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Banu Abd al-Ashhal

بنو عبد الأشهل

Medina

A clan of the Aws, Banu Abd al-Ashhal ibn Jusham ibn al-Harith; after Abu Jubayla's departure they settled a quarter south of Banu Zafar's, by the edge of the eastern Harra, and built the utm 'Waqim' — held by Hudayr ibn Simak, after whom the quarter was named — and another called 'al-Ra'l' for Sakhra umm Banu Abd al-Ashhal, crying at Bu'ath 'we are Banu Sakhra, lords of the Ra'l'. A war with Banu Haritha drove the latter from the shared quarter to the Yathrib neighbourhood 1.

Depth

At a glance

Era
Pre-Islamic Arabia · The Prophetic Era
Region
Arabia
Review
Draft Completeness 1/5 · Help complete it

In space

Medina

Map: Natural Earth, public domain · places and route from the graph

Overview

A branch of al-Aws: Banu Abd al-Ashhal ibn Jusham ibn al-Harith ibn al-Khazraj al-Asghar. 2

Their homes in Medina

They settled their homes south of the house of Banu Zafar, at the edge of the eastern Harra in Medina. 2 They built fortified houses (utum) called "Waqim", which belonged to Hudayr ibn Simak, and the district took its name from it, and another called "al-Ra'al", named after a rock, the mother of Banu Abd al-Ashhal. 2

The war with Banu Haritha

There was a war between them and Banu Haritha, in which they drove them out of the shared house, and those moved to another part of Yathrib. Al-Samhudi mentions that they took part in the day of Bu'ath. 2

Their rank among the Ansar houses

In the excellence of the sound report, they are second among the houses of the Ansar. 3

Connections

Explore the connections

Part of
al-Aws
Lived in
Medina
Participated in
The day of Bu'ath
Fought by
Banu Haritha ibn al-Harith
Mentioned in
Bukhari 3807 — The best houses of the Ansar

People and things also explored

The day of Bu'ath· al-Aws· Banu Haritha ibn al-Harith· Medina· The Ansar· Banu al-Harith ibn al-Khazraj· Banu al-Najjar· Banu Khatma

Sources

  1. Wafa al-Wafa bi-akhbar dar al-Mustafa — al-Samhudi (older print), p. 202-204
  2. Wafa al-Wafa bi-akhbar dar al-Mustafa — al-Samhudi (older print), p.202-204
  3. Sahih al-Bukhari, 3807
Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “Banu Abd al-Ashhal”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/group/banu-abd-al-ashhal/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Accessed 2026-10-17.

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Related

The day of Bu'ath

The last and greatest of the Aws–Khazraj wars before Islam, about five years before the Hijra on the soundest view; before it ran the war of Mutaymir, the war of Ka'b ibn 'Amr, the day of al-Sarara and the day of al-Dayk — al-Samhudi adds the day of Fari', the two Fijar wars, and the wars of Hudayr ibn al-Aslat and Hatib ibn Qays — until al-Khattabi reports a tradition that war stood between them a hundred and twenty years to Islam. They fought at Bu'ath, a site at the head of Qawra, after the long-bested Aws allied with Qurayza and al-Nadir — its earlier bid for a Quraysh pact at Mecca having been dissolved by a ruse Ibn Shabba ascribes to al-Walid ibn al-Mughira — and some of its clans withdrew about a year to Khaybar. When the Khazraj boasted of victory and seized the Jews' hostages, the war was joined. Both chiefs fell: Hudayr 'al-Kata'ib', father of Usayd, for the Aws, and 'Amr ibn al-Nu'man al-Bayadi for the Khazraj — 'Abdallah ibn Ubayy had warned him he would be borne off slain, and four men carried him in as foretold; the rout first fell on the Khazraj until Hudayr rallied the Aws to victory, and Sa'd ibn Mu'adh escaped under 'Amr ibn al-Jamuh's protection; in the Sahih 'A'isha says 'the day of Bu'ath was a day God sent ahead of His Messenger for their entering Islam — he came when their assembly had scattered and their chiefs been slain', a report al-Samhudi also transmits in her chapter.