Sufyan ibn al-Abrad al-Kalbi

Sufyan ibn al-Abrad al-Kalbi al-Asamm (Arabic: سفيان بن الأبرد الكلبي, romanized: Sufyān ibn al-Abrad al-Kalbī al-Aṣamm; fl. 684–701) was a general of the Umayyad Caliphate who served under caliphs Mu'awiya II (r. 683–684), Marwan I (r. 684–685) and Abd al-Malik (r. 685–705). He backed the latter against his own tribesmen during a coup attempt in 689. He was a key figure in securing the Umayyad hold over Iraq during the governorship of al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf, helping the latter defeat the Kharijites in 696–697 and the rebellion of Abd al-Rahman ibn Muhammad ibn al-Ash'ath in 700–701.

Origins edit

Sufyan ibn al-Abrad belonged to the Banu Kalb tribe, which was a key backer of the Umayyad dynasty during the leadership crisis over the Caliphate in the wake of Caliph Mu'awiya II's death and the Second Muslim Civil War.^[1] Sufyan's father was al-Abrad ibn Abi Umama ibn Qabus ibn Sufyan and, like the chief of the Syrian Kalb, Ibn Bahdal, they hailed from the tribe's princely clan, the Banu Haritha ibn Janab.^[2] Sufyan was nicknamed al-Asamm ('the deaf' or 'the undeterrable').^[3]

Early activity edit

During the leadership crisis in Damascus, the governor of the province, al-Dahhak ibn Qays al-Fihri, refused to read a letter during the Friday prayer from Ibn Bahdal, that proclaimed the legitimacy of the Umayyads and the disparagement of their Mecca-based rival for the caliphate, Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr. In reaction to his refusal, Sufyan was one of a number of Umayyad loyalists in attendance who repeated after the other the contents of the letter. They were subsequently jailed by al-Dahhak. However, a group of Kalbi tribesmen soon after went to the prison and freed Sufyan.^[1]

Marwan I acceded with the critical help of the Kalb, and was succeeded by his son Abd al-Malik in 685. In 689, Sufyan and Ibn Bahdal backed Abd al-Malik against the Umayyad prince Amr ibn Said al-Ashdaq when the latter rebelled and seized the capital Damascus during Abd al-Malik's absence. Sufyan fought against Humayd ibn Hurayth ibn Bahdal, another senior Kalbi, and his own brother, Zuhayr ibn al-Abrad. The leading Kalbi warriors on either side dueled with each other during the standoff outside the caliph's palace, where al-Ashdaq had barricaded himself. They were ultimately compelled by their womenfolk and children not to shed each other's blood for the sake of the Umayyads. Al-Ashdaq ultimately surrendered and was executed by Abd al-Malik.^[4]

Military career edit

Abd al-Malik dispatched Sufyan at the head of a regiment of Syrian troops to reinforce the governor of Iraq, al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf.^[5]^[6] The latter, with his Iraqi troops, had been unable to repel a Kharijite assault on Kufa led by Shabib ibn Yazid al-Shaybani and requested Syrian troops.^[6] Sufyan's men defeated the rebels, pursued Shabib and killed the Kharijite leader in a battle at Ahwaz in 696–697.^[7]^[8] Sufyan was later sent to pursue another Kharijite band, that of the Azariqa, in Tabaristan, where his forces,^[9] together with a Kufan army led by Ishaq ibn Muhammad ibn al-Ash'ath, killed their leader Qatari ibn al-Fuja'a.^[10]

In 700–701, Sufyan led the small Syrian contingent that held out with al-Hajjaj in Basra during the mass revolt of the Iraqi tribal nobility led by Abd al-Rahman ibn Muhammad ibn al-Ash'ath. After a month of repulsing Iraqi attacks, Sufyan led his men in a charge against the rebels and forced them to withdraw to Kufa. Later, when al-Hajjaj received significant reinforcements from Abd al-Malik, Sufyan commanded the Syrian cavalry that stamped out the revolt.^[5]

Assessment edit

The historian Antoine Borrut describes Sufyan as "an astute general with outstanding military skills, who was celebrated for his bravery"^[3] and the historian Hugh N. Kennedy calls him a veteran commander "who did so much to secure Iraq for the Umayyads".^[11] He was among the forerunners of the professional commanders who emerged under the Abbasid Caliphate.^[3]

References edit

^ ^a ^b Hawting 1989, p. 52.
^ Caskel 1966, pp. 73, 135, 454, 515, 570.
^ ^a ^b ^c Borrut 2014, p. 7.
^ Fishbein 1990, pp. 155–157.
^ ^a ^b Kennedy 2001, p. 33.
^ ^a ^b Rihan 2014, p. 109.
^ Bosworth 1968, p. 47.
^ Rihan 2014, p. 110.
^ Kennedy 2001, p. 34.
^ Bosworth 1968, p. 52.
^ Kennedy 2001, p. 99.

Bibliography edit

Bosworth, Clifford Edmund (1968). Sīstān Under the Arabs: From the Islamic Conquest to the Rise of the Ṣaffārids. Ismeo.
Caskel, Werner (1966). Ğamharat an-nasab: Das genealogische Werk des His̆ām ibn Muḥammad al-Kalbī, Volume II (in German). Leiden: Brill. OCLC 490272940.
Kennedy, Hugh (2001). The Armies of the Caliphs: Military and Society in the Early Islamic State. Routledge. ISBN 0-415-25092-7.
Borrut, Antoine (2014). "al-Aṣamm, Sufyān b. al-Abrad al-Kalbī". The Encyclopedia of Islam Three. Brill. pp. 6–8.
Rihan, Mohamed (2014). The Politics and Culture of an Umayyad Tribe: Conflict and Factionalism in the Early Islamic Period. I. B. Tauris. ISBN 1780765649.
Fishbein, Michael, ed. (1990). The History of al-Ṭabarī, Volume XXI: The Victory of the Marwānids, A.D. 685–693/A.H. 66–73. SUNY Series in Near Eastern Studies. Albany, New York: State University of New York Press. ISBN 978-0-7914-0221-4.
Hawting, G. R., ed. (1989). The History of al-Ṭabarī, Volume XX: The Collapse of Sufyānid Authority and the Coming of the Marwānids: The Caliphates of Muʿāwiyah II and Marwān I and the Beginning of the Caliphate of ʿAbd al-Malik, A.D. 683–685/A.H. 64–66. SUNY Series in Near Eastern Studies. Albany, New York: State University of New York Press. ISBN 978-0-88706-855-3.