Battle of Dhi Qar

{{Short description|Pre-Islamic battle fought between Arabs in southern Iraq and a Sassanid Persian army}}

{{infobox military conflict

| conflict = Battle of Dhi Qar

| partof =

| image =

| caption =

| date = 604–611

| place = Sasanian Empire (Dhi Qar, Southern Iraq)

| coordinates =

| map_type =

| latitude =

| longitude =

| map_size =

| map_caption =

| map_label =

| territory =

| result = Arab victory{{cite thesis |last1=Ahmad |first1=Nawawi |title=Arab Unity and Disunity |date=1976 |page=2 |url=http://theses.gla.ac.uk/72280/1/10646097.pdf |access-date=10 May 2021 |publisher=University of Glasgow |quote=Despite the small number of troops involved, the decisive victory of the Arabs is seen as the beginning of a new era, since it gave the Arab tribes a new confidence and enthusiasm.|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200602231222/http://theses.gla.ac.uk/72280/1/10646097.pdf|archive-date=2020-06-02}}{{Cite web |last=Foundation |first=Encyclopaedia Iranica |title=Welcome to Encyclopaedia Iranica |url=https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/du-qar |access-date=2025-03-20 |website=iranicaonline.org |language=en-US|quote=In the Arab sources the Persian force is numbered at 2,000 soldiers, with 3,000 Arabs led by Īās b. Qabīṣa. The enemy was from the Bakr b. Wāʾel, a large tribal confederation whose territory extended from southwestern Iraq into the eastern Arabian peninsula (Donner, pp. 16-18, 28; Ṭabarī, I, pp. 1030-31; Ḥellī, pp. 410-11). The most prominent constituent tribe was Šaybān, the other groups being Banū Ejl, Banū Ḏohl, Banū Qays b. Thaʿlaba, Banū Taym-Allāh b. Thaʿlaba, and Banū Yaškor. These groups do not seem to have coordinated their efforts on the battlefield, nor did they have a single commander-in-chief. Rather, leadership seeems to have shifted among various warriors. Nevertheless, the Bakrīs defeated the combined Persian and Arab forces.}}

| status =

| combatant1 = Sasanian Persia

| combatant2 = * Banu Bakr

• Banu Ijl
• Banu Yashkur
• Banu Dhuhl
• Banu Qays
• Banu Taym ibn Tha'labah
• Abd al-Qays
• Banu Tamim

| combatant3 =

| commander1 = Iyas ibn Qabisah al-Ta'i
Hamrez al-Tasatturi {{KIA}}
Al-Nu'man bin Zara'a {{KIA}}
Khalid bin Yazid al-Buhrani {{KIA}}
Khanabarin {{KIA}}
Hamarz {{KIA}}
Hormuzan

| commander2 = Hani' bin Qubaisah
Hantala bin Tha'laba al-Ajli
Abd Amr bin Bashar al-Dhubai'y
Jabala bin Ba'ith al-Yashkury
Al-Harith bin Wa'la al-Thahli
Al-Harith bin Rabi'a al-Taimi

| commander3 =

| units1 =

| units2 =

| units3 =

| strength1 = 2,000 Persian soldiers, with 3,000 Arabs{{cite web|last=Landau-Tasseron|first=Ella|title=ḎŪ QĀR|url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/du-qar|work=ENCYCLOPÆDIA IRANICA|access-date=8 January 2012}}

| strength2 = 2,000–5,000

| strength3 =

| casualties1 = Almost all the army lost

| casualties2 = Minimal

| casualties3 =

| notes =

}}

The Battle of Dhi Qar ({{langx|ar|يوم ذي قار}}), also known as the War of the Camel's Udder,Mackintosh-Smith, Tim. "ON THE EDGE OF GREATNESS THE DAYS OF THE ARABS" ARABS A 3,000-YEAR HISTORY of PEOPLES, TRIBES and EMPIRES . Yale University Press, 2019, pp.110. was a pre-Islamic battle fought between Arab tribes and the Sasanian Empire in Southern Iraq. The battle occurred after the death of Al-Nu'man III by the orders of Khosru II.{{sfn|Bosworth|1983|p=3}}

The dating of the event is disputed. The Encyclopædia Iranica entry on the subject says:

{{Blockquote|"According to certain Muslim traditions, the battle took place in the year 1/623 or 2/624... Ebn Ḥabīb... dated it earlier, between 606 and 622, but modern scholars have narrowed this range to 604-11"}}

The battle of Dhū-Qār is reported in many classical works of Arabic history and literature. The longest, but not necessarily most representative, version is Bishr ibn Marwān al-Asadī's Ḥarb Banī Shaybān maʻa Kisrá Ānūshirwān ({{langx|ar|حرب بني شيبان مع كسرى آنوشروان}}).Ḥarb Banī Shaybān maʻa Kisrá Ānūshirwān, ed. by Muḥammad Jāsim Ḥammādī Mashhadānī (Baghdad: s.n., 1988; first publ. Bombay 1887); Hamad Alajmi, 'Pre-Islamic Poetry and Speech Act Theory: Al-A`sha, Bishr ibn Abi Khazim, and al-Ḥujayjah' (unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Indiana University, 2012), p. 163.