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the day of Ḥalīma — al-Mundhir 'the Black' killed by al-Ḥārith's hundred

يوم حليمة — مقتل المنذر الأسود

554 CE

Marj Halima

To avenge his father, the new Lakhmid king al-Mundhir «the Black» marched to Ḥalīma's meadow. For days neither side prevailed, the Ghassanid army eating from great platters set among them. Then al-Ḥārith offered tribute and asked to send «the heads of the tribes to settle matters»: a hundred youths — some say eighty — with swords hidden beneath burnouses, perfumed and dressed by his daughter Ḥalīma. When they stood before the king they bared steel and cut down the Iraqi nobles, including the king himself; the rider Labīd ibn ʿAmr, promised Ḥalīma's hand, refused to survive («let no one say I fled a hundred») and died fighting. The genealogists disputed which Mundhir fell at which day; Ibn al-Athīr judges the slain king was al-Mundhir ibn Māʾ al-Samāʾ and the son died at al-Ḥīra 1.

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In time

540550560570
Pre-Islamic Arabia

Sides

Lakhmids

Summary

The Day of Marj Halima: al-Mundhir al-Aswad ibn al-Mundhir ibn Ma' al-Sama set out seeking vengeance for his father against al-Harith al-A'raj al-Ghassani. The two men camped at the meadow. Al-Harith ordered the people of his villages to prepare food in large bowls from which the fighters would eat, and the war dragged on for days without a victory. Then al-Harith offered tribute and said: I am sending the heads of the tribes to settle the matter. He had a hundred young men, or according to some eighty, put on weapons under their clothes, and ordered his daughter Halima to perfume them. When they gathered before the king, they revealed their weapons and killed the nobles. Labid ibn Amr fought until he was killed, saying that people must not say a hundred men had routed him. Then the men of Iraq were put to flight. The genealogists differ about the two days, and Ibn al-Athir favoured the view that the one killed was al-Mundhir ibn Ma' al-Sama and that his son died in al-Hira. 1

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Occurred at
Marj Halima
Had participant
al-Harith ibn Abi Shamir al-Ghassani· Labid ibn 'Amr· al-Mundhir ibn Maʾ al-Samaʾ

People and things also explored

the day of ʿAyn Ubāgh — al-Mundhir ibn Māʾ al-Samāʾ killed by the Ghassanid al-Ḥārith· The War of al-Harith al-A'raj on Banu Taghlib· Lakhm (the Manadhira)· Ghassan· al-Hira· al-Harith ibn Abi Shamir al-Ghassani· al-Mundhir ibn Maʾ al-Samaʾ

Sources

  1. al-Kamil fi'l-Tarikh of Ibn al-Athir , p. 409-412
Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “the day of Ḥalīma — al-Mundhir 'the Black' killed by al-Ḥārith's hundred”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/event/yawm-halima/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-22.

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

At ʿAyn Ubāgh in Dhāt al-Khiyār, al-Mundhir ibn Māʾ al-Samāʾ — who had taken al-Ḥīra with all of Maʿadd — offered the Ghassanid al-Ḥārith the Lame ransom or war. They agreed their sons should duel to decision, but al-Mundhir sent a champion disguised as his son; twice a Ghassanid prince cried «this is no son of al-Mundhir» and twice the old king answered «the shaykh would never betray» — until Shamir ibn ʿAmr crossed over and revealed the trick. With forty thousand the Ḥārith broke the Lakhmid host and killed al-Mundhir, laid him above the two dead princes on one camel — «a singleton beneath the pair», which became a proverb — sacked and burned al-Ḥīra, and raised the two Ghurāb towers over his sons' graves.