Al-Ash'ath ibn Qays

Abū Muḥammad Maʿdīkarib ibn Qays ibn Maʿdīkarib (599–661), better known as al-Ashʿath (Arabic: الأشعث), was a chief of the Kinda tribe of Hadhramawt and founder of a leading noble Arab household in Kufa, one of the two main garrison towns and administrative centers of Iraq under the Rashidun (632–661) and Umayyad (661–750) caliphs.

Al-Ash'ath embraced Islam in the presence of the Islamic prophet Muhammad only to leave the faith following the latter's death in 632. He led his tribesmen against the Muslims during the Ridda wars but surrendered during a siege of his fortress, after which many Kindites were executed. He was imprisoned, but pardoned by Caliph Abu Bakr (r. 632–634) upon his repentance. Al-Ash'ath joined the Muslim conquests of Mesopotamia and Persia, fighting in several battles between 636 and 642. He settled in the newly-founded garrison city of Kufa and became the leader of his tribesmen there. Under Caliph Uthman (r. 644–656), al-Ash'ath governed Adharbayjan. In 657, he fought as a commander in the Battle of Siffin for Caliph Ali (r. 656–661) against Mu'awiya, but supported an end to the battle by arbitration, for which generally pro-Alid sources consider him a traitor. When Mu'awiya became caliph after Ali was assassinated in 661, the position of al-Ash'ath and his family was strengthened in Kufa, where he soon after died.

He was succeeded by his son Muhammad as leader of the Kufan Kindites, while his grandson, known as 'Ibn al-Ash'ath' after him, led an abortive mass Iraqi rebellion against the Umayyads in 701. Al-Ash'ath's later descendants, the Asha'itha, lacked their ancestors' influence, but continued to play political, military, or cultural roles in Iraq well into the early decades of Abbasid rule (750–1258). Among them was the famous 9th-century philosopher al-Kindi.