Sa'id ibn Qays al-Hamdani was a governor and commander during the reigns of caliphs

Uthman Uthman ibn Affan ( ar, عثمان بن عفان, ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān; – 17 June 656), also spelled by Colloquial Arabic, Turkish language, Turkish and Persian language, Persian rendering Osman, was a second cousin, son-in-law and nota ...

and Ali and a tribal chief of the South Arabian

Hamdan Hamdan ( ar, حمدان ') is a name of Arab origin of aristocratic descent and many political ties within the middle east and the Arab World, controlling import/export mandates over port authorities. Among people named Hamdan include: Given nam ...

and

Himyarite The Himyarite Kingdom ( ar, مملكة حِمْيَر, Mamlakat Ḥimyar, he, ממלכת חִמְיָר), or Himyar ( ar, حِمْيَر, ''Ḥimyar'', / 𐩹𐩧𐩺𐩵𐩬) (fl. 110 BCE–520s CE), historically referred to as the Homerit ...

tribesmen of

Kufa Kufa ( ar, الْكُوفَة ), also spelled Kufah, is a city in Iraq, about south of Baghdad, and northeast of Najaf. It is located on the banks of the Euphrates River. The estimated population in 2003 was 110,000. Currently, Kufa and Naja ...

during this period and under the first Umayyad caliphs.

Life

Sa'id ibn Qays belonged to the Sabi' branch of the South Arabian

tribe and was a purported descendant of a

king. This ancestor, Zayd ibn Marib ibn Ma'dikarib, was noted by the South Arabian tradition for having killed and replaced the king of the

Bawn A bawn is the defensive wall surrounding an Irish tower house. It is the anglicised version of the Irish word ''bábhún'' (sometimes spelt ''badhún''), possibly meaning "cattle-stronghold" or "cattle-enclosure".See alternative traditional ...

region of northern Yemen during the pre-Islamic period (pre-7th century). Sa'id fought in the

early Muslim conquests The early Muslim conquests or early Islamic conquests ( ar, الْفُتُوحَاتُ الإسْلَامِيَّة, ), also referred to as the Arab conquests, were initiated in the 7th century by Muhammad, the main Islamic prophet. He estab ...

and became one of the leading tribal nobles of

, one of the two main Arab garrison towns of Iraq. During the reign of Caliph

(), he served as governor of Rayy and Hamadhan in Iran. Under Uthman's Iraq-based successor, Caliph Ali (), he led the Hamdani and Himyarite contingent of the caliph's Kufan forces during the First Muslim Civil War. In this capacity, he led his men in the battles of the Camel (656) near

Basra Basra ( ar, ٱلْبَصْرَة, al-Baṣrah) is an Iraqi city located on the Shatt al-Arab. It had an estimated population of 1.4 million in 2018. Basra is also Iraq's main port, although it does not have deep water access, which is han ...

and Siffin (657) on the frontier of Syria, as well as another campaign under Ali in 661. He is mentioned as one of the chiefs of the Yaman (South Arabians) during the reigns of the

Umayyad The Umayyad Caliphate (661–750 CE; , ; ar, ٱلْخِلَافَة ٱلْأُمَوِيَّة, al-Khilāfah al-ʾUmawīyah) was the second of the four major caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. The caliphate was ruled by the ...

caliphs

Mu'awiya I Mu'awiya I ( ar, معاوية بن أبي سفيان, Muʿāwiya ibn Abī Sufyān; –April 680) was the founder and first caliph of the Umayyad Caliphate, ruling from 661 until his death. He became caliph less than thirty years after the deat ...

() and

Yazid I Yazid ibn Mu'awiya ibn Abi Sufyan ( ar, يزيد بن معاوية بن أبي سفيان, Yazīd ibn Muʿāwiya ibn ʾAbī Sufyān; 64611 November 683), commonly known as Yazid I, was the second caliph of the Umayyad Caliphate. He ruled from ...

().

Descendants

Sa'id was the maternal grandfather of the Kufan tribal noble, prominent commander and rebel leader Ibn al-Ash'ath. During the Second Muslim Civil War (683–692), when the Umayyads lost control of Iraq, Sa'id's son Abd al-Rahman served as a governor under the Kufan rebel ruler

al-Mukhtar Al-Mukhtar ibn Abi Ubayd al-Thaqafi ( ar, المختار بن أبي عبيد الثقفي, '; – 3 April 687) was a pro- Alid revolutionary based in Kufa, who led a rebellion against the Umayyad Caliphate in 685 and ruled over most of Iraq ...

but defected to the Zubayrid ruler of Basra,

Mus'ab ibn al-Zubayr Muṣʿab ibn al-Zubayr ( ar, مصعب بن الزبير; died October 691) was the governor of Basra in 686–691 for his brother, the Mecca-based counter-caliph Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr, during the Second Fitna. Mus'ab was a son of Zubayr ib ...

. He was killed during the latter's attempt to wrest control of Kufa from al-Mukhtar. Abd al-Rahman's son, Muhammad, lacked his father's and grandfather's authority over the Hamdan, who mostly sided with al-Mukhtar, and he and Ibn al-Ash'ath harshly punished al-Mukhtar's Kufan supporters when they conquered Kufa in 686. Muhammad later defected to the Umayyad caliph

Abd al-Malik Abdul Malik ( ar, عبد الملك) is an Arabic (Muslim or Christian) male given name and, in modern usage, surname. It is built from the Arabic words '' Abd'', ''al-'' and '' Malik''. The name means "servant of the King", in the Christian insta ...

(), while another grandson of Sa'id, Jarir ibn Hashim, joined Ibn al-Ash'ath's rebellion against Abd al-Malik in 700–701.

References

Bibliography

* * *{{The History of al-Tabari, volume=23 7th-century Arabs Governors of the Rashidun Caliphate Banu Hamdan People of the First Fitna People of the Muslim conquest of Persia