Note 62 — HISTORY OF AL-HAJJAJ BIN YUSUF AND THE YOUNG SAYYID.[42]

The “Banú Thakíf” was a noble tribe sprung from Iyád (Ibn Khallikan i. 358–363); but the ignorant and fanatic scribe uses every means, fair and foul, to defame Al-Hajjaj. It was a great race and a well known, living about Táif in the Highlands East of Meccah, where they exist to the present day. Mr. Doughty (loc. cit. ii. 174) mentions a kindred of the Juhaynah Badawin called El-Thegif (Thakíf) of whom the Medinites say “Allah ya’alan Thegíf Kuddám takuf” (God damn the Thegíf ere thou stand still). They are called “Yahúd” (Jews), probably meaning pre-Islamitic Arabs, and are despised accordingly.