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, location = 2nd century CE–10th century: Jabal Tayy and Syrian Desert
10th century–16th century: Jabal Tayy, Syrian Desert, Jibal al-Sharat, al-Balqa, Palmyrene Steppe,
Upper Mesopotamia Upper Mesopotamia is the name used for the uplands and great outwash plain of northwestern Iraq, northeastern Syria and southeastern Turkey, in the northern Middle East. Since the early Muslim conquests of the mid-7th century, the region has been ...
, Northern
Hejaz The Hejaz (, also ; ar, ٱلْحِجَاز, al-Ḥijāz, lit=the Barrier, ) is a region in the west of Saudi Arabia. It includes the cities of Mecca, Medina, Jeddah, Tabuk, Yanbu, Taif, and Baljurashi. It is also known as the "Western Provin ...
, Najd , parent_tribe =
Madh'hij Madhḥij ( ar, مَذْحِج) is a large Qahtanite Arab tribal confederation. It is located in south and central Arabia. This confederation participated in the early Muslim conquests and was a major factor in the conquest of the Persian empire ...
, descended = Julhumah ibn 'Udad ibn Malik ibn 'Udad ibn Zaid , branches = *Al al-Ghawth *Banu Thu'al * Banu Jarrah *
Al Fadl AL, Al, Ål or al may stand for: Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Al (''Aladdin'') or Aladdin, the main character in Disney's ''Aladdin'' media * Al (''EastEnders''), a minor character in the British soap opera * Al (''Fullmetal ...
*Banu Nabhan *Banu Hani *
Shammar The tribe of Shammar ( ar, شَمَّر, Šammar) is a tribal Arab Qahtan confederation, descended from the Yemeni tribe of Tayy as they originated in Yemen before migrating into present day Saudi Arabia, It is the biggest branch of Tayy tribe. I ...
*Al Jadilah *Al al-Tha'alib * Banu Lam , religion =
Polytheism Polytheism is the belief in multiple deities, which are usually assembled into a pantheon of gods and goddesses, along with their own religious sects and rituals. Polytheism is a type of theism. Within theism, it contrasts with monotheism, the ...
(pre-630)
Monophysite Christianity Miaphysitism is the Christological doctrine that holds Jesus, the "Incarnate Word, is fully divine and fully human, in one 'nature' (''physis'')." It is a position held by the Oriental Orthodox Churches and differs from the Chalcedonian positio ...
(pre-638)
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 ...
(post 630) The Tayy ( ar, طيء/
ALA-LC ALA-LC (American Library AssociationLibrary of Congress) is a set of standards for romanization, the representation of text in other writing systems using the Latin script. Applications The system is used to represent bibliographic information by ...
: ''Ṭayyi’''), also known as Ṭayyi, Tayyaye, or Taiyaye, are a large and ancient
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, ...
tribe of the Middle East, among whose descendants today are the tribe of
Shammar The tribe of Shammar ( ar, شَمَّر, Šammar) is a tribal Arab Qahtan confederation, descended from the Yemeni tribe of Tayy as they originated in Yemen before migrating into present day Saudi Arabia, It is the biggest branch of Tayy tribe. I ...
. The ''
nisba The Arabic language, Arabic word nisba (; also transcribed as ''nisbah'' or ''nisbat'') may refer to: * Arabic nouns and adjectives#Nisba, Nisba, a suffix used to form adjectives in Arabic grammar, or the adjective resulting from this formation **c ...
'' (
patronymic A patronymic, or patronym, is a component of a personal name based on the given name of one's father, grandfather (avonymic), or an earlier male ancestor. Patronymics are still in use, including mandatory use, in many countries worldwide, alt ...
) of Tayy is ''aṭ-Ṭāʾī'' (). In the 2nd century CE, they migrated to the northern Arabian mountain ranges of Jabal Aja and Jabal Salma, which then collectively became known as "Jabal Tayy" (later "Jabal Shammar"). The latter continues to be the traditional homeland of the tribe until the present day. They later established relations with the Sassanid Persian and
Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
empires. Though traditionally allied with the Sassanids'
Lakhmid The Lakhmids ( ar, اللخميون, translit=al-Laḫmiyyūn) referred to in Arabic as al-Manādhirah (, romanized as: ) or Banu Lakhm (, romanized as: ) was an Arab kingdom in Southern Iraq and Eastern Arabia, with al-Hirah as their capital ...
clients, the Tayy supplanted the Lakhmids as the rulers of Al-Hirah in the 610s. In the late 6th century, the Fasad War split the Tayy, with members of its Jadila branch converting to Christianity and migrating to Syria where they became allied with the Ghassanids, and the Ghawth branch remaining in Jabal Tayy. A chieftain and poet of the Al Ghawth,
Hatim al-Ta'i Hatim al-Tai ( ar, حاتم الطائي, ''Hatim of the Tayy tribe''; died 578), full name Ḥātim bin ʿAbd Allāh bin Saʿd aṭ-Ṭāʾiyy ( ar, حاتم بن عبد الله بن سعد الطائي) was the ruling prince and poet of the T ...
, is widely known among Arabs until today. Hatim's son
Adi Adi or ADI may refer to: Names and titles * Adi (mythology), an Asura in Hindu faith who appears in the Matsya Purāṇa * Adi (name), a given name in Hebrew and a nickname in other languages * Adi (title), a Fijian title used by females of chi ...
, and another Tayy chieftain,
Zayd al-Khayr Zayd al-Khayr (Arabic: زيد الخير) was a noted, significant companion of Muhammad, the prophet of Islam. Hailing from the tribe of Tayy in northern Nejd. He was originally known as Zayd al-Khayl ("Zayd of the Steeds", a reference to his ...
, converted to
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 ...
together with much of their tribe in 629–630, and became companions of the Islamic prophet
Muhammad Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد;  570 – 8 June 632 Common Era, CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Muhammad in Islam, Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet Divine inspiration, di ...
. The Tayy participated in several Muslim military campaigns after Muhammad's death, including in the
Ridda Wars The Ridda Wars ( ar, حُرُوْبُ الرِّدَّةِ, lit=Apostasy Wars) were a series of military campaigns launched by the first caliph Abu Bakr against rebellious Arabian tribes. They began shortly after the death of the Islamic proph ...
and the
Muslim conquest of Persia The Muslim conquest of Persia, also known as the Arab conquest of Iran, was carried out by the Rashidun Caliphate from 633 to 654 AD and led to the fall of the Sasanian Empire as well as the eventual decline of the Zoroastrian religion. Th ...
. Al-Jadila in northern
Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
remained Christian until the Muslim conquest of their region in 638. The Tayy were split during the First Fitna, with those based in
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 Plate. ...
and
Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...
supporting
Ali ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib ( ar, عَلِيّ بْن أَبِي طَالِب; 600 – 661 CE) was the last of four Rightly Guided Caliphs to rule Islam (r. 656 – 661) immediately after the death of Muhammad, and he was the first Shia Imam ...
as caliph, and those in Syria supporting
Mu'awiya Mu'awiya I ( ar, معاوية بن أبي سفيان, Muʿāwiya ibn Abī Sufyān; –April 680) was the founder and first caliph of the Umayyad Caliphate, ruling from 661 until his death. He became caliph less than thirty years after the deat ...
. The latter and his Umayyad kinsmen ultimately triumphed and members of the Tayy participated in the Umayyad conquest of
Sindh Sindh (; ; ur, , ; historically romanized as Sind) is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the southeastern region of the country, Sindh is the third-largest province of Pakistan by land area and the second-largest province ...
in the early 8th century. Nonetheless, a branch of the Tayy under Qahtaba ibn Shabib were among the leaders of the
Abbasid Revolution The Abbasid Revolution, also called the Movement of the Men of the Black Raiment, was the overthrow of the Umayyad Caliphate (661–750 CE), the second of the four major Caliphates in early History of Islam, Islamic history, by the third, the A ...
which toppled the Umayyads in the mid-8th century. The Tayy fared well under the
Abbasids The Abbasid Caliphate ( or ; ar, الْخِلَافَةُ الْعَبَّاسِيَّة, ') was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abdul-Muttalib ...
, producing military officials and renowned poets, such as Buhturi and
Abu Tammam Ḥabīb ibn Aws al-Ṭā’ī (; ca. 796/807 - 845), better known by his sobriquet Abū Tammām (), was an Arab poet and Muslim convert born to Christian parents. He is best known in literature by his 9th-century compilation of early poems kno ...
. By the mid-9th century, Abbasid authority had eroded and the Tayy were left dominant in the southern Syrian Desert and Jabal Tayy. Under their
Jarrahid The Jarrahids () (also known as Banu al-Jarrah) were an Arab dynasty that intermittently ruled Palestine and controlled Transjordan and northern Arabia in the late 10th and early 11th centuries. They were described by historian Marius Canar ...
chieftains, they established themselves in Palestine under
Fatimid The Fatimid Caliphate was an Ismaili Shi'a caliphate extant from the tenth to the twelfth centuries AD. Spanning a large area of North Africa, it ranged from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Red Sea in the east. The Fatimids, a dyna ...
rule. As the virtually independent rulers of the area between
al-Ramla Ramla or Ramle ( he, רַמְלָה, ''Ramlā''; ar, الرملة, ''ar-Ramleh'') is a city in the Central District of Israel. Today, Ramle is one of Israel's mixed cities, with both a significant Jewish and Arab populations. The city was f ...
and Jabal Tayy, they controlled the key routes between Egypt, Syria, Arabia and Iraq. They vacillated between the Fatimids and the Byzantines and then between the
Seljuks The Seljuk dynasty, or Seljukids ( ; fa, سلجوقیان ''Saljuqian'', alternatively spelled as Seljuqs or Saljuqs), also known as Seljuk Turks, Seljuk Turkomans "The defeat in August 1071 of the Byzantine emperor Romanos Diogenes by the Turk ...
and
Crusaders The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were in ...
until the late 12th and early 13th centuries, when the Tayy's various subbranches, chief among them the
Al Fadl AL, Al, Ål or al may stand for: Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Al (''Aladdin'') or Aladdin, the main character in Disney's ''Aladdin'' media * Al (''EastEnders''), a minor character in the British soap opera * Al (''Fullmetal ...
, were left as the last politically influential Arab tribe in the region extending from Najd northward to
Upper Mesopotamia Upper Mesopotamia is the name used for the uplands and great outwash plain of northwestern Iraq, northeastern Syria and southeastern Turkey, in the northern Middle East. Since the early Muslim conquests of the mid-7th century, the region has been ...
.


Genealogy

The Tayy's progenitor, according to early Arab genealogists, was Julhumah ibn Udad, who was known as "Tayy" or "Tayyi".Bräu 1936, p. 624.Landau-Tasseron 1998, pp. 85–86. The theory in some Arab tradition, as cited by 9th-century Muslim historian al-Tabari, holds that Julhumah's ''
laqab Arabic language names have historically been based on a long naming system. Many people from the Arabic-speaking and also Muslim countries have not had given/ middle/family names but rather a chain of names. This system remains in use throughout ...
'' (surname) of ''Ṭayyiʾ'' derived from the word ''ṭawā'', which in
Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...
means "to plaster". He received the name because he was said to have been "the first to have plastered the walls of a well", according to al-Tabari. Julhumah's ancestry was traced to Kahlan ibn Saba ibn Ya'rub, great-grandson of
Qahtan 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 ...
, the semi-legendary, common ancestor of the Arab tribes of southern Arabia. Julhumah was a direct descendant of Kahlan via Julhumah's father Zayd ibn Yashjub,Ibn Abd Rabbih, ed. Boullata, 2011, p. 294. who in turn was a direct descendant of 'Arib ibn Zayd ibn Kahlan.


Branches

The two main branches of Tayy were Al al-Ghawth and Al Jadilah. The former was named after al-Ghawth, a son of Julhumah. The immediate offspring of al-Ghawth's son, 'Amr, were Thu'al, Aswadan (commonly known as Nabhan), Hani, Bawlan and Salaman.Ibn Abd Rabbih, ed. Boullata 2011, p. 295. The offspring of Thu'al (Banu Thu'al) and Aswadan (Banu Nabhan) became leading sub-branches of the Tayy in northern Arabia, while the offspring of Hani (Banu Hani) became a major sub-branch in southern Mesopotamia. According to traditional Arab genealogists, the Banu Thu'al were the ancestors of the
Banu Rabi'ah Rabīʿa ibn Nizar ( ar, ربيعة بن نزار) is the patriarch of one of two main branches of the "North Arabian" (Adnanite) tribes, the other branch being founded by Mudhar. Branches According to the classical Arab genealogists, the follo ...
of Syria, and in turn of the
Al Fadl AL, Al, Ål or al may stand for: Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Al (''Aladdin'') or Aladdin, the main character in Disney's ''Aladdin'' media * Al (''EastEnders''), a minor character in the British soap opera * Al (''Fullmetal ...
emirs. The Al Jadilah's namesake was a woman of the Tayy named Jadilah, whose sons Hur and Jundub became the progenitors of Banu Hur and Banu Jundub, respectively. The latter produced the numerous Al al-Tha'alib (Tha'laba) subbranch, which itself produced the Banu La'm, which became a leading sub-branch of Al Jadilah in northern Arabia. The
Jarm Jarm () (also spelled ''Jurm'' or ''Banu Jurum'') were an Arab tribe that, in the Middle Ages, lived in Palestine (region), Palestine, Hawran and coastal Lower Egypt, Egypt. The Jarm were a branch of the Tha'laba clan, a subbranch of the Al Jadilah, ...
(or Jurum) may have also been a branch of the Al al-Tha'alib. According to the 14th-century Arab historian and sociologist,
Ibn Khaldun Ibn Khaldun (; ar, أبو زيد عبد الرحمن بن محمد بن خلدون الحضرمي, ; 27 May 1332 – 17 March 1406, 732-808 AH) was an Arab The Historical Muhammad', Irving M. Zeitlin, (Polity Press, 2007), p. 21; "It is, of ...
, the Tayy were among those Qahtanite tribes who lived in the hills and plains of Syria and Mesopotamia and intermarried with non-Arabs. Ibn Khaldun further stated that Tayyid tribesmen did "not pay any attention to preserving the (purity of) lineage of their families and groups". Thus the lineage of the Tayy's many subbranches was difficult for genealogists to accurately ascertain.


Pre-Islamic era


Migration to Jabal Tayy

The Banu Tayy were originally based in
Yemen Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, north and ...
, but migrated to northern
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 Plate. ...
in the late 2nd century CE, in the years following the dispersion of the Banu Azd from Yemen. Shortly after the migration they first appear in ancient sources: both
Hippolytus of Rome Hippolytus of Rome (, ; c. 170 – c. 235 AD) was one of the most important second-third century Christian theologians, whose provenance, identity and corpus remain elusive to scholars and historians. Suggested communities include Rome, Palestin ...
and Uranius mention three distinct peoples in Arabia during the first half of the third century: the "Taeni", the "Saraceni" and the "Arabes". One of the participants of the
First Council of Nicaea The First Council of Nicaea (; grc, Νίκαια ) was a council of Christian bishops convened in the Bithynian city of Nicaea (now İznik, Turkey) by the Roman Emperor Constantine I in AD 325. This ecumenical council was the first effort ...
in 325 is identified as a ''taēnos''. They largely lived among the north Arabian mountain ranges of Aja and Salma with
Khaybar KhaybarOther standardized Arabic transliterations: / . Anglicized pronunciation: , . ( ar, خَيْبَر, ) is an oasis situated some north of the city of Medina in the Medina Province of Saudi Arabia. Prior to the rise of Islam in the 7th ...
north of Medina as their most important oasis, and from there they would make incursions into Syria and Iraq during times of drought. Their concentration in Jabal Aja and Jabal Salma lent the mountain ranges their ancient, collective name "Jabal Tayy".Shahid 2000, p. 402. Prior to the Tayy migration, the mountains had been the home of the
Banu Assad Banu Asad ibn Khuzaymah ( ar, ابن أسد بن خزيمة ) is an Arab tribe. They are Adnanite Arabs, powerful and one of the most famous tribes. They are widely respected by many Arab tribes, respected by Shia Muslims because they have burie ...
, who lost some territory with the arrival of Tayyid tribesmen. However, the two tribes ultimately became allies in later centuries and intermarried. In ancient times, the two main branches of the Tayy were the Al al-Ghawth and Al Jadila. The tribesmen lived in different parts of the region, with those living among the mountains known as the "al-Jabaliyyun" (the Mountaineers), those on the plain (mostly from Al Jadila) known as "as-Sahiliyyun" (the Plainsmen) and those on the desert sands known as "al-Ramliyyun".


Relations with Sassanids and Byzantines


Fifth century

The Tayy were so widespread and influential throughout the Syrian Desert that
Syriac Syriac may refer to: *Syriac language, an ancient dialect of Middle Aramaic *Sureth, one of the modern dialects of Syriac spoken in the Nineveh Plains region * Syriac alphabet ** Syriac (Unicode block) ** Syriac Supplement * Neo-Aramaic languages a ...
authors from Mesopotamia used their name, ''Taienos'', ''Tayenoi'', ''Taiyaya'' or ''Tayyaye'' (), to describe Arab tribesmen in general in much the same way "
Saracen upright 1.5, Late 15th-century German woodcut depicting Saracens Saracen ( ) was a term used in the early centuries, both in Greek and Latin writings, to refer to the people who lived in and near what was designated by the Romans as Arabia Pe ...
os" was often used by authors from Byzantine Syria and Egypt as a generic term for Arabs.Shahid 1989, p. 117. The Syriac word also entered into the language of the Sasanid Persians as ''Tāzīg'' ( pal, tʾcyk') and later ''Tāzī'' ( fa, تازی), also meaning "Arab". For the Tayy specifically, the Syriac authors would use the word "Tu'aye". The Tayy were subjects of the
Sassanid Persians The Sasanian () or Sassanid Empire, officially known as the Empire of Iranians (, ) and also referred to by historians as the Neo-Persian Empire, was the last Iranian empire before the early Muslim conquests of the 7th-8th centuries AD. Named ...
. However, they were also counted as allies by the Byzantines' chief Arab '' foederati'' in the early to mid-5th century, the Salihids. The Tayy are mentioned in the late 5th century as having raided numerous villages in the plains and mountains of the Syrian Desert, including parts of Byzantine territory. This prompted the Byzantine army to mobilize its Arab clients at the desert frontiers with Sassanid-held Mesopotamia to confront the Tayy. The Byzantines demanded restitution from the Tayy, but the Sassanid general Qardag Nakoragan instead opened negotiations that called for the Byzantines' Arab clients to restore livestock and captives taken from Sassanid territory in previous years in return for compensation from the Tayy. The negotiations succeeded, and moreover, the Sassanids and Byzantines delineated their borders to prevent future raiding between their respective Arab clients. However, to the embarrassment of the Sassanids and the outrage of the Byzantines, four hundred Tayyid tribesmen raided several minor villages in Byzantine territory while representatives of the two sides were meeting in
Nisibis Nusaybin (; '; ar, نُصَيْبِيْن, translit=Nuṣaybīn; syr, ܢܨܝܒܝܢ, translit=Nṣībīn), historically known as Nisibis () or Nesbin, is a city in Mardin Province, Turkey. The population of the city is 83,832 as of 2009 and is ...
. Despite this violation of the bilateral agreement, the Sassanid-Byzantine peace held.


Sixth century

Throughout the 6th century, the Tayy continued their relations with the Sassanids and their chief Arab clients, the
Lakhmids The Lakhmids ( ar, اللخميون, translit=al-Laḫmiyyūn) referred to in Arabic as al-Manādhirah (, romanized as: ) or Banu Lakhm (, romanized as: ) was an Arab kingdom in Southern Iraq and Eastern Arabia, with al-Hirah as their capita ...
of Mesopotamia. Towards the end of the 6th century, a Tayyid chief named Hassan assisted the Sassanid king Khosrow II when the latter fled from his usurper,
Bahram Chobin Bahrām Chōbīn ( fa, بهرام چوبین) or Wahrām Chōbēn ( Middle Persian: ), also known by his epithet Mehrbandak ("servant of Mithra"), was a nobleman, general, and political leader of the late Sasanian Empire and briefly its ruler as ...
, by giving Khosrow a horse. A few years later, the Lakhmid governor of al-Hirah, al-Nu'man III fell out with Khosrow II, who had been restored to the Sassanid throne, and sought safety with the Tayy. The tribe refused to grant refuge to al-Nu'man, who was married to two Tayyid women, and he was ultimately killed by the Sassanids in 602. A Tayyid chief,
Iyas ibn Qabisah al-Ta'i Iyas ibn Qabisah al-Ta'i ( ar, إياس بن قبيصة الطائي) was governor of al-Hirah, the capital of the Lakhmid kingdom, from 613 to 618CE. He was the son of Qabisah al-Ta'i. He was also the father of Hayyah and Farwah. The last part of ...
, subsequently migrated to al-Hirah with some of his tribesmen and became its governor, ruling from 602 to 611 CE. The Banu Bakr ibn Wa'il tribe opposed the rule of Iyas and began raiding Sassanid territory in southern Mesopotamia. In response, Iyas commanded pro-Sassanid Arab and Persian troops against the Banu Bakr at the
Battle of Dhi Qar The Battle of Dhi Qar ( ar, يوم ذي قار), also known as the War of the Camel's Udder, was a pre-Islamic battle fought between Arab tribes and the Sassanid Empire in Southern Iraq. The battle occurred after the death of Al-Nu'man III by the ...
in 609, in which the Sassanids were defeated. According to historian
Irfan Shahid In Islam, ‘Irfan (Arabic/Persian/Urdu: ; tr, İrfan), literally ‘knowledge, awareness, wisdom’, is gnosis. Islamic mysticism can be considered as a vast range that engulfs theoretical and practical and conventional mysticism, but the c ...
, evidence suggests clans of the Tayy moved into Byzantine-held Syria beginning in the 6th century. By then, the Ghassanids had largely supplanted the Salihids as the Byzantines' main foederati, and the Salihids began living alongside the Tayy in the region of
Kufa Kufa ( ar, الْكُوفَة ), also spelled Kufah, is a city in Iraq, about south of Baghdad, and northeast of Najaf. It is located on the banks of the Euphrates River. The estimated population in 2003 was 110,000. Currently, Kufa and Najaf a ...
. In the late 6th century, the Al al-Ghawth and Al Jadila fought against each other in the 25-year-long Fasad War (''harb al-Fasad'') in northern Arabia. Numerous atrocities were committed by both factions and the war resulted in the migration of several Jadila clans from the north Arabian plains to Syria,Hitti 1916, p. 224. while the Al Al-Ghawth remained in Jabal Aja and Jabal Salma. The Jadila tribesmen founded a ''hadir'' (military encampment) near
Qinnasrin Qinnasrin ( ar, قنسرين; syr, ܩܢܫܪܝܢ, ''Qinnašrīn'', lit=Nest of Eagles), also known by numerous other romanizations and originally known as ( la, Chalcis ad Belum; grc-gre, Χαλκὶς, ''Khalkìs''), was a historical town in ...
(Chalcis) called "Hadir Tayyi" after the tribe. The Ghassanid king al-Harith ibn Jabalah brokered a peace between the Tayy factions, ending the Fasad War. Afterward, the Tayy's relations with the Ghassanids, which had previously been checkered, were much improved. The Al Jadila converted to Christianity, the religion adopted decades earlier by the Ghassanids. Some other clans of the Banu Tayy remained pagan, worshiping the
deities A deity or god is a supernatural being who is considered divine or sacred. The ''Oxford Dictionary of English'' defines deity as a god or goddess, or anything revered as divine. C. Scott Littleton defines a deity as "a being with powers greate ...
of Ruda and al-Fils. Those who converted to Christianity apparently embraced their new faith zealously and produced two well-known priests, named in Syriac sources as Abraham and Daniel. Sometime during the 6th century, the Tayy and the Asad formed a confederation, which was later joined by the Banu Ghatafan as well. The alliance collapsed when Asad and Ghatafan assaulted both the Al al-Ghawth and Al Jadilah and drove them out of their territories in Jabal Tayy. However, one of the leaders of the Asad, Dhu al-Khimarayn Awf al-Jadhami defected from the Ghatafan soon after and reestablished the alliance with the Tayy. Together, they campaigned against Ghatafan and restored their territories in Jabal Tayy.


Islamic era


Muhammad's days

The Tayy's initial reaction to the emergence 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 ...
in Arabia was varied, with some embracing the new faith and others resistant. The Tayyid clans of Jabal Tayy, all of whom lived within close proximity of each other, had maintained close relationships with the inhabitants and tribes of
Mecca Mecca (; officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, commonly shortened to Makkah ()) is a city and administrative center of the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia, and the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red ...
and
Medina Medina,, ', "the radiant city"; or , ', (), "the city" officially Al Madinah Al Munawwarah (, , Turkish: Medine-i Münevvere) and also commonly simplified as Madīnah or Madinah (, ), is the second-holiest city in Islam, and the capital of the ...
, the setting of Islam's birth.Siddiqui 1987, p. 89. Among their contacts in Mecca were tribesmen from the
Quraysh The Quraysh ( ar, قُرَيْشٌ) were a grouping of Arab clans that historically inhabited and controlled the city of Mecca and its Kaaba. The Islamic prophet Muhammad was born into the Hashim clan of the tribe. Despite this, many of the Qur ...
, the tribe of the Islamic prophet and leader,
Muhammad Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد;  570 – 8 June 632 Common Era, CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Muhammad in Islam, Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet Divine inspiration, di ...
. There was a degree of intermarriage between the Tayy and Quraysh. The Tayy also had a level of interaction with the Jewish tribe of
Banu Nadir The Banu Nadir ( ar, بَنُو ٱلنَّضِير, he, בני נצ'יר) were a Jewish Arab tribe which lived in northern Arabia at the oasis of Medina until the 7th century. The tribe refused to convert to Islam as Muhammad had ordered it to ...
, with the father of one of its leading members and enemy of the early Muslims,
Ka'b ibn al-Ashraf Ka'b ibn al-Ashraf ( ar, كعب بن الأشرف; died ) was, according Islamic texts, a Jewish leader and poet in Medina. Biography Ka'b was born to a father from the Arab Tayy tribe and a mother from the Jewish Banu Nadir tribe. His father h ...
(died 624), being from Tayy. In the first years of Muhammad's mission, individual members of certain Tayyid clans converted to Islam.Siddiqui 1987, p. 90. Among these early converts were Suwayd ibn Makhshi who fought against the pagan Arabs of Mecca, including two of his kinsmen, in the
Battle of Badr The Battle of Badr ( ar, غَزْوَةُ بَدِرْ ), also referred to as The Day of the Criterion (, ) in the Quran, Qur'an and by Muslims, was fought on 13 March 624 CE (17 Ramadan (calendar month), Ramadan, 2 Anno Hegirae, AH), near the ...
in 624 CE; Walid ibn Zuhayr who served as a guide for the Muslims in their expedition against the Banu Asad in
Qatan Qatan is a location in Saudi Arabia. The Banu Asad ibn Khuzaymah tribe (not to be confused with the Banu Asad tribe), were the residents of Qatan, in the vicinity of Fayd, they were a powerful tribe connected with the Quraysh. They resided near the ...
in 625; and Rafi' ibn Abi Rafi' who fought under Muslim commander
Amr ibn al-As ( ar, عمرو بن العاص السهمي; 664) was the Arab commander who led the Muslim conquest of Egypt and served as its governor in 640–646 and 658–664. The son of a wealthy Qurayshite, Amr embraced Islam in and was assigned impo ...
in the Battle of Chains in October 629. In 630, Muhammad dispatched his cousin Ali ibn Abi Talib on an expedition to destroy the Tayy's principal idol, al-Fils, in Jabal Aja.Bräu 1936, p. 624. As a result of the expedition, the Tayy's Kufa-based Christian chieftain, Adi ibn Hatim, who belonged to the Banu Thu'ayl branch of Al al-Ghawth, fled to Syria with some of his tribesmen to join other Tayyid clans, but his sister was captured. The Tayyid clans that remained in Jabal Tayy, including Banu Ma'n, Banu Aja, Banu Juwayn and Banu Mu'awiya, converted to Islam. Meanwhile, Adi's sister beckoned Muhammad to release her, which he did after learning that her father was Hatim ibn Abdullah. Out of respect for the latter's honorable reputation, Muhammad gave her good clothes and money and had her escorted to her family in Syria. Impressed by Muhammad's treatment of his sister, Adi met Muhammad and converted to Islam, along with most of his kinsmen. In 630–31, a delegation of fifteen Tayyid chiefs led by Zayd al-Khayl, who belonged to the Banu Nabhan clan of the Al al-Ghawth,Landau 1984, p. 62. converted to Islam and pledged allegiance to Muhammad. The latter was uniquely impressed by Zayd, who died a year later.Landau 1984, p. 57. Thus by the time of Muhammad's death, the Arabia-based clans of the Al Jadilah and Al al-Ghawth had become Muslims. In doing so, they firmly broke away from their long-time alliance with the Banu Assad and Banu Ghatafan.


Ridda Wars

Following Muhammad's death in 632, several Arab tribes rebelled against his Rashidun successor, Caliph
Abu Bakr Abu Bakr Abdallah ibn Uthman Abi Quhafa (; – 23 August 634) was the senior companion and was, through his daughter Aisha, a father-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, as well as the first caliph of Islam. He is known with the honor ...
, switching their allegiance to
Tulayha Tulayha ibn Khuwaylid ibn Nawfal al-Asadi ( ar, طليحة بن خويلد بن نوفل الأسدي) was a wealthy Arab clan chief and military commander during the time of Muhammad; he belonged to the Banu Asad ibn Khuzaymah tribe. In 625 he ...
of the Banu Asad. The Tayy's allegiance during the ensuing
Ridda Wars The Ridda Wars ( ar, حُرُوْبُ الرِّدَّةِ, lit=Apostasy Wars) were a series of military campaigns launched by the first caliph Abu Bakr against rebellious Arabian tribes. They began shortly after the death of the Islamic proph ...
is a "widely disputed matter", according to historian Ella Landau-Tasseron.Landau-Tasseron 1984, p. 53. Some Muslim traditions claim all of the Tayy remained committed to Islam, while
Sayf ibn Umar }) was an 8th-century Islamic historian and compiler of reports who lived in Kufa. He wrote the ('The Great book of Conquests and Apostasy Wars'), which was the later historian al-Tabari's (839–923) main source for the Ridda wars and the early ...
's tradition holds they all defected. Landau-Tasseron asserts that neither extreme is correct, with some Tayy leaders, foremost among them Adi ibn Hatim, fighting on the Muslim side and others joining the rebels. However, Tayyid rebels did not engage in direct conflict with the Muslims. Muhammad had appointed Adi to collect ''
sadaqa or Sadqah ( ar, صدقة , "charity", "benevolence", plural ' ) in the modern context has come to signify "voluntary charity". According to the Quran, the word means voluntary offering, whose amount is at the will of the "benefactor". Etymolo ...
'' (tribute) from the Tayy and Banu Asad.Landau-Tasseron 1984, p. 54. After Muhammad's death and the resulting chaos among the Muslims and the belief that Islam would imminently collapse, those among the Tayy who had paid their ''sadaqa'' (in this case, 300 camels) to Adi demanded the return of their camels or they would rebel. Adi either advised them to abandon this demand because Islam would survive Muhammad's death and they would be viewed as traitors or threatened to fight against them if they revolted. After this encounter, the accounts of contemporary and early Muslim historians vary. It is clear, that Adi played an integral role in preventing much of the rebellious clans of Tayy from actually fighting the Muslims and preventing the Muslims from attacking the Tayy. When he heard news of Abu Bakr's dispatch of a Muslim army against the Tayy in Syria, he sought to stop their march by smuggling the contested 300 camels to Abu Bakr, making the Tayy the first tribe to pay the ''sadaqa'', an action that was widely lauded by Muhammad's companions. It is apparent that Adi's traditional rivals within the Tayy from the Banu Nabhan (led by Zayd's son Muhalhil) and Banu La'm (led by Thumama ibn Aws), or at least some of their members, joined Tulayha in Buzakha (in northern Najd), while their other members also defected but remained in Jabal Tayy. Adi persuaded the latter to return to Islam, which they agreed to.Landau-Tasseron 1984, pp. 60–61. However, they refused to abandon their tribesmen in Buzakha, fearing Tulayha would hold them hostage if he discovered they joined the Muslims. Thus, Adi and the Muslim Tayyids devised a strategy to lure the Tayy in Tulayha's camp to return to Jabal Tayy by issuing a false claim that the Muslims were attacking them. When the apostate Tayyids reached their tribesmen in Jabal Tayy, far from Tulayha's reach, they discovered the false alarm and were persuaded to rejoin Islam. With this, the entirety of the Al al-Ghawth had returned to the Muslim side. However, the Al Jadila remained in revolt and the Muslim commander Khalid ibn al-Walid was set to move against them. He was stopped by the intercession of Adi, who was able secure the Al Jadila's allegiance through diplomacy. The consensus in all Muslim traditions is that the Tayy of Arabia was firmly on the Muslims' side by the time of the
Battle of Buzakha The Battle of Buzakha took place between Khalid ibn al-Walid and Tulayha, in September 632. Strength Khalid had 6,000 men under his disposal while Tulayha had 35,000 men. General Engagement Tuhlaya himself took up a position somewhere t ...
in September 632.Landau-Tasseron 1984, p. 66. The Tayy supposedly were given their own banner in the Muslim army, per their request, which was a testament to their influence since only the Ansar (core of the Muslim force) had their own banner.Landau-Tasseron 1984, p. 64. At the Battle of Buzakha against Tulayha, Adi and Muknif ibn Zayd, who unlike Zayd's other son Muhalhil had fought alongside the Muslims from the start, commanded the right and left wings of the Muslim army. The "Tayyaye d-Mhmt" were reported by
Thomas the Presbyter Thomas the Presbyter (fl. 640) was a Syriac Orthodox priest from the vicinity of Reshaina in Upper Mesopotamia who wrote the Syriac ''Chronicle of 640'', which is also known by many other names. The ''Chronicle of 640'' is an idiosyncratic univers ...
as fighting with Romans 12 miles east of Gaza in 634.


Rashidun conquests

During the
Battle of the Bridge The Battle of the Bridge or the Battle of al-Jisr ( ar, معركة الجسر) was a battle at the bank of the Euphrates river between Arabs led by Abu Ubaid al-Thaqafi, and the Persian Sasanian forces led by Bahman Jaduya. It is traditionally ...
against the Sassanids in 634, another of Zayd's sons, Urwah, participated and was said by
al-Baladhuri ʾAḥmad ibn Yaḥyā ibn Jābir al-Balādhurī ( ar, أحمد بن يحيى بن جابر البلاذري) was a 9th-century Muslim historian. One of the eminent Middle Eastern historians of his age, he spent most of his life in Baghdad and e ...
to have "fought so fiercely that his action was estimated to be equivalent to be that of a whole group of men".Hitti 1916, p. 404. During the battle, Christian Tayy tribesmen on the Sassanid side defected to the Muslim army, preventing an imminent Muslim rout. Among those who defected were the poet Abu Zubayd at-Ta'i. Urwah later fought at the
Battle of al-Qadisiyah The Battle of al-Qadisiyyah ( ar, مَعْرَكَة ٱلْقَادِسِيَّة, Maʿrakah al-Qādisīyah; fa, نبرد قادسیه, Nabard-e Qâdisiyeh) was an armed conflict which took place in 636 CE between the Rashidun Caliphate and th ...
and died fighting the
Daylamites The Daylamites or Dailamites (Middle Persian: ''Daylamīgān''; fa, دیلمیان ''Deylamiyān'') were an Iranian people inhabiting the Daylam—the mountainous regions of northern Iran on the southwest coast of the Caspian Sea, now comprisin ...
. The Al Jadila tribesmen based in Qinnasrin did not join their Arabian counterparts and fought alongside the Byzantines during the
Muslim conquest of Syria The Muslim conquest of the Levant ( ar, فَتْحُ الشَّام, translit=Feth eş-Şâm), also known as the Rashidun conquest of Syria, occurred in the first half of the 7th century, shortly after the rise of Islam."Syria." Encyclopædia Br ...
. The Muslim general
Abu Ubaidah ibn al-Jarrah ʿĀmir ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Jarrāḥ ( ar, عامر بن عبدالله بن الجراح; 583–639 CE), better known as Abū ʿUbayda ( ar, أبو عبيدة ) was a Muslim commander and one of the Companions of the Islamic prophet ...
encountered them in their ''hadir'' in 638, after which many agreed to convert to Islam, though a large section remained Christian and agreed to pay '' jizya'' (poll tax). Most of the Christian tribesmen became Muslims in the few years after, with few exceptions.


Umayyad period

In the
first Muslim civil war The First Fitna ( ar, فتنة مقتل عثمان, fitnat maqtal ʻUthmān, strife/sedition of the killing of Uthman) was the first civil war in the Islamic community. It led to the overthrow of the Rashidun Caliphate and the establishment of t ...
, the Tayy under Adi were strong supporters of Ali against the
Umayyad The Umayyad Caliphate (661–750 CE; , ; ar, ٱلْخِلَافَة ٱلْأُمَوِيَّة, al-Khilāfah al-ʾUmawīyah) was the second of the four major caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. The caliphate was ruled by the ...
s. They fought alongside him at the Battle of the Camel and the
Battle of Siffin The Battle of Siffin was fought in 657 CE (37 AH) between Ali ibn Abi Talib, the fourth of the Rashidun Caliphs and the first Shia Imam, and Mu'awiya ibn Abi Sufyan, the rebellious governor of Syria. The battle is named after its location S ...
in 656 and 657, respectively. During the latter battle, a chief of the tribe, Sa'id ibn Ubayd at-Ta'i, was slain. Unlike the Tayy of Arabia, the Tayy in Syria led by Habis ibn Sa'd at-Ta'i aligned with the Umayyads, who assigned Habis as the commander of
Jund Hims ''Jund Ḥimṣ'' ( ar, جند حمص, " military district of Homs") was one of the military districts of the caliphal province of Syria. Geography The capital of Jund Hims was Homs, from which the district received its name. Its principal urb ...
.Madelung 1997, p. 246. In a confrontation between the two sides in Iraq, Habis was killed. Habis was the maternal uncle of Adi's son, Zayd, and the latter was angered by his slaying, prompting him to seek out and kill the Ali loyalist, a member of the Banu Bakr, responsible for Habis's death. Zayd's act was sharply condemned by Adi who threatened to hand him over to Ali, prompting Zayd to defect to the Umayyads. Afterward, Adi smoothed over the consequent tension with Ali's camp by reaffirming his loyalty. The Umayyads ultimately triumphed and established a
caliphate A caliphate or khilāfah ( ar, خِلَافَة, ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with the title of caliph (; ar, خَلِيفَة , ), a person considered a political-religious successor to th ...
that had reached the
Indian Subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a list of the physiographic regions of the world, physiographical region in United Nations geoscheme for Asia#Southern Asia, Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian O ...
by the early 8th century. A Tayyid commander named al-Qasim ibn Tha'laba ibn Abdullah ibn Hasn played an instrumental role in the Umayyad conquest of
Sindh Sindh (; ; ur, , ; historically romanized as Sind) is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the southeastern region of the country, Sindh is the third-largest province of Pakistan by land area and the second-largest province ...
in 712 by killing the country's Hindu king
Raja Dahir Raja Dahiraud (; ''Raja Dahiraud ''; 663 – 712 CE) was the last Hindu ruler of Sindh in present-day Pakistan. In 711 CE his kingdom was invaded by the Umayyad Caliphate led by Muhammad bin Qasim where Dahiraud died while defending his ki ...
in battle.


Abbasid period

The
Abbasids The Abbasid Caliphate ( or ; ar, الْخِلَافَةُ الْعَبَّاسِيَّة, ') was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abdul-Muttalib ...
contested leadership of the caliphate and overtook the Umayyads in what became known as the
Abbasid Revolution The Abbasid Revolution, also called the Movement of the Men of the Black Raiment, was the overthrow of the Umayyad Caliphate (661–750 CE), the second of the four major Caliphates in early History of Islam, Islamic history, by the third, the A ...
in the mid-8th century. The leader of the Abbasid movement in Khurasan in northeastern
Persia 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 ...
was a member of the Tayy, Qahtaba ibn Shabib. The tribe fared well during Abbasid rule. A prominent '' akhbari'' (transmitter of
hadith Ḥadīth ( or ; ar, حديث, , , , , , , literally "talk" or "discourse") or Athar ( ar, أثر, , literally "remnant"/"effect") refers to what the majority of Muslims believe to be a record of the words, actions, and the silent approva ...
) in the early 9th century was a Tayyid named al-Haytham ibn Adi (died 822). Two major poets from the Tayy also emerged in the 9th century:
Abu Tammam Ḥabīb ibn Aws al-Ṭā’ī (; ca. 796/807 - 845), better known by his sobriquet Abū Tammām (), was an Arab poet and Muslim convert born to Christian parents. He is best known in literature by his 9th-century compilation of early poems kno ...
and
al-Buhturi Al-Walīd ibn Ubaidillah Al-Buḥturī ( ar, أبو الوليد بن عبيدالله البحتري التنوخي, al-Walīd ibn `Ubayd Allāh al-Buhturī) (821–97 AD; 206–84 AH) was an Arab poet born at Manbij in Islamic Syria, between Al ...
. The former, who authored the ''
Hamasah The Hamasah (; ) is a genre of Arabic poetry that "recounts chivalrous exploits in the context of military glories and victories". The first work in this genre is Kitab al-Hamasah of Abu Tammam. Hamasah works List of popular Hamasah works: * ''Ha ...
'' anthology, may not have been an actual member of the tribe, but had adopted the tribe as his own. Abbasid authority in Syria and Iraq eroded considerably after the beginning of the "
Anarchy at Samarra The Anarchy at Samarra () was a period of extreme internal instability from 861 to 870 in the history of the Abbasid Caliphate, marked by the violent succession of four caliphs, who became puppets in the hands of powerful rival military groups. T ...
" in 861, which left the vast expanse of the Syrian and Arabian deserts without governmental oversight.Salibi 1977, p. 43. During this period, the Tayy dominated the southern part of the Syrian Desert, the
Banu Kilab The Banu Kilab ( ar, بنو كِلاب, Banū Kilāb) was an Arab tribe in the western Najd (central Arabia) where they controlled the horse-breeding pastures of Dariyya from the mid-6th century until at least the mid-9th century. The tribe was div ...
dominated the northern part and the
Banu Kalb The Banu Kalb ( ar, بنو كلب) was an Arab tribe which mainly dwelt in the desert between northwestern Arabia and central Syria. The Kalb was involved in the tribal politics of the eastern frontiers of the Byzantine Empire, possibly as early ...
dominated central Syria. The latter tribe, whose presence in the region had preceded the Muslim conquest and the migration of the Tayy and Kilab, was largely sedentarized, while the Tayy and Kilab, being relative newcomers to the region, were still highly mobile nomadic groups.Salibi 1977, p. 85. According to
Kamal Salibi Kamal Suleiman Salibi ( ar , كمال سليمان الصليبي ) (2 May 19291 September 2011)
, the Tayy's "chief military asset, in fact, was their Bedouin swiftness of movement". Moreover, the durable connections the Tayy of Syria maintained with their north Arabian counterparts in Jabal Tayy made them virtually independent and prone to revolt against the various Muslim states in Syria and Iraq. The Tayy made their abode in
Transjordan Transjordan may refer to: * Transjordan (region), an area to the east of the Jordan River * Oultrejordain, a Crusader lordship (1118–1187), also called Transjordan * Emirate of Transjordan, British protectorate (1921–1946) * Hashemite Kingdom of ...
and the Bilad al-Sharat mountains between Transjordan and the Hejaz.Salibi 1977, p. 47. Here they first received attention in 883 when they launched a revolt that spanned southern Syria and the northern Hejaz.Salibi, pp. 47–48. The Tayy's revolt prevented the passage of the annual
Hajj The Hajj (; ar, حَجّ '; sometimes also spelled Hadj, Hadji or Haj in English) is an annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, the holiest city for Muslims. Hajj is a mandatory religious duty for Muslims that must be carried ...
caravan from Damascus to Mecca until it was quashed by the
Tulunid The Tulunids (), were a Mamluk dynasty of Turkic origin who were the first independent dynasty to rule Egypt, as well as much of Syria, since the Ptolemaic dynasty. They were independent from 868, when they broke away from the central authority ...
ruler
Khumarawayh Abu 'l-Jaysh Khumārawayh ibn Aḥmad ibn Ṭūlūn ( ar, أبو الجيش خمارويه بن أحمد بن طولون; 864 – 18 January 896) was a son of the founder of the Tulunid dynasty, Ahmad ibn Tulun. His father, the autonomous ruler ...
(884–896) in 885. For the remainder of Khumarawayh's reign, the Tayy remained suppressed, possibly due to the help of older-established Arab tribes like the
Judham The Judham ( ar, بنو جذام, ') was an Arab tribe that inhabited the southern Levant and northwestern Arabia during the Byzantine and early Islamic eras (5th–8th centuries). Under the Byzantines, the tribe was nominally Christian and fough ...
and
Lakhm The Lakhmids ( ar, اللخميون, translit=al-Laḫmiyyūn) referred to in Arabic as al-Manādhirah (, romanized as: ) or Banu Lakhm (, romanized as: ) was an Arab kingdom in Southern Iraq and Eastern Arabia, with al-Hirah as their capital ...
. However, law and order once again broke down during the reigns of Khumarawayh's successors Jaysh and
Harun Harun, also transliterated as Haroon or Haroun ( ar, هارون, ) is a common male given name of Arabic origin, related to the Hebrew name of the Prophet Aaron. Both are most likely of Ancient Egyptian origin, from ''aha rw'', meaning "warrior li ...
between 896 and 904. This coincided with the rising strength of the anarchist
Qarmatian The Qarmatians ( ar, قرامطة, Qarāmiṭa; ) were a militant Isma'ili Shia movement centred in al-Hasa in Eastern Arabia, where they established a religious-utopian socialist state in 899 CE. Its members were part of a movement that adh ...
movement in eastern Arabia and southern Iraq. The Tayy associated themselves with the Qarmatians to establish their dominance of southern Syria; with likely Qarmatian encouragement, the Tayy launched a revolt between Syria and the Hejaz in 898, during which they plundered caravans and disrupted lines of communication.


Fatimid period

When the Qarmatians attacked
Ikhshidid The Ikhshidid dynasty (, ) was a Turkic mamluk dynasty who ruled Egypt and the Levant from 935 to 969. Muhammad ibn Tughj al-Ikhshid, a Turkic mamluk soldier, was appointed governor by the Abbasid Caliph al-Radi. The dynasty carried the Arabic t ...
-controlled Palestine in 968, the leading Tayyid clan of
Jarrah ''Eucalyptus marginata'', commonly known as jarrah, djarraly in Noongar language and historically as Swan River mahogany, is a plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a tree with roug ...
came with them and firmly established themselves in the country.Salibi 1977, p. 91. However, under the Jarrahid chieftains, the Tayy assisted the Fatimids, who conquered the Ikhshidids, against the Qarmatians in 971 and 977. During the latter occasion, the Jarrahid chieftain Mufarrij ibn Daghfal captured the pro-Qarmatian rebel, Alptakin, and handed him over to the Fatimids in exchange for a large reward. In return for his support, Mufarrij was appointed by the Fatimids as the governor of
Ramla Ramla or Ramle ( he, רַמְלָה, ''Ramlā''; ar, الرملة, ''ar-Ramleh'') is a city in the Central District of Israel. Today, Ramle is one of Israel's mixed cities, with both a significant Jewish and Arab populations. The city was f ...
, the traditional Muslim capital of Palestine. Mufarrij was also the preeminent chieftain of the Banu Tayy tribe as a whole, giving him authority over his Bedouin and peasant kinsmen in an area extending from the coast of Palestine eastward through Balqa and to the Tayy's traditional homeland in northern Arabia. While his Fatimid assignment gave him prestige, Mufarrij's tribal authority was the source of his independent power. The Tayyid-dominated region was the location of the overland routes connecting
Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...
, Syria, Iraq and Arabia. This gave Mufarrij significant leverage with the Fatimids, who thus could not afford alienating him and risk him switching allegiance to the Fatimids' rivals in Iraq, the
Buwayhids The Buyid dynasty ( fa, آل بویه, Āl-e Būya), also spelled Buwayhid ( ar, البويهية, Al-Buwayhiyyah), was a Shia Iranian dynasty of Daylamite origin, which mainly ruled over Iraq and central and southern Iran from 934 to 1062. Coupl ...
. In 981–82, relations between the Jarrahids and the Fatimids collapsed and the former were driven out of Palestine.Canard, p. 483. They sacked a
Hajj The Hajj (; ar, حَجّ '; sometimes also spelled Hadj, Hadji or Haj in English) is an annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, the holiest city for Muslims. Hajj is a mandatory religious duty for Muslims that must be carried ...
pilgrim caravan later in 982, then annihilated a Fatimid army at Ayla, before being defeated and forced to flee north toward
Homs Homs ( , , , ; ar, حِمْص / ALA-LC: ; Levantine Arabic: / ''Ḥomṣ'' ), known in pre-Islamic Syria as Emesa ( ; grc, Ἔμεσα, Émesa), is a city in western Syria and the capital of the Homs Governorate. It is Metres above sea level ...
.Canard, pp. 619–620. Between then and Mufarrij's death in 1013, the Tayy switched allegiance between the various regional powers, including the Fatimids, Byzantines, and the
Hamdanids The Hamdanid dynasty ( ar, الحمدانيون, al-Ḥamdāniyyūn) was a Twelver Shia Arab dynasty of Northern Mesopotamia and Syria (890–1004). They descended from the ancient Banu Taghlib Christian tribe of Mesopotamia and Eastern A ...
' Turkish governor of Homs,
Bakjur Bakjur was a Circassian military slave (''mamluk'' or ''ghulam'') who served the Hamdanids of Aleppo and later the Fatimids of Egypt. He seized control of Aleppo in 975 and governed it until 977, when the rightful Hamdanid ruler, Sa'd al-Dawla, ...
. By the time of Mufarrij's death, the Jarrahids had restored their dominant position in Palestine. Mufarrij's son, Hassan, maintained relations with the Fatimids under Caliph al-Hakim, but when the latter disappeared, Hassan's relations with his successor deteriorated.Canard, p. 621. In 1021, the Banu Nabhan led by Hamad ibn Uday besieged the Khurasani pilgrim caravan in Fayd near Jabal Tayy despite being paid off by the Khurasani sultan,
Mahmud of Ghazni Yamīn-ud-Dawla Abul-Qāṣim Maḥmūd ibn Sebüktegīn ( fa, ; 2 November 971 – 30 April 1030), usually known as Mahmud of Ghazni or Mahmud Ghaznavi ( fa, ), was the founder of the Turkic Ghaznavid dynasty, ruling from 998 to 1030. At th ...
. During this period, in 1025, the Tayy made an agreement with the Kilab and the Kalb, whereby Hassan ibn Mufarrij of Tayy ruled Palestine, Sinan ibn Sulayman of the Kalb ruled Damascus and
Salih ibn Mirdas Abu Ali Salih ibn Mirdas ( ar, ابو علي صالح بن مرداس, Abū ʿAlī Ṣāliḥ ibn Mirdās), also known by his ''laqab'' (honorific epithet) Asad al-Dawla ('Lion of the State'), was the founder of the Mirdasid dynasty and emir of ...
of the Kilab ruled Aleppo. Together, they defeated a Fatimid punitive expedition sent by Caliph az-Zahir at Ascalon, and Hassan conquered al-Ramla. The alliance fell apart when the Kalb defected to the Fatimids, who decisively defeated the Tayy and Kilab near
Lake Tiberias The Sea of Galilee ( he, יָם כִּנֶּרֶת, Judeo-Aramaic: יַמּא דטבריא, גִּנֵּיסַר, ar, بحيرة طبريا), also called Lake Tiberias, Kinneret or Kinnereth, is a freshwater lake in Israel. It is the lowest f ...
in 1029, prompting Hassan and his tribesmen to flee northward. The Tayy established an alliance with the Byzantines and upon the latter's invitation, the 20,000-strong Tayy of Syria relocated their encampments from the vicinity of
Palmyra Palmyra (; Palmyrene: () ''Tadmor''; ar, تَدْمُر ''Tadmur'') is an ancient city in present-day Homs Governorate, Syria. Archaeological finds date back to the Neolithic period, and documents first mention the city in the early secon ...
to the al-Ruj plain, near Byzantine-held
Antioch Antioch on the Orontes (; grc-gre, Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπὶ Ὀρόντου, ''Antiókheia hē epì Oróntou'', Learned ; also Syrian Antioch) grc-koi, Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπὶ Ὀρόντου; or Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπ ...
, in 1031. The Tayy continued to fight alongside the Byzantines under Hassan and his son Allaf, protecting Edessa from
Numayrid The Numayrids () were an Arab dynasty based in Diyar Mudar (western Upper Mesopotamia). They were emirs (princes) of their namesake tribe, the Banu Numayr. The senior branch of the dynasty, founded by Waththab ibn Sabiq in 990, ruled the Euph ...
and
Marwanid The Marwanids or Dustakids (983/990-1085, ) were a Kurdish Sunni Muslim dynasty in the Diyar Bakr region of Upper Mesopotamia (present day northern Iraq/southeastern Turkey) and Armenia, centered on the city of Amid (Diyarbakır). Territory ...
advances in 1036.Canard, p. 622. In 1041, the Jarrahids regained control of Palestine, but the Fatimids continued to go to war against them. The Jarrahids continued to disrupt Fatimid rule until the Fatimids were driven out of Syria and Palestine in 1071.


Later Islamic era

With the end of the Fatimid era in Syria and Palestine, descendants of Mufarrij entered the service of the Muslim states of the region, first with the cadet branches of the
Seljuk Empire The Great Seljuk Empire, or the Seljuk Empire was a high medieval, culturally Turko-Persian, Sunni Muslim empire, founded and ruled by the Qïnïq branch of Oghuz Turks. It spanned a total area of from Anatolia and the Levant in the west to ...
, beginning with the Burids of Damascus, then their
Zengid The Zengid dynasty was a Muslim dynasty of Oghuz Turkic origin, which ruled parts of the Levant and Upper Mesopotamia on behalf of the Seljuk Empire and eventually seized control of Egypt in 1169. In 1174 the Zengid state extended from Tripoli ...
successors, who came to rule all of Syria and
Upper Mesopotamia Upper Mesopotamia is the name used for the uplands and great outwash plain of northwestern Iraq, northeastern Syria and southeastern Turkey, in the northern Middle East. Since the early Muslim conquests of the mid-7th century, the region has been ...
.Hiyari 1975, p. 513. At times, the Tayy fought alongside the
Crusaders The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were in ...
, who had conquered the Syrian coastal regions, including Palestine, in 1098–1100. By the end of the 11th century, the Banu Rabi'ah branch of the Tayy (direct descendants of Mufarrij) and the Mazyadid branch of the Banu Assad were the last influential Arab tribes in Syria and Iraq, with the rest having "disappeared from the political map", according to historian Mustafa A. Hiyari. The tribal distribution in the Syrian and north Arabian deserts had significantly changed by the late 12th century as a result of the decline of several major tribes, the expansion of others, namely the Tayy, and the gradual assimilation of substantial Bedouin population with the settled inhabitants. The Tayy were left as the predominant tribe of the entire Syrian steppe, Upper Mesopotamia, Najd and the northern
Hejaz The Hejaz (, also ; ar, ٱلْحِجَاز, al-Ḥijāz, lit=the Barrier, ) is a region in the west of Saudi Arabia. It includes the cities of Mecca, Medina, Jeddah, Tabuk, Yanbu, Taif, and Baljurashi. It is also known as the "Western Provin ...
. The Tayy divisions and their respective territories at the time were as follows: The
Al Fadl AL, Al, Ål or al may stand for: Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Al (''Aladdin'') or Aladdin, the main character in Disney's ''Aladdin'' media * Al (''EastEnders''), a minor character in the British soap opera * Al (''Fullmetal ...
of Banu Rabi'ah controlled the regions of Homs and Hama eastward to
Qal'at Ja'bar Qal'at Ja'bar ( ar, قلعة جعبر, tr, Caber Kalesi) is a castle on the left bank of Lake Assad in Raqqa Governorate, Syria. Its site, formerly a prominent hill-top overlooking the Euphrates Valley, is now an island in Lake Assad that can o ...
at the Euphrates Valley and southward along the valley through
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 ...
and ultimately to the al-Washm region of central Najd; the Al Mira of Banu Rabi'ah controlled the
Golan Heights The Golan Heights ( ar, هَضْبَةُ الْجَوْلَانِ, Haḍbatu l-Jawlān or ; he, רמת הגולן, ), or simply the Golan, is a region in the Levant spanning about . The region defined as the Golan Heights differs between di ...
and the area southward to the al-Harrah field north of
Mecca Mecca (; officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, commonly shortened to Makkah ()) is a city and administrative center of the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia, and the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red ...
; the Al Ali branch of the Al Fadl controlled the Ghouta region around Damascus and southeastward to
Tayma Tayma (Taymanitic: , vocalized as: ; ar, تيماء, translit=Taymāʾ) or Tema Teman/Tyeman (Habakkuk 3:3) is a large oasis with a long history of settlement, located in northwestern Saudi Arabia at the point where the trade route between Me ...
and al-Jawf in northern Najd; the
Shammar The tribe of Shammar ( ar, شَمَّر, Šammar) is a tribal Arab Qahtan confederation, descended from the Yemeni tribe of Tayy as they originated in Yemen before migrating into present day Saudi Arabia, It is the biggest branch of Tayy tribe. I ...
and Banu Lam controlled Jabal Aja and Jabal Salma; the Ghuzayya held territories within parts of Syria, the Hejaz and Iraq that were controlled by the Banu Rabi'ah. In Lower Egypt, the Sunbis branch of the Tayy lived in the Buhayrah district, while the Tha'laba branch inhabited the area stretching from Egypt's
Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western Europe, Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa ...
coast northeastward to al-Kharruba in the western Galilee.Sato, p. 98. The Tha'laba were particularly influential in the al-Sharqiyah district in the Nile Delta. The Banu Jarm, who inhabited the area stretching from Gaza to the northern coastline of Palestine, were also a Tayyid tribe according to some sources, while others consider them to be from the
Quda'a The Quda'a ( ar, قضاعة, translit=Quḍāʿa) were a confederation of Arab tribes, including the powerful Kalb and Tanukh, mainly concentrated throughout Syria and northwestern Arabia, from at least the 4th century CE, during Byzantine rule, ...
tribe. During Mamluk rule, the Bedouin of Syria were used as auxiliaries in the Mamluks' wars with the Mongols based in Iraq and Anatolia. In central and northern Syria, the Bedouin came under the authority of the Al Fadl emirs in their capacity as the hereditary officeholders of the '' amir al-ʿarab'' (commander of the Bedouin) post, beginning with Emir
Isa ibn Muhanna Sharaf ad-Din Isa ibn Muhanna at-Ta'i, better known as Isa ibn Muhanna (d. 1284/85), was an Arab emir (commander/prince) of the Al Fadl, a Bedouin dynasty that dominated the Syrian Desert and steppe during the 13th–15th centuries. He was appoi ...
(r. 1260–1284). The Al Mira emirs held a similar, but lower-ranking office, in southern Syria, and its preeminent emir was known as ''malik al-ʿarab'' (king of the Bedouin). In al-Sharqiyah, the Tha'laba, whose encampments were close to the Mamluk seat of government, were tasked with maintaining and protecting the ''barid'' (postal route) in their district and were occasionally appointed to government posts. The Tayy in Syria and Egypt were both required to supply Arabian horses to the Mamluks for use in the army and ''barid''. Sultan
an-Nasir Muhammad Al-Malik an-Nasir Nasir ad-Din Muhammad ibn Qalawun ( ar, الملك الناصر ناصر الدين محمد بن قلاوون), commonly known as an-Nasir Muhammad ( ar, الناصر محمد), or by his kunya: Abu al-Ma'ali () or as Ibn Qal ...
had a special affinity for the Bedouin and maintained strong relations with the tribes of Syria and Egypt. However, following his death, the state's relations with the Bedouin deteriorated. The Tha'laba left their semi-permanent camp in al-Sharqiya to maraud across the country and joined the revolt of the al-A'id tribe in the mid-14th century.Levanoni, p. 182.


References


Bibliography

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External links

*''The History of Shammar'' by John Frederich Williamson. *''The Tribes of Iraq'' by Abbas Alazzawi. *''The Days of the Arabs before Islam'' by Alfudaily. *''A comprehensive history of Shammar'' by Amer Aladhadh.
Shammar tribe official website
* {{Historical Arab tribes Tribes of Arabia Tribes of Saudi Arabia Tribes of Iraq Tribes of Syria Yemeni tribes Arab groups Arabs in the Roman Empire