Al-Abna'

Al-Abnāʾ (Arabic: الأبناء, lit.'the sons') was a term that was used in South Arabia to refer to people whose lineage was paternally Iranian and maternally Arab. They represented a distinct community that had come into existence following the end of the Aksumite–Persian wars in the 6th century, when Iranian soldiers began intermarrying with Arab women in Sanaa and throughout Yemen.[1] These couples' offspring and their descendants held an ethnic and cultural identity that was influenced by their mixed heritage from the Sasanian Empire and the Himyarite Kingdom, though they eventually assimilated into the society of the latter. Following the rise of Muhammad in the 7th century, most of the al-Abnāʾ community adopted Islam and took part in the early Muslim conquests, including the Muslim conquest of Iran.

  1. ^ Bosworth 1983, pp. 226–228.