Al Zeer Salim: The tragic hero of Arabia’s ancient Al Basoos War
The war became known as Al Basoos war as many believed that it was her camel’s incident that initiated it and it lasted forty years
Published: 05:07 PM,Jul 10,2026 | EDITED : 09:07 PM,Jul 10,2026
One of the most famous Arab characters that comes from the period before Islam — also known as Al Jahiliya — is Al Zeer Salim (443-531 AD). His real name was Udai ibn Rabeea and Al Zeer was a nickname given to him by his brother Kulaib that meant the ladies’ man.
He was also known as Abu Laila Al Muhalhil (Laila was his daughter and Al Muhalhil means the one who lightened poetry). Al Zeer was from a tribe called Taghlib who were cousins to Bakr tribe.
His brother Kulaib was married to his cousin Al Jaleela from Bakr tribe and had two children: a daughter called Al Yamama and a son called Al Jaru. Kulaib was the leader of his tribe and was the second Arab at the time to claim himself a king after King Zuhair of Abs tribe, many years before him. As time passed, his kingship started causing frictions as his subjects belonging to both tribes found their liberties as nomads being controlled: they had to take permission when to travel and where to settle, where to shepherd their cattle and when to water them; even honouring their guests with feasts needed Kulaib’s approval.
His rules were firmly rejected by his brother-in-law Jassas — Al Jaleela’s brother — especially after injuring their aunt Al Basoos’s camel Sarab with an arrow and later prohibiting Bakr tribe from watering in nearby springs, almost killing their cattle with thirst. Jassas took revenge by killing him with a throw of a spear at his back and as Kulaib was dying, he wrote his testimony to his brother in his own blood on a nearby boulder: “Salim, no trucing”.
This was the time when Al Zeer Salim decided to leave behind his carefree days of hunting, drinking and courting to focus on one goal: the elimination of the Bakr tribe. This war became known as Al Basoos war as many believed that it was her camel’s incident that initiated it and it lasted forty years.
Surrounding tribes became divided between those supporting Bakr tribe and those supporting Taghlib tribe. However, few tribes stayed neutral and tried trucing between the waring two but it was a fool’s errand as Jassas escaped - leaving his father and brothers facing the scourge of Al Zeer, where Al Zeer’s only condition to stop the war was bringing Kulaib back to life.
The war was divided into many battles that were called 'the day of' with distinct combat chronicles, famous knights’ deaths followed by a specific faction’s victory. Eventually, Jassas was avenged by Kulaib’s son Al Jaru yet Al Zeer continued the war alone till he lost one of the battles because of his old age and was forced to flee to Yemen.
There, he was assassinated by two of his servants but before his death he asked them to deliver his testimony in the form of a poem verse to Kulaib’s children. The servants obliged and were instantly murdered by Al Jaru when Al Yamama deciphered the relayed verse: the messengers are the assassins.
Al Zeer’s elegies of Kulaib still survives and proverbs that came after Kulaib’s death are still in use such as: “seeking refuge of burning sands to fire”. During the Ottoman times, a poem called: “Al Zeer Abu Laila Al Muhalhil Says” was composed and sang describing the suffering of Al Zeer and his plans to avenge the death of his brother, becoming very popular in the Arab world.
Al Zeer’s epic was adapted to theatre and TV many times, most famously Al Zeer Salim’s series streamed in Ramadhan of 2000 starring Syrian actors Salum Haddad as Al Zeer and Abid Fahad as Jassas. It surpassed the usual Ramadhan’s 30 episodes by eleven yet was very engaging and entertaining. Available on YouTube with English subtitles.