Sources such as Yaqut's 13th century encyclopedia credit them with the founding of the towns of Hadjr (the predecessor of today's Riyadh) and Manfuha, and being responsible for the granaries of Al-Kharj.
According to legend, the tribe had moved to al-Yamamah from the Hejaz after the region's original inhabitants, the extinct people of Tasm and Jadis were decimated by war.
Plenty of spoils (war booty) were captured and the Muslims returned with the chief of the tribe of Banu Hanifa, called Thumamah bin Uthal Al-Hanafi.
This, along with other apostasy movements in Arabia, triggered the Ridda Wars, in which the Muslims of Medina, under the leadership of the first caliph Abu Bakr, subjugated the rebellious tribes, but not before some heavy losses.
Due to their role in the Apostasy movement, members of Banu Hanifa were initially banned from participating in the early Muslim conquests by the first Caliph, Abu Bakr.
The ban was lifted by Abu Bakr's successor Umar, and members of Bani Hanifa subsequently joined Muslim forces in Iraq, with some settling in garrison towns such as al-Kufa.
Perhaps due to the legacy of the Ridda Wars and Najdah's Kharijites, the Umayyads and Abbasids made sure never to appoint a member of the tribe to governorship in their native province of Yamamah.
[citation needed] According to King Salman Al Saud of Saudi Arabia,[9] Banu Hanifa had assimilated into its larger cousin tribe Anizah, socially and politically.