As a sub-tribe of Qays, they fought alongside the Qaysi coalition against the Yamani tribes during the Umayyad era.

The scholar al-Asma'i and the general Qutayba ibn Muslim both belonged to the tribe.

[1] Among the sons of Bahila who later fathered large clans were Qutayba, Wa'il, Ji'awa and Awd.

The tribe's settlements, including al-Quway', Idhnayn Shammal, Hufayra and Juzayla, were located on either side of the route between Mecca and the area corresponding with modern-day Riyadh.

[3] The Bahila migrants entered the lower Euphrates region, first in the vicinity of al-Hufayr near Basra and from there into the sandy al-Taff tract on the southern border of the Bata'ih marshes.

[3] After 837, these Bahila tribesmen settled in the Bata'ih itself, where in 871 they were attacked by Abbasid troops on their way to suppress the Zanj Rebellion.

[4] A companion of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, Abu Umamah, hailed from the tribe.

[3] Yusuf al-Bahili was the sculptor or owner of the so-called Elephant of Charlemagne chess piece.