The Battles of Fijar

Summary

The battles of fijar were a chain of four battles which took place during the Era of Ignorance and the Sacred Months. It has been mentioned in some reports that the Holy Prophet was also present in these battles during his youth but there are sources which reject this view.

Assessment of the word ‘Fijar’

Protecting the sanctity of the four sacred months of Dhu al-Qa’dah, Dhu al-Hijjah, Muharram and Rajab is one of the divine Abrahamic teachings which was passed down among the Arabs generation by generation. , In these months, there would be a ceasefire among the Arab tribes for the comfort and establishment of business and trade bazaars and also the pilgrimage of the Kaabah, and friends and enemies would join together in the business bazaars under the shadow of this temporary treaty and would start to do business or pilgrimage. If a battle occurred in these months, they would call it Harb al-Fijar. In the Arabic language, fijar means an exchange of ferocity and destruction and it means that both sides were involved in a battle which caused an exchange of ferocity and destruction between themselves and what is meant by destruction is fighting in the Sacred Months.

The amount of Fijar battles

Historically, the battles of Fijar were four battles which occurred over a period of twenty years after the Year of the Elephant. , Some tribes know them as the beginning of their history and composed many poems in praise of these battles. The first fijar was known as Fijar al-Rajul, the second as Fijar al-Riyah or Fijar al-Qird, the third as Fijar al-Marah al-Qaysiyyah and the fourth as Fijar al-Birad. Now, there will be a brief description of the causes of these fijars and their outcomes.

The first fijar

As we said above, this battle is known as Fijar al-Rajul. This clash took place between the two tribes of Kananah and Hawazin. The reason this battle took place was because a man by the name of Badr ibn Mashar Ghaffari went to the Ukkaz Bazaar (the Ukkaz Bazaar was a large bazaar which was put up in the Sacred Months in the surrounding area of Makkah close to Arafat between Nakhla and Ta’if in which people could do business in comfort under the ceasefire of the Sacred Months. They say that the bazaar was three days away from Makkah and one day away from Ta’if.) There was a gathering there in which he stretched his legs out and in the poems he was reciting, he called himself the most respected Arab and praised himself. Another man entered the gathering and claimed that he was the most respected Arab. He then lightly struck Badr’s leg with his sword and injured him. Because of this strike, the two men started to fight and each of them called their tribes to their aid. The fight escalated but in the end, the fight ended in a treaty and they prevented a war.

The second fijar

Fijar al-Riyah or Fijar al-Qird was the second fight in the Sacred Months and it was caused by a financial disagreement between two sides. A man from Kananah owed a man from Bani Nasr ibn Hawazin some money and due to poverty, he wasn’t able to pay back his loan. One day, the creditor, who was from the tribe of Bani Nasr, took a monkey to the Ukkaz Bazaar and said in order to mock the Kanani man and his tribe,

“Who is willing to exchange the Kanani man who owes me money with this monkey for me?”

A Kanani man who was passing by heard the creditor’s words and was infuriated. He unsheathed his sword and killed the monkey. The two sides called their tribes to their aid. In a few moments, both tribes had arrived and set up their armies. They started to taunt the other side and they exchanged very harsh words but before a battle could take place, they ended their hostilities. ,

The third fijar

This battle is known as Fijar al-Marah. The reason this battle broke out was that a beautiful woman from the tribe of Qays Bani Amir who had come to the Ukkaz Bazaar passed by a group of Qurayshi youths when suddenly, a corner of her niqab came off and her beautiful face was shown. The Qurayshi youths noticed that woman’s beautiful face. They started to bother her and asked her to remove her niqab. She refused and sat in a corner. One of the youths secretly went behind the woman and sewed the woman’s shirt to her skirt with a thorn. When the woman stood, her whole body was exposed. The woman screamed and the men of her tribe came to her aid. The two tribes started to fight and blood was shed, but before a complete war could break out, both sides agreed to a treaty which arose from Harb ibn Umayyah’s efforts. , ,

The fourth fijar

Without a doubt, the most important of the battles of fijar was the fourth which is known as Fijar al-Birad. The battle was between the Qays and its confederates and the Quraysh and their confederates and it lasted four years. This battle has five fajarah (five battles in the Sacred Months). This battle was the same battle in which they say the Holy Prophet participated.

The first fajarah (Yawm al-Nakhlah)

A corrupt man by the name of Birad ibn Qays Kanani who was driven out of his tribe came to Makkah and was living under the protection of Harb ibn Umayyah but his corruption once again got him into trouble and he started to fight with a man by the name of Harith from the tribe of Hudhayl and he killed him. Harb was infuriated and decided to revoke his protection. When Birad heard about his decision, he went to Harb and asked him to remain his protector and in return, Harb would leave and live far away from him. Harb accepted this suggestion and after Birad left him, he went to the court of Numan ibn Mandhar (Numan III or Numan ibn Mandhar was the last king of the Lakhmid dynasty in Hirah. The Lakhmids were an Arab dynasty in the Sassanid era who ruled over Hirah under their command). Every year, Numan would set up a caravan and send it with a capital to the Ukkaz Bazaar to buy skins, rope and gold-brocade fabric and bring it to him. Numan gave the command of the caravan to a man by the name of Urwah ibn Utbah Amiri from the tribe of Hawazin. Birad was infuriated due to a Hawazini man leading and expressed his complaint in Numan’s court, but his protest was fruitless. Birad held his grudge in his heart and was continuously trying to kill him until eventually, in a place close to Fadak in a plain by the name of Tayman Dhi Talal, he ambushed Urwah, killed him, fled to the fort of Khaybar with the load of the camels and took refuge there. While fleeing towards Khaybar, he met Bashar ibn Abu Khazim the poet and told him to inform Harb ibn Umayyah about the murder of Urwah. When the news reached the Quraysh, before the Hawazin were informed of the happenings, the Qurayshis quickly left Ukkaz and returned to Makkah but it didn’t take long for the Hawazin to learn of the happenings and they started to follow the Quraysh. In the outskirts of Makkah, before the Quraysh could enter the Masjid al-Haram, they attacked the Quraysh in a place called Nakhla. The Quraysh resisted until sunset and when night fell, they used the darkness of the night to retreat to Masjid al-Haram. In honour of the sanctity of the Haram, the Hawazin stopped fighting. A man called Adram ibn Shab from Bani Amir yelled,

“We will not forgive Urwah’s blood. We will meet on this day next year in Ukkaz and we will not come short in gathering an army!”

With this announcement, the first fajarah ended and the Hawazin returned to their cities. , , , , ,

The second fajarah (Yawm al-Shumtah)

In this while, the Qays gathered its confederates including the Thaqif and the Salim, and the Quraysh and the Kananah also got ready for war with its confederates including the Bani Asad and the Ahabish and they lined their troops up opposite each other in a province by the name of Shumtah close to Ukkaz. The battle began and at first, victory looked certain for the Qays but the tables turned and the Quraysh and Kananah attained victory. The killing escalated until both sides raised the flag of peace and they agreed to count the dead and whichever side suffered more losses was to pay the blood money for the other side. With this decision, the dust of war settled and the tribes returned to their cities. It is narrated that in that year, there was no Ukkaz Bazaar. , , , ,

The third fajarah (Yawm al-Ubala)

In the third year after the days of Ukkaz (the days in which the bazaar would be established) and a year after the Battle of Shumtah, once again, a war broke out between the Hawazin, the Quraysh and the Kananah which led to the defeat of the Quraysh and Kananah. Ubala is the name of a white rock in Ukkaz and this war took place near it. ,

=The fourth fajarah (Yawm al-Shurb)

The fourth battle took place in the fourth year after the days of Ukkaz and one year after the Battle of Ubala between the Hawazin on one side and the Quraysh and Kananah on the other. This battle happened in a place by the name of al-Shurb close to Nakhla in Makkah. Hawazin were defeated in this battle. They say that Abu Sufyan helped the war to end faster by giving himself as hostage of the Hawazin. ,

The fifth fajarah (Yawm al-Harirah)

The fifth battle in the chain of fijar battles was once again between the Hawazin and the Quraysh and the Kananah. As its name suggests, this battle happened in a place by the name of Harirah between Abwa and Makkah close to Nakhla. When the heads of the Quraysh made their sons the hostages of the heads of the Hawazin, the war ended in peace. ,

The presence of the Holy Prophet in the fijar battle

Before anything, it must be said that there is no authentic narration about the presence of the Holy Prophet in these battles and those narrations which have reached us are different in a few fields:

1. The Holy Prophet’s age at the time of this battle has been recorded differently in the narrations. Ibn Hisham says in his book that the Holy Prophet was fourteen or fifteen. Then, in another book, Ibn Ishaq narrates that on that day, twenty years had passed from his life. In Tabaqat al-Kubra, after mentioning the whole story of the fijar, Ibn Sad says,

   “At that time, the Holy Prophet was twenty years old.”

   Also, Yaqubi narrates in his history book in a doubtful manner,

   “The Messenger of God was present in the fijar and at that time, he was seventeen and some have said he was twenty years old.

   Also, Yaqubi narrated a tradition from the Holy Prophet in which, the word ghulam was mentioned. In the Arabic language, ghulam means a youth at the age of seven to fourteen. Of course, one can keep in mind that this war was spread over four years and it is possible that the Holy Prophet was present in all of these battles but the span of these reports is so great that it cannot be justified by this analysis for if we accept the reports backing fourteen or fifteen years old, it is incompatible with the report backing twenty years old and if we accept the reports backing seventeen and twenty, it is incompatible with fourteen or fifteen years old.
2. The second discrepancy is regarding the presence of the Bani Hashim. In some reports, it is said that the Holy Prophet participated in the battle alongside Abu Talib and even the Quraysh and Kananah have considered the presence of the Bani Hashim in the battle as a cause of victory in the battle but in some other reports, we read that Abu Talib prevented the Bani Hashim from fighting and said,

   “This battle is complete ferocity, destruction and considering the Sacred Months as lawful and I shall not fight in this battle nor will anyone from my family.”

   In these very reports that we read, we see that from the Bani Hashim, only Zubayr ibn Abd al-Muttalib involuntarily participated in the battle. , ,
3. In the assumption that the Holy Prophet was present in the battles of fijar, the third discrepancy lies in the way in which the Holy Prophet participated in this battle. In some reports, it is said that the Holy Prophet would only keep the arrows from striking his uncles and in some other reports, it is said that as well as preventing the arrows’ movement and bringing supplies, he would also fire arrows towards the enemy. It has even been mentioned in the reports that during battle, the Holy Prophet struck Abu Bara in his flank with a spear, threw him off his spear and that strike from the spear caused the victory of the Quraysh.
4. The last discrepancy lies in the year of the battles of fijar. In some sources, the year of this battle is recorded as twenty or in some others, fourteen years after the Year of the Elephant.

Aside from this, not much has been mentioned from this battle in many of the old and new Sunni books like Tarikh Tabari and Ibn Athir’s al-Kamil or in the Shia history books, but on one hand, one must take into consideration that this battle took place in the Sacred Months and this issue was considered forbidden and a great sin even to the ignorant Arabs, and on the other hand, from childhood, the Holy Prophet would oppose the wrong, corrupt and vicious actions of the people of the Era of Ignorance and he would express his opposition to this unworthy actions. How could we accept that the Holy Prophet participated in such a battle and start to help the Quraysh and the Kananah who were overtaken by ferocity and destruction? In addition, the high position and supremacy of the uncle of the Holy Prophet, Abu Talib, over the Bani Hashim and the fact that he followed the Abrahamic sharia was another reason that he and the Bani Hashim wouldn’t participate in this chain of the battles of fijar.