Banu Aws

The Banū Aws (Arabic: بنو أوس‎‎  pronounced [ˈbænuː ʔæws], "Sons of Aws") or simply Aws (Arabic: أوس‎‎, also romanised as Aus) was one of the main Arab tribes of Medina. The other was Khazraj, and the two, constituted the Ansar ("helpers [of Muhammad]") after the Hijra.[1][2][3]

Aws and Khazraj were known as Banū Qayla (بنو قيلة  [ˈbænuː ˈqɑjlæ]) in pre-Islamic era.[1]

Etymology

The word al-Aws means "the gift", probably a contraction for Aws Manāt (Arabic: أوس مناة‎‎, "the gift of Manāt"). The name was changed in Islamic times to Aws Allāh (Arabic: أوس الله‎‎).[1]

Early history

About 300 AD[4] during the emigration of Kahlān from Yemen prior to the Great Flood of Mar'ib Dam, Thaʻlaba bin ʻAmr, grand father of al-Aws, separated from his tribe and settled in Yathrib (Medina),[5] which was then controlled by Jewish clans, and the Banu Qayla were subordinate to the Jews for some time, until Mālik bin ʻAjlān of Khazraj asserts independence of the Jews so Aws and Khazraj obtained a share of palm trees and strongholds.[1] Thus, about the 5th century, the Banu Qayla took control of Yathrib,[6] and Jews retired into the background for about a century.[3]

During the period before the Hijra, Abū Qays al-Aslat of the clan of Wāʼil, the leader of Aws, gave away the leadership to Ḥuḍayr bin Simāk of ʻAbd al-Ashhal. After a serious defeat, ʻAbd al-Ashhal and Ẓafar were withdrawn from Yathrib. The opposing leader, ʻAmr bin Nuʻmān, of the Khazrajite clan of Bayāḍa, drove the Jews tribes of Banu Qurayza and Banu Nadir into alliance of the two.[1] Nomads of Muzayna joined them too. Most of the Khazraj except ʻAbd Allāh bin Ubayy and another Khazraj leader,[7] as well as the Jews tribe Banū Qaynuqāʻ[3] and the nomadic Juhayna and Ashjaʻ, suppurted ‘Amr bin Nu‘mān. The Awsite clan of Ḥāritha remained neutral. Then, in about 617, the Battle of Buʻāth began: the Aws forced back at first but finally defeated their opponents. The leaders of both sides were killed.[7]

Shi'a sources say they were Jews,[8] But a Jewish source says that they and the Banu Khazraj were Arab tribes from Yemen who came to Medina in the fourth century. The Jewish source says that the two tribes took the power of Medina from the Jews in the 5th century by "calling in outside assistance and treacherously massacring at a banquet".[3] However, all sources agree that the Banu Aus and the Banu Khazraj became hostile to each other.

A Shi'a source says that they had been fighting for 120 years and were sworn enemies.[8] The Jewish source states that they went to war against each other in the Battle of Bu'ath a few years before the Islamic prophet Muhammad migrated to Medina.[3]

There were many Jewish tribes in Medina: Banu Nadir, Banu Qurayza, Banu Qaynuqa and many others. During the battle, the Banu Nadir and the Banu Qurayza fought with the Banu Aus, and the Banu Qaynuqa were allied with the Banu Khazraj. The latter were defeated after a long and desperate battle.[3]

Hijrah

Muhammad came to Medina as a mediator, invited to resolve the feud between the Banu Aws and the Banu Khazraj. He ultimately did so by absorbing both factions into his Muslim community and forbidding bloodshed among Muslims.

The Banu Aus were included in the Constitution of Medina as allies to the Muslims, "one nation/community with the Believers".[8][9] Then, Banu Aus and others became known as the Ansar.

Banu Qurayza

The Banu Qurayza were a Jewish tribe who lived in Medina. The tribe's men, apart from a few who converted to Islam, were killed in 627 after a siege mounted by Muslim inhabitants of Medina and immigrants from Mecca. The Banu Qurayza had agreed to aid their Meccan enemies in their attack on Medina, which the Muslims had just repulsed in the Battle of the Trench.

Since the Banu Qurayza had been an ally of the Banu Aus during the Battle of Bu'ath, they choose Sa'ad ibn Mua'dh, the chief of the Banu Aus [10] as their judge. He, in spite of the pleading of his own tribe, condemned the men to death and the women and children to slavery.[3] Sa'ad ibn Mua'dh himself died shortly after the event from injuries that he had received during the Battle of the Trench.

Military campaigns

In 624, Muhammad ordered the death of Ka'b ibn al-Ashraf. According to Ibn Ishaq, Muhammad ordered his followers to kill Ka'b because he "had gone to Mecca after Badr and inveighed against Muhammad. He also composed verses in which he bewailed the victims of Quraysh who had been killed at Badr. Shortly afterwards he returned to Medina and composed amatory verses of an insulting nature about the Muslim women". The killing was carried out by the Banu Aus [11][12]

When men of the Banu Aus killed Ka'b, some Khazraj tribesman, including Abdallah ibn Unais, went to Muhammad and received permission to kill the person responsible for the killing of Sallam ibn Abu al-Huqayq, who was killed during the Expedition of 'Abdullah ibn 'Atik.[13][14][15]

Sallam ibn Abu al-Huqayq (Abu Rafi) was a Jew, who had helped the troops and provided them with a lot of wealth and supplies[16] and mocked Muhammad with his poetry. When the Muslims had settled their affair with the Banu Quraiza, the Banu Khazraj, a rival of the Banu Aws, successfully asked for Muhammad's permission to kill him, which Muhammad accepted, for a virtue equal to that of the Banu Aws, who had killed Ka'b.[14]

People

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Watt 1986, p. 771
  2. ↑ Gottheil & Hirschfeld
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Jacobs & Montgomery
  4. ↑ Muir 1858, p. ccxxx
  5. ↑ Al Mubarakpuri 2002, pp. 24–25
  6. ↑ Muir 1858, p. ccxxxi
  7. 1 2 Bosworth 1986, p. 1283
  8. 1 2 3 The Message Archived May 24, 2012, at the Wayback Machine.
  9. ↑ http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Constitution_of_Medina
  10. 1 2 Relations with the JewsLevel2P1
  11. ↑ Uri Rubin, The Assassination of Kaʿb b. al-Ashraf, Oriens, Vol. 32. (1990), pp. 65-71.
  12. ↑ Mubarakpuri, The Sealed Nectar, pp.151-153. (online)
  13. ↑ List of Battles of Muhammad
  14. 1 2 Mubarakpuri, The Sealed Nectar (Free version), p. 204.
  15. ↑ The foundation of the community By Ṭabarī, pg 100
  16. ↑ Ibn Hajr Asqalani, Fath Al-Bari, p. 7/343.
  17. ↑ Imamate: The Vicegerency of the Prophet Al-islam.org
  18. 1 2 3 The Sealed Nectar The Second ‘Aqabah Pledge Archived 2006-11-28 at the Wayback Machine. on sunnipath.com

Sources

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