Akil al-Murar of Kinda

Akil al-Murar, a king of Kinda. Al-Ash'ath ibn Qays traced his descent through his mother to him, in the delegation of Kinda, and said to the Prophet: "And you are the son of Akil al-Murar." ¹

Ibn Hisham says that al-Ash'ath descended through his mother from Akil al-Murar, and that Akil al-Murar was al-Harith ibn Amr ibn Hujr ibn Amr ibn Mu'awiya ibn al-Harith ibn Mu'awiya ibn Thawr ibn Mirta' ibn Mu'awiya ibn Kindi, or as it is said, Kinda. ^{1 2}

Amr ibn al-Hubula al-Ghassani raided the people of al-Harith while he was away, killed and took captives. Among the captives was Umm Unas bint Awf ibn Mihlam al-Shaybani, the wife of al-Harith. On the journey she said to Amr: "I see a dark, black man whose lips are like the lips of a camel that has eaten al-murar, and he has seized your neck," meaning al-Harith. So he was called Akil al-Murar, and al-murar is a tree. ² Al-Harith then pursued him among the Banu Bakr ibn Wa'il, caught up with him, killed him, and rescued his wife and what had been taken. ² Ibn Hisham cites a verse by al-Harith ibn Hilliza al-Yashkuri for Amr ibn al-Mundhir, since al-Harith al-A'raj al-Ghassani had killed al-Mundhir's father, and says the story is longer than what is mentioned. ² It is also said that Akil al-Murar was Hujr ibn Amr ibn Mu'awiya, and was so called because he and his companions ate, on that raid, a tree called al-murar. ²

"Al-Adlam" means one with loose lips, and "al-murar", with a vowelled mim, is a plant whose bitterness makes a camel's lips shrink when it eats it. ²