Mushqqar's Day "The Deal"

Is it the beginning or the end?

Was it a victorious day for the Arabs? A day that ended the Persian domination, and the day that turned the relations into a truce? Or have the Persians continued their bragging attitude? Mushqqar is the name of a great ancient fortress, and was a remarkable place in Hagr in Bahrain.

The day of Mushqqar was the day of Khosrow’s second revenge, from Banu Tamim. The reason was not political, but it was economic. When Khosrow refused to protect Banu Tamim’s trade convoys. The aim of this was to seize it until the imposition of taxes, and of course, not to mention turning a blind eye to those who attack some convoys to loot them, especially if it was an Arabian one.

The route of the commercial convoys started from Madain, the capital of Persia, to Al-Hira, where Al-Nu ‘man is. This is the part of the route where the Persians should be providing protection. And then to Hothah, who is in Al-Yamama, and he would be the one taking (Jaalah) that is money exchange. And later, from Al-Yamama, the convoy goes until it reaches Yemen, where the one, Khosrow assigned to take the taxes, heads forward.

Historical sources, such as Al-Tabari in his book “The History of Nations and Kings” and others, recall that Anushirvan sent to his prince in Yemen a camel carrying trees to benefit from their trunk in multiple industries, including making arrows. On its arrival in Al-Yamama, Hotha canceled the role of Banu Tamim in providing protection. And, naturally, their reaction was to stand up in defense of their right and political presence. Truly, Banu Tamim were able to impose their control, and Hotha fell as a prisoner and ransomed himself with about 300 camels. The results of the events reached Khosrow, and Khosrow said: You see, those are the ones who killed my princes and took my money.”  He said so taking advantage of a revenge between Banu Tamim and Hotha. And, Khosrow, indeed, provided support to Hotha. Yet, Banu Tamim were to be much more powerful taking into consideration their positions and their geographical location. Thus, it was proposed to sieze their food supplies for a year. Indeed, one can see the importance of Banu Tamim, and the importance of their political position, as the Persians aimed to betray the Arabs, the Arabs managed to triumph. An Arab would never accept to be insulted.

The events unfolded and Khosrow appointed a man, called “al-Mukabar“, who was famous for cutting off hands and killing whoever stands for his right. And, indeed, this is not courageous to disarm peoplen and use the worst forms of killing and torture against them. Hotha succeeded in luring Benu Tamim to ask for the food, and they forced whoever comes to leave his  weapon outside and enter the fortress of Mushqqar. They appealed for help, but the Arab heroism relies in their wisdom, even if their battle ended with their defeat.

A man of Banu Tamim shouted to his people not to enter without their weapons as if their weapons were taken, they will be killed. And he took a sword, with which he cut a chain that was at the gate of Mushqqar, and cut off the hand of whoever was guarding him. And he continued to exploit all that could be done to destroy the power of Banu Tamim, so he bargained with men of the finest men, while many others were killed on that day.

It is a day, in which it was confirmed that the tyranny of the Khosrows could not win though treachery, the spread of panic by killing, the shedding of Arab blood to save their power, and the spread of their expansion and empire , which expanded by conquering peoples.