Narratives of the Arab Conquests of the seventh century can easily gravitate towards homogenized accounts of Arabs fighting against non-Arabs with similarly simplistic group identifications such as Persians, Greeks, Berbers, or Turks. Many recent studies have complicated these identities, bringing to life the complexities of Late Antique Near Eastern society. The political narratives of the early Islamic world illustrate how important tribal divisions were among the Arabs. Studies of the conquest of Iran have brought to light the various responses to the conquests based on class but also ethno-linguistic identity between Persians, Parthians, Sogdians, etc. Similarly, examinations of post-conquest society demonstrate how quickly slavery, concubinage, and marriage created a community whose members crossed many of these boundaries, even though they often found themselves described in singular terms, typically defined by their patrilineal descent. But, as key studies have noted, even these revisions leave matters simpler than reality. This paper will examine the complicated nature of identity during the Arab Conquests through the life of ʿAbdallah b. Khazim al-Sulami (d. ca. 692). Ibn Khazim participated in the conquest of Khurasan and became its governor on at least two occasions. Following the Second Fitna, he refused to acknowledge the Caliph ʿAbd al-Malik and was killed trying to flee beyond his reach. Ibn Khazim’s career is one defined by his Arab-ness, his membership in the Banu Sulaym, and connections to powerful relatives such as the governor of Basra Ibn ʿAmir. At the same time, his mother was an enslaved Black woman from Abyssinia and, in narratives of his various adventures, this aspect of his identity is often referenced as a way of differentiating him from other Arabs, often in a demeaning and antagonistic manner. How do portrayals of Ibn Khazim’s Blackness help us better understand identity and community formation during the period of the conquests? After arriving in Khurasan, Ibn Khazim had several sons with Iranian women, most notably Musa (d. 704), who led his own rebellion in Tirmidh following his father’s death. At Tirmidh, Musa brought together both Arab and non-Arab rebels, but reports of Musa’s rebel kingdom portray a clear division, with Musa aligned to his patrilineal identity. This paper further explores such reports to understand how Arabs of mixed parentage straddled the line between these communities in post-conquest society.