Al-Abna'

Al-Abnāʾ (Arabic: الأبناء, lit. 'the sons') was a term that was used in South Arabia to refer to a community of people who were descended from intermarriages between Persian soldiers and local Arab women, particularly in the context of the Aksumite–Persian wars in the 6th century. The Persian army had been garrisoned in Sanaa and throughout Yemen after the region was re-conquered by the Persia-based Sasanian Empire in the 570s, indefinitely ending the rule of the Ethiopia-based Aksumite Empire in the Arabian Peninsula. Following the rise of Muhammad in the 7th century, most of the al-Abnāʾ community adopted Islam and subsequently played an active role in the early Muslim conquests.