Islamic tradition holds that the Kinana and the other descendants of Ishmael gradually dispersed throughout northern Arabia, losing their original faith and falling into idolatry.

Another branch, the Harith ibn Abd Manat, formed the core of the Ahabish group, a collection of small, most likely unrelated, clans.

His descendant, Qusayy ibn Kilab, was backed by the Kinana in his capture of the sanctuary town of Mecca, home to the Kaaba.

[2] The Quraysh initially opposed Muhammad and his monotheistic message, but due to previous tensions with the Bakr, were hesitant to move against him and his followers at Badr in 624 without guarantees of safety by the Kinana.

An important tribesman of the Du'il, Abu al-Aswad al-Du'ali, was counted as an ally of Caliph Ali, the cousin and son-in-law of Muhammad.

[1] The emirs and fief-holders of the Kinana in southern Palestine left for Fatimid Egypt following the capture of the port town of Ascalon by the Crusaders in 1153.

Under the Ayyubids, the Kinaniyya were fiscally counted as second-tier troops, paid half of the rate of Kurdish, Turkish, and Turkmen soldiers, but significantly more than other Arab auxiliaries.

[9] In June 1249 the naval forces of Louis IX, about 700 ships' strong, landed in Damietta as part of the Seventh Crusade.