the day of ʿAyn Ubāgh — al-Mundhir ibn Māʾ al-Samāʾ killed by the Ghassanid al-Ḥārith

The Day of Ayn Ubagh was fought between al-Mundhir ibn Ma' al-Sama', king of al-Hira, and al-Harith al-A'raj ibn Abi Shamir, king of Ghassan. Al-Mundhir gave al-Harith the choice between ransom and war. They agreed instead on a duel between their sons: whichever side lost all its sons would withdraw. Al-Mundhir then broke faith. He sent out one of his bravest slaves dressed as his own son, and the slave killed al-Harith's two sons. Al-Harith kept saying that the old man would not have betrayed him, until Shamir ibn Amr al-Hanafi warned him, and he went after al-Mundhir. Al-Harith marched with forty thousand men, killed al-Mundhir, routed his armies, and carried him on a single camel above his two sons. He said a phrase that became proverbial, meaning that the extra load was laid over the two. He then went to al-Hira, plundered and burned it, buried his two sons there, and according to one account built al-Gharayn over them. ¹