Ghatafān

The Ghatafān ( Arabic غطفان, DMG Ġaṭafān ) were an important group of Arab tribes in Najd , in the northeast of Yathrib (Medina) in the time of Muhammad . Mohammed carried out some of his first caravan raids against them, which, although unsuccessful, turned the Ghatafan against him and resulted in the Ghatafan, together with the Quraish from Mecca , besieging the Muslims of Medina in the battle of the trenches.

According to the prophet biographer Ibn Ishaq, a leader of the Ghatafan Nuʿaim ibn Masʿūd played an important role in this battle . He became a secret Muslim and sowed discord between the attackers and the Jewish tribe of the Banu Quraiza , which ultimately resulted in the attackers withdrawing and Mohammed having all the men of the Banu Quraiza murdered and all women and children enslaved.

The Ashjaʿ, a tribe of Ghatafan, defected to the Muslims together with Nuaim ibn Masud during the battle of the trenches. The other Ghatafan also stood on the side of his opponents during Muhammad's move to Khaibar and only became Muslims after his death.

Ghatafan tribes

• Muharib
• Tha'laba
• Ashjaʿ
• Banu Murra

literature

Islamic sources

• Ibn Ishaq, Gernot Rotter (translator): The life of the prophet. As-Sira An-Nabawiya . Spohr, Kandern in the Black Forest 1999, ISBN 3-927606-22-7 .