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. Their lands were irrigated by the Ma'rib Dam, which is thought by some to have been one of the Ancient World Wonders because of its size. When the dam collapsed for the third time in the 3rd century AD, a large number of the Azd tribe left Yemen and immigrated in many directions. Azd is also a widely used male name in Yemen.

Azd branches

In the 3rd century AD. The Azd branched into four branches each leaded by one of the sons of Amr bin Muzaqiba

Imran Bin Amr

Imran bin Amr and the bulk of the tribe went to Oman where they established the Azdi presence in Eastern Arabia and later invaded Karman and Shiraz in Southern Persia. Another branch headed west back to Yemen and a group went further West all the way to Tihama on the Red Sea (Azd Al-Suna'a). This branch will become known as Azd Uman after Islam.

Jafna bin Amr

Jafna bin Amr and his family, headed for Syria where he settled and initiated the kingdom of the Ghassanids who was so named after a spring of water where they stopped on their way to Syria. This branch will produce:
* The Ghassanid Dynasy,
* A Roman Emperor (Philip the Arab)
* A Byzantine dynasty (Nikephoros) The Ghassanids remained mostly Christian and today they makeup the majoirty of Arab Christians in Lebanon. [http://gebara.marjeyoun.net/ The Gebara/Jabara clan website] [http://www.hobeika.ca/ Hobeika clan website] [http://www.wtrt.net/~gmalouf/webdoc2.htm The Maalouf clan website] [http://www.abouhaidar.com/ Abo Haidar clan website] [http://mahfood.marjeyoun.net/Ancestors.html Boustany and Mahfood families]

Thalabah bin Amr

Thalabah bin Amr left his tribe Al-Azd for Hijaz and dwelt between Thalabiyah and Dhi Qar. When he gained strength, he headed for Yathrib where he stayed. Of his seed are the great Aws and Khazraj, sons of Haritha bin Thalabah. Those will be the muslim Ansar and will produce the last Arab Dynasty in Spain (the Nasrids).

Haritha/Khuza'a bin Amr

Khuza'a known as Haritha Amr bin Muzaqiba. Lead a branch of the Azd Qahtani tribes wandered with his tribe in Hijaz until they came to Mar al-Zahran. Later, they conquered the Haram, and settled in Mecca after having driven away its people, the tribe of Jurhum, They were later replaced by their Adnani allied tribe of Quraish. Banu Almustaliq will branch out of Khuza'a and settled Qadid on the Red Sea shore between Jeddah and Rabigh [http://www.anwary-islam.com/battle/ghazwah_mustaliq.html] .

Azd 'Uman

The Azd 'Uman were for a while the dominant Arab tribe in the eastern realms of the Caliphate being instrumental in the conquest of Fars, Makran and Sindh.Wink pg 51-52] They were the chief merchant group of Oman and Al-Ubulla who organized a trading diaspora with settlements of Persianized Arabs on the coasts of Kirman and Makran extending into Sindh since the days of Ardashir. They were strongly involved in the western trade with India and with the expansion of the Muslim conquests they began to consolidate their commercial and political authority on the eastern frontier. During the early years of the Muslim conquests the Azdi ports of Bahrain and Oman were staging grounds for Muslim naval fleets headed to Fars and Hind. From 637 A.D the conquests of Fars and Makran were dominated by the Azdi and allied tribes from Oman and Bahrain. Between 665 A.D and 683 A.D the Azdi 'Uman became especially prominent due in Basra on account of favors from Ziyad bin Abihi, the Governor of Muawiya I, and his son Ubaidullah. When a member of their tribe Al- Muhallab ibn Abi Suffrah became governor their influence and wealth increased as he extended Muslim conquests to Makran and Sindh where so many other Azdi were settled. After his death in 702 though they lost their grip on power with the rise of Al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf as governor of Iraq. Al-Hajjaj pursued a systematic policy of breaking Umayyad power as a result of which the Azdi also suffered. With the death of Hajjaj and under Sulayman ibn Abd al-Malik as Caliph, their fortunes reversed once again with the appointment of Yazid ibn al-Muhallab.

Influential people or branches of Azd

*The Ghassanids of Syria
*The Roman Emperor (Philip the Arab)
*The Byzantine dynasty (Nikephoros)
*The Nasrid Dynasty of Al-Andalus
*The Xiberras (Gebara/Sceberras) nobility of Malta (Christian Ghassanid migrants from Alexanderia)
*The Muscati Maltese nobility of Arab Siculo origin (Azd Uman) converted to Christianity in the 12th century.
*Maurice Xiberras the first leader of the Democratic Party of British Gibraltar. He is of Maltese (Sceberras/Gebara)nobility
*The Dawasir tribe of Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf
*Jabir ibn Hayyan, a famous Alchemist
*Ibn Duraid
*Khalil ibn Ahmad
*Kuthayyir, [Ibn Khallikan. "wafayat alayan" p. 524. [http://www.alwaraq.net alwarraq edition] .] Arabic poet
*Ibn al-Banna
*Jabir ibn Zayd Al-Azdi, the co-founder of the Ibadi sect of Islam
*The emir's of UAE
*Al Muhallab ibn Abi Suffrah
*Ibn Al-Thahabi

Footnotes

References

* http://www.uaeinteract.com/history/e_walk/con_3/con3_31.asp
* http://www.muslimaccess.com/sunnah/seerah/1.htm
* Wink, Andre, "Al-Hind, the Making of the Indo-Islamic World", Brill Academic Publishers, Aug 1, 2002, ISBN 0-391-04173-8