Kindites

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The Kindites (Arabic: بنو كندة‎) were an important pre-Islamic Arab tribe (or rather clan) that in the 3rd century CE headed the Kindah kingdom with the capital in Qaryah dhat Kahl (the present-day Qaryat al-Faw) in Central Arabia. This kingdom was a vassal of the Himyarite Empire of Yemen. The conversion of the Himyarite kings to Judaism in the late 4th century CE led to the conversion to Judaism of the Kindites (though the transition of the power in Yemen to Christian kings in the early 6th century appears to have undermined the Kindite Judaism in the most significant way). In the 520s the Kindite kingdom split into several small "kingdoms" that were subsequently destroyed in the 530s and 540s in a series of uprisings of the Arab tribes against the Kindite kings. The most famous Kindite seems to be Imru' al-Qais who was not only a son of one of the last Kindite kings (who unsuccessfully tried to resurrect his father's kingdom), but also the most prominent pre-Islamic Arab poet.

[edit] References

• Robin, Christian : Le royaume hujride, dit "Royaume de Kinda", entre Himyar et Byzance. Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres, fasc. II, 1993, 665-714.
• Gajda, Iwona : Hugr b. ‛Amr roi de Kinda et l’établissement de la domination Himyarite en Arabie centrale. Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies 26, 1996, 65-73.