The Qadhadhfa (also ''al-Qaddafa'', ''Gaddadfa'', ''Qaddadfa'', ''Gaddafa''; ar, القذاذفـة) is one of the

Arab The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...

Ashraf Sharīf ( ar, شريف, 'noble', 'highborn'), also spelled shareef or sherif, feminine sharīfa (), plural ashrāf (), shurafāʾ (), or (in the Maghreb) shurfāʾ, is a title used to designate a person descended, or claiming to be descended, fr ...

tribes in Libya, living in the

Sirte District Sirte District (or ''Sirt'' or ''Surt'' District; ar, سرت ''Surt'', ), is one of the districts of Libya. It lies in the north of the country and borders the Gulf of Sidra. Its capital is the city of Sirte. Al-Tahadi University is located i ...

in present-day northwestern

Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya bo ...

. They are traditionally counted amongst the country's Ashraf tribes, and during the

Gaddafi regime Muammar Gaddafi became the ''de facto'' leader of Libya on 1 September 1969 after leading a group of young Libyan Army officers against King Idris I in a bloodless coup d'état. After the king had fled the country, the Revolutionary Comman ...

were regarded as being one of the greatest and most powerful tribes in the whole country. They are an Arab-Berber tribe. They are now mostly centered at

Qasr Abu Hadi Qasr Abu Hadi ( ar, قصر ابو هادي ') is a village with an estimated 4,890 inhabitants in the Sirte District of Libya. It is 2 km east of the Gardabya Airport and 20 km south of Sirte. Former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi Muammar ...

, Sirte.

History

The

progenitor In genealogy, the progenitor (rarer: primogenitor; german: Stammvater or ''Ahnherr'') is the – sometimes legendary – founder of a family, line of descent, clan or tribe, noble house, or ethnic group.. Ebenda''Ahnherr:''"Stammvater eines G ...

of the Banu Qadhadhfa was Amr Qadhadhf al-Dam (عمرو قذاف الدم), who was claiming to be a descendant of

Musa al-Kadhim Musa ibn Ja'far al-Kazim ( ar, مُوسَىٰ ٱبْن جَعْفَر ٱلْكَاظِم, Mūsā ibn Jaʿfar al-Kāẓim), also known as Abū al-Ḥasan, Abū ʿAbd Allāh or Abū Ibrāhīm, was the seventh Imam in Twelver Shia Islam, after hi ...

. The tribe has supported the idea of Arab unity as an Arab tribe in Libya itself. They are notable for their role in the 1969 coup d'état that deposed King Idris of Libya and as the tribe of his successor

Muammar Gaddafi Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi, . Due to the lack of standardization of transcribing written and regionally pronounced Arabic, Gaddafi's name has been romanized in various ways. A 1986 column by ''The Straight Dope'' lists 32 spellin ...

. The tribe has proven to be an influential player in Libya's ongoing civil war. It is known for its active presence in

Sirte Sirte (; ar, سِرْت, ), also spelled Sirt, Surt, Sert or Syrte, is a city in Libya. It is located south of the Gulf of Sirte, between Tripoli and Benghazi. It is famously known for its battles, ethnic groups, and loyalty to Muammar G ...

. Their dominance of the region caused Sirte to grow and become comparable to

Tripoli Tripoli or Tripolis may refer to: Cities and other geographic units Greece *Tripoli, Greece, the capital of Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (region of Arcadia), a district in ancient Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (Larisaia), an ancient Greek city in ...

and Benghazi in terms of national power. Qadhadhfa influence caused Sirte and Sabha to become completely loyal to Gaddafi during his rule of the country. The Qadhadhfa fought for and supported the

Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Muammar Gaddafi became the ''de facto'' leader of Libya on 1 September 1969 after leading a group of young Libyan Army officers against King Idris I in a bloodless coup d'état. After the king had fled the country, the Revolutionary Comman ...

and the

Green Resistance Gaddafi loyalism, in a wider political and social sense also known as Green resistance, consists of sympathetic sentiment towards the overthrown government of Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed in October 2011. It has been responsible for some of ...

throughout the

Second Libyan Civil War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Second Libyan Civil War , partof = the Arab Winter, Libyan Crisis (2011–present), Libyan Crisis, Iran–Saudi Arabia proxy conflict, War on terror, and Qatar–Saudi Arabia diplomat ...

and the

Libyan Crisis Demographics of Libya is the demography of Libya, specifically covering population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, and religious affiliations, as well as other aspects of the Libyan population. The ...

. After Gaddafi's death in October 2011, leading members of the Qadhadhfa demanded the return of his body by

Misrata Misrata ( ; also spelled Misurata or Misratah; ar, مصراتة, Miṣrāta ) is a city in the Misrata District in northwestern Libya, situated to the east of Tripoli and west of Benghazi on the Mediterranean coast near Cape Misrata. With ...

fighters Fighter(s) or The Fighter(s) may refer to: Combat and warfare * Combatant, an individual legally entitled to engage in hostilities during an international armed conflict * Fighter aircraft, a warplane designed to destroy or damage enemy warplan ...

for burial by relatives in Sirte.

References

*''Current biography yearbook'', Volume 53, H.W. Wilson Company, 1992, p. 457. *Jean-François Bayart, ''Global subjects: a political critique of globalization'', Polity, 2007, , p. 56. *Dirk J. Vandewalle, ''Libya since 1969: Qadhafi's revolution revisited'', Palgrave Macmillan, 2008, , p. 73. Arabs Tribes of Libya * {{Libya-stub

History

See also

References