"al-Aḳraʿ b. Ḥābis"

akra'.pdf al-Aḳraʿ b. Ḥābis b. ʿIḳāl b. Muḥammad b. Sufyān b. Mudjāshiʿ b. Dārim, Tamīmite warrior. Al-Aḳraʿ is an epithet (“bald”); his proper name (Firās? ull?) is disputed. He is said to have been the last judge in the djāhiliyya at ɈUkāẓ, having inherited this office (which was a privilege of Tamīm) from his ancestors; he performed this duty until the rise of Islam, giving his judgments in sadjʿ (al-Djāḥiẓ, Bayān, i, 236). He is said also to have been the first to prohibit games of chance (ḳimār), but was accused of partiality in the controversy between Badjīla and Kalb. He took part, and was captured, in the battle of Zubāla (or Salmān, according to al-Balādhurī and Yāḳūṭ) and was freed by Bisṭām b. Ḳays. Another exploit of al-AḳraɈ was the raid on Nadjrān after the battle of al-Kulāb al-thānī (see al-Naḳāʾiḍ, 46, 448; Ibn Ḥabīb's statement (Muḥabbar, 247) that he took part in al-Kulāb al-awwal is due to a confusion with his ancestor Sufyān: see Aghānī, xi, 61). Ibn Ḥabīb also states that he was one of the djarrārūn, who succeeded in uniting a whole branch of his tribe, the Banū Ḥanẓala, under his banner. According to Ibn Ḳutayba (al-Maʿārif, 194) and Ibn al-Kalbī (quoted in the Iṣāba) he was a Zoroastrian (madjūsī); this is of importance for the estimation of Persian influence on some sections of Tamīm. Nothing is known of his attitude towards Muḥammad up to the time when he joined the Prophet in al-Suḳyā during the expedition to Mecca in 8/630. He took part in the conquest of Mecca and was one of al-muʾallafa ḳulūbuhum who were presented with gifts, which gave occasion to a famous verse of ɈAbbās b. Mirdās. He took part also in the battle of Ḥunayn and refused to return his booty, in spite of the Prophet's request. (For Muḥammad's somewhat negative opinion of him see also Ibn Hishām, iv, 139.) He participated later in the deputation of Tamīm to the Prophet, the traditional account stressing his arrogant conduct; nevertheless, he was appointed to collect the ṣadaḳāt of part of the Banū Ḥanẓala (al-Ansāb, x, 970r). Together with other chiefs of Tamīm, he interceded for the captives of the Banu 'l-ɈAnbar, and was a witness to a letter despatched by the Prophet to Nadjrān. During the ridda, according to Sayf (al-Ṭabarī, i, 1920), al-AḳraɈ and al-Zibriḳān proposed to Abū Bakr to guarantee the allegiance of Tamīm against the grant of the kharādj of Baḥrayn, and it was only ɈUmar who prevented Abū Bakr from accepting the proposal. In view of the situation of Tamīm at this period, this tradition does not seem trustworthy, but it may reflect ɈUmar's attitude to al-AḳraɈ (cf. Bayān, i, 253, and ʿUyūn al-Akhbār (Cairo), i, 85). Sayf relates also that he took part in the battle of the ridda alongside Khālid b. al-Walīd, and was in the vanguard at the battles of Dūmat alDjandal and al-Anbār. His name is last mentioned in 32/652-3, when he was sent by alAḥnaf b. Ḳays to subdue Djūzdjān; he must have been a very old man at that time. AlBalādhurī mentions that his descendants lived in Khurāsān. (M.J. Kister) Bibliography Ibn Hishām, Sīra, index Bukhārī, ch. on Wafd Banī Tamīm, iii, 65 Naḳāʾiḍ (Bevan), index Ibn al-Kalbī, Djamharat al-Ansāb, B. M. 1202, 65 Balādhurī, Futūḥ, Cairo 1319, 414 idem, Ansāb al-Ashrāf, MS, x, 969v-970r Ḥassān b. Thābit, Diwān, Cairo 1929, 243-52, 353 v Ibn SaɈd, index Mubarrad, Kāmil, Cairo 1355, i, 133 Djāḥiẓ, Bayān, i, 236, 253 Ibn Ḥabīb, Muḥabbar, 134, 182, 247, 473 Ibn Ḳutayba, Maʿārif, Cairo 1935, 194, 305 Ṭabarī, index Aghānī, Tables Ibn ɈAbd Rabbihi, ʿIḳd, Cairo 1940 f., index Ibn Rashīḳ, ʿUmda, ii, 160 Ibn Ḥazm, Djamhara, 219 Ibn ɈAsākir, iii, 86-91 Yāḳūṭ, s. vv. Salmān, Djūzdjān Ibn al-Athīr, index LA, s.v. ḳaraʿa Ibn Ḥadjar, Iṣāba, s.v. al-AḳraɈ E. Bräunlich, Bisṭām b. Qais, Leipzig 1923, 46 Maḳrīzī, Imtāʿ al-Asmāʿ, Cairo 1941, index. [Print Version: Volume I, page 343, column 1] Citation: Kister, M.J. "al-AḳraɈ b. Ḥābis b. ɈIḳāl b. Muḥammad b. Sufyān b. MudjāshiɈ b. Dārim." Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition. Edited by: P. Bearman; , Th. Bianquis; , C.E. Bosworth; , E. van Donzel; and W.P. Heinrichs.