Nadene Goldfoot
Banu (بنو) is Arabic for "the children of" or "descendants of" and appears before the name of a tribal progenitor. The English counterpart would be "House of", for example the House of Saud. Another example of the usage is the Bani
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_vIydVt7wc
About in the year 600, Safia or Ṣafīyyah bint Ḥuyayy was born to the chief of the Jewish tribe of Banu Nadir. Safiyyah was born in Medina to Huyayy ibn Akhtab, the chief of the Jewish tribe Banu Nadir. Her mother, Barrah bint Samawal, was from the Banu Qurayza tribe. Her maternal grandfather was Samaw'al ibn 'Adiya, a celebrated pre-Islamic Arabian Jewish poet from the Banu Harith tribe.
Some of the Jewish tribes of Arabia historically attested include:Banu Harith or Bnei Chorath; Banu Qaynuqa
- Banu Shutayba; Jafna Clan of the Banu Tha'laba who were exiled members of the Banu Ghassan - while both tribes were not Jewish, they did have Jewish members; whereas the Jafna Clan was solely Jewish; Banu Zaura; Banu Zurayq In Islamic lore, Labid ben Asam was a Jewish sorcerer who cast a spell on Muhammad that made him ill for several months and prevented him from having sexual relations with his wives; Banu Quda'a — Himyarite tribe of converts to Judaism; Banu Qurayza — sub-clan of the al-Kāhinān, located in Yathrib (Medina); Banu Nadir — sub-clan of the al-Kāhinān, located in Yathrib (Medina); Banu Juw — sub-clan of the Banu Qaynuqa, Fled to North Africa.
- Banu Aws and Banu Awf.
According to a source, Safia was married off to Sallam ibn Mishkam, who later divorced her. Sallam ibn Mishkam ibn Al-Hakam ibn Haritha ibn Al-Khazraj ibn Kaab ibn Khazraj was a member of the Nadir tribe. He was a distant cousin of the tribal chief, Huyayy ibn Akhtab, and he was also related to the Abu’l-Huqayq branch of the tribe. His house bordered on the territory of the Qurayza tribe, and Sallam, who had many friends among the local pagans as well as the Jews, was apparently on good terms with the Qurayza tavern-keeper next door. At some stage, Sallam married Safiyya bint Huyayy, but they were later divorced. It is possible that the whole family changed their minds about this match amicably and early, before Sallam and Safiyya actually lived together. Sallam ibn Mishkam (died 628) was a Jewish warrior, rabbi and poet who lived in Medina, Arabia, in the early seventh century.
Safia was probably about 13 when married to Sallam. When the Banu Nadir were expelled from Medina in 625, her family settled in Khaybar, an oasis near Medina. Her father and brother went from Khaybar to join the Meccan and Bedouin forces besieging Muhammad in Medina during the Battle of the Trench. When the Meccans withdrew Muhammad besieged the Banu Qurayza. After the defeat of the Banu Qurayza in 627 Safiyya's father, a long-time opponent of Muhammad, was captured and executed by the Muslims. In 627 or early in 628, Safiyya was married to Kenana ibn al-Rabi, treasurer of the Banu Nadir; she was about 17 years old at that time. Kenana ibn al-Rabi' also known as Kenana ibn al-Rabi'a and Kenana ibn al-Rabi ibn Abu al-Huqayq, was a Jewish Arab tribal leader of seventh-century Arabia and an opponent of Muhammad. He was a son of the poet al-Rabi ibn Abu al-Huqayq. Ibn al-Rabi' was killed during early Muslim clashes with the Banu Nadir.
At that time she was hit in the face and retained a scar, said to be caused by her husband over a dream she told him about where he raged in jealousy. Now she had one divorce and was a widow with the 2nd marriage and with her father deceased, had lost his protection.
Mohammad won a battle with the Jews where her father was killed and took her for himself as another wife. "From the information provided in the Hadith, it can be reasonably concluded that Safiyah did not have a choice in this marriage; rather she was war booty for Muhammad, a not uncommon practice at the time. There do exist passages in ibn Sa'd's "Tabaqat" or lives that indicate that Muhammad gave Safiyah the choice between marrying him and returning to her people:
Safia had gone through 2 Jewish marriages where she had been badly treated-not the usual with Jewish marriages in other places. She found herself living with the head of her people's enemy and was treated well. She would have been worse off if she returned to her people, she figured. There she remained.
The Jewish tribes of Arabia were ethnic groups professing the Jewish faith that inhabited the Arabian Peninsula before and during the advent of Islam. In Islamic tradition, the Jewish tribes of the Hejaz were seen as the offspring of the ancient Hebrews. According to historical Muslim sources, they spoke a language other than Arabic, which al-Tabari claims was Persian. This implies they were connected to the major Jewish community of Babylonia. Certain Jewish traditions record the existence of nomadic tribes such as the Rechabites, which converted to Judaism in antiquity.
Jewish records relate Jewish settlement in Arabia's peninsula of SW Asia
even in biblical times, but strong evidence of being there from the 1st
century CE with 3,000 scattered all over the country and increased through
the conversion of Arabs to Judaism, especially in the South where even
some rulers, like Dhu Nuwas embraced Judaism. In the 6th and early 7th
centuries there was a large Jewish population in HEJAZ and especially in
Medina and around this city. Judaism spread from Medina to the South.
Smaller Jewish communities also existed in BAHREEN, at Makna on the
Gulf of Akaba, at Adhruh between MAAN and PETRA, and further north at
JARBA. After the rise of Islam in 632, these Jews and those of Yemen
were allowed to survive on the payment of special taxes as Jews now
became Dhimmis (2nd class). Most of the Hejazi Jews were either expelled
or killed. Most Jews of Arabia now lived in Yemen, Hadramaut and Aden.
Jews had become assimilated to their Arab neighbors not only in language
and culture but in manners and customs, social organization and mentality.
Only a couple of thousand Jews were left in the entire peninsula of
Arabia by 1992 with nearly all in Yemen. The overwhelming majority had
emigrated to Israel. Yemen in 2011 was listed as having a population of
23,580,000 and was 99% Muslim., an Islamic State. . Saudi Arabi itself
was listed with 27,601,038 population and 100% Muslim, an Islamic State.
A lone Jewish person remains in Yemen, down from seven a month ago, according to a new United Nations report about the treatment of religious minorities in conflict zones.
A report of March 2022, which was published by the U.N. special rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, described the treatment of religious minorities around the world. “that Jew is undoubtedly Levi Salem Musa Marhabi, who has been illegally imprisoned and tortured by Ansar Allah since 2016,” said Jason Guberman, executive director of the American Sephardi Federation, referring to the Houthi rebel forces by their official name, Ansar Allah. “In recent years, the rise in situations of conflict and insecurity has impacted communities of every religion or belief system, subverting their enjoyment of fundamental human rights, including freedom of religion or belief,” the report noted. One Jew was left in Yemen.
Note that Oman is a neighbor of Yemen. the Jews of Muscat in his memoirs Travels in Arabia, vol. 1.of Benjamin of Tudela; He mentions that there are "a few Jews in Muskat (sic), who mostly arrived there in 1828, being driven from Baghdad . . .by the cruelties and extortions of the Pacha Daud." He also notes that Jews were not discriminated against at all in Oman, which was not the case in other Arab countries (they did not have to live in Ghettos, nor identify themselves as Jews, not walk in the road if a Muslim was walking on the same street, as was the case in Yemen). The Jews of Muscat were employed mostly in the making of silver ornaments, banking, and liquor sale. Despite the lack of persecution in Oman, the community is believed to have disappeared before 1900. During World War II, a Jewish American Army enlisted man, Emanuel Glick, encountered a small community of Omani Jews in Muscat, but this community consisted mostly of recent migrants from Yemen.Omani officials have begun to reach out to Jewish American and Israeli leaders. The American Jewish Committee recently hosted a meeting at which: "Israeli and Omani leaders gathered at AJC to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Middle East Desalination Research Center, one of the success stories of efforts to deepen Arab-Israeli cooperation. Speakers include Sayyid Badr, secretary-general of the Foreign Ministry of Oman; Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni; and Charles Lawson of the U.S. State Department. (Video: Israeli, Omani Leaders Celebrate.) Why isn't Oman on the Abrahamic Accords yet? In line with the Arab League position in relation to Israel, Oman does not officially recognize the state of Israel and took part in the boycott of Israel during much of the 20th century.
Resource:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_tribes_of_Arabiahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sallam_ibn_Mishkam
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sallam_ibn_Mishkam
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenana_ibn_al-Rabi
