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Ghassanids

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The Ghassanids (Arabic: Template:Rtl-lang) (al-Ghasāsinah, also Banū Ghassān "Sons of Ghassān") were a group of Hellenized and later Romanized South Arabian Christian tribes that emigrated in the early 3rd century from Yemen to Southern Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Palestine where they eventually merged with Greek-speaking Early Christian communities. The term Ghassān refers to the kingdom of the Ghassanids, an ancient Arab Christian kingdom in the Levant.

Migration from Yemen 3rd Century AD

The Ghassanid emigration has been passed down in the rich oral tradition of Jordan, Palestine, Syria and Lebanon. It is said that the Ghassanids came from the city of Ma'rib in Yemen. There was a dam in this city, however one year there was so much rain that the dam was carried away by the ensuing flood. Thus the people there had to leave. The inhabitants emigrated seeking to live in less arid lands and became scattered far and wide. The proverb “They were scattered like the people of Saba” refers to that exodus in history. The emigrants were from the southern Arab tribe of Azd of the Kahlan branch of Qahtani tribes.

Settling

The king Jafna bin ‘Amr emigrated with his family and retinue north and settled in Hauran, where the Ghassanid state was founded. From him the Ghassanid line are also sometimes known as the Jafnids. It is assumed that the Ghassanids adopted the religion of Christianity after they reached their new home.

The Ghassanid Kingdom in the Roman era

The Romans found a powerful ally in the new coming Arabs. The Ghassanids were the buffer zone against the Lakhmids penetrating Roman territory. More accurately the kings can be described as phylarchs, native rulers of subject frontier states. The capital was at Jabiyah in the Golan Heights. Geographically, it occupied much of Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian Territories, and its authority extended via tribal alliances with other Azdi tribes all the way to the northern Hijaz as far south as Yathrib (Medina). [1]

The Ghassanid kingdom in the Byzantine era

Near East in 565 AD, showing the Ghassanids and their neighbors.

The Byzantine Empire was focused more on the East and a long war with the Persians was always their main concern. The Ghassanids maintained their rule as the guardian of trade routes, policed Lakhmid tribes and was a source of troops for the Byzantine army. The Ghassanid king al-Harith ibn Jabalah (reigned 529–569) supported the Byzantines against Sassanid Persia and was given the title patricius in 529 by the emperor Justinian I. Al-Harith was a Miaphysite Christian; he helped to revive the Syrian Miaphysite (Jacobite) Church and supported Miaphysite development despite Orthodox Byzantium regarding it as heretical. Later Byzantine mistrust and persecution of such religious unorthodoxy brought down his successors, al-Mundhir (reigned 569-582) and Nu'man.

The Ghassanids, who had successfully opposed the Persian allied Lakhmids of al-Hirah (Southern Iraq and Northern Arabia), prospered economically and engaged in much religious and public building; they also patronised the arts and at one time entertained the poets Nabighah adh-Dhubyani and Hassan ibn Thabit at their courts.

The Ghassanids and Islam

The Ghassanids remained a Byzantine vassal state until its rulers were overthrown by the Muslims in the 7th century, following the Battle of Yarmuk in 636 AD.

Jabalah ibn-al-Aiham ordeal with Islam

There are different opinions why Jabalah and his followers didn't convert to Islam. All the opinions go along the general idea that the Ghassanids were not interested yet in giving up their status as the lords and nobility of Syria.[citation needed] Below is quoted the story of Jabalah's return to the land of the Byzantines as told by 9th-century historian al-Baladhuri.

Jabalah ibn-al-Aiham sided with the Ansar (Azdi Muslims from Medina) saying, "You are our brethren and the sons of our fathers" and professed Islam. After the arrival of 'Umar ibn-al-Khattab in Syria, year 17 (636AD), Jabalah had a dispute with one of the Muzainah (Non Arab Caste) and knocked out his eye. 'Umar ordered that he be punished, upon which Jabalah said, "Is his eye like mine? Never, by Allah, shall I abide in a town where I am under authority." He then apostatized and went to the land of the Greeks (the Byzantines). This Jabalah was the king of Ghassan and the successor of al-Harith ibn-abi-Shimr.[2]

Ghassanid Kings

Al-Harith the Ghassanid king of the Arab in Arab folktales and Sagas
  1. Jafnah I ibn `Amr (220-265)
  2. `Amr I ibn Jafnah (265-270)
  3. Tha'labah ibn Amr (270-287)
  4. al-Harith I ibn Th`alabah (287-307)
  5. Jabalah I ibn al-Harith I (307-317)
  6. al-Harith II ibn Jabalah "ibn Maria" (317-327)
  7. al-Mundhir I Senior ibn al-Harith II (327-330) with...
  8. al-Aiham ibn al-Harith II (327-330) and...
  9. al-Mundhir II Junior ibn al-Harith II (327-340) and...
  10. al-Nu`man I ibn al-Harith II (327-342) and...
  11. `Amr II ibn al-Harith II (330-356) and...
  12. Jabalah II ibn al-Harith II (327-361)
  13. Jafnah II ibn al-Mundhir I (361-391) with...
  14. al-Nu`man II ibn al-Mundhir I (361-362)
  15. al-Nu`man III ibn 'Amr ibn al-Mundhir I (391-418)
  16. Jabalah III ibn al-Nu`man (418-434)
  17. al-Nu`man IV ibn al-Aiham (434-455) with...
  18. al-Harith III ibn al-Aiham (434-456) and...
  19. al-Nu`man V ibn al-Harith (434-453)
  20. al-Mundhir II ibn al-Nu`man (453-472) with...
  21. `Amr III ibn al-Nu`man (453-486) and...
  22. Hijr ibn al-Nu`man (453-465)
  23. al-Harith IV ibn Hijr (486-512)
  24. Jabalah IV ibn al-Harith (512-529)
  25. al- Amr IV ibn Machi (Mah’shee) (529)
  26. al-Harith V ibn Jabalah (529-569)
  27. al-Mundhir III ibn al-Harith (569-581) with...
  28. Abu Kirab al-Nu`man ibn al-Harith (570-582)
  29. al-Nu'man VI ibn al-Mundhir (581-583)
  30. al-Harith VI ibn al-Harith (583)
  31. al-Nu'man VII ibn al-Harith Abu Kirab (583- ?)
  32. al-Aiham ibn Jabalah (? -614)
  33. al-Mundhir IV ibn Jabalah (614- ?)
  34. Sharahil ibn Jabalah (61 -618)
  35. Amr IV ibn Jabalah (628)
  36. Jabalah V ibn al-Harith (628-632)
  37. Jabalah VI ibn al-Aiham (632-638)
  38. Ghassan Al-Hourani (638-712)

Ghassanid families

Abdallah, Aranki, Ayoub, Ammari, Batarseh, Barakat, Bayouth, Chakar, Farah, Farhat, Farhoud, Gharios, Ghanem ,Ghanma, Ghannoum, Ghulmiyyah, Haber, Haddad, Hamra, Hattar, Howayek, Hadadin, Ishaq, Jabara (Jebara or Gebara, Gibara), Kandil, Karadsheh, [Khazen], Kawar, Khlaif, Khoury, Lahd, Maalouf, Madanat, Madi, Makhlouf, Matar, Moghabghab, Mokdad, Naber, Nayfeh, Nimri, Obeid, Outayek, Oweis, Ozaizi, Rached, Rahhal, Razook, Rihani, Saab, Saadi, Saah, Saliba, Samandar, Samawi, Sfeir, Shdid, Sheiks Chemor, Smeirat, Swies, Sweidan, Theeba, Tyan,Yazigi and Zahran.

In an Arabic article by the historian Habib Gamati, in al-Mossawer Magazine, Dar al-Hilal, Cairo, Egypt, dated February 19, 1954, and titled: "Tarikh Ma Ahmalahu Al-Tarikh Fi Galaat Al-Showbak" or "History Of What Was Abandoned By History At The Fortres Of Showbak [south of Jordan]", it is affirmed that the Rihani or Rayahin family is a Ghassanid clan or tribe. This is in contrast to what Frederick G. Peake writes in his book "A History Of Jordan And Its Tribes", Coral Cables, 1958, who refers to the Rihani's as crusader settlers.

Legacy

The Ghassanids reached their peak under al-Harith V and al-Mundhir III. Both were militarily successful allies of the Byzantines, especially against their fellow Arabs, the Lakhmid tribesmen, and secured Byzantium's southern flank and its political and commercial interests in Arabia proper. On the other hand, the Ghassanids remained fervently dedicated to Monophysitism, which brought about their break with Byzantium and Mundhir's own downfall and exile, which was followed after 586 by the dissolution of the Ghassanid federation.[3] The Ghassanids' patronage of the Monophysite Syrian Church was crucial for its survival and revival, and even its spread, through missionary activities, south into Arabia. According to the historian Warwick Ball, the Ghassanids' promotion of a simpler and more rigidly monotheistic form of Christianity in a specifically Arab context can be said to have anticipated Islam.[4] Ghassanid rule also brought a period of considerable prosperity for the Arabs on the eastern fringes of Syria, as evidenced by a spread of urbanization and the sponsorship of several churches, monasteries and other buildings. The surviving descriptions of the Ghassanid courts impart an image of luxury and an active cultural life, with patronage of the arts, music and especially Arab-language poetry. In the words of Ball, "the Ghassanid courts were the most important centres for Arabic poetry before the rise of the Caliphal courts under Islam", and their court culture, including their penchant for desert palaces like Qasr ibn Wardan, provided the model for the Umayyad caliphs and their court.[5]

Notes and references

  1. ^ http://books.google.com/books?id=4Z0YrPfeHa8C&pg=PA160&sig=UWroKQFA0vSD0cRrz26n-K5931w&hl=en#v=onepage&q&f=false
  2. ^ The Origins of the Islamic State, being a translation from the Arabic of the Kitab Futuh al-Buldha of Ahmad ibn-Jabir al-Baladhuri, trans. by P. K. Hitti and F. C. Murgotten, Studies in History, Economics and Public Law, LXVIII (1916-1924), I, 208-209
  3. ^ Ball 2000, pp. 102–103; Shahîd 1991, pp. 1020–1021.
  4. ^ Ball 2000, p. 105; Shahîd 1991, p. 1021.
  5. ^ Ball 2000, pp. 103–105; Shahîd 1991, p. 1021.

Bibliography

Primary Sources

Secondary Literature

  • Fergus Millar: "Rome's 'Arab' Allies in Late Antiquity". In: Henning Börm - Josef Wiesehöfer (eds.), Commutatio et Contentio. Studies in the Late Roman, Sasanian, and Early Islamic Near East. Wellem Verlag, Düsseldorf 2010, pp. 159-186.
  • Ball, Warwick (2000). Rome in the East: The Transformation of an Empire. London, United Kingdom: Routledge. ISBN 0-203-02322-6. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  • Fowden, Elizabeth Key (1999). The Barbarian Plain: Saint Sergius Between Rome and Iran. Berkeley and Los Angeles, California: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-21685-7. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  • Greatrex, Geoffrey; Lieu, Samuel N. C. (2002). The Roman Eastern Frontier and the Persian Wars (Part II, 363–630 AD). London, United Kingdom: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-14687-9. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  • Kazhdan, Alexander Petrovich, ed. (1991). The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. New York, New York and Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-504652-6. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  • Shahîd, Irfan (1991). "Ghassān". The Encyclopedia of Islam, New Edition, Volume II: C–G. Leiden, The Netherlands and New York, New York: Brill. pp. 462–463. ISBN 90-04-07026-5. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help); Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  • Shahîd, Irfan (1995). Byzantium and the Arabs in the Sixth Century, Volume 1. Washington, District of Columbia: Dumbarton Oaks. ISBN 978-0-88402-214-5. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
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