During the lifetime of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, a number of his close companions were Kalb tribesmen, such as Zayd ibn Harithah and Dihya al-Kalbi, but the bulk of the tribe remained Christian at the time of Muhammad's death in 632. The Kalb formed political and marital ties with the Umayyad family, and were the main source of military and political power during the reigns of the Umayyad caliphs Mu'awiya I, Yazid I, Mu'awiya II and Marwan I. During early Umayyad rule the Kalb became a chief belligerent in the long-running Qays–Yaman feud as the leading tribe of the Yaman tribal confederation. Under their leadership, the Yaman dealt a heavy blow to the Qays at the Battle of Marj Rahit in 684. By then the Kalb were largely concentrated in the steppe around Homs and Palmyra and were driven out of the Samawah in the late 680s by the Qays.