Aidarus the Thunderbolt

Aidarus ibn Abd al-Ghaffir
Emir of Zabral Sheikh of the Banu Qays'
Emir of Zabral
Reign	1328 CE - 1355 CE
Predecessor	Office Established
Successor	Safwan I
Sheikh of the Banu Qays'
Reign	1315 CE - 1355 CE
Predecessor	Sinan ibn Moahaya as-Sabbah
Successor	Safwan I
Born	1298 CE Qurayyat, The Hasidhmawt
Died	1355 CE Zabral, The Hasidhmawt
Burial	1355 CE Mazar al-Eydroos
Wives	Zaynab bint 'Urwah Jamila bint al-Husayn ar-Rashidi Bilqis bint Sammaw'al
House	Al Ash'ar
Father	Abdul-Ghaffir ibn Mohaya as-Sabbah
Mother	Huma'i bint Wasil as-Silfi
Religion	Azdarin

Aidarus the Thunderbolt (Gharbaic: ايداروس الصاعقة, born 1298 CE, died 1355 CE) was an important tribal leader of the Sub'ay and the eponymous founder of the House of Aidarus.

Aidarus was born a second son into the impoverished Sub’ay sub-clan of the Banu Qays’ tribal confederation. His father, Abd al-Ghaffir ibn Mohaya as-Sabbah, was a respected scholar of the Iqār, who had been passed over for election as sheikh in favor of his younger brother, Sinan ibn Mohaya as-Sabbah, due to his doctrinal rigidity and lameness owing from an injury in his youth. Aidarus was named for the Caliph Idris ibn Nawfal, who was a matrilineal ancestor according to his tribe's oral histories. His family, the al-Ash'ari, had assumed lordship of the Sub'ay following a protracted power struggle with the Ar-Rashidi in the late twelfth century. His early childhood was characteristic of the rugged upbringing of most boys living in the Hasidhmawt in that period, defined by tribal skirmishes, pastoral migrations, and, more often than not, hunger. At a young age, Aidarus distinguished himself by driving off a lion that was stalking his flock with a sling. This earned him the laqab as-Saeyqa or “the Thunderbolt.” Beyond this and that his elder brother was killed in a failed raid against the 'Anazzah tribe, little is known of his childhood except that he had become a notorious horse thief by the middle of his adolescence.

In 1315, the Banu Qays’ fought a scantily attested pitched battle against the Banu Harb confederation at ar-Radha and suffered a stiff defeat. Both the sheikh of the Banu Qays’, Sinan ibn Mohaya as-Sabbah, and Aidarus’s father, Abd al-Ghaffir, were killed in the melee and even more were cut down as they were pursued well into the night. Aidarus, together with several younger men, put up a valiant fighting retreat that enabled the elderly, women, and children of their tribe to escape to as-Souhr in the following weeks, together with the best of their camel herds. When the Sub’ay and their allies managed to regroup, with many, including the bulk of the Banu Qays' and even the ar-Rashidi, having defected, Aidarus’s bravery and fortitude were noted and all but impelled the men of the tribe to elect him sheikh. He inherited a fractured and decimated clan, consisting principally of women and children, and utterly penniless. His extended family eked out a meager living as tenant shepherds and mercenaries in the service of the local emirates, and, in the span of three years, Aidarus earned a more permanent position in the court of Abd al-Mu’min ibn Ya’lah, Emir of Akrad.

This prestigious station, with the protection and resources that accompanied it, enabled the Sub’ay to begin launching raids against the Banu Hilal, the ‘Anazzah, the Banu Ghifar, and the remnants of the Banu Qays’ who had accepted the hegemony of the Banu Harb through their puppets the ar-Rashidi. These tentative, probing expeditions proved both lucrative and strategically impactful and, by 1324, Idris had secured for the Sub’ay a level of security and prosperity unknown since the time of the Haydarid Caliphate. He was on the verge of capturing several wadis and oases in the southern reaches of the Hasidhmawt when he received an urgent call from liege lord and paymaster Abd al-Mu’min to return to Akrad. The emirate had been embroiled in a dispute with the more powerful Emirates of Raphaat and Eirat to the south, and, following a disastrous campaign against them, had been caught on the defensive.

Aidarus and his Sub’ayi Bedouins participated in the long, grueling siege of Akrad, serving loyally if ineffectually, which concluded with Abd al-Mu’min swearing fealty to the Emir of Raphaat and agreeing to limit the size of his military forces. The Sub’ay, thus released from the emir's service, found themselves without a protector or means of preserving themselves, driving Aidarus to conclude that the time had come to force a confrontation with their enemies in the Hasidhmawt. His army rode deep into the ancestral lands of the Banu Qays’ and, at the Battle of Wadi Seiyun, in 1326, the outnumbered Sub’ay defeated a coalition consisting of half the Banu Qays’ under the leadership of the ar-Rashidi, the ‘Anazzah, and the Banu Hilal. According to oral legends, during the fighting, Aidarus ordered the Haydarid standard to be unfurled and led a devastating charge against the Banu Hilal, who occupied the right flank, striking down their sheikh personally and putting them to flight.

This victory resulted in the Ash'ari regaining their status ruling family of the Banu Qays’ and gaining access to the pilgrimage routes and oases that led from Na’man to Sulh far to the south, most especially the important mountain passes and valleys that separated the Hasidhmawt from as-Souhr. Just two years later, Aidarus declared himself Emir of Zabral, a small oasis town that had been a regular encampment of the Banu Qays’ since the time of the Saffarids. Such a brazen declaration signified to the emirs of as-Souhr and the feuding sheikhs of the Hasidhmawt that Aidarus considered himself their equal or even their better. Aidarus took four wives over the course of the next decade, three from among the Banu Qays’, which united the Rashidi and Silfi with the Ash'ari more directly, as well as a daughter of the newly elected sheikh of the Banu Hilal, 'Urwah ibn Abdallah.

His four wives were named Hamama bint 'Urwah, Fatima bint Hakam ar-Rashidi, Jamila bint Talib as-Silfi, and Sabiha bint Mishal al-Ash'ari. Of these, Hamama bint 'Urwah was his principal consort and emira, whereas Sabiha bint Mishal, his cousin and childhood sweetheart, was, in the opinion of poets at the time, his favorite. Aidarus's son by Sabiha, Mas'ud, was originally intended to be his heir and was groomed to succeed him, much to the chagrin of Hamama, but the line of succession would be changed after he was killed. Beyond his more traditional family, Aidarus had a great many concubines, many of whom bore him children. These relationships included a famously passionate infatuation with the singer and poetess Bilqis bint Sammaw'al, who performed for a time in the courts of as-Souhr. She would be the mother of his eventual successor, Safwan I.

He furthermore continued to raid far afield in the Hasidhmawt, bringing tribes as far-flung as the Banu Khazraj and the Banu Ghafir under his influence so that most of the southern and eastern Hasidhmawt paid tribute to the Banu Qays’. Beyond his more martial exploits, Aidarus, who had a primitive understanding of the Iqār established a court at Zabral to mediate the disputes of his subjects and kinsmen, inviting scholars exiled from Na’man and Rukhmeydan to sit as judges and scholars. He was especially keen to promote clerics who held sympathetic views of the Haydarids and Idris ibn Nawfal, his ancestor, and these scholars would provide the foundation for the Ash'ariyyah school of jurisprudence within Malufi Irsad. He was noted for his ascetic propensities and deepening piety in later life, even going so far as to ban intoxicants and gambling in the belief that such policies would invite Allah’s favor onto the Banu Qays’.

Aidarus died of what most historians assume was a stroke somewhere between the ages of fifty two and fifty eight in 1355. He had two remaining sons, as the others had been killed in his constant warring, and he named his third eldest and favorite son Safwan his successor over the objection of his ar-Rashidi and as-Silfi brothers-in-law. Aidarus was buried within forty eight hours of his death in cypress grove on the Hill of Talal that would later be designated the Mazar al-Eydroos. A marble statue in his idealized likeness stands there today, erected over his assumed burial place. The monuments were defaced in late 2013 by IRF rebels, but were repaired using museum sketches by the Nerraphne family in 2016.