Imru' Al-Qais - Exile and Death

Exile and Death

After exacting his revenge upon the tribe of Asad and losing the support of Bakr and Taghlib, Imru' al-Qais travelled all over the Arabian peninsula and the Levant, taking refuge with different tribes, running from his enemies and seeking support to regain his father's kingship. His last journey was to Constantinople, to seek support from Emperor Justinian I. The Ghassanid prince Al-Harith ibn Jabalah, Justinian's north Arabian vassal, sponsored Imru' al-Qais in his appeal, and most accounts indicate that he won some promise of support from the Byzantine emperor, and perhaps even a contingent of troops. Some reports indicate that Justinian pressed the Negus of Axum to support Imru' al-Qais' bid, but that he refused due to the ongoing feud between the Axumite Empire and the tribe of Kindah.

After leaving Constantinople, Imru' al-Qais travelled until he fell ill near the city of Ankara in modern-day Turkey. He remained there until he died. There is a story which says that Emperor Justinian became angry with Imru' al-Qais after he left, and sent a messenger with a poisoned jacket, and that Imru' al-Qais wore the jacket and the poison killed him. This story says that Justinian was angry because he discovered that Imru' al-Qais had an affair with a woman in his court. Bangaladeshi poet and novelist Zakir Talukdar has shown in his novel "Kavi o Kamini" (The Poet and the Ladylove) that it was his first wife Ummul Jundoob who made him wear the jacket. One may think that to be true because of his unruly sexual behavior and divorce(s).

However, most historians downplay the likelihood of this account, in favor of the story that Imru' al-Qais actually died from a chronic skin disease, a disease which he mentioned in one of his poems.

The best estimates of the years of Imru' al-Qais' embassy to Justinian and death in Anatolia are from 561 to 565 AD. It has been said that after the death of Imru' al-Qais the Greeks made a statue of him on his tomb that was still seen in 1262 AD, and that his tomb is nowadays located in Hızırlık, Ankara.