Kindah

The Kindah (كندة) kingdom was a vassal kingdom ruled from Qaryah dhat Kahl (the present-day Qaryat al-Faw) in Central Arabia. They ruled much of the Northern Arabian peninsula for Himyarite Empire of Yemen.

Origin

The Kindah tribe was a Kahlani branch that was part of the Sabaean Kingdom of Ma'rib (central Yemen) in the early 3rd century AD. They played a major role in the Sabaean/Hadramite war, With the Sabaean victory a branch of Kindah established themselves in Hadhramout and the majority of Kindah returned to their lands to the East of Marib. [ [http://www.thearabhistory.com/kindah] The Arab history - Kindah ]

Migration out of Yemen

After the collapse of the Ma'rib dam and the Himyari final annexation of Saba'a, The kindites headed towards ancient Bahrain but were expelled by the Abdul Qais Adnani tribe. The Kindites returned to Hadramout leaving a branch of Kindah in modern Jabal Shammar in Nejd.

Return to Hadramout

When the Kindites returned to Yemen in the 4th century AD The Himyarites were in the height of their power having annexed Hadramout the last rival South Arabian kingdom. The Kindites had historic feuds with the Hadramite tribes of the southern Wadi, so they were settled in Northern Hadramout and were given authority over Hadramawt by the Himyarites. From this point on some Arab historians considered Kindah part of the Himyar tribal federation.

Kindite Sheikhs in Hadhramut 325AD-425AD

*Malikum
*Murti ibn Muawiyah
*Muawiyah ibn Taur
*Amr ibn Muawiyah
*Muawiyah ibn Rabiah

The expansion towards Northern Arabia

In the 5th century AD, The Adnani tribes of the North became a major threat to the trade line between Yemen and Syria. And the Himyarites decided to establish a vassal state that controlled Central and North Arabia. The Kindites gained strength and numbers to play that role, so from 425 AD The Himyarite king Hasan ibn Amr ibn Tubba’ made Hujr Akil al-Murar ibn Amr the first King (Hujr) of Kinda.

Kindite Kings ruling from Nejd 425AD-528AD

*Hujr Akil al-Murar ibn Amr 425-458
*Amr al-Mansur ibn Hudjr 458-489
*Al-Harith Talaban ibn Amr 489-528

Wars with the Lakhmids

At that period the Ghassanids, Lakhmids and Kindites were all Kahlani Qahtani vassal kingdom appointed by the Byzantines, Persians and Himyarites to protect their borders and imperial interests from the raids of the then rising threat of the Adnani tribes. The Kindites were the most successful in pacifying the Adnani tribes of Central Arabia through alliances. and focused on wars with the Lakhmids.

The Fall of Himyar

In 525 AD the Aksumites invaded Himyar and the Kindites gradually declined. Within 3 years the Kindite kingdom split into several small "kingdoms" that were subsequently destroyed in the 530s and 540s in a series of uprisings of the Adnani tribes against the Kindite kings.

Imru' Al-Qais

The most famous Kindite is Imru' al-Qais who was not only a son of one of the last Kindite kings (who unsuccessfully tried to resurrect his father's kingdom), but also the most prominent pre-Islamic Arab poet. In 540AD The Lakhmids destroyed all the Kindite settlements in Nejd forcing them to move back to the Hadhramawt. With the Aksumites (Aksum) in Western Yemen. The Kindites and most the Arab tribes switched their alliances to the Lakhmids.

Jewish Conversion

The conversion of the Himyarite kings to Judaism in the late 5th century AD led to the conversion to Judaism of the Kindites. However, the transition of the power in Yemen to Christian Aksumites in 525 AD appears to have undermined the Kindite Judaism in the most significant way.

Tribes descended from Kinda

Today most the Kindites live in Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, India, Malaysia and Signapore.

Banu Tageeb Ba-hbnan, Ibn Marta'a, 'Al-Mahthouth, 'Al-Afeef, 'Al-Al-Fakhr, Ba-Al-Munauthira, 'Al-Sae'ed, Al-Sadaf, 'Al-Mahdi, Ba-Ras, Ba-Baqi, Ba-Sawadan, Ibn Dighar, Dar, 'Al-Makhashin, Ba-Jamal, Ba-Kathir, Ba-Hafeen, Ibn Hameed, Ba-Qais, Ba-Karman, Ba-Sabeet Minkhoub, Ba-Bahier, Ba-Yomin ,Ba-matraf; Elias and also Bin Mahfouz which considered one the biggest tribe in Kindah nowadays.

Notes