The Abd al-Qays ( ar, عبد القيس) was an ancient
Arabian
The Arabian Peninsula, (; ar, شِبْهُ الْجَزِيرَةِ الْعَرَبِيَّة, , "Arabian Peninsula" or , , "Island of the Arabs") or Arabia, is a peninsula of Western Asia, situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian Plate. ...
tribe from the
Rabi'a branch of the
North Arabian tribes.
History
Origins
The name of the tribe means 'servant of the
odQays'. It belonged to the tribal groups originally resident in the area of
al-Arid in
South Arabia and which migrated northwestward to an area extending north to
Sudayr and south to
al-Kharj
Kharj ( ar, الخرج) is a governorate in central Saudi Arabia. It is one of the important governorates in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and is located in the southeast of the capital Riyadh, within an area of 19,790 km2 ~ 4,890,215.5 acres, ...
. Later, in the Arab genealogical tradition, these tribes were called the
Rabi'a, a branch of the northern Arab
Ma'add
Ma'ad ibn Adnan ( ar, مَعَدّ ٱبْن عَدْنَان, Maʿadd ibn ʿAdnān) is an ancient ancestor of Qusai ibn Kilab and his descendant the Islamic prophet Muhammad. He is featured in ancient Arabic literature.
Origin
According to t ...
confederation.
Campaigns of Shapur II
In
pre-Islamic times, the Abd al-Qays frequently raided
Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
.
[ʿABD-AL-QAYS](_blank)
Encyclopaedia Iranica
An encyclopedia (American English) or encyclopædia (British English) is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge either general or special to a particular field or discipline. Encyclopedias are divided into article ...
. The Sasanian king
Shapur II
Shapur II ( pal, 𐭱𐭧𐭯𐭥𐭧𐭥𐭩 ; New Persian: , ''Šāpur'', 309 – 379), also known as Shapur the Great, was the tenth Sasanian King of Kings (Shahanshah) of Iran. The longest-reigning monarch in Iranian history, he reigne ...
() led an expedition against the Arabian tribes, during which he massacred most of the Abd al-Qays.
Later, several Abd al-Qays tribesmen were relocated by Shapur to the Iranian province of
Kirman Kerman is the capital city of Kerman Province, Iran.
Kerman or Kirman may also refer to:
Places
*Kirman (Sasanian province), province of the Sasanian Empire
* Kerman Province, province of Iran
** Kerman County
*Kerman, California
People
* Jo ...
.
Migrations into eastern Arabia
By the 5th century, the Abd al-Qays had shifted to nomadism, dwelling outside of the
Tuwaiq
Jabal Tuwaiq ( ar, جَبَل طُوَيْق, Tuwaiq Mountain) is a narrow escarpment that cuts through the plateau of Najd in central Arabia, running approximately from the southern border of Al-Qasim in the north, to the northern edge of the ...
escarpment in the southern
Najd (central Arabia). In the 6th century, the tribe migrated northeastward the oases of
al-Ahsa and
Qatif
Qatif or Al-Qatif ( ar, ٱلْقَطِيف ''Al-Qaṭīf'') is a governorate and urban area located in Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia. It extends from Ras Tanura and Jubail in the north to Dammam in the south, and from the Persian Gulf in the ...
in
eastern Arabia
Eastern Arabia, historically known as al-Baḥrayn ( ar, البحرين) until the 18th century, is a region stretched from Basra to Khasab along the Persian Gulf coast and included parts of modern-day Bahrain, Kuwait, Eastern Saudi Arabia, Unite ...
.
Islamic period
During the
Arab conquest of Iran, considerable numbers of Abd al-Qays tribesmen entered southeastern, launching extensive raids in the region.
Several groupings of Abd al-Qays settled near
Tavvaz Tawwaj, Tawwaz or Tavvaz (Middle Persian: ; New Persian: ) was a medieval city in Fars (Pars) in modern Iran, located southwest of Shiraz.
Description
Tawwaj was located on or close to the Shapur River in the region of Fars, about from the Per ...
in the Iranian coastal mountains and
Basra
Basra ( ar, ٱلْبَصْرَة, al-Baṣrah) is an Iraqi city located on the Shatt al-Arab. It had an estimated population of 1.4 million in 2018. Basra is also Iraq's main port, although it does not have deep water access, which is hand ...
in
lower Mesopotamia
Lower Mesopotamia is a historical region of Mesopotamia. It's located in the alluvial plain of Iraq from the Hamrin Mountains to the Faw Peninsula near the Persian Gulf.
In the Middle Ages it was also known as the ''Sawad'' and al-Jazira al-sfli ...
.
In the early 8th century, 4,000 Abd al-Qays warriors formed part of the army of
Qutayba ibn Muslim
Abū Ḥafṣ Qutayba ibn Abī Ṣāliḥ Muslim ibn ʿAmr al-Bāhilī ( ar, أبو حفص قتيبة بن أبي صالح مسلم بن عمرو الباهلي; 669–715/6) was an Arab commander of the Umayyad Caliphate who became governor of ...
on his
campaign
Campaign or The Campaign may refer to:
Types of campaigns
* Campaign, in agriculture, the period during which sugar beets are harvested and processed
*Advertising campaign, a series of advertisement messages that share a single idea and theme
* Bl ...
into
Khorasan
Khorasan may refer to:
* Greater Khorasan, a historical region which lies mostly in modern-day northern/northwestern Afghanistan, northeastern Iran, southern Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan
* Khorasan Province, a pre-2004 province of Ira ...
.
There are many gaps and inconsistencies in the genealogies of Abd al-Qays in Bahrain, thus Baharna are probably descendants of an ethnically mixed population.
Religion
Abd al-Qays were mostly
Christians
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...
before the advent of
Islam
Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
.
Sources
Bibliography
*
{{Authority control
History of the Arabian Peninsula
Rabi`ah
Tribes of Arabia