Abstract
Banu Hanifah tribe living in Yemâme, is famous for its geopolitical position and fertile lands as well as its members. It is also known as the tribe that reacted most harshly to the Prophet’s invitation to Islam. This article is a biographical study about Banu Hanifah. In this study, the position of Banu Hanifah throughout the Islamic History in general and spesifically in the period of the Prophet Muhammad was tried to be presented. Museylimatulkadhdhab, who went down in history with the sedition of being false prophet, and his influence on his folk were dewelled on. Also, Prophet’s Companion Sumama b. Usal who is reflecting the positive side of the tribe and is never leaving the loyalty to the Prophet was mentioned. Banu Hanifah is an important tribe because it is the tribe to which the mother of Ali’s son Muhammad al-Hanafiyyah belongs too. In addition, Nâfi‘ b. Azraq who is the one of the leader of Kharijites and the member of the Banu Hanifah was also mentioned. The tribe is known for both its representatives who led the fire of sedition and its followers who did not compromise their loyalty to the Prophet. However, it was seen that the representatives of the sedition movement had a more dominant character. As a result, Banu Hanifah was determined to be among the prominent tribes both in apostasy and Kharijite movement.