Ghassanids: Difference between revisions
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==The Ghassanids and Islam== |
==The Ghassanids and Islam== |
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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. |
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. </blockquote> |
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===Jabalah ibn-al-Aiham ordeal with Islam=== |
===Jabalah ibn-al-Aiham ordeal with Islam=== |
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Revision as of 01:19, 29 May 2011
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The Ghassanids (Arabic: Template:Rtl-lang) (al-Ghasāsinah, also Banū Ghassān "Sons of Ghassān") were a group of South Arabian Christian tribes that emigrated in the early 3rd century from Yemen to the Hauran in southern Syria, Jordan and the Holy Land where some intermarried with Hellenized Roman settlers and 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 southern Syria. 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 Syria
The king Jafna bin ‘Amr emigrated with his family and retinue north and settled in Hauran (south of Damascus), 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 of Southern Syria. 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, Mount Hermon (Lebanon), Jordan and Palestine, 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
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.
In the Levant
In the city of Al Karak in Jordan, some Families are descendants of the Ghassanids. These families are : Suheimat, Dmour, Adaileh, Imbaydeen, Bawaleez, Karakieen, Soub. These families are now known as the Ghassasinah, they live in Karak. They have formed a single tribe called the "Al-Ghassasinah" which is considered the largest tribe in the city of Karak.
Many families of Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, and Palestine trace their roots to the Ghassanid dynasty, including the families : ( Alphabatically ) Abla, Abou Haidar, Al Ashkar, Al-Khazen, Al-Zoghbi, Aranki, Atiyah, Ayoub, Ammari, Aridah, Azar, Babun, Batarseh, Barsa, Barakat, Baqaeen, Bayouth,Boutros, Chakar, Chalhoub,Daher, Dibh, Fares, Farah, Farhat, Farhoud,Frangieh, Gharios, Ghanem, Ghanma, Ghannoum, Ghazal, Gholmia, Ghulmiyyah, Habib, Hazboun, Hanna, Hamra, Howayek, Haddad, Hattar, Haddadin ,Hayek, Hbeish, Hellou, Hilweh, Ishaq, Jabara (Jebara or Gebara, Gibara), Jreisat ,karam, Kakish, Kandil, Karadsheh,Kawar , Khazens, Khoury, Lahd, Maalouf, Madi, Madanat, Makhlouf, Matar, Mebarak,Moghabghab, Mokdad,Nasir, Nawfal (of Tripoli), Nayfeh, Naber, Nimri, Obeid, Oweis, Rached, Rafeedie/Rafidi, Rahhal, Razook, Rebeiz/Rbeiz/Rubeiz, Rihani/Rayahin, Rukab, Saab, Saad, Saadi, Saah, Sahuri, Sahurie, Salama, Saliba, Salloum, Samara, Sawalha, Samawi, Sarkis,Sayegh,Saig, Shammas, Sheiks Chemor, Semaan (of Kaftoun),Shalhoub, Sfeir, Shdid, Smeirat, Sweiss, Sweidan, Theeba, Tyan ,Qumsieh and Youssef. The religious backgrounds of these families tend to be either Greek Orthodox or Greek Catholic and Maronite Catholic, despite the Ghassanids' initial affiliation to Non-Chalcedonian Syriac Orthodox Christianity. They are identified by being Christian families with South Arabian names.
The Palestinian city of Ramallah was historically an Arab Christian city for many centuries until the 1960s. The historical residents of Ramallah (the vast majority have immigrated to America and Canada) are direct descendants of the Ghassasinah Arab tribe.
One of the seven clans of Bethlehem and the largest by number of families, al-Farahiyya, are also descendants of the Ghassanids, with Farah having emigrated from the wadi musa in the early sixth century. Another clan is the al-najajreh, who were not ghassanids, but very closely related, being from the ancient yemeni city of Najran.
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
- Jafnah I ibn `Amr (220-265)
- `Amr I ibn Jafnah (265-270)
- Tha'labah ibn Amr (270-287)
- al-Harith I ibn Th`alabah (287-307)
- Jabalah I ibn al-Harith I (307-317)
- al-Harith II ibn Jabalah "ibn Maria" (317-327)
- al-Mundhir I Senior ibn al-Harith II (327-330) with...
- al-Aiham ibn al-Harith II (327-330) and...
- al-Mundhir II Junior ibn al-Harith II (327-340) and...
- al-Nu`man I ibn al-Harith II (327-342) and...
- `Amr II ibn al-Harith II (330-356) and...
- Jabalah II ibn al-Harith II (327-361)
- Jafnah II ibn al-Mundhir I (361-391) with...
- al-Nu`man II ibn al-Mundhir I (361-362)
- al-Nu`man III ibn 'Amr ibn al-Mundhir I (391-418)
- Jabalah III ibn al-Nu`man (418-434)
- al-Nu`man IV ibn al-Aiham (434-455) with...
- al-Harith III ibn al-Aiham (434-456) and...
- al-Nu`man V ibn al-Harith (434-453)
- al-Mundhir II ibn al-Nu`man (453-472) with...
- `Amr III ibn al-Nu`man (453-486) and...
- Hijr ibn al-Nu`man (453-465)
- al-Harith IV ibn Hijr (486-512)
- Jabalah IV ibn al-Harith (512-529)
- al- Amr IV ibn Machi (Mah’shee) (529)
- al-Harith V ibn Jabalah (529-569)
- al-Mundhir III ibn al-Harith (569-581) with...
- Abu Kirab al-Nu`man ibn al-Harith (570-582)
- al-Nu'man VI ibn al-Mundhir (581-583)
- al-Harith VI ibn al-Harith (583)
- al-Nu'man VII ibn al-Harith Abu Kirab (583- ?)
- al-Aiham ibn Jabalah (? -614)
- al-Mundhir IV ibn Jabalah (614- ?)
- Sharahil ibn Jabalah (61 -618)
- Amr IV ibn Jabalah (628)
- Jabalah V ibn al-Harith (628-632)
- Jabalah VI ibn al-Aiham (632-638)
Notes and references
- ^ http://books.google.com/books?id=4Z0YrPfeHa8C&pg=PA160&sig=UWroKQFA0vSD0cRrz26n-K5931w&hl=en#v=onepage&q&f=false
- ^ 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
Bibliography
Primary Sources
- Almaqhafi, Awwad: Qabayl Wa Biton Al-Arab
- Almsaodi, Abdulaziz; Tarikh Qabayl Al-Arab
- Bosra of the Ghassanids in the Catholic Encyclopedia Newadvent.org
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.
- Irfan Shahid: Byzantium and the Arabs in the Sixth Century, Vol. 1, Part 1 and Part 2. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington (D.C.) 1995.
- Yasmine Zahran: Ghassan Resurrected. Stacey International Publishers, London 2007.