 November 683), commonly known as Yazid I, was the second caliph of the Umayyad Caliphate. He ruled from ...
's reign, he was surpassed in influence with the
Umayyads Umayyads may refer to: *Umayyad dynasty, a Muslim ruling family of the Caliphate (661–750) and in Spain (756–1031) *Umayyad Caliphate (661–750) :*Emirate of Córdoba (756–929) :*Caliphate of Córdoba The Caliphate of Córdoba ( ar, خ ...
by his Syrian Kindite rival,
Husayn ibn Numayr al-Sakuni Al-Ḥuṣayn ibn Numayr al-Sakūnī (died 5/6 August 686) was a leading general of the early Umayyad Caliphate, from the Sakun subtribe of the Kinda.Lammens & Cremonesi (1971), pp. 620–621 Biography A man of his name is recorded as being re ...
. There is no further record of Shurahbil or his family until the revolt of
Yazid ibn al-Muhallab Yazid ibn al-Muhallab ( ar, يزيد بن المهلب) (672–720) was a provincial governor in the time of the Umayyad dynasty and an early member of the Muhallabid family that became important in early Abbasid times. Life In A.H. 78 (697-698 ...
in Iraq in 720 when an unnamed son of Shurahbil was taken prisoner and executed by the rebels. The family was mentioned again during the Third Muslim Civil War in 744, when a great-grandson of Shurahbil, Simt ibn Thabit ibn Yazid, joined his erstwhile rival Mu'awiya ibn Yazid, a grandson of Husayn ibn Numayr, in opposition to Caliph
Yazid III Yazīd ibn al-Walīd ibn ʿAbd al-Malik (701 – 3/4 October 744) ( ar, يزيد بن الوليد بن عبد الملك) usually known simply as Yazid III was the twelfth Umayyad caliph. He reigned for six months, from April 15 to October 3 or ...
. Simt ibn Thabit was later crucified for leading a revolt in Homs against Caliph
Marwan II Marwan ibn Muhammad ibn Marwan ibn al-Hakam ( ar, مروان بن محمد بن مروان بن الحكم, Marwān ibn Muḥammad ibn Marwān ibn al-Ḥakam; – 6 August 750), commonly known as Marwan II, was the fourteenth and last caliph of ...
(). The descendants of Shurahbil or rather, his father, temporarily took over Homs in the Fourth Muslim Civil War, during
Abbasid The Abbasid Caliphate ( or ; ar, الْخِلَافَةُ الْعَبَّاسِيَّة, ') was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abdul-Muttalib ...
rule, in the early 9th century.Crone 1980, p. 102.


References


Bibliography

* * *{{The History of al-Tabari, volume=17 7th-century Arabs 7th-century people from the Umayyad Caliphate Generals of the Rashidun Caliphate Kinda People from Homs People of the First Fitna People of the Muslim conquest of Persia Ridda Wars