The
Ghassanids (;
al-Ghasasinah, also
Banu Ghassan "Sons of Ghassan") were a group of
Arabs, descended from the
Azd tribes, that emigrated in the early 3rd century from the Southern
Arabian Peninsula to the
Levant region, where some merged with Greek-speaking Christians' communities, converting to
Christianity in the first few centuries
AD while others were already Christians before emigrating north to escape religious persecution. Few Ghassanids became
Muslim following the Islamic Conquest; most Ghassanids remained Christian and joined
Melkite and
Syriac communities within
what is now Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.