Safwan I

Safwan ibn Aidarus
Emir of Zabral and Sheikh of the Banu Qays'
Emir of Zabral
Reign	1355 CE - 1368 CE
Predecessor	Aidarus the Thunderbolt
Successor	'Utbah ibn Abdullah
Sheikh of the Banu Qays'
Reign	1355 CE - 1368 CE
Predecessor	Aidarus the Thunderbolt
Successor	Yusuf I
Born	1319 CE Tirmidh, as-Souhr
Died	1368 CE Umm Ḥārthah, The Hasidhmawt
Burial	1368 CE Mazar al-Eydroos
Spouse	Ruqayya ibn As'ad
House	Aidarus
Father	Aidarus ibn Abd al-Ghaffir
Mother	Bilqis bint Sammaw'al
Religion	Irsad

Safwan I (Gharbaic: صفوان بن عيدروس, Transliteration: al-Muhalhel Safwan ibn Aidarus), known as Safwan the Singer or Mijad ad-Din (1319 CE - 1368 CE), was the second Emir of Zabral and a scion of the House of Aidarus. He led a coalition of tribes headed by the Banu Qays' from his election as sheikh in 1355 CE to his death in 1369 CE. His succession marked a notable transition to a more strictly hereditary style of rulership among the Sub'ay. Safwan's family, the Ash'ariyyah, traced their descent from the Sub'ay, a sub-tribe of the Banu Qays', and to the Prophet Mubashir himself through the union of his daughter Arwa bint Mubashir and the Caliph Idris ibn Nawfal. While his father Aidarus the Thunderbolt had conquered vast swathes of territory in the southern Hasidhmawt, Safwan's authority was effectively limited by the unruliness of the Bedouin tribes and his influence was little felt beyond the oasis of Zabral and a few small settlements scattered across the northern extremities of the Zabalan Mountains.

Safwan's short thirteen-year reign saw a gradual decline in the military power of the Sub'ay relative to the Banu Hilal, who became ascendant due to the leadership of their prince Yuhanna ibn 'Utbah and managed to regain their status as the ruling clan of the southern branches of the Banu Harb. Despite these setbacks, the development of the distinct Ash'ari tariqa continued in earnest, both in Na'man and Zabral, as Bedouin clerics and mystics sought out the patronage of the well-recognized emir, one of the foremost primates of the Hasidhmawt in that time. This included the compilation of many religious texts, including several versions of the Alta'amulat, oral stories and folktales of religious significance, that remain well-preserved even to this day.

Beyond these theological and cultural feats, Safwan was a skillful poet and musician, known for his sweet singing voice and evocative lyrics. His laqab, al-Muhalhel, literally translates as He Who Finely Weaves Poems, denoting his status as poet and reciter. However, it has been more commonly translated more simply as "the Singer." He composed as many as forty eight poems, most intended to be performed with accompaniment from a triple chord, in styles ranging from vituperative to erotic to religious. Many of these have been lost, though sixteen have been recovered, including a long poem in praise of his father Aidarus and some of the finest romantic poetry from the fourteenth century. He is said to have sang regularly at the request of his kinsmen.

Safwan's reign ended abruptly when he was killed at the Battle of Umm Ḥārthah in August of 1368 CE after a series of seasonal military setbacks against the Banu Hilal stretching back over half a decade. His death signaled the beginning of a more chaotic and violent period in the history of the Hasidhmawt as his father's conquests had proven that it was possible, with some difficulty, to unify large tribal confederations in a way that had not been done since the fall of the Ruzmid Sultanate.

Early Life

Abu Yu'suf al-Muhalhel Safwan ibn Aidarus al-Ash'ari was the third son of Aidarus the Thunderbolt, born in 1319 to a concubine from Mughsayl named Bilqis bint Sammaw’al, who was poetess of lesser rank well-known in as-Souhr for her beauty and gentle demeanor. Safwan was birthed in the dilapidated palace of Tirmidh in the northernmost range of the Zabalan Mountains. At the time of his birth, Safwan had two elder brothers, Ma’sud and Yu'suf, who were expected to succeed his father as sheikh of the Banu Qays’. As such, Safwan grew up cloistered away from positions of genuine political authority. He learned to ride horses and camels, and to fire a bow, as most young boys living in the Hasidhmawt at that time did, but he was not celebrated for his military acumen or fierceness. In point of fact, Safwan was a small, mousy boy. Chroniclers of the time do remark that he had a pleasant singing voice and a fondness for stories, traits he shared with his mother.

In 1332, at the age of thirteen, Safwan gave a poetry recitation in the vituperative form against the Banu Harb who had stolen his father’s favorite bull camel in a daring nighttime raid led by one of their foremost princes, Yuhanna ibn ‘Utbah. His gift for words so impressed his kinsmen that they gave him a place of honor whenever a camp was pitched and invited him to issue a mesmerizing chant. Throughout his adolescence, Safwan became a close companion and confidante of his brother Yu'suf ibn Aidarus, scouting out oases and riding leisurely with him through the mountains and deserts that encompassed their territory. Yu'suf had a fondness for his songs and his company, and spoke gruffly to him in a way that his mothers and sisters did not.

This close camaraderie led Safwan to participate in the Camel Raid of Misrakh against the Banu Khazraj alongside his kinsmen and members of the Banu Fadl' and the 'Ajman, both sub-tribes of the Yam tribal confederation. Following their victory in a small skirmish near the town and their successful driving off of the Khazraji herds, the band of about a hundred raiders retired to Dhruma where they camped, drank araka, and composed songs lauding their victory. Safwan, young and flushed with gleeful triumph, composed a one hundred verse song celebrating the occasion - though only a few lines survive. He was sixteen at the time.

Soon after the raid against the Banu Khazraj, Safwan was sent to live as a hostage among the Banu Harith, where he was entrusted into the care of Zeir As'ad ibn Musa al-Nagari, a judge and warrior among their tribe. Hostage exchanges were a common practice among the feuding tribes of the Hasidhmawt as they constituted a more certain method of ensuring peace than tributes or the threat of war, owing in no small part to the strength of kinship bonds and oaths sworn between close family members. Safwan, in his poetry, described his time in the household of As'ad ibn Musa in pleasant terms, writing about hawking with his host's sons.

It was during this time that he met his future wife Ruqayyah bint As'ad, who was three years his junior, and fell madly in love. Their meeting is described thus in more the more fanciful oral traditions: "When Safwan met Ruqayya bint As'ad, he was nursing his wounded pride, having lost a quiver of fine goose-feather arrows to her brother Yawab ibn As'ad in a gamble concerning whose falcon would seize a wild hare. He heard a soft voice and, pinching his brow together in agitation, turned to rage against her, but, when he beheld her aspect and her dark eyes, he fell silent and gazed on enraptured. Unable to bring himself to speak, he fled and later composed a serenade that he sang before his assembled hosts. It is said that all were so moved by the allusion to Idris and Arwa that even hardened men wept." She was the subject of most of his romantic and erotic works, and it is believed that a betrothal between the two of them had been concluded by the time Safwan returned to his father's camp in 1337, albeit their marriage was conditional on Safwan offering the Thaluwin, a fifteen pound pearl that had featured prominently in the romances of Idris and Arwa, as a bridal gift to As'ad ibn Musa.

Theft of the Thaluwin

By 1337, the Thaluwin had come into the possession of the House of 'Aday, a prestigious clan that had come to rule al-Hajjar and Na'man, and grown wealthy by controlling the oracle located in the former and levying taxes on pilgrims.

First Kinslaying

During the time Safwan had spent among the Banu Harith, hostilities between his two brothers, Yusuf and Ma'sud, over what they would inherit from their father had intensified the barely concealed personal animosities that had existed between them since early adolescence. Ma'sud, the second eldest of Aidarus the Thunderbolt's sons, was a prudent, sanctimonious man who abhorred luxury, wine, music, and violence. His character is described by the Irsadic chronicler Ibn Asakir as "stern and rigidly doctrinaire. He seldom smiled and never laughed, viewing both as sins before Allah." Yusuf, meanwhile, had a reputation for japing and drinking in excess. "He had an affable face, broad and handsome, and was strong of limb and energetic. He was as swift to laugh and jape as to anger, and of wide renown was his mercurial disposition." By the time Ma'sud was thirteen and Yusuf was fourteen, they had come to physical blows at least once, earning the stern reproach of their father, who had made them ride on asses instead of horses for a month following the altercation.

When Safwan returned he immediately assumed his place among his brother Yusuf's confidantes, and, owing to the strong affection born between the two, became once more his closest companion.

The First Kinslaying occurred in the eaves of Belminas amid the wedding of Ma'sud ibn Aidarus and Mayy bint Hammud. Ma'sud and Yusuf, the two eldest sons of Aidarus the Thunderbolt, had a long-festering rivalry over their father's affections and esteem, with Yusuf, who should rightfully have been his heir, resenting his brother. They both loved the same woman Mayy, a princess of the Yam tribe. During the wedding, Yusuf partook too liberally from his wine flask and, being drunk, thrice insulted his brother, ignoring all warnings. This led to a brawl and then a battle between brothers and cousins, with each grabbing his bow or spear. By the time the dust cleared, Yusuf and eighty eight others had been killed.