TheBanu Shayban(Arabic:بنو شيبان) is anArab tribe,a branch of theBanu Bakr.Throughout the early Islamic era, the tribe was settled chiefly inal-Jazira Provinceand played an important role in its history.
| Banu Shayban بنو شيبان | |
|---|---|
| Adnanites | |
 Banner of Banu Shayban | |
| Nisba | Al-Shaybani الشيباني |
| Location | Jazira |
| Descended from | Shayban ibn Tha'labah ibn Akaba ibn Saab ibn Ali ibnBakr ibn Wa'il |
| Religion | Paganism, later Islam |
History
editIn thepre-Islamic period,the Shayban with their flockswandered according to the seasons,wintering in Jadiyya in theNajdand moving to the fertile lowlands around theEuphratesfor the summer, ranging fromUpper Mesopotamiain the north toLower Mesopotamiaand the shores of thePersian Gulf.[1]
Its chief opponents during this time were theTaghlibandBanu Tamim.Already from pre-Islamic times, the tribe was "celebrated... for the remarkable quality of its poets, its use of a very pure form of Arabic language and its fighting ardour" (Th. Bianquis), a reputation its members retained into the Islamic period, when histories remark both on their own skills as, and on their patronage of, poets.[1]
During the time ofMuhammadand his immediate successors, the Shayban were allies of theBanu Hashim,the clan to which Muhammad belonged.[1]During theMuslim conquest of Persia,the Shaybanial-Muthanna ibn Harithaplayed a leading role in the conquest of Iraq. For the most part the Shayban remained active, as in pre-Islamic times, mainly inMesopotamia,but especially in the district ofDiyar Bakr,where they settled in numbers, and from there to the adjacentArmenian Highland.By virtue of this proximity, the Shayban would play an important role in the history of early IslamicArmeniaandAzerbaijan.[1][2]A few isolated groups and individuals of the tribe are also attested in northernSyriaandKhurasan,such asAbu Dawud Khalid ibn Ibrahim al-Dhuhli al-Shaybani,a follower ofAbu Muslim.[1]
During theUmayyad Caliphate,the Shayban remained powerful in al-Jazira.Shabib ibn Yazid al-Shaybaniwas able to raise a large-scale revolt by theNajdat Kharijitesin the 690s againstal-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf,as did the Kharijite revolt led byal-Dahhak ibn Qays al-Shaybaniin 745–746.[1]
Under the earlyAbbasid Caliphate,the most prominent Shaybani were the family ofMa'n ibn Za'ida al-Shaybani,a former Umayyad servant who secured the pardon ofal-Mansur.His sons and especially his nephews,Yazid ibn Mazyad al-ShaybaniandAhmad ibn Mazyad al-Shaybani,occupied high offices.[1][3]
Yazid ibn Mazyad served CaliphHarun al-Rashidwith success as general, even subduing a Kharijite revolt by his kinal-Walid ibn Tarif al-Shaybani,while his brother Ahmad went with 20,000 tribesmen to the aid of Caliphal-Aminin theFourth Fitnaagainstal-Ma'mun.[1]Yazid also served twice as governor ofArminiya,a vast province encompassing currentArmeniaandAzerbaijan,where carried out large-scale colonization with Arab Muslims, particularly atShirvan.He was succeeded by his sonsAsad,Muhammad,andKhalid,becoming the first of a long line of Shaybani governors and the progenitor of theMazyadid dynastythat ruled in Shirvan as autonomous and later independent emirs (Shirvanshah) until 1027.[4]
Another successful Shaybani line was that ofIsa ibn al-Shaykh al-Shaybani,governor in Syria andArminiyain the 860s–880s. His sonAhmadexploited the chaos following the "Anarchy at Samarra"and established himself as the strongest ruler of the Jazira, controlling Diyar Bakr and the Armenian borderlands ofTaronandAntzitene,although he faced competition from the TaghlibiHamdan ibn Hamdunand the TurkIshaq ibn Kundajiq,ruler ofMosul.Ahmad managed to capture Mosul after Ibn Kundajiq's death, but was driven out by the resurgent Abbasid Caliphate underal-Mu'tadidin 893. After his death in 898, al-Mu'tadid seized the last possession of the family,Amid,and imprisoned Ahmad's sonMuhammad.[1][5]
The Shayban as a whole are not frequently mentioned in the later centuries, as opposed to its many sub-tribes or splinter groups originating from it.[1]Some Shayban are mentioned in later times in southern Iraq as poets, grammarians and philologists, chief among them the ShaybanimawlaAbu Amr Ishaq ibn Mirar al-Shaybani(died 825).[1]Members of the tribe are also mentioned among the early followers of theQarmatiansin theSawadof Iraq, and again in northern Syria in the late 10th and 11th centuries, after which "the tribe of Shayban as such is less often mentioned, and it is difficult to follow the subsequent fortunes of this highly-fragmented group" (Thierry Bianquis).[1]
But stillArabsfrom theDiyar Bakrregion in Turkey are tracing their tribal origins back to this tribe. Some families are even claiming descendant from the famousIsa ibn al-Shaykh al-Shaybaniline. However the Banu Shayban ofSoutheastern Anatoliaare organized loose and they do not have a Sheikh as a head of their tribe, like it is common in Arab countries.
References
editSources
edit- Bianquis, Thierry(1997)."S̲h̲aybān".InBosworth, C. E.;van Donzel, E.;Heinrichs, W. P.&Lecomte, G.(eds.).The Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition.Volume IX:San–Sze.Leiden: E. J. Brill. pp.391–392.ISBN978-90-04-10422-8.
- Crone, Patricia(1980).Slaves on Horses: The Evolution of the Islamic Polity.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.ISBN0-521-52940-9.
- Kennedy, Hugh(2004).The Prophet and the Age of the Caliphates: The Islamic Near East from the 6th to the 11th Century(Second ed.). Harlow: Longman.ISBN978-0-582-40525-7.
- Ter-Ghewondyan, Aram(1976) [1965].The Arab Emirates in Bagratid Armenia.Translated byGarsoïan, Nina.Lisbon:Livraria Bertrand.OCLC490638192.