Banu Thaqif
Banu Thaqif بنو ثقيف | |
---|---|
Arabs | |
Ta'if, Saudi Arabia | |
Descended from | Hawazin, Qays |
Language | Arabic |
Religion | Islam |
The Banu Thaqif (
During the pre-Islamic period, the Thaqif rivaled and cooperated with the Quraysh tribe of Mecca in trade and land ownership. The tribe initially opposed the Islamic prophet Muhammad, but following the Muslim siege of Ta'if in 630, they came to terms and embraced Islam. The Thaqif's inter-tribal networks and their relatively high education helped them quickly advance in the nascent Muslim state. They took on an especially important role in the conquest and administration of Iraq, providing the Rashidun and Umayyad caliphs capable and powerful governors for that province and the eastern Caliphate.
Among their notable governors in Iraq were
Origins
The Thaqif is a branch of the Hawazin, a major tribal grouping of the Qays,[1] but is often counted separately from the Hawazin in the traditional Arabic sources.[2] According to Arab genealogical tradition, the progenitor of the Thaqif was Qasi ibn Munabbih ibn Bakr ibn Hawazin, whose epithet was 'Thaqif'.[3] This supposed genealogy made them 'nephews' of the Banu Sa'd and cousins of the Banu Nasr and Banu Amir.
The Thaqif may have adopted their descent from Hawazin to secure an alliance with the nomadic Hawazin tribe of Banu Amir. Before this, when the Thaqif lived in the outskirts of
Unlike its nomadic Hawazin counterparts, the Thaqif was a settled, or 'urban', tribe from the
Branches
The Thaqif was divided into two sections: the more prestigious Banu Malik or Banu Hutayt, which consisted of the Malik ibn Hutayt clan of the Jusham branch, and the Ahlaf ('Allies'), which consisted of the rest of the Jusham branch and all of the Awf branch. Though there were often clashes between the two sides, by the eve of the Muslim capture of Ta'if in 630 the two sides were on relatively equal footing in their control of Ta'if.[1]
Early Muslim period
Relations with Muhammad
The Thaqif contributed some men to the Quraysh against Muhammad during the Battle of Badr in 624.[6] After Muhammad captured Mecca and gained the submission of the Quraysh, his emergent Muslim polity came under threat by the Thaqif in Ta'if and the tribe's nomadic Hawazin confederates. They viewed with alarm the greatly boosted position of Muhammad, now with their chief rival, the Quraysh, behind him.[7] Muhammad moved to subdue the Thaqif and Hawazin in the ensuing Battle of Hunayn. The Thaqif–Hawazin coalition under Malik ibn Awf al-Nasri gained an early advantage but the tide turned and the Muslims routed the coalition, taking thousands of Hawazin women and children captive and considerable booty. The Muslims proceeded to besiege Ta'if, where many of the Bedouin warriors of the Hawazin took refuge.[8] Many of the Qurayshites in the Muslim army were motivated to prevent the Thaqafites from capturing their estates near Ta'if. When the siege faltered, Muhammad succeeded in turning Malik ibn Awf and his Bedouin warriors against the Thaqif and they blockaded the roads leading into Ta'if.[1]
The siege compelled the Thaqif to send a delegation led by one of their chiefs, Abd Yalil, to Muhammad to negotiate their conversion to Islam.[1][9] After the submission of the Thaqif, its idols in Ta'if were destroyed and the tribe lost the religious prestige it previously held as the idols' guardians.[7] Despite their defeat, the Thaqif became firmly incorporated into the Muslim community and, in the words of the historian Hugh N. Kennedy, Muhammad had "secured the allegiance and services" of another "able and experienced group" as he had done with the Quraysh.[7] As with the latter, the Thaqafites marshaled their political knowhow and tribal contacts in service of the Muslim state as its formed and expanded its territory.[7]
Role in the conquest of Iraq
Among the Thaqafite delegates to Muhammad was
While the overall command in Iraq eventually passed to the Qurayshite companion of Muhammad,
Administration of Iraq and the east
The literacy of the Thaqif in the pre-Islamic and early Islamic periods was on par with the Quraysh, and was a key factor in the Muslim state's recruitment of Thaqafite tribesmen to important administrative positions.[5] Al-Mughira founded the tax administration in Basra,[13] and was later appointed governor of Kufa in 642, remaining in the post until he was dismissed in 645. Knowledgeable in Persian, the language of the bureaucracy in Iraq, and having gained considerable experience among the Arab tribal soldiery who settled in Iraq, he was reappointed by Caliph Mu'awiya I (r. 661–680) as governor of Kufa in 661 and held office until his death in 671.[14]
Through al-Mughira's good offices with the caliph, he secured the pardon of his protege, the adoptive Thaqafite Ziyad ibn Abihi, in 664.[15] Ziyad had been educated by al-Mughira's cousin, Jubayr ibn Hayya ibn Mas'ud ibn Mu'attib, who served a secretarial position in the Iraqi administration.[5] Ziyad became the powerful governor of Basra in 665, and after al-Mughira's death, was assigned the governorship of Kufa as well, making him the viceroy of Iraq and the eastern Caliphate. He enacted major reforms to Iraq's military organization and restarted the Muslim conquests into Central Asia. After his death in 673, he was succeeded by his son Ubayd Allah ibn Ziyad, while several more of his sons gained deputy governorships and important commands.[15] Their education, experience with Iraqi affairs, and close ties with the Quraysh, particularly its Umayyad house, well-positioned the Thaqafites to administer Iraq and its eastern dependencies under the Umayyad caliphs. According to Kennedy, Mu'awiya contracted the governance of Iraq and the east "to what must have been seen as a Thaqafi mafia".[15]
The Umayyad caliph
Modern
During his travels to Arabia, including Ta'if, Johann Ludwig Burckhardt noted that the Thaqif remained "a very powerful tribe" which controlled most of Ta'if's gardens and agricultural lands, as well as elsewhere along the eastern ridges of the Hejaz mountains. They constituted half of Ta'if's inhabitants at that time, while part of the tribe lived as Bedouins outside of the city where they possessed large herds of goats and sheep. Militarily, they lacked horses and camels, but could mobilize some two thousand riflemen equipped with matchlocks.[19] In the present day, members of the Thaqif, both settled and nomadic, continue to reside in Ta'if.[1]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g Lecker 2000, p. 432.
- ^ Watt 1971, p. 285.
- ^ Lecker 2016.
- ^ Lecker 2016, pp. 88–89.
- ^ a b c d Lecker 2016, p. 84.
- ^ Kennedy 2004, p. 37.
- ^ a b c d Kennedy 2004, p. 43.
- ^ Lammens & Kamal 1971, p. 578.
- ^ Lecker 2016, p. 83.
- ^ Ishaq 1945, p. 109.
- ^ Kennedy 2004, p. 66.
- ^ Kennedy 2004, pp. 67, 76.
- ^ Lecker 2016, p. 84, note 652.
- ^ Kennedy 2004, p. 84.
- ^ a b c Kennedy 2004, pp. 85–86.
- ^ Kennedy 2004, p. 100.
- ^ Crone 1994, p. 17.
- ^ Crone 1980, pp. 131, 133, 135.
- ^ Burckhardt 2010, pp. 44–45.
Bibliography
- Burckhardt, Johann Ludwig (2010) [1830]. Notes on the Bedouins and Wahabys: Collected During His Travels in the East. New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-108-02290-3.
- ISBN 0-521-52940-9.
- Crone, Patricia (1994). "Were the Qays and Yemen of the Umayyad Period Political Parties?". Der Islam. 71 (1). Walter de Gruyter and Co.: 1–57. S2CID 154370527.
- Ishaq, Mohammad (1945). "A Peep Into the First Arab Expeditions to India under the Companions of the Prophet". Islamic Culture. 19 (2): 109–114.
- ISBN 978-0-582-40525-7.
- Kister, M. J. "Some Reports Concerning Ta'if". Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam.
- OCLC 495469525.
- Lecker, M. (2000). "Thakīf". In ISBN 978-90-04-11211-7.
- Lecker, Michael (2016) [2005]. People, Tribes and Society in Arabia Around the Time of Muhammad. Abingdon: Routledge. ISBN 0-86078-963-2.
- Watt, W. Montgomery (1971). "Hawāzin". In OCLC 495469525.