Abu Imran Fadl ibn Rabi'ah was an

Arab Arabs (, , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world. Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of years ...

emir in

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

in the early 12th century. Most of what is known of him centers on his military activities in circa 1107. He was the ancestor of the

Al Fadl Al Fadl (, ALA-LC: ''Āl Faḍl'') were an Arab tribe that dominated the Syrian Desert and steppe during the Middle Ages, and whose modern-day descendants largely live in southern Syria and eastern Lebanon. The Al Fadl's progenitor, Fadl ibn Ra ...

dynasty, which ruled the Bedouin tribes of the Syrian Desert and steppe between the 12th and 18th centuries.

Biography

Fadl was a son of Rabi'ah ibn Hazim, a great-grandson of Mufarrij ibn Daghfal, the Jarrahid ruler of

Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...

in the late 10th and early 11th centuries. The Jarrahids were part of the much larger

Banu Tayy The Tayy (/ALA-LC: ''Ṭayyi’''; Musnad: 𐩷𐩺), also known as Ṭayyi, Tayyaye, or Taiyaye, are a large and ancient Arab tribe, among whose descendants today are the tribes of Bani Sakher and Shammar. The '' nisba'' (patronymic) of Tayy i ...

tribe. His father Rabi'ah was aligned with

Seljuks The Seljuk dynasty, or Seljukids ( ; , ''Saljuqian'',) alternatively spelled as Saljuqids or Seljuk Turks, was an Oghuz Turkic, Sunni Muslim dynasty that gradually became Persianate and contributed to Turco-Persian culture. The founder of th ...

. But later Fadl quarreled with the Burid ruler of

Damascus Damascus ( , ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in the Levant region by population, largest city of Syria. It is the oldest capital in the world and, according to some, the fourth Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. Kno ...

Toghtekin Zahir al-Din Toghtekin or Tughtekin (Modern ; Arabicised epithet: ''Zahir ad-Din Tughtikin''; died February 12, 1128), also spelled Tughtegin, was a Turkoman military leader, who was ''emir'' of Damascus from 1104 to 1128. He was the founder ...

, who expelled him from Syria in 1107/08. Afterward, he sought refuge with and formed a pact with Sadaqa, the Mazyadid ruler of

Hillah Hillah ( ''al-Ḥillah''), also spelled Hilla, is a city in central Iraq. On the Hilla branch of the Euphrates River, it is south of Baghdad. The population was estimated to be about 455,700 in 2018. It is the capital of Babylon Province and is ...

south of Baghdad. When Sadaqa challenged the

Seljuk Seljuk (, ''Selcuk'') or Saljuq (, ''Saljūq'') may refer to: * Seljuk Empire (1051–1153), a medieval empire in the Middle East and central Asia * Seljuk dynasty (c. 950–1307), the ruling dynasty of the Seljuk Empire and subsequent polities * S ...

sultan in Baghdad, Fadl at first fought alongside him in the vanguard, but then defected to the Seljuks. Upon his arrival in Baghdad, he and his tribesmen were rewarded and given lodging at Sadaqa's former Baghdad residence. Fadl sought to cut off Sadaqa's desert route toward Syria and asked permission to pursue his strategy. The Seljuks gave Fadl their blessing, but once he crossed the Euphrates river in Anbar, nothing is known of his fate.

Legacy

Fadl was the father of a certain Ghudayya, and the ancestor of his namesake tribe, the

, whose emirs and descendants ruled the Bedouin of the

Syrian Desert The Syrian Desert ( ''Bādiyat Ash-Shām''), also known as the North Arabian Desert, the Jordanian steppe, or the Badiya, is a region of desert, semi-desert, and steppe, covering about of West Asia, including parts of northern Saudi Arabia, ea ...

and

steppe In physical geography, a steppe () is an ecoregion characterized by grassland plains without closed forests except near rivers and lakes. Steppe biomes may include: * the montane grasslands and shrublands biome * the tropical and subtropica ...

on behalf of the

Ayyubids The Ayyubid dynasty (), also known as the Ayyubid Sultanate, was the founding dynasty of the medieval Sultanate of Egypt established by Saladin in 1171, following his abolition of the Fatimid Caliphate of Egypt. A Sunni Muslim of Kurdish ori ...

Mamluks Mamluk or Mamaluk (; (singular), , ''mamālīk'' (plural); translated as "one who is owned", meaning "slave") were non-Arab, ethnically diverse (mostly Turkic, Caucasian, Eastern and Southeastern European) enslaved mercenaries, slave-sold ...

, and early

Ottomans Ottoman may refer to: * Osman I, historically known in English as "Ottoman I", founder of the Ottoman Empire * Osman II, historically known in English as "Ottoman II" * Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empir ...

until at least the early 17th century. Later, part of Fadl's descendants became known as Al Abu Risha, and took over the leadership of the

Mawali ''Mawlā'' (, plural ''mawālī'' ), is a polysemous Arabic word, whose meaning varied in different periods and contexts.A.J. Wensinck, Encyclopedia of Islam 2nd ed, Brill. "Mawlā", vol. 6, p. 874. Before the Islamic prophet Muhammad, the te ...

tribe, and continued to serve as the hereditary leaders of the Bedouin in the Syrian Desert until the invasion of Anaza tribesmen from

Najd Najd is a Historical region, historical region of the Arabian Peninsula that includes most of the central region of Saudi Arabia. It is roughly bounded by the Hejaz region to the west, the Nafud desert in Al-Jawf Province, al-Jawf to the north, ...

in the 18th century. The other part of Al Fadl migrated to the

Golan Heights The Golan Heights, or simply the Golan, is a basaltic plateau at the southwest corner of Syria. It is bordered by the Yarmouk River in the south, the Sea of Galilee and Hula Valley in the west, the Anti-Lebanon mountains with Mount Hermon in t ...

and

Beqaa Valley The Beqaa Valley (, ; Bekaa, Biqâ, Becaa) is a fertile valley in eastern Lebanon and its most important farming region. Industry, especially the country's agricultural industry, also flourishes in Beqaa. The region broadly corresponds to th ...

, where they eventually abandoned their nomadic way of life and adopted farming, and have continued to go by the name of Al Fadl. They were displaced from the Golan Heights after the Israeli occupation in the 1967

Six-Day War The Six-Day War, also known as the June War, 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab world, Arab states, primarily United Arab Republic, Egypt, Syria, and Jordan from 5 to 10June ...

and have since lived in the vicinity of Damascus.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rabiah, Fadl ibn 12th-century Arab people 12th-century deaths 12th century in the Abbasid Caliphate 12th century in the Seljuk Empire Tayy Bedouin tribal chiefs