The Qays–Yaman rivalry refers to the rivalry between the tribal factions of Qays–Mudar and the Yaman. The history of the rivalry centers mainly within the armies and administrations of the Umayyad Caliphate in the 7th and 8th centuries, but persisted to varying degrees among the Arabs through Ottoman rule (1517–1918). Membership in either faction was rooted in the genealogical origins of the tribes, real or perceived, which divided them into south Arabian descendants of Qahtan (the Yaman) or north Arabian descendants of Adnan (Qays–Mudar).
The tribes which constituted the Yaman, most prominently the Kalb, Ghassanids, Tanukh and Judham, were well-established throughout the Syria (the Levant) since the pre-Islamic period, while the Qaysi tribes, namely the Sulaym, Banu Amir and Ghatafan migrated to northern Syria and Upper Mesopotamia with the Muslim armies in the 7th century. The feud did not effectively take shape until after the reign of Caliph Mu'awiya I (), who, along with his Sufyanid descendants, were tied to the Kalb, the leading tribe of Yaman, through marriage and military dependence. When the last Sufyanid caliph died in 684, the Kalb and its allies resolved to ensure continued Umayyad rule to maintain their stately privileges, while the Qays backed Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr's bid for the caliphate. That year, the Kalb routed the Qays at the Battle of Marj Rahit, leading to years of revenge-driven, tit-for-tat raids known as ayyam (days) because the battles were typically day-long affairs.
By 693, the raids had largely subsided as the Qays reconciled with the Umayyads under Caliph Abd al-Malik and were incorporated into the state. The Umayyads thereafter attempted to balance the powers and privileges of both factions, but the rivalry smoldered until the Third Muslim Civil War, in which the Yaman assassinated Caliph al-Walid II () for his dependence on the Qays. Yamani opposition continued under Caliph Marwan II (), and they defected to the Abbasids as the latter conquered the Umayyad realm in 750. The Yaman and Qays briefly joined forces against the Abbasids later that year, but were defeated. The Qays–Yaman rivalry diminished significantly under the Abbasids who, unlike the Umayyads, did not derive the bulk of their military support from either faction. Nonetheless, the feud persisted at the local level to varying degrees in the following centuries, which saw occasional outbreaks of Qaysi–Yamani violence.
During the Ottoman period, the rivalry resurged in Mount Lebanon and Palestine, and affiliation with either faction transcended ethnicity and religion and was made by families with little consideration to genuine tribal lineage. In Mount Lebanon, the feud was mostly fought out between different Druze clans until the Battle of Ain Dara in 1711 led to the near complete exodus of Yamani Druze. Across Palestine, the rivalry encompassed Bedouin tribesmen, peasant clans and townspeople. Most actual fighting took place in Nablus and its hinterland and the area around Jerusalem. The feud gradually dissipated with the growth of Ottoman centralization in the mid-19th century.
Origins Genealogical differences The origins of the Qays–Yaman division were traditionally based on an Arab tribe's northern or southern Arabian roots, real or perceived; the Qays were from northern Arabia, while the Yaman were from southern Arabia. Genealogically, the northern tribes were traditionally said to descend from Ishmael while the southern tribes were said to descend from Qahtan. Historical Arab sources sometimes referred to the southern Arabs as Qahtāniyya (Qahtanites), but more often called them () or (). Northern Arabs were seldom referred to as 'Ishmaelites', possibly because that became a general term for all Arabs. Specifically, the northerners were described as Adnanites after Adnan, a descendant of Ishmael, or called after Adnan's descendant Nizar (). Most commonly, the northerners were called after Nizar's son Mudar () or one of Mudar's descendant, Qays (). Not all the northern Arabs were labeled under 'Mudar' or 'Qays'; the Rabi`ah, another branch of the Nizar whose traditional homeland was eastern Arabia, vacillated in alliance between Qays/Mudar and Yaman, and historical sources often referred to them as a third party to the Qays–Yaman feud.
There is no mention of hostility between the two tribal groupings in pre-Islamic Arab tradition. The Qays did not function as a tribal confederation before the advent of Islam, and in ancient Arab histories, the tribes that formed the confederation were mentioned individually rather than as a collective. According to historian W. Montgomery Watt, it was during the Umayyad period (661–750) that the Arab tribes organized themselves along northern (Qaysi) and southern (Yamani) lines "so as to constitute something like a political party". The rivalry between Yaman and Qays may have stemmed from competition over grazing rights in Syria following the conquest. However, open conflict between them occurred only during the Second Muslim Civil War (680–692).
Geographical distribution
During the Umayyad and Abbasid eras, one of the bases of the Qays–Yaman division was geographical. Syria was divided into five military-administrative districts (ajnad; sing. jund): Filastin centered around Ramla; al-Urdunn centered around Tiberias; Dimashq centered around Damascus; Hims centered around Hims; and Qinnasrin centered around Chalcis.
Traditionally, it is held that the Yamani tribes inhabited the southern ajnad of Syria, namely Filastin and al-Urdunn, "but the reality was more complex", according to historian Paul M. Cobb. Al-Urdunn was dominated by the Yaman, particularly the Ash'ar tribe, but Filastin was an abode for Yamani and Qaysi tribes, who viewed the district as particularly profitable.Gil, p. 133. By the end of the Umayyad era, however, Yaman apparently was the predominant faction in Filastin. The tribes of Dimashq, which included the regions of Ghutah, Hawran and Transjordan and was even more profitable than Filastin, were predominantly Yamani, though a significant Qaysi minority existed. The Yaman also dominated Hims, including the Palmyrene steppe, while the Qays dominated Qinnasrin, along with Upper Mesopotamia (known by Arabs as al-Jazirah) and the Byzantine frontier as far as Armenia.
Some of the Yamani tribes, including the Kalb, Tanukh, and Judham, had settled in Syria prior to the 7th-century Muslim conquest. Well-established in their regions, many of the Yamani tribes formed alliances with the Byzantine Empire, which controlled the region prior to the Muslim conquest, and embraced Christianity;Rihan 2014, p. 179. some sections of certain Yamani tribes remained Christian following the Muslim conquest.Kennedy, p. 80. Many of the Qays tribes, particularly the Kilab, Sulaym and Uqayl, were moved to Upper Mesopotamia from Arabia by the Umayyad caliph, Mu'awiya I (r. 661–680). At the same time, a number of Yamani tribes in Mu'awiya's army, such as the Kindah and the Hadhrami, joined other established Yamani tribes around Homs.Kennedy, pp. 79–80.
Meanwhile, the Qays/Mudar–Yaman conflict in Iraq, specifically Basra, was rooted in the mass migration of southern Azd tribesmen from Oman to Basra just prior to the Second Muslim Civil War.Crone 1994, p. 3.Hawting 2000, p. 54. Before then, Basra was dominated by northern tribesmen from the Mudar faction, led by the Tamim tribe, and the Rabi'ah faction. The Azd became allies with Rabi'ah, despite the latter's northern roots. With this, the "parties had been formed for future conflict", according to historian G. R. Hawting. Moreover, because the Arab troops of Khurasan came from the Basra garrison, the Qays/Mudar–Yaman conflict carried over into that vast eastern province of the caliphate. The migration of Qaysi tribes to northern Syria and Upper Mesopotamia and of the Yamani Azd to Basra upset the tribal balance of power in these regions, which significantly influenced the Qays/Mudar–Yaman feud.Hawting 2000, p. 55.
Umayyad era Battle of Marj Rahit
It is likely the Qays and Yaman factions firmly took shape after Mu'awiya I's reign;Watt 1991, p. 834. previously, differences between Qaysi and Yamani tribes were "fairly harmless", according to historian Hugh N. Kennedy.Kennedy, p. 79. Mu'awiya's reliance on Kalb troops and his son Yazid's mother being Kalbi caused unease among Qays chieftains. Meanwhile, political disarray spread throughout the caliphate in the wake of Caliph Yazid's death in 683 and his successor Mu'awiya II several weeks later.Kennedy 2004, pp. 77–78. There were no obvious successors among the ruling Sufyanid branch of the Umayyad dynasty, which the Kalb were determined to preserve so as to maintain the administrative and military privileges they acquired under them.Kennedy 2004, p. 78 Thus, the Kalb's chieftain, Hassan ibn Malik ibn Bahdal, assembled the representatives of the Yamani tribes of Syria for a shura (council) in Jabiyah wherein they chose an Umayyad outsider, Marwan (r. 684–685), to be the next caliph;Kennedy 2004, pp. 78–79. Marwan made significant political concessions to the Kalb, which drove the Qays, led by the governor of Damascus, al-Dahhak ibn Qays al-Fihri, to back Abdullah ibn Zubayr's claim to the caliphate.
Marwan and the Kalb set up camp at Marj Rahit, overlooking al-Dahhak's Damascus headquarters, and were soon joined by the Yamani Ghassanids and Kindah.Hawting, p. 59. Other Yamani tribes that joined Marwan were the Tayy, al-Qayn and Tanukh.Hawting, pp. 60–61. As the Qays under al-Dahhak marched toward Marwan's camp, a Ghassanid scion, Yazid ibn Abi al-Nims, led a revolt in Damascus that drove al-Dahhak's men out of the city.Hawting, pp. 59-60. The two factions then fought at the Battle of Marj Rahit, which lasted twenty days, beginning on 18 August 684. The far more numerous Qays were routed and many of them were killed as they retreated, including al-Dahhak and eighty other Qaysi notables. The survivors among the Qays, led by Zufar ibn al-Harith al-Kilabi of 'Amir, fled north to the Euphrates town of al-Qarqisiyah, while Marwan was made caliph in Damascus.
The Battle of Marj Rahit firmly divided the Arab tribes of Syria into Yaman or Qays. According to Kennedy, the "Qays had many dead to avenge and the feud was to continue for generations", while Marwan "would be entirely dependent on the ... Yamani tribes who had elected him". Indeed, the Yaman helped Marwan assert his rule in Egypt and smoothly managed the accession of his son, Abd al-Malik (r. 685–705), following Marwan's death in 685. The Yamani leaders, Ibn Bahdal of Kalb and Rawh ibn Zinba of Judham, were Abd al-Malik's main supporters, other than his kinsmen. All the while, the Qays in Upper Mesopotamia and northern Syria under Zufar's leadership remained steadfastly behind Ibn Zubayr, and stymied the expansion of Umayyad authority to Zubayrid-held Iraq.Kennedy 2004, p. 81.
Ayyam raids