Sa'id ibn Qays al-Hamdani () was a governor and commander during the reigns of caliphs

Uthman Uthman ibn Affan (17 June 656) was the third caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate, ruling from 644 until his assassination in 656. Uthman, a second cousin, son-in-law, and notable companion of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad, played a major role ...

and Ali and a tribal chief of the South Arabian Hamdan and

Himyarite Himyar was a polity in the southern highlands of Yemen, as well as the name of the region which it claimed. Until 110 BCE, it was integrated into the Qataban, Qatabanian kingdom, afterwards being recognized as an independent kingdom. According ...

tribesmen of

Kufa Kufa ( ), 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, Euphrates River. The estimated population in 2003 was 110,000. Along with Samarra, Karbala, Kadhimiya ...

during this period and under the first

Umayyad The Umayyad Caliphate or Umayyad Empire (, ; ) was the second caliphate established after the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and was ruled by the Umayyad dynasty. Uthman ibn Affan, the third of the Rashidun caliphs, was also a membe ...

caliphs.

Life

Sa'id ibn Qays belonged to the Sabi' branch of the South Arabian Hamdan tribe and was a purported descendant of a

king. This ancestor, Zayd ibn Marib ibn Ma'dikarib, was noted by the South Arabian tradition for having killed and replaced the king of the

Bawn A bawn is the defensive wall surrounding an Irish tower house. It is the anglicised version of the Irish word ''bábhún'' (sometimes spelt ''badhún''), possibly meaning "cattle-stronghold" or "cattle-enclosure".See alternative traditional s ...

region of northern

Yemen Yemen, officially the Republic of Yemen, is a country in West Asia. Located in South Arabia, southern Arabia, it borders Saudi Arabia to Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, the north, Oman to Oman–Yemen border, the northeast, the south-eastern part ...

during the pre-Islamic period (pre-7th century). Sa'id fought in the

early Muslim conquests The early Muslim conquests or early Islamic conquests (), also known as the Arab conquests, were initiated in the 7th century by Muhammad, the founder of Islam. He established the first Islamic state in Medina, Arabian Peninsula, Arabia that ...

and became one of the leading tribal nobles of

, one of the two main Arab garrison towns of

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

. During the reign of Caliph

(), he served as governor of Rayy and Hamadhan in

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

. Under Uthman's Iraq-based successor, Caliph Ali (), he led the Hamdani and Himyarite contingent of the caliph's Kufan forces during the First Muslim Civil War. In this capacity, he led his men in the battles of the Camel (656) near

Basra Basra () is a port city in Iraq, southern Iraq. It is the capital of the eponymous Basra Governorate, as well as the List of largest cities of Iraq, third largest city in Iraq overall, behind Baghdad and Mosul. Located near the Iran–Iraq bor ...

and Siffin (657) on the frontier of

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

, as well as another campaign under Ali in 661. He is mentioned as one of the chiefs of the Yaman (South Arabians) during the reigns of the

caliphs

Mu'awiya I Mu'awiya I (–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 death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and immediately after the four Rashid ...

() and

Yazid I Yazid ibn Mu'awiya ibn Abi Sufyan (; 11 November 683), commonly known as Yazid I, was the second caliph of the Umayyad Caliphate, ruling from April 680 until his death in November 683. His appointment by his father Mu'awiya I () was the first ...

().

Descendants

Sa'id was the maternal grandfather of the Kufan tribal noble, prominent commander and rebel leader Ibn al-Ash'ath. During the

Second Muslim Civil War The Second Fitna was a period of general political and military disorder and civil war in the Islamic community during the early Umayyad Caliphate. It followed the death of the first Umayyad caliph Mu'awiya I in 680, and lasted for about twelve y ...

(683–692), when the Umayyads lost control of Iraq, Sa'id's son Abd al-Rahman served as a governor under the Kufan rebel ruler al-Mukhtar but defected to the Zubayrid ruler of Basra,

Mus'ab ibn al-Zubayr Mu'sab ibn al-Zubayr ibn al-Awwam al-Asadi (; died October 691) was the governor of Basra in 686–691 for his brother, the Mecca-based counter-caliph Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr, during the Second Fitna. Mus'ab was a son of al-Zubayr ibn al-Awwam ...

. He was killed during the latter's attempt to wrest control of Kufa from al-Mukhtar. Abd al-Rahman's son, Muhammad, lacked his father's and grandfather's authority over the Hamdan, who mostly sided with al-Mukhtar, and he and Ibn al-Ash'ath harshly punished al-Mukhtar's Kufan supporters when they conquered Kufa in 686. Muhammad later defected to the Umayyad caliph Abd al-Malik (), while another grandson of Sa'id, Jarir ibn Hashim, joined Ibn al-Ash'ath's rebellion against Abd al-Malik in 700–701.

References

Bibliography

* * *{{The History of al-Tabari, volume=23 7th-century Arab people Governors of the Rashidun Caliphate Banu Hamdan People of the First Fitna People of the Muslim conquest of Persia