Banu Yam ( ar, بنو يام, ') is an Arabian tribe that belongs to the

Qahtanite The terms Qahtanite and Qahtani ( ar, قَحْطَانِي; transliterated: Qaḥṭānī) refer to Arabs who originate from South Arabia. The term "Qahtan" is mentioned in multiple ancient Arabian inscriptions found in Yemen. Arab traditions b ...

branch of Arabian tribes, specifically the group known as

Banu Hamdan Banu Hamdan ( ar, بَنُو هَمْدَان; Musnad: 𐩠𐩣𐩵𐩬) is an ancient, large, and prominent Arab tribe in northern Yemen. Origins and location The Hamdan stemmed from the eponymous progenitor Awsala (nickname Hamdan) whose desc ...

, and are, therefore, native to southwestern

Arabia 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 Plat ...

. Their traditional way of life was well suited to life in the Arabian Desert and East Sahero-Arabian xeric shrublands they once lived in. Most have moved into small villages and given up their previous

nomadic A nomad is a member of a community without fixed habitation who regularly moves to and from the same areas. Such groups include hunter-gatherers, pastoral nomads (owning livestock), tinkers and trader nomads. In the twentieth century, the popu ...

way of life. The

tribe The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in part due to confli ...

of Yam was also the progenitor of two other important tribes: the Al Murrah and the

'Ujman Al-Ajman or al-'Ijman ( ar, العُجمان, singular Ajmi ar, العجمي) is an Arabian tribal confederation in the Arabian Peninsula, with Ajman spread across Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait. Origin Al-Ajman is ...

of eastern

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

and the

Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf ( fa, خلیج فارس, translit=xalij-e fârs, lit=Gulf of Fars, ), sometimes called the ( ar, اَلْخَلِيْجُ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Khalīj al-ˁArabī), is a mediterranean sea in Western Asia. The bod ...

coast. The Yam are notable among the tribes of Saudi Arabia for the majority of its members who follow the small Sulaymani

Isma'ili Isma'ilism ( ar, الإسماعيلية, al-ʾIsmāʿīlīyah) is a branch or sub-sect of Shia Islam. The Isma'ili () get their name from their acceptance of Imam Isma'il ibn Jafar as the appointed spiritual successor ( imām) to Ja'far al- ...

branch of

Shi'ite Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that the Islamic prophet Muhammad designated ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his successor (''khalīfa'') and the Imam (spiritual and political leader) after him, most ...

Islam. Religious leadership is currently in the hands of the al-Makrami clan, who joined Yam through alliance some time in the 17th century. Members of the tribe can be found throughout

due to

migration Migration, migratory, or migrate may refer to: Human migration * Human migration, physical movement by humans from one region to another ** International migration, when peoples cross state boundaries and stay in the host state for some minimum le ...

, particularly the areas around Jeddah and Dammam. Unlike some other tribes of southwestern

, Yam have traditionally had a large bedouin section, due to the proximity of their territories to the formidable desert known as the

Empty Quarter The Rub' al KhaliOther standardized transliterations include: / . The ' is the assimilated Arabic definite article, ', which can also be transliterated as '. (; ar, ٱلرُّبْع ٱلْخَالِي (), the "Empty Quarter") is the sand des ...

. They are also different from some of their neighboring tribes in that they are recorded to have repeatedly raided the neighboring region of Najd, reaching as far north as

Dhruma Dhurma or Darma ( ar, ضرما) is a small town located by road northwest of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. It is the center of the small Dhurma Governorate of Riyadh Province, and had a population of 10,267 people according to the 2004 census. It lie ...

near

Riyadh Riyadh (, ar, الرياض, 'ar-Riyāḍ, lit.: 'The Gardens' Najdi pronunciation: ), formerly known as Hajr al-Yamamah, is the capital and largest city of Saudi Arabia. It is also the capital of the Riyadh Province and the centre of th ...

during the time of the

First Saudi State The Emirate of Diriyah (), also known as the First Saudi State, was established in February 1727 (1139 AH). In 1744, the emir of Najdi town called Diriyah Muhammad bin Saud and the religious leader Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab formed an alliance ...

in 1775, and causing much panic.

References

Tribes of Arabia Tribes of Saudi Arabia Banu Hamdan Najran Province Saudi Arabian Ismailis Shia communities Bedouins in Saudi Arabia Bedouin groups {{shia-stub

See also

References