The Banu al-Harith (Arabic : بَنُو الْحَارِثBanū al-Ḥārith or Arabic : بَنُو الْحُرَيْثBanū al-Ḥurayth) is an Arabian tribe which once governed the cities of Najran, Taif, and Bisha, now located in southern Saudi Arabia.
The Banu al-Harith (Arabic : بَنُو الْحَارِثBanū al-Ḥārith or Arabic : بَنُو الْحُرَيْثBanū al-Ḥurayth) is an Arabian tribe which once governed the cities of Najran, Taif, and Bisha, now located in southern Saudi Arabia.
The Banu Harith descend from the Qahtanite people, one of the most prominent Arab tribes originating from Yemen. [1] The earliest recorded ancestor of the Qahtanites is Joktan, one of the two sons of Eber. The Qahtanite people are divided into the two factions, the Himyarite and Kahlani tribes. [1] The Kahlani tribe can be further broken into smaller sub-groups which include the Banu Harith which was established by Harith bin Ka'b. [1] [2] The Banu Harith converted to Judaism during pre-Islamic times. [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] They wore a jambiya on their belt and worked primarily in goldsmithing and repairing arms. [8]
The Banu Harith allied with Banu Madh'hij in order to launch an attack on Najran and they were able to successfully conquer the city. [9] Banu Harith lived peacefully beside Banu Hamdan and they were the most powerful house which ruled Najran for many centuries. This was brought to an end during the Christian invasion. [9] After the Christian conquest of Najran, a sub-clan of the tribe emigrated to the Dhank region of Oman while another emigrated south and founded the district of Bani Al Harith in Sana'a. [10] [11]
In 523, the Himyarite king Dhu Nuwas (Dunaan), who had converted to Judaism, massacred the Christians there[ where? ]. [12]
They were included in Point 31 of the Constitution of Medina and honored as allies to the Muslims, being as "one nation", but retaining their Jewish religion. [13] [14] They were given the same rights as Banu Awf and entered into mutual protection pacts with the Muslim tribes. [5]
The small remnants of Banu Harith continued to live semi-autonomously in the border city of Najran until the 1930s. As a result of the Saudi–Yemeni War the Saudis had conquered Najran in 1934. Persecution increased and the governor, Amir Turki bin Mahdi, allowed the Najrani Jews a single day to either evacuate or to convert to Islam. The Banu Harith fled south to Sana'a and Aden. [15] [16] [17] Their descendants currently make up a very small component of the Yemenite Jewish population which now mostly reside in Israel today. [18] [19]
Kahlan was one of the main tribal confederations of Saba' in Ancient Yemen. They are descended from Kahlan bin Saba bin Yishjab bin Yarub bin Qahtan.
The Himyarite Kingdom was a polity in the southern highlands of Yemen, as well as the name of the region which it claimed. Until 110 BCE, it was integrated into the Qatabanian kingdom, afterwards being recognized as an independent kingdom. According to classical sources, their capital was the ancient city of Zafar, relatively near the modern-day city of Sana'a. Himyarite power eventually shifted to Sana'a as the population increased in the fifth century. After the establishment of their kingdom, it was ruled by kings from dhū-Raydān tribe. The kingdom was named Raydān.
Dhū Nuwās, real name Yūsuf Asʾar Yathʾar, Yosef Nu'as, or Yūsuf ibn Sharhabil, also known as Masruq in Syriac, and Dounaas (Δουναας) in Medieval Greek, was a Jewish king of Himyar reigning between 522–530 AD who came to renown on account of his persecutions of peoples of other religions, notably Christians, living in his kingdom. He was also known as Zur'ah in the Arab traditions.
Najran, is a city in southwestern Saudi Arabia. It is the capital of Najran Province. Designated as a new town, Najran is one of the fastest-growing cities in the kingdom. Its population grew from 47,500 in 1974 to 90,983 in 1992, 246,880 in 2004, and 381,431 in 2021. The city's population mostly originates from the ancient tribes of Hamdan.
The Ziyadid dynasty was a Muslim dynasty that ruled western Yemen from 819 until 1018 from the capital city of Zabid. It was the first dynastic regime to wield power over the Yemeni lowland after the introduction of Islam in about 630.
There were several Arabian tribes that interacted with Muhammad.
The Banū Aws or simply Aws was one of the main Arab tribes of Medina. The other was Khazraj, and the two, constituted the Ansar after the Hijra.
It is believed that Jews began migrating to the Arabian Peninsula in as early as the 6th century BCE, when the Babylonian conquest of Judah triggered a mass Jewish exodus from Judea in the Land of Israel. Over time and through successive exiles, the local Jewish tribes, who were concentrated in the Hejaz and partly in South Arabia, established themselves as one of the most prominent ethno-religious communities of pre-Islamic Arabia. Likewise, Judaism, which had been introduced as one of the few monotheistic religions in the region, stood as a deviation from the typical polytheistic practices of Arabian paganism. These Jewish tribes continued to have a presence in Arabia during the rise of Muhammad, who founded Islam in the 7th century CE. Muhammad's interaction with the Jewish community is documented to a considerable degree in Islamic literature, including in many ahadith. The Jewish tribes of the Hejaz are seen in Islam as having been the offspring of the Israelites/Hebrews. Two of Muhammad's wives were Jewish: Safiyya bint Huyayy and Rayhanah bint Zayd, both of whom belonged to the Banu Nadir by birth, though Rayhanah's status as a wife is disputed.
Jewish history in the territory of modern Saudi Arabia begins in classical antiquity.
Banu Hamdan is an ancient, large, and prominent Arab tribe in northern Yemen.
The existence of a Christian community in the city of Najran in present-day southwestern Saudi Arabia is attested by several historical sources of the Arabian Peninsula, where it recorded as having been created in the 5th century AD or perhaps a century earlier. According to the Arab Muslim historian Ibn Ishaq, Najran was the first place where Christianity took root in South Arabia.
The Zurayid Dynasty, were a Yamite Hamdani dynasty based in Yemen in the time between 1083 and 1174. The centre of its power was Aden. The Zurayids suffered the same fate as the Hamdanid sultans, the Sulaymanids and the Mahdids, since their lands were taken over by the Ayyubids, and they themselves were liquidated. They were a Shia Ismaili dynasty that followed the Fatimid Caliphs based in Egypt. They were also Hafizi Ismaili as opposed to the Taiyabi Ismaili.
The Aksumite–Persian wars took place in the 6th century, when the Kingdom of Aksum and the Sasanian Empire fought for control over South Arabia. In the 520s, the Aksumite invasion of South Arabia had led to the annexation of the Himyarite Kingdom and the deposition of Dhu Nuwas, who was persecuting the Christian community of Najran. By 570, the subjugated Himyarite king Saif ibn Dhi Yazan sought to end Aksum's hegemony in the region and, after being rejected by the Byzantine Empire, turned to the Persians for military aid. The Persian king Khosrow I agreed upon the stipulation that Himyarite territory would be annexed by the Sasanian Empire in the event of an Aksumite defeat. Subsequently, the Persian army entered South Arabia and secured decisive victories in the Battle of Hadhramaut and then in the Siege of Sanaa, following which the Aksumites were largely expelled from the Arabian Peninsula, excluding Najran. With the establishment of Sasanian Yemen, Yazan was appointed to govern the region. However, four years into his reign, he was murdered by his Aksumite servants. Facing the return of Aksum to South Arabia, the Sasanian Empire mounted a second invasion and re-conquered Yemen by 578, indefinitely ending Aksumite rule outside of Ethiopia. The Persian army general Wahrez was appointed as Yemen's governor, ensuring the suppression of regional pro-Byzantine influence amidst the Byzantine–Sasanian War of 572–591.
People of the Ditch is a story mentioned in Surah Al-Burooj of the Qur'an. It is about people who were thrown into a ditch and set afire, due to their belief in Allah.
The Al-Qalis Church was a Miaphysite Christian church constructed sometime between 527 and the late 560s in the city of Sanaa in modern-day Yemen. The church's lavish decorations made it an important place of pilgrimage, placing it in competition with Kaaba in Mecca. According to the National Museum of Saudi Arabia in Riyadh, Abraha built Al-Qullays in Sana'a. He also built a similar one in Najran for Bani Al-Harith, the House of Allat in Taif for the tribe of Thaqeef, the House of Yareem and the House of Ghamdan in Yemen.
Najm al-Dīn Umāra al-Ḥakamī al-Yamanī was a Sunni historian, jurist and poet of Yemen of great repute who was closely associated with the late Fatimid Caliphate of Egypt. He was executed by order of Saladin at Cairo on April 6, 1174 for his part in a conspiracy to restore Fatimid rule. His Tarikh al-Yaman is the earliest, and in respects the most important, history of Yemen from the Islamic era.
Banu Awd is a Qahtanite Arab tribe that historically inhabited Yemen in the south of the Arabian Peninsula.
The Kinda, or Kindah, were an Arab tribe from South Arabia.
Kitāb al-Tījāni also known more commonly as The Book of Crowns on the Kings of Himyar, is a historical and biographical work by the Yemeni historian Wahb ibn Munabbih, an 8th AD century Israʼiliyyat author. The book is also known as Kitāb al-Tījān li ma'rifati muluk al-zamān fi akhbar Qahtān(The Book of Crowns, on the kings of yesteryear in the accounts of the Qahtānites).
