Rulership in Heera

ever since korosh the great (557-529 b.c.) united the persians, they ruled iraq and its neighbourhood. nobody could shake off their authority until alexander the great vanquished their king dara i and thus subdued the persians in 326 b.c. persian lands were thenceforth divided and ruled by kings known as "the kings of sects", an era which lasted until 230 a.d. meanwhile, the qahtanians occupied some iraqi territories, and were later followed by some ‘adnanians who managed to share some parts of mesopotamia with them.

the persians, under the leadership of ardashir, who had established the sasanian state in 226 a.d, regained enough unity and power to subdue the arabs living in the vicinity of their kingdom, and force quda‘a to leave for syria , leaving the people of heerah and anbar under the persian domain.

during the time of ardashir, juzaima alwaddah exercised rulership over heerah, rabi‘a and mudar, and mesopotamia. ardashir had reckoned that it was impossible for him to rule the arabs directly and prevent them from attacking his borders unless he appointed as king one of them who enjoyed support and power of his tribe. he had also seen that he could make use of them against the byzantine kings who always used to harass him. at the same time, the arabs of iraq could face the arabs of syria who were in the hold of byzantine kings. however, he deemed it fit to keep a persian battalion under command of the king of heerah to be used against those arabs who might rebel against him.

after the death of juzaima around 268 a.d., ‘amr bin ‘adi bin nasr al-lakhmi was appointed as king by the persian king sabour bin ardashir. ‘amr was the first of the lakhmi kings who ruled heerah until the persians appointed qabaz bin fairuz in whose reign appeared someone called mazdak, who called for dissoluteness in social life. qabaz, and many of his subjects, embraced mazdak’s religion and even called upon the king of heerah, al-munzir bin ma’ as-sama’, to follow after. when the latter, because of his pride and self-respect, rejected their orders, qabaz discharged him and nominated harith bin ‘amr bin hajar al-kindi, who had accepted the mazdaki doctrine.

no sooner did kisra anu shairwan succeed qabaz than he, due to hatred of mazdak’s philosophy, killed mazdak and many of his followers, restored munzir to the throne of heerah and gave orders to summon under arrest harith who sought refuge with al-kalb tribe where he spent the rest of his life.

sons of al-munzir bin ma’ as-sama’ maintained kingship a long time until an-nu‘man bin al-munzir took over. because of a calumny borne by zaid bin ‘adi al-‘abbadi, the persian king got angry with an-nu‘man and summoned him to his palace. an-nu‘man went secretly to hani bin mas‘ud, chief of shaiban tribe, and left his wealth and family under the latter’s protection, and then presented himself before the persian king, who immediately threw him into prison where he perished. kisra, then, appointed eyas bin qubaisa at-ta’i as king of heerah. eyas was ordered to tell hani bin mas‘ud to deliver an-nu‘man’s charge up to kisra. no sooner than had the persian king received the fanatically motivated rejection on the part of the arab chief, he declared war against the tribe of shaiban and mobilized his troops and warriors under the leadership of king eyas to a place called dhee qar which witnessed a most furious battle wherein the persians were severely routed by the arabs for the first time in history. that was very soon after the birth of prophet muhammad [pbuh] eight months after eyas bin qubaisah’s rise to power over heerah.

after eyas, a persian ruler was appointed over heerah, but in 632 a.d. the authority there returned to the family of lukhm when al-munzir al-ma‘rur took over. hardly had the latter’s reign lasted for eight months when khalid bin al-waleed fell upon him with muslim soldiers. [muhadrat tareekh al-umam al-islamiyah 1/29-32]