| Bahila باهلة | |
|---|---|
| Adnanites | |
.png) Banner of the Bahila at theBattle of Siffin | |
| Ethnicity | Arab |
| Nisba | Al-Bahili |
| Location | Before 7th century: Arabian Peninsula After 7th century: Syria Iraq Khorasan |
| Descended from | Bahila, wife of Malik ibn A'sur |
| Religion | Paganism, later Islam |
Bāhila (Arabic:باهلة) was anArab tribe based inNajd (centralArabia). Part of the tribe was settled and part of it was semi-nomadic. The Bahila was first mentioned during the early years ofIslam, in the mid-7th century. During that time, many Bahila tribesmen migrated to Syria andBasra. Many of those who went to Syria later moved toKhurasan as part of theUmayyad garrison there. As a sub-tribe ofQays, they fought alongside theQaysi coalition against the Yamani tribes during the Umayyad era. The scholaral-Asma'i and the generalQutayba ibn Muslim both belonged to the tribe. The Bahila were last mentioned in the 10th century.
According to W. Caskel, the genealogy of the Bahila "is somewhat complicated".[1] The namesake of the tribe, Bahila, was a wife of Malik ibn A'sur ibn Sa'd ibnQays, and after the latter's death, was married to Malik's brother Ma'n.[1] Bahila mothered one son from Malik and two sons from Ma'n, and was also the foster mother of ten other sons of Ma'n (the foster sons came from two other mothers).[1] Caskel describes this genealogy as a series of "artifices", which were familiar to the Arab genealogists, though the "accumulation" of such artifices with the origins of the Bahila was "remarkable".[1] Among the sons of Bahila who later fathered large clans were Qutayba, Wa'il, Ji'awa and Awd.[2] The Qutayba and Wa'il were the largest sub-tribes of the Bahila and both were engaged in a rivalry for supremacy over the Bahila.[1]
The Bahila's original homeland was calledSūd Bāhila orSawād Bāhila.[1] It was situated in theNajd (centralArabia). The tribe's settlements, includingal-Quway', Idhnayn Shammal, Hufayra and Juzayla, were located on either side of the route betweenMecca and the area corresponding with modern-dayRiyadh.[1] The Ji'awa clan of Bahila lived further west at the foot of the al-Jidd mountains.[1] They were the northern neighbors of theBanu Ghani, another tribe that descended from A'sur ibn Sa'd ibn Qays.[1] The Bahila were partly settled and partly semi-nomadic.[1] They lived under the protection of theBanu Kilab andBanu Ka'b, sub-tribes of theBanu 'Amir.[1] There is scant reference to the Bahila in the pre-Islamic period.[1] Among these references were the slaying of a warrior from the tribe named al-Muntashir, and a battle involving the tribe. Both episodes occurred shortly before the emergence of Islam in Arabia in the 610s.[1]
According to Caskel, "The history of the [Bahila] tribe becomes clear for the first time under Islam."[1] In the 630s, part of the Bahila migrated from Arabia toSyria and to the vicinity ofBasra.[1] They formed part of theearly Muslim army, and Bahila tribesmen from Syria were part of the Arab garrison inKhurasan.[1] As members of the Qays, the Bahila took part in therevenge-driven battles between theQays and Yaman coalitions in the years following the rout of the Qays at theBattle of Marj Rahit in 684.[1] A second major exodus of Bahila tribesmen from Arabia occurred in the early to mid-9th century.[3] Around that time, the Bahila's Arabian territories were largely overrun by theBanu Numayr, a sub-tribe of the Banu 'Amir.[3] The Bahila migrants entered the lowerEuphrates region, first in the vicinity of al-Hufayr near Basra and from there into the sandy al-Taff tract on the southern border of the Bata'ih marshes.[3] After 837, these Bahila tribesmen settled in the Bata'ih itself, where in 871 they were attacked byAbbasid troops on their way to suppress theZanj Rebellion.[3] Consequently, the Bahila allied with theZanj.[3] Afterward nothing is heard of the Bahila.[3]
Caskel writes that the "Bahila developed an abundance of talents of all kinds".[4] A companion of the Islamic prophetMuhammad,Abu Umamah, hailed from the tribe.[2] Two brothers from the tribe,Salman ibn Rabi'ah andAbd al-Rahman ibn Rabi'ah, both served as generals under caliphsAbu Bakr andUmar in the 630s–640s.[2][5] In the early 8th century, a member of the Bahila,Qutayba ibn Muslim,[3] was appointed theUmayyad governor of Khurasan and was a key general in theMuslim conquest of Transoxiana. The tribe also producedal-Asma'i, the well-knownphilologist.[3]
Yusuf al-Bahili was the sculptor or owner of the so-calledElephant of Charlemagne chess piece.[6]
