Ansar, Ansarian

[Arab.] A helper, an auxiliary; spec., one of the inhabitants of 230 Mecca who befriended Mahomet when he fled thither from Mecca, A.D. 622. "His bravest disciples a embled round his person; and the equal, though various, merit of the Moslems was distinguished by the names of Mohagerians and Ansars : the fugitives of Mecca and the auxiliaries of Medina."-Gibbon: Decline & Fall , ch.1.