grandsons, great-grandsons and great-great grandsons continued their ancestor's interests in hadith scholarship and remained part of the Damascene elite into the mid-9th century. Abu Mushir's grandfather, Abd al-A'la, was a hadith scholar and Abu Mushir studied under the famous Syrian scholar Sa'id ibn Abd al-Aziz al-Tanukhi. He became a prominent hadith scholar in Damascus, with special interest in the administrative history of Syria, its local elite's genealogies and local scholars. During the Fourth Muslim Civil War between the Abbasid dynasts, an Umayyad, Abu al-Umaytir al-Sufyani, took power in Syria in 811, in a bid to reestablish the Umayyad Caliphate. Abu Mushir, whose grandfather was killed by the Abbasids in 750, disdained the Iraqis represented by the Abbasids and supported the restoration of Umayyad rule. He served as Abu al-Umaytir's qadi (chief jurist), but was imprisoned by the Abbasids in the years following the rebellion's suppression in 813. His great-grandsons Abd al-Rabb ibn Muhammad and Amr ibn Abd al-A'la also attained fame as Damascene scholars. Kings Medieval Arabic authors used the term Jafnids for the Ghassanids, a term modern scholars prefer at least for the ruling stratum of Ghassanid society. Earlier kings are traditional, actual dates highly uncertain. Jafnah I ibn Amr (220–265) Amr I ibn Jafnah (265–270) Tha'labah ibn Amr (270–287) al-Harith I ibn Tha'labah (287–307) Jabalah I ibn al-Harith I (307–317) al-Harith II ibn Jabalah 'ibn Maria' (317–327) al-Mundhir I Senior ibn al-Harith II (327–330) with... al-Ayham ibn al-Harith II (327–330) and... al-Mundhir II Junior ibn al-Harith II (327–340) and... al-Nu'man I ibn al-Harith II (327–342) and... Amr II ibn al-Harith II (330–356) and... Jabalah II ibn al-Harith II (327–361) Jafnah II ibn al-Mundhir I (361–391) with... al-Nu'man II ibn al-Mundhir I (361–362) al-Nu'man III ibn Amr ibn al-Mundhir I (391–418) Jabalah III ibn al-Nu'man (418–434) al-Nu'man IV ibn al-Ayham (434–455) with... al-Harith III ibn al-Ayham (434–456) and... al-Nu'man V ibn al-Harith (434–453) al-Mundhir II ibn al-Nu'man (453–472) with... Amr III ibn al-Nu'man (453–486) and... Hijr ibn al-Nu'man (453–465) al-Harith IV ibn Hijr (486–512) Jabalah IV ibn al-Harith (512–529) al-Amr IV ibn Mah'shi (529) al-Harith V ibn Jabalah (529–569) al-Mundhir III ibn al-Harith (569–581) with... Abu Kirab al-Nu'man ibn al-Harith (570–582) al-Nu'man VI ibn al-Mundhir (581–583) al-Harith VI ibn al-Harith (583) al-Nu'man VII ibn al-Harith Abu Kirab (583–?) al-Ayham ibn Jabalah (?–614) al-Mundhir IV ibn Jabalah (614–?) Sharahil ibn Jabalah (?–618) Amr IV ibn Jabalah (628) Jabalah V ibn