Al-Yamama

The 13th-century geographer Yaqut al-Hamawi mentions a number of etymologies for al-Yamama, including the root word hamam (Arabic for "domesticated pigeon") but the historian G. Rex Smith considers them unlikely.

The Hanifa of the Yamama also supplied skilled laborers who found work in Mecca; the Islamic prophet Muhammad is known to have employed them for the production of clay used to build his mosque in Medina and held high opinions of the Hanafi workers.

[2] Another Hanafite tribesman, Thumama ibn Uthal, who had been captured by the Muslims as a result of his attack against Muhammad's emissary to the communities of Bahrayn (eastern Arabia), al-Ala al-Hadhrami, converted to Islam after being released from captivity.

[7] Ikrima's attacks against the Hanifa in the Yamama were beaten back by Musaylima's followers and he withdrew from the region, while Shurahbil was ordered by Abu Bakr to stay to support Thumama until the arrival of a larger army led by Khalid ibn al-Walid.

[8] Khalid was dispatched by Abu Bakr with dire warnings of the Hanifa's military prowess and orders to severely punish the tribe in the event of a victory against them.

[10] Despite orders to treat the surviving Hanafite tribesmen harshly, Khalid entered a treaty with them, using one of their own who had converted to Islam, Mujja'a ibn Murara, as his intermediary with the tribe.

The Hanifa agreed to embrace Islam in return for surrendering their gold, silver, weapons and armor to the Muslims, an agreement which Abu Bakr sanctioned.

[12] Though the Muslim traditional sources indicate the wholesale conversion of the Yamama's inhabitants, the historian Al Makin argues followers of Musaylima continued to agitate against centralized rule and for regional autonomy, which fueled their support for dissident religious movements.

The Kharijites of the Yamama originally chose the Hanafite tribesman Abu Talut Salim ibn Matar as their leader and in 684 he led their capture of the vast Umayyad estate of Jawn al-Khadarim, where he divided the plunder and slaves once employed by Caliph Mu'awiya I (r. 661–680) among his men and set up headquarters.

[15] The 10th-century geographer al-Hamdani noted that the Yamama spanned several isolated fortresses, palm groves and gardens, as well as silver and gold mines.