The Day of Dhu Najab

They then met on the day of Dhu Najab, when Hanzalah prevailed over Banu ‘Amir. Hassan ibn Mu‘awiyah al-Kindi, son of Kabshah, was killed. Yazid ibn al-Sa‘iq al-Kilabi was captured, and al-Tufayl ibn Malik ibn Ja‘far ibn Kilab, father of ‘Amir ibn al-Tufayl, fled. Al-Farazdaq said: Among them, al-Tufayl ibn Malik escaped on Qarzal, a horse that ran from defeat; and we struck the head of Ibn Khuwaylid, leaving him bowed like a brooding owl over chicks. These two lines belong to a longer poem of his. Jarir said: We stained the crown of Ibn Kabshah with his blood, and he met a fierce man amid the pressing cavalry. This line is from a longer poem of his. The accounts of Jablah and Dhu Najab are longer than what is related here. The author says he has not described them fully for the same reason he gave when discussing the Fijar War.

[1] Dhu Najab, with a medial vowel, is a valley near Mawan. See Ma Yu‘awwal ‘Alayh and Mu‘jam al-Buldan. [2] The manuscripts read “son of”; other copies have “father of Kabshah.” [3] Mu‘jam al-Buldan attributes these verses to Suhaym ibn Wathil al-Riyahi. [4] Qarzal, with a dammah, was the name of al-Tufayl ibn Malik’s horse; al-Tufayl was called “the rider of Qarzal.” [5] Mu‘jam al-Buldan gives another version of this line, naming Yazid and ‘Ubaydah. [6] “The brooding mother of chicks” means the head, or owl; they believed a slain man’s spirit became an owl crying “Give me drink!” until his death was avenged. [7] Misqa‘ here derives from “he struck it against a solid object.”