14. A Decades’ Long War Over an Injured Camel
In pre-Islamic Arabia, Kulayb ibn Rabiah (440 – 494) was a chieftain of the Taghlib tribe. A warrior and poet of great renown, Kulayb was even better known for his pride (or arrogance) and fondness for asserting his dominance and preeminence over others. At pain of death, none could graze their camels, water their flocks, or hunt in any land claimed by him without his permission. While others defined their territory with physical markers, Kulayb chose another method. His first name, which means “little doggie”, was a nickname bestowed because of a little dog he kept in front of his tent. He defined his territory by the radius of the sound of its barking. If you could hear Kulayb’s dog, you were in his territory. His followers and fellow tribesmen ate up Kulayb’s exaggerated machismo. Others were not so thrilled.
Kulayb’s wife was Jalilah bint Murah, a beauty from the frenemy Bakr tribe, with whom the Taghlibs traded and sometimes raided. He asked her if she knew of a prouder man than him. She replied that she did: her brother, Jassas. Kulayb didn’t like that, and set out to punk his brother-in-law. Jalilah’s aunt, Al Basus, had a favorite camel that accidentally wandered into grazing lands claimed by Kulayb. So he shot and wounded it with an arrow. When Basus saw what Kulayb had done, she raised a fuss, and berated her nephew Jassas for allowing his aunt and the Bakr tribe to endure such an insult. Stung, Jassas stabbed Kulayb with a spear, and mortally wounded him. The dying Kulayb wrote a message on a rock with his blood, demanding vengeance. The result was the Basus War between the Taghlib and Bakr tribes, which lasted for forty years.
