HKB
[Sidenote: Tribal conversions in the sixth year.]
Since the truce of Hodeibia at the end of the sixth year after the Hegira Mecca was opened for intercourse, where there were some more and fresh conversions. The Bani Khozaa, descendants of Azd, were converted to Islam at the truce of Hodeibia. At the pilgrimage in the following year some influential men of Mecca adopted Islam. The movement was not confined to these leading men, but was wide and general. In the seventh year the following tribes were converted to Islam and their deputations joined Mohammad at Khyber:
Bani Ashar.[51] 2. Khushain.[52] 3. Dous.[53]
[Sidenote: Conversions among several other tribes of the North and North-east in A.H., 8.]
During the same year Mohammad converted several other tribes in the north and north-east of Arabia. Among them were--
[Footnote 51: The Bani Ash-ar inhabited Jedda. They were of the Kahlanite stock, the descendants of Al-Azd.]
[Footnote 52: The Bani Khushain were a clan of Kozaa, of Himiarite stock.]
[Footnote 53: The Bani Dous belong to the Azdite tribe of the stock of Kahtan. They lived at some distance south of Mecca. They had joined Mohammad at Khyber.]
[Footnote 54: These were the sub-tribes of Ghatafan of the Meccan stock. The chief families of Ghatafan were the Bani Ashja, Zobian, and the Bani Abs. Murra and Fezara were the branches of Zobian. They all inhabited Najd. Uyenia, the chief of the Bani Fezara, had committed an inroad upon Medina in A.H. 6. In the same year the Bani Fezara had waylaid a Medina caravan and plundered it.]
[Footnote 55: The Bani Suleim, a branch of the Bani Khasafa and a sister tribe to Hawazin, who lived near Mecca, and in whose charge, Mohammad, when but an infant, was placed, were also a tribe of the Meccan stock descended through Khasafa from Mozar and Moadd. Bani Suleim, like Bani Murra and Fezara, branches of Ghatafan, had long continued to threaten Mohammad with attacks. The Bani Suleim having joined Aamir bin Tofeil, chief of Bani Aamir, a branch of the tribe of Hawazin with their clans Usseya, Ril, and Zakawan, had cut to pieces a party of Moslem missionaries at Bir Mauna, invited by Abu Bera Amr ibn Malik, a chief of the Bani Aamir, who had pledged for their security. The Bani Suleim had joined also the Koreish army at the siege of Medina. In the seventh year, they had slain another body of Moslem missionaries sent to them.]
[Footnote 56: The Bani Ozra were a tribe of Kozaa, like Joheina. They, together with the Bani Bali and Juzam, inhabited the north of Arabia in the part of the territory belonging to Ghassan. The family of Himyar, descendants from Kahtan in Yemen, had flourished through the line of Kozaa, the Bani Ozza, Joheina and other important tribes to the north of the Peninsula on the border of Syria. It has been quoted by Sir W. Muir from Katib Wakidi that the chief of the Bani Juzam carried back to them a letter from Mohammad to this tenor: "Whoever accepteth the call of Islam, he is among the confederates of the Lord; whoever refuseth the same, a truce of two months is allowed for him for consideration." (Muir's Life of Mahomet, Vol. IV, p. 107, foot-note). The words "for consideration" are not in the original Arabic.--Vide Ibn Hisham, p. 963. It is not clear what was meant by the two months' truce he was advised to give them, to make terms before he could commence hostilities, if the tradition for which there is no authority be true. This has nothing to do with their compulsory conversions.]
[Footnote 57: Salaba was a branch of the Zobian.]
[Footnote 58: The Bani Abd-ul-Kays are a Moaddite tribe, the descendants of Rabia. They inhabited Bahrein on the Persian Gulf.]