Khath'am

'''Khath'am''' () was an ancient and medieval Arab tribe which traditionally dwelt in southwestern Arabia. They took part either in cooperation or opposition to the 6th-century expedition of the Aksumite ruler Abraha against Mecca. After initial hostility, they embraced Islam and a played a role in the early Muslim conquests of the 630s. The tribe of Shahran in Yemen and Saudi Arabia is a principal clan of the Khath'am.

==Origins== The genealogical origins of the Khath'am were disputed by the medieval Arab historians and genealogists. Ibn Hisham (d. 833) and Ibn Qutayba (d. 889) proposed, based on information provided to them by the "genealogists of Mudar", that Khath'am were Adnanites, the overarching grouping of all north Arabian tribes. Accordingly, the tribe's line of descent was Khath'am ibn Anmar ibn Nizar ibn Ma'ad ibn Adnan. However, Ibn al-Kalbi (d. 819) held that they were descendants of the Sabaeans of South Arabia and that their genealogy was Khath'am (birth name Aftal) ibn Anmar ibn Irash ibn Amr ibn al-Ghawth (al-Ghawth was the purported father of the Azd tribe). According to the modern historian Giorgio Levi Della Vida, the Khath'am were most likely a confederation of smaller tribes with different origins. The name of the tribe possibly stems from the Arabic phrase ''takhath'ama'', which means "to smear oneself with blood" as a result of a pact. In their traditional alliances or expeditions, the tribe was typically associated with South Arabian groupings. The main clans of the Khath'am are the Shahran, Nahish and Aklub, the latter said to have descended from the Rabi'a ibn Nizar tribe and entered the Khath'am through a pact.