The Peace of al-Hira

صلح الحيرة

12 AH

al-Hira

In al-Baladhuri: Khalid ibn al-Walid passed Zandaward of Kaskar which he opened, opened Durna and her daughter-towns by aman, came to Hurmuzjird whose people he safe-conducted and opened, came to Ulays where a great-Jaban host met him — al-Muthanna ibn Haritha met it at Nahr al-Damm — and made peace with Ulays's people to be the Muslims' eyes on the Persians, guides and helpers; at the rivers' confluence Azadhbih, lord of Khosrow's frontier posts facing the Arabs, met him, fought and was routed; then Khaffan, then marching on al-Hira there came out Abd al-Masih ibn Amr ibn Qays ibn Hayyan ibn Buqayla — Buqayla's name being al-Harith, of Azd — Hani ibn Qabisa ibn Mas'ud al-Shaybani and Iyas ibn Qabisa al-Ta'i — or, it is said, Farwa ibn Iyas — who made peace on a hundred thousand dirhams a year, it is said eighty, on being the Muslims' eyes on Persia and no church or palace demolished. Via Abu Mikhnaf via al-Walid ibn al-Qatami: the aged Abd al-Masih met Khalid, who asked 'whence is your farthest origin, old man?' — 'from my father's back'; 'whence did you come out?' — 'from my mother's belly'; 'what are you in?' — 'my clothes'; 'what are you on?' — 'the earth'; 'are you sane?' — 'yes, and I wear anklets'; 'I only speak to you men's speech' — 'and I only answer you men's answers'; 'are you peace or war?' — 'peace'; 'then what are these fortresses?' — 'we built them for the fool until the wise man comes.' They agreed on a hundred thousand yearly — the first money carried to Medina from Iraq — on condition of no treachery and being eyes on Persia, in year 12. Via Yahya ibn Adam: Hira's people were six thousand men, each liable fourteen dirhams weight-five, making eighty-four thousand weight-five — sixty thousand weight-seven — a document he had read. Via Yazid ibn Nubaysha: we reached the Mudhayyib frontier post then came to Hira whose people fortified in the White Palace, the Palace of Ibn Buqayla and the Palace of the Madyasis — we exhausted stratagems in their courts, then they sued peace. Khuraym ibn Aws ibn Haritha ibn La'm al-Ta'i had told the Prophet 'if God opens Hira for you give me Buqayla's daughter'; at the peace he claimed her, Bashir ibn Sa'd and Muhammad ibn Maslama al-Ansari testified for him, she was excepted and delivered to him; her people bought her back for a thousand dirhams — she being old — and told him he sold cheap, they would have paid multiples; he said 'I did not think a number could exceed a thousand'; a hadith variant has the asker a man of Rabi'a — the first account is firmer.