Basus War

Basus War
The Basus (or Basous) War (often written al-Basus War; ḥarb al-basūs) was a 40-year conflict between two cousin tribes in Arabia of Late Antiquity which was started by the killing of a camel owned by a woman named Al Basus under the protection of her brother in law Mura.
The Taghlib and Bakr tribes fought for roughly forty years (from 494 to 534 CE), locked in a perpetual cycle of vengeance. In parts of the Arab world today, the Basus War has been incorporated into an aphorism warning people against vendettas.
The story
Before the war:
The story happened long before the Islamic era in Arabia. As with many other past wars, the story of the Al-Basous war started with a love story, between Jalilah bint Murah of the tribe Bakr and Kulayb ibn Rabiah of the tribe Taghleb, the Romeo and Juliet of their time. Jalilah was the daughter of the tribe's chief, and she had two important brothers, Jasas ibn Murah and Hamam ibn Murah. Jalilah's brother Hamam and Kulayb's brother Uday ibn Rabia, better known as Al-Zeir Salim, were good friends, and they often drank and hunted together. Salim was known for enjoying the company of women and wine, which had him spending a lot of time with bad company.
Meanwhile, one of the kings of Yemen, Hassan al Toba' Al Yamani, was known to be a great warrior in all of Arabia, and had a reputation of being a raider. Al Yamani had raided a lot of nations and had even killed Rabiah ibn Taghleb, the father of Kulayb and Salim. Al Yamani took a liking to Jalilah bint Murah, who was called the most beautiful woman in Arabia. Al Tabe' Al Yamani proposed to Jalilah through her father by offering him and his son small parts of his kingdom. Jasas was motivated to accept the marriage because he did not like Kulayb as Kulayb, along with most men, considered Jasas a coward and looked down on him.
Jalilah ended up marrying Al toba' Al Yamani and he sent his men for her and her luggage, which was hundreds of heavy wooden boxes. Accompanying Jalilah and her carriage was also a clown called Koshmor, playing with a toy sword to make the journey to Yemen easier for Jalilah. At the wedding, al Yaman became drunk and asked Jalilah to sing for him, but she rejected the idea because she felt shy singing in front of everyone. He ordered everyone to leave, but Jalilah asked him to keep Koshmor the clown. The clown revealed himself to be Kulayb, pulling out his sword and attacking Al toba' al Yamani. His men, who were hiding in the wooden boxes, jumped out and ambushed the guards. Kulayb succeeded in killing Al-toba' Al Yamani and escaped with Jalilah and his men back to Bakr, where they got married.
The death of the king of Yemen offended his family, especially his uncle Omran Al Qasir, and they threatened to invade Bakr and Taghlib with a hundred thousand warriors. At the time, the Yemeni army was the strongest in all of Arabia, but Kulayb was able to stop them with his forces, killing their leader Omran. After defeating the Yemeni army, Kulayb became a king, gaining great wealth and fame and becoming a legend in all of Arabia. As his wealth and fame grew, his ego and arrogance grew with it. His wealth started being signified by elements of his choosing; for example, he would see the clouds gathering and say wherever it rains the land it rains on is his. He even started to let Jalilah's cattle graze with his cattle in his land even though he was known to be very protective of his property, showing that his love for Jalilah was too great. At this point, Jalilah had given birth to seven daughters for Kulayb, but not a son, meaning if something happened to Kulayb, all of his wealth would be given to his brother Salim.
The war:
The 40-year war was triggered when Jalila's aunt, Al-Basous, and her brother, Jassas ibn Murrah, came to visit.
Kulayb, the leader of the Taghleb tribe, who was known to be extremely protective of his property and land, saw Al-Basous' foreign camel in his territory, and shot it with an arrow. Al-Basous in turn got furious and exaggeratingly complained to her nephew that she was humiliated and insulted by this act. Jassas, enraged by his aunt’s words, shot Kulayb, his brother-in-law, in the wild with a spear from the back, a sign of cowardice and betrayal to Antiquity Arabs. Jasas was scared of his deed, and ran off, while his friend, Amr or Omar, stayed behind. Kulaib asked for water, but Amr shook his head in awe and chased after his friend. Kulaib stayed in the wild screaming for help, dying. After walking in the wilderness, he found a shepherd, who gave him water. Kulaib asked him to check if the wound is fatal, but the shepherd refuses. Kulaib forces him to, so the shepherd does, and the wound is fatal. Kulaib gets mad and declares his revenge on Bakr and Jasas. It is said that he either tells the shepherd a poem telling his brother Abu Layla al-Muhalhel to take revenge or he uses this blood to write in Arabic on a cliff wall his will to al-Muhalhel. This triggered the war between the two tribes.
Later on in the war, one of Bakr’s allies, a tribe leader called Al-Harith ibn Abbad, did not want to drag himself and his people into this silly war, so he took an initiative to stop the blood-shed by sending his son, Ojayr, to brother of the late Kulayb and now leader of Taghleb, al-Muhalhel, for a truce. It was tradition at that time to send someone of great significance to sacrifice himself for the killing of someone, and it was expected that he would then be forgiven to start peace. But unexpectedly, and away from traditions and ethics, al-Muhalhel killed Ojayr. The mourning father said a poem of 40 verses, stating that he is now part of the war. He ordered his men to shave their heads, and he cut his horse’s mane and tail hair, which since then became a tradition among the Arabs as a sign of grief until revenge. The war almost ended the last of Taghleb, and Al-Harith said his famous words: I will not talk to Taghleb until earth talks to me, i.e never!
When Taghleb thought it was the end, they dug a trench along the road where Al-Harith ibn Abbad passes by, and a man from Taghleb hid there and sang a poem asking for forgiveness, fulfilling the condition of the earth talking to Al-Harith. Having already avenged his son’s death, Al-Harith did not go back on his word and ended the war.
See also
Al-Zeir Salim
References
5th-century conflicts
6th-century conflicts
Arab history
5th century
6th century in Asia
Banu Taghlib
Banu Bakr
Pre-Islamic Arabia