Qays–Yaman rivalry
The feud did not effectively take shape until after the reign of Caliph Mu'awiya I (r. 661–680), who, along with his Sufyanid descendants, were tied to the Kalb, the leading tribe of Yaman, through marriage and military dependence.
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 (r. 743–744) for his dependence on the Qays.
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.
Not all the northern Arabs were labeled under 'Mudar' or 'Qays'; the Rabi'a, 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.
[4] 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".
[citation needed] 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.
[14] 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.
[15] It is likely the Qays and Yaman factions firmly took shape after Mu'awiya I's reign;[16] previously, differences between Qaysi and Yamani tribes were "fairly harmless", according to historian Hugh N.
[11] 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.
[25] The cycle of raids began following the battlefield defection of the Qaysi general and Sulaym chieftain, Umayr ibn al-Hubab, from the Umayyad army during the Battle of Khazir against the pro-Alid forces of al-Mukhtar in 686.
[26] Umayr followed up on his victory by leading several damaging raids against the Kalb in their dwelling places in the Samawah desert, including at a well named Kaaba, in which Humayd was nearly killed.
[33] The entry of Qays into the reconstituted Umayyad army of Syria ended Yamani, and specifically Kalbi, monopolization of that institution; from then on Abd al-Malik sought to balance each faction's interest within the military.
[41] Nonetheless, the Yaman held significant influence with other branches of the Umayyad household, namely with Sulayman, but also Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz, who maintained the ties his father established with Yamani army leaders in Egypt.
[42] M. A. Shaban asserts that the Qays came to represent the policies of Islamic expansionism and Arab governmental monopolization embraced by Abd al-Malik and the powerful governor al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf, while the Yaman supported stabilizing the caliphate's borders and assimilating non-Arabs into the state.
[16] Kennedy argues against Shaban's theory, instead holding that the conflict "was between two factions based on tribal loyalties, which sought to control access to military power and the privileges that went with it".
[42] Though Shaban characterized Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz as strongly pro-Yamani for his efforts to integrate non-Arab Muslim communities, the caliph evidently maintained a more balanced policy in regard to the rivalry and sought to end the tribal factionalism.
[44] Nonetheless, Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz's reforms threatened Qaysi interests and following his death in 720, the Qays helped restore the old order through his successor, Yazid II (r.
[45] Yazid died in 724 and his successor, Hisham (r. 724–743), managed to avoid entanglement with the Qays–Yaman rivalry, and appointed Khalid al-Qasri from the ostensibly neutral Bajila tribe as governor of Iraq.
[49] Though much of the Umayyad family and other leaders were reluctant to back Yazid III, the Yamani tribes, partly led by the Kalbi chieftain Mansur ibn Jumhur, provided him critical support; the Yaman were motivated by a desire to reestablish their once dominant position in the state.
He was succeeded by his brother Ibrahim ibn al-Walid, but in December 744 the latter was overthrown by Marwan II (r. 744–750), a strongman favored by the Qays of Upper Mesopotamia and the Byzantine frontier zone.
[52] However, by December 748, the Abbasid Revolution in Khurasan was in earnest and its leader, Abu Muslim, drove out the Qaysi governor Nasr ibn Sayyar from Merv and advanced westward.
[54] Much of the Qaysi leaders of Upper Mesopotamia and the Byzantine and Armenian frontiers, including Marwan's close ally, Ishaq ibn Muslim of Uqayl, eventually embraced the Abbasids.
[16] Nonetheless, throughout the following centuries, Qaysi–Yamani alignment continued to serve as an "organizing principle for all sorts of feuds within or between tribes, clans, and neighborhoods, not just in Syria, but more generally throughout the Arab world", according to historian Robert Irwin.
[57] Irwin asserts that in contrast to the scholarship devoted to the Qays–Yaman feud during the Umayyad era, the "importance of Qays and Yaman loyalties in the Mamluk period has been largely neglected" by historians.
[58] Historian William Popper wrote that the asha'ir, particularly the Druze, of the hills and valleys around Safad, Wadi al-Taym and Jabal Amil sometimes organized themselves along Qays and Kalb (Yaman) lines during the Mamluk period.
[64] The Yaman under Alam al-Din temporarily prevailed against the Ma'an under Emir Qurqmaz, but the latter's son Fakhr ad-Din II, successfully reasserted Qaysi dominance in Mount Lebanon until his death in 1633.
[64] Afterward, a Yamani attempt to control Mount Lebanon led to a massacre and civil strife, but by 1635 and until the end of the 17th century, the Qays under Ma'an leadership remained dominant.
[64] In 1709, the Qays lost their position in Mount Lebanon at the hands of the Yaman, but the latter were dealt a decisive blow during the Battle of Ain Dara in 1711, in which numerous Yamani fighters and the entire leadership of the Alam al-Din family were killed.
[64] Meanwhile, families that did claim Arab origin chose allegiance with either Qays or Yaman without much consideration to their north or south Arabian lineage; sometimes, branches of the same clan adhered to different factions because of intra-family disputes.
[65] Indeed, according to historian Ihsan al-Nimr, the northern section of Jabal Nablus was designated for the Yaman, while the southern part was given to Qays by Mamluk sultan an-Nasir Muhammad (r. 1293–1340, with interruption).
