Ansari (Arabic: أنصاري) is a nisbat or second name common in South Asia and Middle East. It originates from Ansar (Arabic: أنصار) the Medinan people that helped Islamic prophet Muhammad when he migrated from Mecca to Medina. Ansari is also used as a surname by the large Momin community of North India, Nepal and Pakistan. Ansaris claim descent from Abu Ayub Ansari, whose tomb is in Istanbul, Turkey.
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The literal meaning of Ansar is supporters.
Khan Bahadur Sheikh Sadiq Ali Ansari wrote in Muslim Tribes in Sindh, Balochistan and Afghanistan published in 1901,
Ansaris were originally Jews or Bani Israel. Their great ancestor, Shamul, was a physician and councillor in the service of King Toba, who was a king in Yemen. Toba, during the time of his reign, marched into Arabia and arrived in Yasrab, which was then the name of the town of Medina. He had four hundred physicians and councillors with him, of whom Shamul was the chief and they all told the king that they intended to settle down there as the last of the prophets would immigrate to that place and live there and they wished to be reckoned amongst his followers. Toba wrote a letter by his own hand, declaring that he embraced Islam in anticipation, and delivered it to Shamul, with instructions that the letter was to be treated as a legacy to be delivered in succession until it was handed over to the prophet by some one of his descendants. The letter was delivered to the prophet one thousand and fifty three years after by the writer’s great ancestor, Khalid bin Zed, commonly known as Hazrat Abu Ayub Ansari. After Shamul, our ancestors were divided into two sub-divisions, called – 1. Al Khazraj and 2. Al Os.
Hazrat Ayub was descended from Khazraj. When the prophet emigrated to Medina, he stopped for seven months in the house of Hazrat Ayub, and the two families of Khazraj and Os were given distinction of ‘Ansar’, which became tribal name afterwards, as they gave protection to the prophet after his emigration from Mecca and assisted him in his mission ever after and composed his army.
In the battles of Islam, the Ansar were invariably in the forefront. They fought against the combined might of all the idolaters of Arabia. Abu Qatada, an Ansari, claimed with truth that no tribe in all Arabia had produced more martyrs for Islam than the Ansar. More Ansaris were killed in defending Islam than men of any other tribe. There was a time when Islam was "homeless." No tribe in Arabia offered sanctuary and hospitality to Islam and to its Prophet except the Ansar. They invited Prophet Muhammad to be their guest, and they made him the king of their city – Yathrib (Medina). It was the city of the Ansar that won the honor and the glory of being the cradle and the capital of Islam. It was in their city that Prophet Muhammad, the Messenger of God, built the "edifice" of the first and the last Kingdom of Heaven on Earth. In A.D. 623 (2 Hijri), Prophet Muhammad led an expedition to Waddan, and he appointed Saad ibn Ubada as governor of Medina during his own absence. Saad, therefore, was the first governor of Medina.
In the battle of Uhud, the Apostle of God gave the banner of the Khazraj to Saad. In the same battle, the Muslims were defeated. With the exception of 14 companions, everyone else fled from the battlefield. Saad was one of these 14 heroes who fought against the enemy, and defended the Apostle of God. In the expedition of Mustaliq and in the siege of Medina (the battle of Khandaq), Saad carried the banner of the Ansar. In 6 Hijri the Apostle went on a campaign and he appointed Saad governor of Medina in his absence.
The Ansar had two leaders, Saad ibn Ubada and Saad ibn Mua'dh. Saad ibn Mua'dh died from a wound he received in the battle of Khandaq. After his death, Saad ibn Ubada was the sole leader of the Ansar.
In Saqifa, the Ansar told Saad that he was the worthiest man to be the khalifa, and they declared their support for his candidacy. Saad was famous for his generosity. Sometimes he entertained as many as 80 guests. Anyone – friend or stranger, could count on his hospitality. Saad refused to take the oath of allegiance to Abu Bakr. Three years later, he left Medina, went to Syria and settled there. He was in Syria when he was hit by an arrow shot by some unknown person, and he thus died in mysterious circumstances. Saad ibn Ubada was the first and the last Ansari ever to become a candidate for khilafat. He didn't become a khalifa. In Saqifa, the door of khilafat was slammed in the face of the Ansar, and they were shut out for all time.
The other Ansari of fame was Hazrat Abu Ayub Ansari who went on an expedition to Turkey and is well known there.
Ansari is used as a surname by a number of communities in the Middle East and South Asia. The name does not signify any common descent.
'Al-Ansari' is commonly used as a surname in many Arab states. Historically speaking, however, the name was not used as a surname amongst Arabs, but rather as a form of patronymic: the word would be added as a title to the end of the name, if one had an ancestor who was an Ansar. This form of patronymic, derived from the name of a distant ancestor or relation, is known as a "nisbat" in Arabic, meaning "relation".
As a surname, Al-Ansari is mostly used in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar.
In contrast, Iranians use surnames instead of patronymics. In Iran, Ansari has become a surname, along with "Tabatabai" which was originally also a nisbat.
The Ansari surname goes as far as being used in Pakistan, northern India and Bangladesh, to show a lineage or ancestral link to the Ansar of Medina. Through the various waves of migration from the Arabian Peninsula, Iran, Central Asia, and Afghanistan, descendants of the Ansar tribes arrived in the Indian subcontinent. These families, amongst what were commonly known as the Ashraafiyyah or Ashraaf in India, mainly came either as scholars, government administrators and functionaries, soldiers or officers. Ansaris in the Indian subcontinent hail both from the Shi'a and Sunni Muslim schools of thought.
The main original settlements and concentrations of Ansaris on the Indian subcontinent, were in Multan, Gujranwala, and Lilla, in western Punjab; the Sindh province, Pakistan; Lilla, in western Punjab, Pakistan; Panipat, India; Kairana, India; Allahabad, India; Kanpur, India; Lucknow, India; Meerut, India; Saharanpur, India; Gangoh, India; Gorakhpur, India; Ballia, India; Moradabad, India; and Lucknow, India; Hazaribagh. The Thaheem tribe in Sindh also claim to be Ansaris.
It also seems that over a period of time, others, and many of the new Muslim converts, in India also identified themselves as Ansari, to show reverence to their Islamic faith. Often, but not necessarily, Ansari is used to identify a well known North Indian caste, which also known as Momin or Julaha. In Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, the bulk of the people who carry the Ansari name are Momins or Julahas. Majority of Ansaris living in Varanasi, Bhadohi, Jaunpur, Azamgarh belong to weaver community.
The ancestral link from Medina was brought to India by the descendants of Abu Ayub Ansari who were members of Mohammed Bin Qasim's army when he invaded Sindh. Some of those early Ansaris settled in Paat, district Dadu, Sindh and were considered a highly educated family in the province producing prominent figures on the national level.