Bani Malik or Banu Malik (بنو مالك) (The Sons of Malik) is one of the major Arab tribes of the Arabian Peninsula

Arabian Peninsula

The Arabian Peninsula is a land mass situated north-east of Africa. Also known as Arabia or the Arabian subcontinent, it is the world's largest peninsula and covers 3,237,500 km2...

. They are descendants of Malik al-Ashtar who fought with Ali ibn Abi Talib, the cousin of prophet Mohammad. Bani Malik comprises the following tribes:

• Al-Ali
  Al-Ali (tribe)
  Al-Ali is an Arab tribe a branch of Bani Malik originally from Central Arabia. Most of the tribe migrated by the end of 16th century from what is now Saudi Arabia to different neighboring countries.Members of Al-Ali tribe live in Saudi Arabia , the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Iraq and Jordan...
  
  
• Al-Faraj
• Al-Ismail
• Al-Awabid
• Al-Humaidat
• Al-Ibrahim
• Bani Rzaij
• Bani Hasan
  Bani Hasan
  Bani Hasan is the name of a tribal area in Ras al-Khaimah.-References:*Gazeteer of the United Arab Emirates. Washington, D.C. : Defense Mapping Agency, 1987....
  
   (Bani Hesan)

A hyphenated Al (Al-) means "The" if it is prefixed to the tribe name but means "The son of..." if prefixed to a person's name, while the plain Al (آل) and Bani (بني) or Albu (ألبو) or Banu (بنو) mean the plural "The sons of..". Their great ancestor is Qahtan قحطان (the father of the Southern-Arabian Arabs who are the aboriginal stock of the Arabian peninsula). Qahtan is called Joktan

Joktan

Joktan or Yoktan was the second of the two sons of Eber mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. His name means "small" or "smallness"....

 in the Old Testament

Old Testament

The Old Testament, of which Christians hold different views, is a Christian term for the religious writings of ancient Israel held sacred and inspired by Christians which overlaps with the 24-book canon of the Masoretic Text of Judaism...

. Qahtan is one of the two great fathers of all Arab tribes, the other one is Adnan

Adnan

Adnan is the traditional ancestor of the Adnani Arabs of northern, central and western Arabia, as opposed to the Qahtani of Southern and south eastern Arabia who descend from Qahtan.-Origin:...

 (عد نان) (offspring of Ishmael the son of Abraham

Abraham

Abraham , whose birth name was Abram, is the eponym of the Abrahamic religions, among which are Judaism, Christianity and Islam...

 and the father of the north Arabicized Arabs who are the naturalized stock of the peninsula who migrated from Cana'n area in the North, now called Israel

Israel

The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

. Bani Malik are an offshoot of a bigger tribe called Khuza'a

Banu Khuza'a

the Khuza'a or Banu Khuza'a form a branch of the South Arabian tribe of Azd-Origin:Most traditionalists trace the origins of the tribe to Amr ibn Lahi al-Khuza'i, and agree that with the other branches of the Azd they at some point left the Yemen and moved north. 'Amr ibn Luhay and his clan...

 (خزاعة) named after Khuza’a (also named Haritha) Ibn Amr Ibn Muzaqiba of Al-Azd

Azd

The Azd or Al Azd, are an Arabian tribe. They were a branch of the Kahlan tribe, which was one of the two branches of Qahtan the other being Himyar.In the ancient times, they inhabited Ma'rib, the capital city of the Sabaean Kingdom in modern-day Yemen...

 the major Qahtani tribe. Khuza'a tribe fought with prophet Mohammad against the pagans and infidels Banu Bakr who tried to conquer Makka. This incident has been mentioned and blessed in a verse in the Holy Quran (Verse Al-Tawba-14). Sulaiman bin Kuthayer who is one of the Abbasid

Abbasid

The Abbasid Caliphate or, more simply, the Abbasids , was the third of the Islamic caliphates. It was ruled by the Abbasid dynasty of caliphs, who built their capital in Baghdad after overthrowing the Umayyad caliphate from all but the al-Andalus region....

 supporters descended from Bani Malik. He was later killed by Abu-Muslim AI-Khurasani a dissident Persian outlaw. Bani Malik lived in Ahwaz(which is the Arabic part of Iran

Iran

Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...

), Qatif

Qatif

Qatif or Al-Qatif is a governorate and urban area located in Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia. It extends from Ras Tanura and Jubail in the north to Dammam in the south, and from the Persian Gulf in the east to King Fahd International Airport in the west...

, Bahrain

Bahrain

' , officially the Kingdom of Bahrain , is a small island state near the western shores of the Persian Gulf. It is ruled by the Al Khalifa royal family. The population in 2010 stood at 1,214,705, including 235,108 non-nationals. Formerly an emirate, Bahrain was declared a kingdom in 2002.Bahrain is...

 and in Iraq

Iraq

Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....

. In Iraq, they now live in Basrah, Nassyriah and on the eastern bank of Euphrates River at AI-Diwanyiah district in the middle part of Iraq. The territory of their major offshoot, Al-Ali tribe, extends from AI-Diwanylah in the north to AI-Rumaitha to the south. The area was named after their name, Al-Ali. The rivers – AI-Rafi, AI-Yusufyia and AI-Lawah – irrigated the area. In 1900 when these rivers dried up they moved to an area around AI-Hindyiah branch of Euphrates River, which was dug by Asif AI-Dawla AI-Hindi at 1205 AH  (1845 AD

Anno Domini

and Before Christ are designations used to label or number years used with the Julian and Gregorian calendars....

).