Banu Ghifar

The Banu Ghifar (Arabic: بنو غفار, romanized: Banū Ghifār) was an Arab tribe that belonged to the Banu Damra ibn Bakr, a branch of the large Kinana tribe in the Hejaz region of Arabia.^[1][2] They were sometimes derided as brigands and robbers by other Arabs in the region.^[3] The formerly-polytheistic tribe converted to Islam in the time of Muhammad, with Abu Dhar al-Ghifari being among the first of the Banu Ghifar to convert.^[4][5] The Banu Ghifar had at least two sub-clans, the Banu al-Nar and Banu Huraq, who lived near the city of Medina.^[6] The tribe joined the early Islamic conquests after their conversion, and some of them moved into Medina itself in later years.^[1] A number of the Banu Ghifar supported the rebellion of Muhammad al-Nafs al-Zakiyya against the Abbasid caliphate.^[2]