Banu Lakhm

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Banu Lakhm
(
Arabic: بنو لخم)
Kahlan, Qahtanite
NisbaAl-Lakhmī
LocationLower Mesopotamia (4th–7th centuries)
Southern Syria and Palestine (4th–9th centuries)
Descended fromMalik ibn 'Adiyy
ReligionPolytheism, later Islam

The Banu Lakhm (

Arab tribe best known for its ruling Nasrid, or more commonly, 'Lakhmid', house, which ruled as the Sasanian Empire
's vassal kings in the buffer zone with the nomadic Arab tribes of northern and eastern Arabia.

Iraq

Main article:
Lakhmids

The Lakhm is best known for its Nasrid, or more commonly '

Lakhmid', house, which ruled a vassal kingdom of the Persian Sasanian Empire in the 4th–6th centuries from its capital in al-Hira in Iraq (lower Mesopotamia). The founder of the Lakhmids' kingdom was Amr ibn Adi ibn Nasr, who is identified as the 'Amr ibn Lakhm' mentioned in two pre-Islamic inscriptions, one in Pahlavi/Parthian and the other in Coptic. His reign is traditionally dated to c. 293–302 CE.[1]

Amr's successor, his son Imru al-Qays ibn Amr, initially ruled over the Arab tribes of the upper Euphrates and the Syrian Desert before converting to Christianity and defecting to the Roman Empire.[2] Little is heard again of the Lakhmids of Iraq until the 5th century. Irfan Shahid suspects this part of the tribe either migrated back to Iraq around that time or had remained there, not accompanying their king Imru al-Qays and the rest of the Lakhm to Syria (see below).[3]

Lakhmid kings re-emerge in the 5th century as commanders in Sasanian campaigns against the Byzantines, rulers over the Arab tribes of northern Arabia, one-time power players in Sasanian succession politics, and builders of palaces in al-Hira. Lakhmid history in the 6th century was marked by the long reign of king al-Mundhir III (r. 503–554), who helped extend and protect Sasanian influence in southern and western Arabia, and the war with the Byzantines' Arab vassals, the Ghassanids of Syria. The last Lakhmid king, al-Nu'man III (r. 580–602) embraced Christianity and was assassinated by the Sasanian emperor Khosrow II. This brought an end to the Lakhmid kingdom, which inadvertently removed the Persians' bulwark against the Arab tribes in the deserts around Iraq and ultimately paved the way for the Arab Muslim conquest of Iraq in the 630s.[2]

Syria and Palestine

Byzantine period

According to the historians

Irfan Shahid, the Lakhm's arrival to Syria dates to the 4th century, evidencing this on the Namara inscription, the epitaph of Imru al-Qays ibn Amr found in southern Syria, which is dated to 328 CE.[3]

The Lakhm of Syria dwelt in the southern parts of the region, near and among the tribes of

Arabah Valley and Dead Sea up to the approaches of the Balqa. Part of the Lakhm also lived in southern Palestine, west of the Dead Sea.[4]

Early Islamic period

The Islamic prophet

Battle of Mu'ta in c. 629 and were targeted, along with other Byzantine-allied Christian Arab tribes, in the Muslim raid on Tabuk in c. 630. At least ten men of the Lakhm's Banu al-Dar clan, including the famous Tamim al-Dari, conferred with Muhammad in his capital Medina and converted to Islam.[4] To these men of the Banu al-Dar, Muhammad granted lands in southern Palestine, including Hebron and its surroundings, though these lands were under Byzantine control at the time and the grant only took effect after the Muslim conquest.[5] Another clan of the tribe, the Banu Hadas, also refrained from joining the rest of the Lakhm at Mu'ta, though information about them is sketchy. In general, the bulk of the Lakhm stood with Byzantium.[4]

During the Muslim conquest of Syria, Lakhm tribesmen were counted in the ranks of the Arab tribal fighters led by the

Battle of Yarmouk in 636.[6] Groups of the Lakhm were also counted in the Muslims' ranks as well.[7] In the assessment of the historian Fred Donner, pre-existing divisions and rivalries within the Lakhm likely explains the participation of Lakhm tribesmen on both the Byzantine and Muslim sides at Yarmouk.[8] The unclear allegiance of the Lakhm and Judham during the conquest is reflected in Caliph Umar's order to exclude them from shares in the war spoils around 638, which otherwise were to be equally divided among the Arab tribes in the Muslim ranks.[9] Nonetheless, the Lakhm's and Judham's presence on the Muslim army's pay roles indicates they were incorporated into the Muslim polity by this time.[10]

Throughout the first century of Islamic rule, the Lakhm are almost always counted with the Judham as a single group in the sources. In the

Umayyad caliph Yazid I, in the Syrian army which suppressed anti-Umayyad rebellions in the Hejaz (Medina and Mecca) in 682–683.[3]

Along with the Judham, and the tribes of

al-Ya'qubi, also names the constituents of the Arab tribes in Palestine as Lakhm, Judham, and Kinana, but omits the others, instead adding the Amila, Kinda, and Qays.[11] The 10th-century historian al-Muhallabi mentions that Rafah, south of Gaza, was dominated by the Lakhm and Judham, though it is not clear which time period he is describing.[12]

While the Lakhm of Syria and Palestine was almost invariably tied with the Judham, their nisba (epithet) continued to evoke honor due to "its archaic flavour, the glorious memories which it recalled" of the kings of al-Hira, according to Lammens.[3] As late as the 9th and 10th centuries, notable figures in Palestine continued to claim descent from the tribe, such as the scholar Sulayman ibn Ahmad al-Tabarani of Tiberias[13] and messianic anti-Abbasid rebel al-Mubarqa.[14]

References

  1. ^ Schiettecatte & Arbach 2016, p. 16.
  2. ^ a b Bosworth 2012.
  3. ^ a b c d e Lammens & Shahid 1986, p. 632.
  4. ^ a b c Donner 1981, p. 105.
  5. ^ Donner 1981, pp. 97–98.
  6. ^ Donner 1981, p. 132.
  7. ^ Donner 1981, p. 133.
  8. ^ Donner 1981, p. 148.
  9. ^ Donner 1981, pp. 132, 320 note 167, 321 note 285.
  10. ^ Athamina 1994, p. 267.
  11. ^ Gil 1997, p. 133.
  12. ^ Gil 1997, p. 204, note 78.
  13. ^ Gil 1997, p. 132, note 127.
  14. ^ Gil 1997, p. 295.

Bibliography

  • Athamina, Khalil (1994). "The Appointment and Dismissal of Khālid b. al-Walīd from the Supreme Command: A Study of the Political Strategy of the Early Muslim Caliphs in Syria". Arabica. 41 (2): 253–272.
    JSTOR 4057449
    .
  • ISBN 0-691-05327-8
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  • ISBN 0-521-59984-9
    .
  • Bosworth, C. Edmund (2012) [2000]. "Lakhmids". Encyclopaedia Iranica.
  • ISBN 978-90-04-07819-2
    .
  • Schiettecatte, Jérémie; Arbach, Mounir (2016). "The Political Map of Arabia and the Middle East in the 3rd Century AD Revealed by a Sabaean Inscription - A View from the South". Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy. 2: 176–196.
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