lands into the hands of al-Azd and asked the latter to evacuate the land. Thereupon a one-eyed and deaf man of al-Azd, named Jidhʿ, made an attack on a ʿAkk party and destroyed them. This resulted in a war between al-Azd and ʿAkk. The Azd, after being defeated, returned and charged, in reference to which Jidhʿ composed the following verse:
"We are the descendants of Mâzin—there is no doubt,
the Ghassân of Ghassân versus the ʿAkk of ʿAkk,
and they shall see whether we or they are the weaker."
(Previous to this al-Azd had settled near a spring called Ghassân. Hence their name, Ghassân.)[1] Al-Azd now set off until they arrived in the land of Ḥakam ibn-Saʿd al-ʿAshîrah … ibn Yaʿrub ibn-Ḳaḥṭân. There they fought and won the victory over Ḥakam. But it occurred to them to move, and they did, leaving a small band behind. The next place they came to was Najrân. Here they met resistance from the inhabitants of the place but finally won the victory. After settling in Najrân they departed with the exception of a few who had special reasons to stay. Al-Azd then arrived in Makkah which was populated with the Jurhum tribe. They made their abode in Baṭn-Marr. Thaʿlabah the son of ʿAmr Muzaiḳîya demanded of Jurhum that the plain of Makkah be given to his people. This request having been refused, a battle ensued in which Thaʿlabah got control of the plain. Thaʿlabah and his people, however, realized after this that the place was unwholesome, and found it hard to make their living in it; so they dispersed, one band of them leaving for ʿUmân, another for as-Sarât, another for al-Anbâr and al-Ḥîrah, another for Syria and one band chose Makkah for abode. This made Jidhʿ say: "Every time ye go to a place, ye al-Azd, some of you
- ↑ Near Sudd-Maʾrib in al-Yaman; Hishâm, p. 6.
