The Hawazin tribe were one of the first to rebel and fight against the early Muslim state based in Medina during the Ridda wars, which followed Muhammad's death in 632.

According to oral tradition and genealogy studies, the modern-day tribe of Otaibah based in Saudi Arabia are descendants of the Hawazin.

[5] Beginning around 550 CE, the Hawazin became a vassal tribe of the Banu 'Abs of Ghatafan under the 'Absi chieftain Zuhayr ibn Jadhima.

[8] This incident occurred amid a trade war between the Quraysh of Mecca and the Banu Thaqif of Ta'if; the latter were both kinsmen and allies of the Hawazin.

[8] The Quraysh and Kinana defeated the Hawazin at Ukaz or a nearby site called Sharab in the fourth major battle of the Fijar War, but the Hawazin recuperated and landed a blow against the Quraysh in the al-Harrah volcanic fields north of Mecca in the fifth and final significant engagement of the war.

[8] There was scant contact between the Hawazin and the Islamic prophet Muhammad, who hailed from the Quraysh tribe.

[4] Also, Muhammad's wet nurse, Halima bint Abu Dhu'ayb, came from the Hawazin subtribe of Banu Sa'd.