Imru al-Qays I ibn Amr

Imru al-Qays I ibn Amr
King of the Lakhmid state
ReignCE 295–328
PredecessorAmr I ibn Adi
SuccessorAmr II ibn Inru al-Qays
IssueAmr II ibn al-Qays
HouseLakhmids
FatherAmr I ibn Adi
ReligionNestorian Church

Imru al-Qays ibn Amr ibn Adi (Arabic: امرؤ القيس بن عمرو بن عدي, romanized: Imruʾ al-Qays ibn ʿAmr ibn ʿAdī), commonly known as Imru al-Qays I, 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[who?] 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.[citation needed]

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

  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. Although Imru' al-Qays was considered christian by al-Kalbi, there is not a single christian formula or symbol in the (Namarah) inscription.