Banu Khuza'ah

Banū Khuzāʿah
بنو خزاعة
Qahtanite Arabs
Banner of Banu Khuzaʽa at the Battle of Siffin
EthnicityArab
NisbaAl-Khuzaʽi
LocationMecca, Arab world
Descended fromAmr ibn Luḥay al-Khuzāʽī
ReligionIslam

The Banū Khuzāʿah (Arabic: بنو خزاعة, singular خزاعيّ Khuzāʿī) are an Azdite, Qahtanite tribe, 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 countries such as Iraq, Palestine, and Jordan, but can also be found across the Middle East.

The Banu Khuza'a 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 Ottoman Empire's invasion in the late 19th century and were the rulers of the kingdom of the Middle Euphrates until the early 20th century.[2]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Batatu, Hanna. The Old Social Classes and the Revolutionary Movements of Iraq.