al-Ash'ath ibn Qays

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al-Ashʿath ibn Qays
Born599
Eastern
Battle of Nihawand (642)
Battle of Siffin (657)
Spouse(s)Umm Farwa, sister of Abu Bakr
Children
Relations
  • Qays ibn Ma'dikarib (father)
  • Kabsha bint Shurahbil (mother)
  • Abd al-Rahman
    (grandson)
  • Kinda (tribe)
Other workGovernor of
Adharbayjan
Governor of Mosul

Abū Muḥammad Maʿdīkarib ibn Qays ibn Maʿdīkarib (599–661), better known as al-Ashʿath (

Umayyad
(661–750) caliphs.

Al-Ash'ath embraced Islam in the presence of the Islamic prophet

Alid sources consider him a traitor. When Mu'awiya became caliph after Ali was assassinated
in 661, the position of al-Ash'ath and his family was strengthened in Kufa, where he soon after died.

He was succeeded by his son

Abbasid rule (750–1258). Among them was the famous 9th-century philosopher al-Kindi
.

Origins

Al-Ash'ath's name was Ma'dikarib ibn Qays.

Hadhramawt region of South Arabia. His father, Qays ibn Ma'dikarib, was a convert to Judaism which, in his time, had become widespread in South Arabia, including among al-Ash'ath's tribe, the Kinda.[6] Al-Ash'ath was probably also Jewish before his later conversion to Islam.[7]

Like his father and grandfather, al-Ash'ath was a chief of the Banu Jabala house, a clan of the Kinda's main division, the Banu Mu'awiya. The Banu Mu'awiya's preeminent branch during the pre-Islamic period had been the Banu Amr. To the latter belonged the houses of Banu Akil al-Murar, whose chiefs had served as the kings of Ma'add in central Arabia in c. 450–550, and the Banu Wali'a, the most prominent Kindite clan in the tribe's heartland of Hadhramawt. The Banu Jabala belonged to a less important branch of the Banu Mu'awiya, the Banu Harith al-Asghar, but its star began to rise under al-Ash'ath or his father.[8] Al-Ash'ath's mother, Kabsha bint Shurahbil ibn Yazid ibn Imri al-Qays ibn Amr al-Maqsur, belonged to the Banu Akil al-Murar, while his wife belonged to the parent clan of the Banu Wali'a; both relationships provided him links with the main families of the Banu Amr.[9]

The Kindite chiefs were considered 'kings', in light of their tribe's previous kingship over the Arabs of central Arabia, but by the eve of Islam in the 620s, their individual realms were limited to single valleys or forts in the Hadhramawt.[10] Al-Ash'ath's family, from the time of his grandfather Ma'dikarib, held the fort of al-Nujayr in the far north of the Hadhramawt.[11] Before his embrace of Islam in late 631, al-Ash'ath launched an expedition against the tribe of Murad, whose members had killed his father Qays. However, his assault was repulsed and he was taken captive. In return for his release, he paid the Murad 3,000 camels as a ransom.[12] The historian Michael Lecker considers this an exaggeration whose purpose was to demonstrate al-Ash'ath's status in South Arabia, paying a ransom thrice as high as that of a typical king.[13]

Rebellion in the Ridda wars

In 631, al-Ash'ath led a delegation of Kindites to the Islamic prophet

Ridda wars, a series of rebellions and defections from the Muslim polity by the tribes of Arabia.[16] The governor of the Hadhramawt, Ziyad ibn Labid al-Ansari, ambushed the Banu Amr, dealing them a severe blow, and proceeded to defeat other Kindite clans in minor skirmishes.[17] Later in the war, the Banu Wali'a chiefs were all slain, leading the Banu Amr to confer leadership to al-Ash'ath, in exchange for his support, making him the most powerful chief of the Kinda.[18]

Al-Ash'ath mobilized Kindites from his branch of the tribe against the Muslim forces of Ziyad, who were by then reinforced by another army led by

Muhammad.[6]

Career under the early caliphs

Under Caliph

Nihawand, between 636 and 642.[14]

Through his participation in the conquests, al-Ash'ath raised his status in the Muslim community and gained power in Iraq, to the probable displeasure of the initial Muslim settlers there.[25] He gained a piece of land and a house in Kufa, one of the two chief Arab garrison towns of Iraq. The city was organized along tribal lines and al-Ash'ath lived in the Kindite neighborhood.[14] He vied for paramountcy over the Kindite soldiery of Kufa with another prominent member of the Banu Jabala, Shurahbil ibn Simt.[2] Shurahbil had gained favor with Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas, the founder and governor of Kufa, prompting al-Ash'ath to make intrigues with the prominent army leader Jarir al-Bajali, who lodged complaints about Shurahbil to Umar. The latter consequently ordered Shurahbil to Syria, and thus al-Ash'ath's leadership of the Kufan Kindites was assured.[26]

Caliph

qurra (Quran readers), to oppose Uthman.[28]

The opposition to Uthman culminated with

his assassination in 656. His successor, Caliph Ali (r. 656–661), drew the opposition of key Qurayshite leaders, who mobilized against him in Basra, the other major garrison town of Iraq. To better face this challenge, Ali established himself in Kufa. In the view of the historian Hugh N. Kennedy, it "helped" Ali that al-Ash'ath and other key tribal leaders were posted in Iran at the time and only returned to Kufa after Ali was widely recognized there.[29]

Role in the arbitration between Ali and Mu'awiya

Al-Ash'ath and his large tribal following served under Ali and commanded the right wing of the caliph's army at the

Mu'awiya ibn Abi Sufyan, the governor of Syria and opponent of Ali's caliphate, in 657.[30][29] The battle ended in an agreement to hold an arbitration over leadership of the caliphate. There was significant support among Ali's Iraqi partisans for settling the dispute, including from al-Ash'ath. He expressed alarm that the enemies of the Muslims would take advantage of their internal strife. Kennedy notes that al-Ash'ath's firsthand experience in Iran, which was yet to be pacified, guided his support for arbitration, as well as a desire not to strengthen Ali in view of his heavy reliance on the qurra and his patronization of a rival leader of the Kufan Kindites, Hujr ibn Adi.[31]

According to al-Tabari, al-Ash'ath influenced Ali's appointment of

Abd Allah ibn Abbas.[14] As the arbitration diminished Ali's standing and led to his downfall, al-Ash'ath is accused by later sources (especially pro-Shi'a ones) of being a traitor.[6][32] The real events remain unclear. Al-Ash'ath was certainly close to Ali's Umayyad rivals, and had no part in Uthman's murder. He thus likely felt that he could accommodate himself with them. In addition, considerations of tribal solidarity may have played a role in his advocacy of peace, as South Arabian tribes were numerous both in Iraq and in Syria, and thus would suffer from a continuation of the conflict.[6]

He nevertheless remained loyal to Ali, and his daughter

al-Hasan.[6] Ja'da is charged in some sources for poisoning and murdering al-Hasan, though the historian Asad Ahmed notes this "is very likely an elaboration of ʿAlīd propaganda against al-Ash'ath".[33] After Ali was assassinated in January 661, Mu'awiya soon after gained general recognition as caliph. Kennedy comments that his "triumph was the triumph" of the tribal chiefs of Kufa, especially al-Ash'ath and his son Muhammad, who prospered under the new regime, over their challengers, including Hujr ibn Adi, "who felt betrayed and resentful".[34]

Death and descendants

Al-Ash'ath died in Kufa in 661.

Abd al-Rahman, better known as Ibn al-Ash'ath, led a mass Iraqi revolt against the Umayyads in 700–701, which ended in defeat and the much diminished status of the Iraqi soldiery of Kufa and Basra.[35][36]

The family's political influence declined substantially by the time of its fourth generation. Two of Ishaq's sons, Muhammad and Uthman, joined the anti-Umayyad Iraqi rebellion of

Abbasids in 759, while a great-grandson of Ism'ail, Ishaq ibn al-Sabbah ibn Imran, served in the same capacity in 778–781 and briefly under Caliph Harun al-Rashid (r. 786–809). The prominent Arab philosopher, al-Kindi (d. 873), was a seventh-generation descendant of al-Ash'ath.[37]

Notes

  1. ^ Al-Ash'ath's full name and genealogy was Maʿdīkarib ibn Qays ibn Maʿdīkarib ibn Muʾāwiya ibn Jabala ibn ʿAdī ibn Rabīʿa ibn Muʾāwiya al-Akramīn ibn al-Ḥārith ibn Muʾāwiya ibn al-Ḥārith ibn Muʾāwiya ibn Thawr ibn Murattiʿ ibn Kinda.[1]
  2. ^ The 8th-century biographer of Muhammad, Ibn Ishaq, claims the Kindite delegation was composed of eighty men, a number which the modern historian Werner Caskel, considers exaggerated. The 8th-century historian Ibn Sa'd estimates the Kindite delegation as roughly a dozen-strong.[15]

References

  1. ^ Landau-Tasseron 1998, p. 87.
  2. ^ a b c d e Crone 1980, p. 110.
  3. ^ a b Madelung 1997, p. 193.
  4. ^ Lecker 1995, p. 639, note 20.
  5. ^ Reckendorf 1960, p. 696.
  6. ^ a b c d e f Blankinship 2009.
  7. ^ Lecker 1995, p. 642.
  8. ^ Lecker 1994, pp. 334–337, 346–347.
  9. ^ Lecker 1994, p. 348.
  10. ^ Lecker 1994, p. 337.
  11. ^ Lecker 1994, p. 334.
  12. ^ Reckendorf 1960, pp. 696–697.
  13. ^ Lecker 1995, p. 639.
  14. ^ a b c d e Landau-Tasseron 1998, p. 88.
  15. ^ Caskel 1966, p. 49.
  16. ^ Donner 1993, pp. 179–180.
  17. ^ a b Lecker 1994, p. 343.
  18. ^ Lecker 1994, p. 346.
  19. ^ Lecker 1994, p. 344.
  20. ^ Donner 1993, pp. 182–183.
  21. ^ Donner 1993, pp. 185–186.
  22. ^ Donner 1993, p. 188.
  23. ^ Kennedy 2004, pp. 57–58.
  24. ^ Kennedy 2004, pp. 66–67.
  25. ^ Kennedy 2004, p. 71.
  26. ^ Ahmed 2011, pp. 24–25.
  27. ^ Ibrahim 1990, p. 141.
  28. ^ Kennedy 2004, p. 73.
  29. ^ a b Kennedy 2004, p. 77.
  30. ^ Madelung 1997, p. 219.
  31. ^ Kennedy 2004, p. 78.
  32. ^ Reckendorf 1960, p. 697.
  33. ^ Ahmed 2011, p. 143.
  34. ^ Kennedy 2004, p. 84.
  35. ^ Veccia Vaglieri 1971, pp. 715–719.
  36. ^ Hawting 2000, pp. 67–70.
  37. ^ Crone 1980, p. 111.

Bibliography

Further reading
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