Banu Thaqif

The Banu Thaqif is an Arab tribe which inhabited, and still inhabits, the city of Ta'if and its environs, in modern Saudi Arabia, and played a prominent role in early Islamic history. During the pre-Islamic period, the Thaqif rivaled and cooperated with the Quraysh tribe of Mecca in trade and land ownership. The tribe initially opposed the Islamic prophet Muhammad, but following the Muslim siege of Ta'if in 630, they came to terms and embraced Islam. The Thaqif's inter-tribal networks and their relatively high education helped them quickly advance in the nascent Muslim state. They took on an especially important role in the conquest and administration of Iraq, providing the Rashidun and Umayyad caliphs capable and powerful governors for that province and the eastern Caliphate. Among their notable governors in Iraq were al-Mughira ibn Shu'ba (638, 642–645), Ziyad ibn Abihi (665–673), and al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf (694–714), while major Thaqafite commanders included Uthman ibn Abi al-As, who led the first Muslim naval expeditions in the 630s, and Muhammad ibn al-Qasim, the conqueror of Sind in the 710s. Origins The Thaqif is a branch of the Hawazin, a major tribal grouping of the Qays, but is often counted separately from the Hawazin in the traditional Arabic sources. According to Arab genealogical tradition, the progenitor of the Thaqif was Qasi ibn Munabbih ibn Bakr ibn Hawazin, whose epithet was 'Thaqif'. This supposed genealogy made them 'nephews' of the Banu Sa'd and cousins of the Banu Nasr and Banu Amir.