TRIBALISM AND POLITICAL CHANGE AS REFLECTED IN THE POETRY OF THE EARLY UMAYYAD PERIOD by MARZOUK IBN SUNITAN IBN TENBAK Submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Edinburgh October 1982 (t. UN/fr ii DECLARATION I declare that the composition , of this thesis is entirely my own work. Marzouk Ibn Sunitan Ibn Tenbak iii DEDICATION This thesis is dedicated to the memory of my beloved father who died shortly before its completion. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I would like to take this opportunity to express my deep gratitude to all those who have helped me during the course of my research. Above all, my deepest gratitude is to Dr. M. V. McDonald, my supervisor. Apart from his invaluable academic assistance and guidance throughout the period of my research, he has been extremely kind to me. He made himself available at every stage of the writing of this thesis and always offered invaluable advice. My appreciation and my thanks are also especially due to Dr. C. Hillenbrand for her helpfulness and advice regarding some. sections of the historical part of this thesis which she read and corrected. I must thank Miss I. Crawford, the Secretary of the Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies Department for her kindly help. I am indebted to my colleagues and friends whose friendship smoothed my stay in Britain, in particular cAwad Abü Muhammad, al-Qawzi who helped me in gaining admission to a British university, and then read and re- read the Arabic verses quoted in this thesis and gave much V practical help in their preparation for typing. I would also like to acknowledge my debt of gratitude to the authorities of the University of Riyadh (now the King Saud University) for providing me with a scholarship. I should also like to thank the staff of Edinburgh University Library for their assistance, in particular the staff of the Inter-library Loan Department. I owe much to my younger brother Muhammad for the encouragement and support he offered me throughout my stay in Britain, and particularly for looking after my family. vi TRANSLITERATION The method of transliteration adopted by the Department of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Edinburgh has been followed in this thesis. vii CONTENTS A Page No. Introduction 1 Chapter 1 THE PROBLEM OF SUCCESSION TO THE CALIPHATE 9 THE APPOINTMENT OF THE FIRST CALIPH 10 THE SECOND CALIPH 11 THE THIRD CALIPH 12 THE APPOINTMENT OF THE FOURTH CALIPH 14 THE CAREER OF MUCAWIYA 15 cALI'S MUCÄWIYA'S CHALLENGE TO CALIPHATE 17 THE PERIOD OF ANARCHY 21 KUFA 41 KHURÄSAN 43 KHURASAN UNDER SALM'S RULE 44 THE REVIVAL OF TRIBALISM 47 THE RISE OF MARWAN B. AL-HAKAM 49 THE SELECTION OF MARWAN 52 MARJ-RÄHIT 58 Chapter 2 THE TRIBAL GENEALOGY 68 ARAB TRIBAL ORGANIZATION 69 INTER-RELATIONSHIPS OF THE ARAB TRIBES 76 viii Page No. cADNÄN 78 79 SONS OF NIZAR 79 Mudar 80 Khindif 80 Qays CAylän An-Nas 81 Rabioa QAHTANITES 82 Himyar 82 Malik 82 THE DISPUTE ABOUT QUDACA'S DESCENT 85 8 7 Kahlän 88 Azd. Kinda 89 Chapter 3 THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE ARAB TRIBE S IN SYRIA 91 JUND HIMS °3 " JUND DIMASHQ j 95 JUND AL-URDÜNN 96 JUND FILASTIN 96 JUDHAM 99 CAMILA 99 KALB 100 GHASSÄN `t' 101 ix Page No. KINDA 102 QAYS 103 QAYS IN AL-JAZIRA 104 TAGHLIB 105 Chapter 4 TRIBAL CONFLICT 107 Chapter 5 THE ROLE OF POLITICAL POETRY IN ARAB 126 SOCIETY TO THE TIME OF cABD AL-MALIK POETRY IN THE PRE-ISLAMIC PERIOD 126 THE PARTISAN POETRY . 130 THE BEGINNING OF POLITICAL POETRY 133 THE CONFLICT BETWEEN THE EARLY ISLAMIC STATE AND THE POLYTHEISTS 137 THE POETRY OF THE OPPOSITION 145 THE CONQUESTS AND THE DECLINE OF POLITICAL POETRY 146' THE PERIOD OF DECLINE 146 THE RESUMPTION OF POLITICAL POETRY 150 THE TRIBAL POETS 159 Chapter 6 THE SOCIAL PROBLEMS 165 THE KHAWÄRIJ 172 X Page No. THE SHIcITE PARTY 180 THE POLITICAL POETRY OF THE RIVAL 191 CONTENDERS FOR POWER THE RE-ESTABLISHMENT OF UMAYYAD RULE 193 THE POETICAL CONTROVERSY BETWEEN THE 200 SUPPORTERS OF IBN AZ-ZUBAYR AND OF MARWAN 203 PRO-UMAYYAD POETRY ANTI-UMAYYAD POETRY OF THE PERIOD OF THE c^11 RE-ESTABLISHMENT OF THE UMAYYAD DYNASTY 215 THE PRO-ZUBAYRITE POETRY ANTI-ZUBAYRITE POETRY 220 Chapter 7 227 THE COMPETITION BETWEEN THE TRIBES IN SYRIA THE POETRY OF TRIBAL INCITEMENT 232 TAGHL IB 238 QAYS 244 Chapter 8 NEW THEMES CREATED BY THE POLITICAL POETRY 255 THE POETRY OF PEACE 266 CRITICISM OF CORRUPTION '271 DESCRIPTIONS OF POETS' ESCAPE FROM THE OPPRESSION OF THE AUTHORITIES 290 THE UNEQUAL DISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH BETWEEN QURAYSH AND THE TRIBESMEN 296 301 CONCLUSION :., xi Page No. ARABIC VERSES 307 BIBLIOGRAPHY 352 xii ABSTRACT First part: In the first few pages of the first chapter an attempt is made to summarise the succession to the caliphate from the death of the Prophet until the reign of Mucäwiya, with a brief discussion of the procedure which was, , adopted in, each case to ensure the succession of-the caliphs. The remainder of this chapter is devoted to, a study of. the situation in the Islamic state after the death of Yaold and the reaction of the people to this. Particular attention is paid to the connection between the way in which Mucäwiya forced his son upon the people and the problems which afflicted the country as a consequence of this act. The second chapter deals with the genealogy of the tribes, since the blood bond was considered by the Arabs to be the soundest relationship, on which to base their social organisations. In this chapter all tribes which played a significant role in this period are described and their supposed relationship to one another is indicated. The third chapter is an attempt to define the early Arab settlement in Syria and al-Jazira and classify the Arab inhabitants of each town and province in order to explain the backgrounds of the tribal conflicts over territory. xiii The last chapter of this part is a discussion of the tribal conflicts, particularly in Syria where the main confrontation between the contenders for power took place. The second part is divided into four chapters. The first deals with the role of political poetry. In this chapter an attempt is made to define when real political poetry started. A distinction is also drawn between political and tribal martial poetry. The role which the poets played in their society is examined both in the pre- Islamic period and that of Islam, in the light of the circumstances of both periods. Attention is paid to the gradual development of society and its influence on the political poetry, particularly in the Umayyad period. The second chapter is concerned with the contribution of poets to social and political problems which developed in the Umayyad period. The views of each rival contender for power are examined insofar as they are revealed in verse, as are the various opinions and the backgrounds of each group. The third chapter is devoted to the tribal competition for power in the early Umayyad period. The different approaches which each tribe adopted to achieve their goal are pointed out, as are the ways in which they reacted after they had been forced to accept the Umayyads. Yemen, xiv 0 Taghlib and Qays in Syria were involved in this competition and an extensive selection of verses are quoted to support our argument. The final chapter deals with the policies of the cAbd Umayyads after al-Malik had established himself and was recognised as the universal Caliph. First we have examined the reaction of his former supporters, Yemen, as it appears in their poetry. After this we have tried to assess the poets' role as defenders of their community against governmental policy, on the one hand, or on the other as supporters of the Umayyads and upholders of their policies. In this chapter we study the ways in which poets criticised corrupt leaders, governors, and caliphs, drew attention to their misbehaviour and neglect of their responsibilities, and accused them of exploiting their position in order to achieve purely personal interests. xv ABBREVIATIONS CAlisha Qiyam Jadida li-ash-Shirr al- c Arabi al-Qadim wa-al-Hadith, by cÄ'isha cAbd-ar-Rahmän. Abu Basir a1-Acshä al-Kitäb al-. Munir fi Shi°r Abi Basir ed. 'Geyner. Abis Musa Abü Müsä al-AshCari, by Muhammad Dawla. Abu Tammam Na ä'id Jarir wa-al-Akhtal, by Abü Tammäm. Adab al-MuCtazila Adab al-MuCtazila i1ä Nihäyat al-Garn ar-Räbic al-Hijri, CAbd by al-Hakim BulbuC. ýAdnän cAdnän Nasab wa Qahtän, by al-Mubarrid. Aghani Kitäb al-Aghäni, by Abü al-Faraj al-Asfahäni. x vi Akhbär al-Akhbär at-Tiwä1, by ad-Daynawari. al-Akhtal al-Akhtal Shäcir Bani Umayya, by Ghäzi as-Sayyid. al-Hajjäj al-Hajjij b. Yusuf ath-Thagafi by Ihsän al-cAmd. cAmili Acyä, n ash-Shica, by Muhsin al-cAmi1i. Ansäb Ansäb al-Ashräf, by al-Balädhuri. cAsabiyya al-CAsabiyya al-Qabaliyya wa Atharuhä fi ash-ShiCr al-Umawi, by Ihsän an-Nuss. A äm Ayyäm al-'Arab fi al-Jähiliyya, by al-Bajawi. Bakri MuCjam Mä Istacjam min Asmä. ' al- Buldän wa-al-Mawädic, by al-Bakri. Basra ShiCr al-Basra fi al-°Asr al- cAwn Umawi, by ash-Sharif Q sim. xvii Bayän al-Bayän wa-at-Tabyin, by al-Jahiz. Bukhäri Sahih al-Bukhäri, Buhturi al-Hamäsa, by al-Buhturi. Buldän Kitab MuCjam al-Buldän, by Yaqüt al-Hamawl. Dimashq Tärikh Dimashq, by Ibn CAsäkir.