Although the start of the Arab expansion into the Middle East is often associated with the
battles of Yarmouk and al-Qadisiyyah, which were covered in our previous videos, the raids
and counter-raids were a constant for the region.
The tribal Arabs and the Sassanid empire clashed early and often, and the battle of Dhi Qar
was the perfect example of the political and tribal reality of the region prior to the
rise of the Caliphate.
During the II century AD a group of Arabian tribes united in a Tanukhid confederation
moved from the southern Tihamah to Iraq and Syria.
After a war with the local Arab tribes, the Lakhmid dynasty under Amr ibn Adi formed a
new kingdom in 268 with al-Hirah as its capital.
Amr’s son Imru' al-Qays was more ambitious and attempted to unite all of the Arabs living
in Syria, Lebanon and Iraq in one kingdom.
During his rule, the Lakhmids raided both the Arabian Peninsula and the Sassanid Kingdom,
both by sea and by the land.
In 325 the Sassanid shah Shapur II finally moved against the Lakhmids.
Imru' al-Qays asked the Roman Emperor Constantius II for help, but received none.
The Lakhmid kingdom was conquered and Imru al-Qays died in exile.
His son Amr II accepted the Sassanid rule and became their vassal.
During that period the kingdom the Lakhmids continued worshipping Semitic paganism, but
a number of them converted to the Nestorian and Miaphysitic sects of the Christianity.
The Lakhmids participated in a number of wars against the Romans and their Arabic vassals
– the kingdom of the Ghassanids, famously playing part in the defeat of Belisarius at
the battle of Callinicum in 531.
VI century saw the Lakhmids at the peak of their power.
In 580 the king al-Munchir IV passed away and the Sassanid shah Hormizd IV had to choose
his successor among his 12 sons.
The Lakhmid poet Adi ibn Zayd was influential at the Sassanid court and he convinced Hormizd
to raise al-Numan to the throne.
In 590 Hormizd was overthrown by his general Bahram Chobin.
Hormizd’s son Khosrow asked al-Numan III for assistance, but the latter demanded his
independence as a payment, so Khosrow was restored to the throne with the help of the
Roman emperor Maurice in 591.
Relationships between the Sassanids and Lakhmids soured even more in 595 when al-Numan III
arrested ibn Zayd, convinced that he was plotting against him.
Khosrow II protested, but was preoccupied with the rebellions in his realm and didn’t
act on his protests.
The Sassanid shah actually attempted to restore the ties with the Lakhmids in 600 and asked
al-Numan for his daughter’s hand.
According to the sources al-Numan refused and even insulted the Sassanid women.
Almost immediately, the Lakhmid king understood that he made a mistake and that retribution
will happen soon.
He contacted one of the largest Arab tribes Bakr ibn Wa’il, asking for help.
The latter promised to protect al-Numan’s family and possessions.
In 602 Khosrow invited Al-Numan to Ctesiphon, where he was imprisoned and soon died.
Khosrow appointed a governor for al-Hira, effectively ending the Lakhmid kingdom.
Sources claim that al-Numan’s family¬, along with their treasury find refuge among
the Bakr ibn Wa’il.
Khosrow demanded the tribe to send them to Ctesiphon, but the Bakr ibn Wa’il’s chiefs
refused, so the war between the Sassanids and the Arab tribe became inevitable.
Another Arab tribe, Banu Taghlib lived to the north of Bakr ibn Wa’il.
These tribes were in a constant raiding war, and Banu Taghlib offered Khosrow their assistance
in hopes of taking over the territory of their rivals.
In 609 Khosrow and Banu Taghlib sent their messenger to Bakr ibn Wa’il, demanding them
to surrender or to leave their lands around an oasis called Dhi Qar, but the tribe refused
these demands and prepared for war.
At that point Khosrow was at war against the Romans, but he still needed to secure his
borders, so the shah ordered his governors to attack the Bakr ibn Wa’il.
This army had 2 thousand Sassanid troops and 3 thousand Arab auxiliaries and was led by
the governor of al-Hirah Iyas ibn Qabisah.
According to the sources one of the leaders of the auxiliaries Qays bin Mas‘ud managed
to inform the Bakr ibn Wa’il about the impending attack.
He slipped away at night and went to the Bakr ibn Wā’il at the depression to warn them.
We don’t know the exact numbers, but the tribe probably had around 2 thousand warriors.
Initially they were griped by fear, but their leader and Hanzala bin Tha'laba managed to
restored order: as the tribesmen rushed headlong to run away, Ḥanzala admonished them to
fight and resist.
He then cut through the leather straps of the saddles on the camels to prevent fleeing
tribesmen to take their families with them on their flight.
It was to be a fight to the death, with no exceptions.
Hanzala erected his tent in the Depression of Dhi Qar and took an oath that he would
not flee.
A part of the tribe stayed at the depression, while the others went to a water source near
the Bend of Dhi Qar to stock up on water.
There, they met a Persian vanguard looking to do the same.
The Persians came upon them and fought with them at the Bend.
The vanguard suffered from thirst, hence they fled without making much of a stand and being
hard pressed, they retreated to the nearby water source of al-Jubabat somewhere to the
southwest.
The Bakr ibn Wa’il pursued them, fighting fiercely.
The Persian troops came together in a compact mass, threatening their pursuers and hoping
to secure a source of water.
Then, the rest of the tribesmen at the Bend rallied to the attack, pressuring the Persians
to relinquish their position.
The two groups fought at al-Jubabat for a whole day.
Once again, the Persians had no chance of storing water and they suffered from thirst
in the burning summer heat.
They again retreated, this time towards the depression of Dhi Qār where the other tribesmen
of the Bakr ibn Wa’il had taken up their positions.
When the night fell, one of the Sassanid auxiliaries from the Banu Iyad tribe sent a secret message
to Bakr ibn Wa’il offering to betray their Sassanid masters: “Which is more attractive
to you, that we should arise and steal away under cover of night, or stay here and take
to flight when you encounter the enemy?”
The tribesmen preferred the second option.
At night a group of tribe members used the turmoil of the early morning fighting to lay
an ambush a little bit further in the valley towards the Euphrates.
This group commanded by Yazid bin Himar was ordered to conceal themselves in what is known
as the Hollow of Dhi Qar, in order to surprise the approaching main Persian army.
The second day of the battle entered a new phase when the main Persian army reached their
vanguard in the Depression of the Dhi Qar valley.
The armies finally joined across the line and the fighting was fierce, as the armies
pounced on each other in compact masses.
However, the weather was still extremely hot and as neither side was gaining upper hand,
the warriors were becoming tired and soon the lines retreated.
Seeing that some of his kinsmen are in fear, commander of the Arab army Hanzala used a
brief lull in the fighting to cut even more straps of saddles to make sure nobody would
flee the battlefield.
He also reorganized his army into two groups on the flanks without a strong center.
When the fighting started again, warriors of the tribal left moved against the Persian
cavalry on the right wing.
Sources claim that as the lines joined the leader of the Arab flank called his Sassanid
counterpart to a duel, as was a common practice at the time.
The Arab warrior won and that changed the morale of the warriors on both sides.
When Hanzala noticed that, he led the whole of his left wing against the Persian right
wing, as he wanted to take advantage of the lack of the enemy leader to further pressure
his enemy’s right wing.
On the Persian left the battle was also fierce.
The valley of Dhi Qar witnessed a violent battle, with both the Persians and the tribesmen
fighting in closed ranks.
The concealed force under Yazid then came up behind the Persians from the Hollow of
Dhi Qar, and launched an attack on the rear of the enemy’s center, where the Sassanid
leader Iyas ibn Qabisah was.
Just at that moment, the tribesmen of Banu Iyad turned around and fled as they promised,
causing confusion and the subsequent rout of the whole Persian army.
The Bakr ibn Wa’il had made their enemy yield, and these last turned and fled.
They slew the Persians and those with them from the Depression of Dhi Qar as far as an
unidentified place a bit further away to the northwest.
The Battle of Dhi Qar lasted for two full days and it became known throughout the whole
Arabian Peninsula.
Although, this battle had no short-term consequences, it played a role in the Caliphate’s expansion.
The Arab tribes were more willing to join the Muslim forces, and the lack of the Lakhmid
buffer made the Sassanids vulnerable.
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