Banu Hanifa
Encyclopedia
Banu Hanifa
were an ancient Arab
tribe inhabiting the area of al-Yamama
in the central region of modern-day Saudi Arabia
. The tribe belonged to the great Rabi'ah branch of North Arabian tribes, which also included 'Anizzah, Abd al-Qays, Bakr, and Taghlib
. Though counted by the classical Arab
genealogists as a Christian
branch of Bani Bakr, they led an independent existence prior to Islam
.
, living in small settlements along the wadis of eastern Nejd (known back then as al-Yamama
), particularly the valley of Al-'Irdh, which later came to bear their name (see Wadi Hanifa
). Sources such as Yaqut's 13th century encyclopedia credit them with the founding of the towns of Hadjr (the predecessor of today's Riyadh
) and Manfuha
, and being responsible for the granaries of Al-Kharj. According to legend, the tribe had moved to al-Yamamah from the Hejaz
after the region's original inhabitants, the legendary people of Tasm and Jadis were decimated by war.
Muhammad (SAW). Among the members of the delegation was Musaylimah
, who, probably from what he then saw, conceived the idea that he might successfully set up a claim to prophethood. The delegation, before their departure, embraced Islam
and denounced Christianity without compunction.
Muhammad (SAW) died shortly afterwards, and the Banu Hanifa immediately renounced their new religion, under the leadership of their own self-proclaimed prophet
, Musaylima. It is said, however, that Musaylima had declared his prophethood shortly before Muhammad's (SAW) death, claiming to have been made a partner of Muhammad's (SAW) in divine revelation. This, along with other apostasy movements in Arabia, triggered the Ridda Wars
, in which the Muslims of Medina
, under the leadership of the first caliph
Abu Bakr
, subjugated the rebellious tribes, but not before some heavy losses. The Muslims of Medina were only able to defeat Banu Hanifa on the third attempt, killing Musaylima in the battle of 'Aqraba, some 30 km north of modern Riyadh, and the rest of Banu Hanifa then made peace with the Muslims and rejoined the new Islamic state.
by the first Caliph
, Abu Bakr
. The ban was lifted by Abu Bakr's successor Umar, and members of Bani Hanifa subsequently joined Muslim forces in Iraq
, with some settling in garrison towns such as al-Kufa.
Tribesmen from Banu Hanifa also supplied the ranks of rebellious movements such as the Kharijites
. One member of the tribe by the name of Najdah ibn 'Amir
, even founded a short-lived Kharijite state in al-Yamama
during the Umayyad era. Thereafter the tribe seems to have resumed its pre-Islamic agricultural way of life, leading the famous Umayyad
-era poet Jarir ibn Atiya to mock them in scathing satirical verse for choosing the "humble" life of the farmer over the "glorious" life of the Arab nomad, and accusing them of cowardice and incompetence in battle. Others such as the 8th century literary critic al-Jahiz
, however, express admiration for their military prowess, surrounded as they were by hostile tribes from every direction. Al-Jahiz, however, also notes with curiosity that the tribe produced almost no poets of any repute. The tribes small pastoralist bedouin
section, mentioned only fleetingly by Muslim sources, appears to have joined the rest of the bedouins of Bakr and 'Annizah in northern Arabia and southern Iraq
, at some point after Islam according to al-Tabari
.
Perhaps due to the legacy of the Ridda Wars and Najdah's Kharijites, the Umayyads and Abbasids made sure never to appoint a member of the tribe to governorship in their native province of Yamamah. In the 9th century, the Alid
dynasty of Banul Ukhaidhir came to power in al-Yamama, having fled there from their native Mecca
. According to Yaqut and others, Ukhaidhirite rule was harsh on Bani Hanifa, leading many of them to leave for Basra
in Iraq, and to Upper Egypt
, where sources such as al-Yaqubi of the 9th century state that Bani Hanifa formed the majority of the population of the valley of Wadi al-Allaqi, near Aswan
, having moved there earlier with their women and children. There they worked in gold
mining, and according to Yaqut, the "sultan of al-Allaqi" was a man of Bani Hanifa.
Geographers such as Al-Hamadani
of the 10th century and Yaqut of the 13th seem to indicate that Bani Hanifa still resided in its ancestral lands at the time of their writings, though the tribe seems to have held little political power by then, and many of their old settlements had been taken over by other tribes, such as Bani Tamim and Bani 'Amir. Yaqut, however, reports that they still formed the majority in al-Yamama's provincial capital, Hadjr, though he could have been reporting from an earlier source.
. Little else is heard from Banu Hanifa thereafter, except that a number of clans in the region of Wadi Hanifa
are given a Hanafite lineage by Jabr ibn Sayyar, the ruler of nearby Al-Qassab, in his short 17th-century manuscript on the genealogies of the people of Nejd. One such clan mentioned by Ibn Sayyar were the Mrudah, among whom later appeared Saudi Arabia's current rulers, the clan of Al Saud. Most of these clans mentioned by Ibn Sayyar, however, today claim membership of the large tribe of 'Anizzah, or to Wa'il, the purported patriarch of both 'Annizah and Hanifah. Scholars such as Hamad Al-Jassir attribute this to the need to associate with a more powerful bedouin tribe, and that 'Anizzah was chosen due to shared ancestry.
Hanifa
Hanifa may refer to:* Hanifa is an Arabic word that means "true and upright."* V. M. C. Haneefa, Indian actor* Hənifə, Azerbaijan* Hanifa Deen, Australian writer* Hanifa Mavlianova, Russian female singer...
were an ancient Arab
Arab
Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...
tribe inhabiting the area of al-Yamama
Al-Yamama
Al-Yamamah is an ancient district lying to the east of the plateau of Najd in modern-day Saudi Arabia, or sometimes more specifically, the now-extinct ancient village of Jaww Al-Yamamah, near Al-Kharj, after which the rest of the region was named...
in the central region of modern-day Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...
. The tribe belonged to the great Rabi'ah branch of North Arabian tribes, which also included 'Anizzah, Abd al-Qays, Bakr, and Taghlib
Taghlib
Banu Taghlib or Taghlib ibn Wa'il were a large and powerful Arabian tribe of Mesopotamia and northern Arabia. The tribe traces its lineage to the large branch of North Arabian tribes known as Rabi'ah, which also included Bakr, 'Anizzah, Banu Hanifa and Anz bin Wa'il .The tribe's ancestral...
. Though counted by the classical Arab
Arab
Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...
genealogists as a Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
branch of Bani Bakr, they led an independent existence prior to Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
.
Pre-Islamic Era
The tribe's members appear to have been mostly sedentary farmers at the dawn of IslamIslam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
, living in small settlements along the wadis of eastern Nejd (known back then as al-Yamama
Al-Yamama
Al-Yamamah is an ancient district lying to the east of the plateau of Najd in modern-day Saudi Arabia, or sometimes more specifically, the now-extinct ancient village of Jaww Al-Yamamah, near Al-Kharj, after which the rest of the region was named...
), particularly the valley of Al-'Irdh, which later came to bear their name (see Wadi Hanifa
Wadi Hanifa
Wadi Hanifa is a wadi or valley in the Nejd region in central Saudi Arabia. The valley runs for a length of from north to south, cutting through the city of Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia...
). Sources such as Yaqut's 13th century encyclopedia credit them with the founding of the towns of Hadjr (the predecessor of today's Riyadh
Riyadh
Riyadh is the capital and largest city of Saudi Arabia. It is also the capital of Riyadh Province, and belongs to the historical regions of Najd and Al-Yamama. It is situated in the center of the Arabian Peninsula on a large plateau, and is home to 5,254,560 people, and the urban center of a...
) and Manfuha
Manfuha
Manfuha was an ancient village in the Nejd region of central Saudi Arabia. Established on the edge of the narrow, fertile valley known as Wadi Hanifa, Manfuha was until the mid-20th century considered a twin village to the current Saudi capital of Riyadh....
, and being responsible for the granaries of Al-Kharj. According to legend, the tribe had moved to al-Yamamah from the Hejaz
Hejaz
al-Hejaz, also Hijaz is a region in the west of present-day Saudi Arabia. Defined primarily by its western border on the Red Sea, it extends from Haql on the Gulf of Aqaba to Jizan. Its main city is Jeddah, but it is probably better known for the Islamic holy cities of Mecca and Medina...
after the region's original inhabitants, the legendary people of Tasm and Jadis were decimated by war.
Islamic Era
Banu Hanifa played an important role in early Islamic history. At around 632, according to the traditional Muslim chroniclers, they sent a delegation pledging allegiance to the Islamic prophetProphet
In religion, a prophet, from the Greek word προφήτης profitis meaning "foreteller", is an individual who is claimed to have been contacted by the supernatural or the divine, and serves as an intermediary with humanity, delivering this newfound knowledge from the supernatural entity to other people...
Muhammad (SAW). Among the members of the delegation was Musaylimah
Musaylimah
Musaylimah or Maslamah bin Ḥabīb was one of a series of men who claimed to be a prophet around the same time as Muhammad. He is viewed as a false prophet by traditional accounts, and frequently referred to by the epithet "the Liar" .-Biography:...
, who, probably from what he then saw, conceived the idea that he might successfully set up a claim to prophethood. The delegation, before their departure, embraced Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
and denounced Christianity without compunction.
Muhammad (SAW) died shortly afterwards, and the Banu Hanifa immediately renounced their new religion, under the leadership of their own self-proclaimed prophet
Prophet
In religion, a prophet, from the Greek word προφήτης profitis meaning "foreteller", is an individual who is claimed to have been contacted by the supernatural or the divine, and serves as an intermediary with humanity, delivering this newfound knowledge from the supernatural entity to other people...
, Musaylima. It is said, however, that Musaylima had declared his prophethood shortly before Muhammad's (SAW) death, claiming to have been made a partner of Muhammad's (SAW) in divine revelation. This, along with other apostasy movements in Arabia, triggered the Ridda Wars
Ridda wars
The Ridda wars , also known as the Wars of Apostasy, were a series of military campaigns against the rebellion of several Arabian tribes launched by the Caliph Abu Bakr during 632 and 633 AD, after prophet Muhammad died....
, in which the Muslims of Medina
Medina
Medina , or ; also transliterated as Madinah, or madinat al-nabi "the city of the prophet") is a city in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia, and serves as the capital of the Al Madinah Province. It is the second holiest city in Islam, and the burial place of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad, and...
, under the leadership of the first caliph
Caliph
The Caliph is the head of state in a Caliphate, and the title for the ruler of the Islamic Ummah, an Islamic community ruled by the Shari'ah. It is a transcribed version of the Arabic word which means "successor" or "representative"...
Abu Bakr
Abu Bakr
Abu Bakr was a senior companion and the father-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. He ruled over the Rashidun Caliphate from 632-634 CE when he became the first Muslim Caliph following Muhammad's death...
, subjugated the rebellious tribes, but not before some heavy losses. The Muslims of Medina were only able to defeat Banu Hanifa on the third attempt, killing Musaylima in the battle of 'Aqraba, some 30 km north of modern Riyadh, and the rest of Banu Hanifa then made peace with the Muslims and rejoined the new Islamic state.
Umayyad and Abbasid Eras
Due to their role in the Apostasy movement, members of Banu Hanifa were initially banned from participating in the early Muslim conquestsMuslim conquests
Muslim conquests also referred to as the Islamic conquests or Arab conquests, began with the Islamic prophet Muhammad. He established a new unified polity in the Arabian Peninsula which under the subsequent Rashidun and Umayyad Caliphates saw a century of rapid expansion of Muslim power.They...
by the first Caliph
Caliph
The Caliph is the head of state in a Caliphate, and the title for the ruler of the Islamic Ummah, an Islamic community ruled by the Shari'ah. It is a transcribed version of the Arabic word which means "successor" or "representative"...
, Abu Bakr
Abu Bakr
Abu Bakr was a senior companion and the father-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. He ruled over the Rashidun Caliphate from 632-634 CE when he became the first Muslim Caliph following Muhammad's death...
. The ban was lifted by Abu Bakr's successor Umar, and members of Bani Hanifa subsequently joined Muslim forces 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....
, with some settling in garrison towns such as al-Kufa.
Tribesmen from Banu Hanifa also supplied the ranks of rebellious movements such as the Kharijites
Kharijites
Kharijites is a general term embracing various Muslims who, while initially supporting the authority of the final Rashidun Caliph Ali ibn Abi Talib, the son-in-law and cousin of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, then later rejected his leadership...
. One member of the tribe by the name of Najdah ibn 'Amir
Najdah ibn 'Amir
Najdah ibn 'Amir al-Hanafi established a break-away Kharijite state in central and eastern Arabia during the Umayyad era, before being killed by one of his own followers in 692.-See also:*Najdat*Kharijites...
, even founded a short-lived Kharijite state in al-Yamama
Al-Yamama
Al-Yamamah is an ancient district lying to the east of the plateau of Najd in modern-day Saudi Arabia, or sometimes more specifically, the now-extinct ancient village of Jaww Al-Yamamah, near Al-Kharj, after which the rest of the region was named...
during the Umayyad era. Thereafter the tribe seems to have resumed its pre-Islamic agricultural way of life, leading the famous Umayyad
Umayyad
The Umayyad Caliphate was the second of the four major Arab caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. It was ruled by the Umayyad dynasty, whose name derives from Umayya ibn Abd Shams, the great-grandfather of the first Umayyad caliph. Although the Umayyad family originally came from the...
-era poet Jarir ibn Atiya to mock them in scathing satirical verse for choosing the "humble" life of the farmer over the "glorious" life of the Arab nomad, and accusing them of cowardice and incompetence in battle. Others such as the 8th century literary critic al-Jahiz
Al-Jahiz
Al-Jāḥiẓ was an Arabic prose writer and author of works of literature, Mu'tazili theology, and politico-religious polemics.In biology, Al-Jahiz introduced the concept of food chains and also proposed a scheme of animal evolution that entailed...
, however, express admiration for their military prowess, surrounded as they were by hostile tribes from every direction. Al-Jahiz, however, also notes with curiosity that the tribe produced almost no poets of any repute. The tribes small pastoralist bedouin
Bedouin
The Bedouin are a part of a predominantly desert-dwelling Arab ethnic group traditionally divided into tribes or clans, known in Arabic as ..-Etymology:...
section, mentioned only fleetingly by Muslim sources, appears to have joined the rest of the bedouins of Bakr and 'Annizah in northern Arabia and southern 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....
, at some point after Islam according to al-Tabari
Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari
Abu Ja'far Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari was a prominent and influential Sunni scholar and exegete of the Qur'an from Persia...
.
Perhaps due to the legacy of the Ridda Wars and Najdah's Kharijites, the Umayyads and Abbasids made sure never to appoint a member of the tribe to governorship in their native province of Yamamah. In the 9th century, the Alid
Alid
The Alid dynasties descended from Ali ibn Abi Talib, son-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Shia Muslims consider him the First Imam appointed by Muhammad and the first rightful caliph. The Alid are followers of Ali ibn Abi Talib and his sons....
dynasty of Banul Ukhaidhir came to power in al-Yamama, having fled there from their native Mecca
Mecca
Mecca is a city in the Hijaz and the capital of Makkah province in Saudi Arabia. The city is located inland from Jeddah in a narrow valley at a height of above sea level...
. According to Yaqut and others, Ukhaidhirite rule was harsh on Bani Hanifa, leading many of them to leave for Basra
Basra
Basra is the capital of Basra Governorate, in southern Iraq near Kuwait and Iran. It had an estimated population of two million as of 2009...
in Iraq, and to Upper Egypt
Upper Egypt
Upper Egypt is the strip of land, on both sides of the Nile valley, that extends from the cataract boundaries of modern-day Aswan north to the area between El-Ayait and Zawyet Dahshur . The northern section of Upper Egypt, between El-Ayait and Sohag is sometimes known as Middle Egypt...
, where sources such as al-Yaqubi of the 9th century state that Bani Hanifa formed the majority of the population of the valley of Wadi al-Allaqi, near Aswan
Aswan
Aswan , formerly spelled Assuan, is a city in the south of Egypt, the capital of the Aswan Governorate.It stands on the east bank of the Nile at the first cataract and is a busy market and tourist centre...
, having moved there earlier with their women and children. There they worked in gold
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
mining, and according to Yaqut, the "sultan of al-Allaqi" was a man of Bani Hanifa.
Geographers such as Al-Hamadani
Hamdani
' was an Arab Muslim geographer, poet, grammarian, historian, and astronomer, from the tribe of Banu Hamadan, western 'Amran/Yemen. He was one of the best representatives of Islamic culture during the last effective years of the Abbasid caliphate....
of the 10th century and Yaqut of the 13th seem to indicate that Bani Hanifa still resided in its ancestral lands at the time of their writings, though the tribe seems to have held little political power by then, and many of their old settlements had been taken over by other tribes, such as Bani Tamim and Bani 'Amir. Yaqut, however, reports that they still formed the majority in al-Yamama's provincial capital, Hadjr, though he could have been reporting from an earlier source.
13th Century Onwards
In the 14th century, however, Ibn Batuta relating his visit to Hadjr, also states that most of its inhabitants are from Banu Hanifa, and even joins their emir, one Tufail ibn Ghanim, on a pilgrimate to MeccaMecca
Mecca is a city in the Hijaz and the capital of Makkah province in Saudi Arabia. The city is located inland from Jeddah in a narrow valley at a height of above sea level...
. Little else is heard from Banu Hanifa thereafter, except that a number of clans in the region of Wadi Hanifa
Wadi Hanifa
Wadi Hanifa is a wadi or valley in the Nejd region in central Saudi Arabia. The valley runs for a length of from north to south, cutting through the city of Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia...
are given a Hanafite lineage by Jabr ibn Sayyar, the ruler of nearby Al-Qassab, in his short 17th-century manuscript on the genealogies of the people of Nejd. One such clan mentioned by Ibn Sayyar were the Mrudah, among whom later appeared Saudi Arabia's current rulers, the clan of Al Saud. Most of these clans mentioned by Ibn Sayyar, however, today claim membership of the large tribe of 'Anizzah, or to Wa'il, the purported patriarch of both 'Annizah and Hanifah. Scholars such as Hamad Al-Jassir attribute this to the need to associate with a more powerful bedouin tribe, and that 'Anizzah was chosen due to shared ancestry.
Further reading
- Yaqut Al-HamawiYaqut al-HamawiYāqūt ibn-'Abdullah al-Rūmī al-Hamawī) was an Islamic biographer and geographer renowned for his encyclopedic writings on the Muslim world. "al-Rumi" refers to his Greek descent; "al-Hamawi" means that he is from Hama, Syria, and ibn-Abdullah is a reference to his father's name, Abdullah...
, "Yamamah", "Hajr", "Al-'Irdh", "Al-'Allaqi", and "Qurran" in Mu'jam Al-BuldanMu'jam Al-BuldanMu'jam al-buldan is a book by Yaqut al-Hamawi, a Muslim scholar who is famous for his encyclopedic books.Al-Hamawi started the book in 1224 and finished in 1228, one year before he died.... - Abu Muhammad Al-Hamadani, Sifat Jazirat Al-'Arab ("A Description of the Arabian Peninsula")
- Hamad Al-Jassir, Jamharat Ansab Al-Usar Al-Mutahaddira Fi Nejd ("Compendium of the Lineages of the Settled Families of Nejd")
- Ibn BattutaIbn BattutaAbu Abdullah Muhammad Ibn Battuta , or simply Ibn Battuta, also known as Shams ad–Din , was a Muslim Moroccan Berber explorer, known for his extensive travels published in the Rihla...
, Travels of Ibn Battuta - Jarir ibn Atiya, Diwan
- Al-JahizAl-JahizAl-Jāḥiẓ was an Arabic prose writer and author of works of literature, Mu'tazili theology, and politico-religious polemics.In biology, Al-Jahiz introduced the concept of food chains and also proposed a scheme of animal evolution that entailed...
, Kitab al-Hayawan ("The Book of Animals"), Alwaraq.net edition, p. 379 http://www.alwaraq.net/index2.htm?i=16&page=379 - Al-Yaqubi, Al-Buldan, Alwaraq.net edition, p. 41 http://www.alwaraq.net/index2.htm?i=202&page=41
- Jabr ibn Sayyar's manuscript on the lineages of the people of Nejd
See also
- Banu Bakr ibn Wa'il
- Rabi'ah
- Al-YamamaAl-YamamaAl-Yamamah is an ancient district lying to the east of the plateau of Najd in modern-day Saudi Arabia, or sometimes more specifically, the now-extinct ancient village of Jaww Al-Yamamah, near Al-Kharj, after which the rest of the region was named...
- Nejd
- Banul Ukhaidhir