Imru al-Qays ibn Amr
King of the Lakhmid state
200x
The Namara inscription; the epitaph of Imru' al-Qays
ReignCE 302/305 — 339/340
PredecessorAmr I
SuccessorAmr II
Born295
DiedDecember 7, 328
IssueAmr II

Imru' al-Qays ibn 'Amr (Arabic: امرؤ القيس بن عمرو) was the second Lakhmid king. His mother was Maria bint 'Amr, the sister of Ka'b al-Azdi. There is debate on his religious affinity: while Theodor Nöldeke noted that Imru' al-Qays ibn 'Amr was not a Christian[1] Irfan Shahid argued for a possible Christian affiliation, noting that Imru'al Qays' Christianity may have been "orthodox, heretical or of the Manichaean type".[2] Furthermore Shahid asserts that the funerary inscription of Imru' al Qays ibn 'Amr lacks Christian formulas and symbols.[3] Al-Tabari states that "he ruled for the Persians in all the land of the Arabs in Iraq, Hejaz and Mesopotamia". Imru' al-Qays is called in his epitaph inscription: "The king of all Arabs who owned the crown," while the same title (king of all Arabs) was the title given to the kings of Hatra. The same inscription mentions that Imru' al-Qays reached as far as Najran and besieged it from the king, Shammar Yahri'sh. Some scholars have identified "Imru' al-Qays ibn 'Amr" in some South Arabian inscriptions with that one. In those same inscriptions his name is mentioned along with Shammar Yahri'sh, the Himyarite king.

The epitaph, the Namara inscription, is one of the earliest examples of Arabic.

References

  1. ↑ Geschichte der Perser und Araber zur Zeit der Sasaniden, Theodor Nöldeke. p. 47.
  2. ↑ Byzantium and the Arabs in the Fourth Century, Irfan Shahid. pp. 33–34. Imru'al-qays christianity (may have been) orthodox, heretical or of the manichaean type [...] Perhaps Imru' al-Qays' Christianity was of the manichaean type, completely unacceptable to those in Byzantium. His father 'Amr was the protector of Manichaeism in Hira, that followed the crucifixion of Mani, the coptic papyri have shown.
  3. ↑ Byzantium and the Arabs in the Fourth Century, Irfan Shahîd. p. 32. Allthough Imru' al-Qays was considered christian by al-Kalbi, there is not a single christian formula or symbol in the (Namarah) inscription.
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