Dhu al-Kala Samayfa ibn Nakur al-Himyari () was a commander of the

Muslim conquest of Syria The Muslim conquest of the Levant (; ), or Arab conquest of Syria, was a 634–638 CE invasion of Byzantine Syria by the Rashidun Caliphate. A part of the wider Arab–Byzantine wars, the Levant was brought under Arab Muslim rule and developed ...

in the 630s and leader of the

Himyar Himyar was a polity in the southern highlands of Yemen, as well as the name of the region which it claimed. Until 110 BCE, it was integrated into the Qatabanian kingdom, afterwards being recognized as an independent kingdom. According to class ...

tribe in Islamic Syria and founder of its noble household, the Dhu al-Kala. He was based in the city of

Homs Homs ( ; ), known in pre-Islamic times as Emesa ( ; ), is a city in western Syria and the capital of the Homs Governorate. It is Metres above sea level, above sea level and is located north of Damascus. Located on the Orontes River, Homs is ...

where the Himyar and other Yemenite tribes dominated the Muslim garrison and heeded Samayfa over the overall governor of Syria,

Mu'awiya ibn Abi Sufyan Mu'awiya I (–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 death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and immediately after the four Rashid ...

. He fought as one of the elite commanders in the latter's army at the

Battle of Siffin The Battle of Siffin () was fought in 657 CE (37 Islamic calendar, AH) between the fourth Rashidun caliph Ali ibn Abi Talib and the rebellious governor of Syria (region), Syria Muawiyah I, Mu'awiya ibn Abi Sufyan. The battle is named after its ...

and his death in combat led to the Himyar's decline in Syria.

Life

Samayfa is first mentioned in the historical record as the head of the Dhu al-Kala family, the most powerful in Yemen in the days of the Islamic prophet

Muhammad Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. Muhammad in Islam, According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the tawhid, monotheistic teachings of A ...

, during the caliphate of

Abu Bakr Abd Allah ibn Abi Quhafa (23 August 634), better known by his ''Kunya (Arabic), kunya'' Abu Bakr, was a senior Sahaba, companion, the closest friend, and father-in-law of Muhammad. He served as the first caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate, ruli ...

(). He participated in the

in the 630s and like many other Yemenite (South Arabian) tribesmen in the conquest army's ranks, settled in

. There, he became one of the two principal leaders of his tribe, the

, the other head being Dhu al-Asbah Kurayb ibn Abraha. Samayfa was married to the latter's sister Kurayba. According to the historian

Wilferd Madelung Wilferd Ferdinand Madelung FBA (26 December 1930 – 9 May 2023) was a German author and scholar of Islamic history widely recognised for his contributions to the fields of Islamic and Iranian studies. He was appreciated in Iran for his "know ...

, Samayfa originally intended to settle in

Damascus Damascus ( , ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in the Levant region by population, largest city of Syria. It is the oldest capital in the world and, according to some, the fourth Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. Kno ...

, the leading center of Syria, where he could firmly establish Himyarite dominance over the region. His Yemenite supporters referred to him as the "king of Himyar" in deference to his leadership of the tribe and ambitions to reestablished the ancient Himyarite kingdom in Syria. This was in defiance of the

Quraysh The Quraysh () are an Tribes of Arabia, Arab tribe who controlled Mecca before the rise of Islam. Their members were divided into ten main clans, most notably including the Banu Hashim, into which Islam's founding prophet Muhammad was born. By ...

, the tribe of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and the caliphs, who sought to maintain for themselves the dominant influence in Syria. Samayfa's ambitions may have prompted the Medina-based caliph

Umar Umar ibn al-Khattab (; ), also spelled Omar, was the second Rashidun caliph, ruling from August 634 until his assassination in 644. He succeeded Abu Bakr () and is regarded as a senior companion and father-in-law of the Islamic prophet Mu ...

() to shore up support for his deputies in Syria, the Sufyanid brothers

Yazid ibn Abi Sufyan Yazid ibn Abi Sufyan ibn Harb ibn Umayya (; died 639) was a leading Arab Muslim commander in the conquest of Syria from 634 until his death in the plague of Amwas in 639. Following the capture of Damascus around 635, he was placed in command of ...

and

Mu'awiya Mu'awiya I (–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 death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and immediately after the four Rashid ...

and their tribal allies the

Banu Kalb The Banu Kalb () was an Arab tribe which mainly dwelt in the desert and steppe of northwestern Arabia and central Syria. It was involved in the tribal politics of the Byzantine Empire's eastern frontiers, possibly as early as the 4th century. ...

, to stifle the Himyarites. During Mu'awiya's governorship of Syria in the 640s, Samayfa was known to have acted counter to Mu'awiya's orders in Homs, where the Yemenite troops followed his command. Samayfa was one of the more notable commanders in the army of Syria's governor, Mu'awiya, during his confrontation against caliph

Ali Ali ibn Abi Talib (; ) was the fourth Rashidun caliph who ruled from until his assassination in 661, as well as the first Shia Imam. He was the cousin and son-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Born to Abu Talib ibn Abd al-Muttalib an ...

at the

in 657, part of the

First Fitna The First Fitna () was the first civil war in the Islamic community. It led to the overthrow of the Rashidun and the establishment of the Umayyad Caliphate. The civil war involved three main battles between the fourth Rashidun caliph, Ali, an ...

. By then, Mu'awiya had secured the support of the Yemenites of Homs against Ali. On 27 July, in one of the engagements of the many days' long confrontation at Siffin, Samayfa led his Himyarite troops against the Rabi'a contingent in Ali's army. He was slain, along with the son of Umar,

Ubayd Allah Ubayd Allah (), also spelled or transliterated Obaidullah, Obaydullah, Obeidallah, or Ubaydullah, is a male Arabic given name that means "little servant of God". Given name Obaidullah * Obaidullah (detainee), an Afghan detainee held in Guantanamo ...

Legacy

While Mu'awiya was distraught at the loss of Ubayd Allah, Madelung holds that he was happy with the death of Samayfa, likely seeing it as a blow to Himyarite designs on Syria. Indeed, the killings of Samayfa and the Himyarite leader of the Alhan clan in a clash on the previous day, marked the gradual deterioration of their tribe's influence in Syria. His son Shurahbil was a leading commander for the Umayyad caliphs and was killed at the

Battle of Khazir The Battle of Khazir () took place in August 686 near the Khazir River in Mosul's eastern environs, in modern-day Iraq. The battle occurred during the Second Muslim Civil War and was part of the larger struggle for control of Iraq between the Sy ...

against partisans of Ali's family. Other members of the Dhu al-Kala family served as governors and commanders for the Umayyad caliphs, though their relationship to Samayfa is not precisely defined.

References

Bibliography

* * *{{cite book , last1=Madelung , first1=Wilferd , author-link=Wilferd Madelung , title=The Succession to Muhammad: A Study of the Early Caliphate , date=1997 , publisher=Cambridge University Press , location=Cambridge , isbn=0-521-56181-7 , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2QKBUwBUWWkC 657 deaths 7th-century Yemeni people People of the Muslim conquest of the Levant People of the First Fitna People from the Rashidun Caliphate People from Homs People killed in action Himyarites