Banu Khuza'ah
The Banū Khuzāʿa (Arabic: بنو خزاعة, singular خزاعيّ Khuzāʿī) is the name of an Azdite, Qaḥṭānite tribe, which is one of the main ancestral tribes of Arabia. They ruled Mecca for 400 years before the Islamic prophet Muhammad, and many members of the tribe now live in and around that city.[1] Others are also present in significant numbers in other countries, mainly Iraq, Palestine, and Jordan, but also can be found across the Middle East.
This article is about an Arabian tribe. For the town in the Gaza Strip, see Khuzaʽa, Khan Yunis.
Banū Khuzāʿah
بنو خزاعة
The Banū Khuzāʿa acted as the custodians of Mecca before the Quraysh. They were the ruling kings of the emirate of Lower Mesopotamia (now southern Iraq) until the invasion of the Ottoman Empire in the late 1800s, and were the rulers of the kingdom of the Middle Euphrates until the early 20th century.[2]
Connection with the genealogy of Muḥammad[edit]
The genealogy of Muhammad is connected to that of Khuzā’ah in two ways: firstly by way of his third great grandfather ‘Abd Manāf bin Qusay;[43] and also through his marriage to the ‘Mother of the Believers’ Juwayrīyah, daughter of al-Ḥārith al-Khuzā’ī.[44]