Banu al-Kanz was a semi-nomadic Muslim dynasty of mixed Arab–Beja ancestry that ruled the border region between Upper Egypt and Nubia between the 10th and 15th centuries. They were descended from the sons of sheikhs of the Arab Banu Rabi'ah tribe and princesses of the Beja Hadariba tribe. They gained official control over the region of Aswan, Wadi Allaqi and the frontier zone in the early 11th century when their chief, Abu al-Makarim Hibatallah, captured a major rebel on behalf of the Fatimid authorities. Abu al-Makarim was accorded the title Kanz al-Dawla by Caliph al-Hakim and his successors inherited the title. The Banu Kanz entered into conflict with the Ayyubids in 1174, during which they were defeated and forced to migrate southward into northern Nubia, where they helped accelerate the expansion of Islam in the mostly Christian region. They eventually assumed control of the Nubian Kingdom of Makuria in the early 14th century, but by the early the 15th century, they were supplanted by the Hawwara tribesmen dispatched by the Mamluks to combat the Banu Kanz. Their modern-day descendants are a Sudanese tribe known as the "Kunuz", who live in the far north of the country.
Al-Fadl, also spelled Al-Fazl and in other ways, is an Arabic term meaning the bounty. It is used as a male given name and, in modern usage, a surname. It may refer to:
The Banu Kalb or Kalb ibn Wabara was an Arab tribe. Prior to the Muslim conquest of Syria in the 630s, the Kalb's territory spanned much of northwestern Arabia, the Palmyrene steppe, the Samawah, the Hawran plain and the Golan Heights. One of their main centers was the desert town of Dumat al-Jandal. The Kalb became involved in the tribal affairs in the eastern frontiers of the Byzantine Empire since the 4th century and were likely the tribe of Mavia, the Bedouin queen of southern Syria. By the 6th century, the Kalb had largely become Monophysite Christians and came under the military authority of the Ghassanids, Arab vassals of the Byzantines.
Tayy, also known as Ṭayyi, is a large and ancient Arab tribe, whose descendants today are the tribe of Shammar, who continue to live throughout the Middle Eastern states of the Arab world and the rest of the world. The nisba (patronymic) of Tayy is aṭ-Ṭāʾī (ٱلطَّائِي). The Tayy's origins trace back to the Qahtanites and their original homeland was Yemen. 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". 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 empires. Though traditionally allied with the Sassanids' Lakhmid 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, is widely known among Arabs until today.
Anazzah is an Arab tribe in the Arabian Peninsula, Iraq, and the Levant.
Furqlus is a town in central Syria, administratively part of the Homs Governorate, east of the city of Homs. Situated at the eastern approaches of the Syrian Desert, the town is located between al-Qaryatayn to the south, Sadad to the southwest, Shinshar to the west, Fatim al-Amuq and al-Sayyid to the northwest, al-Mukharram to the north and Palmyra to the east. According to the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), Furqlus had a population of 5,096 in the 2004 census.
Fadl Allah Abu Taghlib al-Ghadanfar ʿUddat al-Dawla, usually known simply by his kunya as Abu Taghlib, was the third Hamdanid ruler of the Emirate of Mosul, encompassing most of the Jazira.
Mufarrij ibn Daghfal ibn al-Jarrah al-Tayyi, in some sources erroneously called Daghfal ibn Mufarrij, was an emir of the Jarrahid family and leader of the Tayy tribe. Mufarrij was engaged in repeated rebellions against the Fatimid Caliphate, which controlled southern Syria at the time. Although he was several times defeated and forced into exile, by the 990s Mufarrij managed to establish himself and his tribe as the de facto autonomous masters of much of Palestine around Ramlah with Fatimid acquiescence. In 1011, another rebellion against Fatimid authority was more successful, and a short-lived Jarrahid-led Bedouin state was established in Palestine centred at Ramlah. The Bedouin even proclaimed a rival Caliph to the Fatimid al-Hakim, in the person of the Alid Abu'l-Futuh al-Hasan ibn Ja'far. Bedouin independence survived until 1013, when the Fatimids launched their counterattack. Their will to resist weakened by Fatimid bribes, the Bedouin were quickly defeated. At the same time Mufarrij died, possibly poisoned, and his sons quickly came to terms with the Fatimids. Among them, Hassan ibn Mufarrij al-Jarrah managed to succeed to his father's position, and became a major player in the politics of the region over the next decades.
Abu'l-Qasim al-Husayn ibn Ali al-Maghribi, also called al-wazir al-Maghribi and by the surname al-Kamil Dhu'l-Wizaratayn, was the last member of the Banu'l-Maghribi, a family of statesmen who served in several Muslim courts of the Middle East in the 10th and early 11th centuries. Abu'l-Qasim himself was born in Hamdanid Aleppo before fleeing with his father to Fatimid Egypt, where he entered the bureaucracy. After his father's execution, he fled to Palestine, where he raised the local Bedouin leader Mufarrij ibn Daghfal to rebellion against the Fatimids (1011–13). As the rebellion began to falter, he fled to Iraq, where he entered the service of the Buyid emirs of Baghdad. Soon after he moved to the Jazira, where he entered the service of the Uqaylids of Mosul and finally the Marwanids of Mayyafariqin. He was also a poet and author of a number of treatises, including a "mirror for princes".
Banu Kilab was an Arab tribe that dominated central Arabia during the late pre-Islamic era. It was a major branch of the Banu 'Amir ibn Sa'sa' tribe and was thus of Qaysi lineage. During and after the Muslim conquest of Syria, Kilabi tribesmen migrated to northern Syria. Their chieftain Zufar ibn al-Harith al-Kilabi led the Qaysi revolt against the Umayyad Caliphate until he secured peace with the latter in 691.
The 1757 Hajj caravan raid was the plunder and massacre of the Hajj caravan of 1757 on its return to Damascus from Mecca by Bedouin tribesmen. The caravan was under the protection of an Ottoman force led by the Wali of Damascus, Husayn Pasha, and his deputy Musa Pasha, while the Bedouin were led by Qa'dan al-Fa'iz of the Bani Sakhr tribe. An estimated 20,000 pilgrims were either killed or died of hunger or thirst as a result of the raid.
Husam ad-Din Muhanna ibn Isa was the lord of Palmyra and amir al-ʿarab under the Mamluk Sultanate. He served between 1284 and his death, but was dismissed and reinstated four times during this period. As the chieftain of the Al Fadl, a clan of the Tayy tribe, which dominated the Syrian Desert, Muhanna wielded considerable influence among the Bedouin. He was described by historian Amalia Levanoni as "the eldest and most senior amir" of the Al Fadl during his era.
Al Fadl 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 Rabi'ah, was a descendant of the Banu Tayy through his ancestor, Mufarrij al-Jarrah. The tribe rose to prominence by assisting the Burids and Zengids against the Crusaders. The Ayyubids often appointed them to the office of Amir al-ʿarab, giving the Al Fadl emirs command over the Bedouin tribes of northern Syria. Their function was often to serve as auxiliary troops.
Sharaf ad-Din Isa ibn Muhanna at-Ta'i, better known as Isa ibn Muhanna, was an emir (commander/prince) of the Al Fadl, a Bedouin dynasty that dominated the Syrian Desert and steppe during the 13th–15th centuries. He was appointed amir al-ʿarab by the Mamluks after their conquest of Syria in 1260. Isa's father served the same post under the Ayyubids. His assignment gave him command over the nomadic Arab tribes of Syria and obliged him to provide auxiliary troops in times of war and guard the desert frontier from the Mongol Ilkhanate in Iraq. As part of his emirate, he was granted Salamiyah and Sarmin. He participated in numerous campaigns against the Ilkhanate during Sultan Baybars' reign (1260–1277).
Al-Rahba, also known as Qal'at ar-Rahba, which translates as the "Citadel of al-Rahba", is a medieval Arab–Islamic fortress in Syria. It is located off the western banks of the Euphrates River, adjacent to the city of Mayadin and 42 kilometers (26 mi) southeast of Dayr az-Zawr. Situated atop a mound with an elevation of 244 meters (801 ft), al-Rahba oversees the Syrian Desert steppe and historically guarded the Euphrates valley. It has been described as "a fortress within a fortress"; it consists of an inner keep measuring 60 by 30 meters, protected by an enclosure measuring 270 by 95 meters. Al-Rahba is largely in ruins today as a result of erosion.
The Jarrahids 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 Canard (1888–1982) as a significant player in the Byzantine–Fatimid wars in Syria who "created for themselves, in their own best interests, a rule of duplicity, treason and pillage". They were the ruling family of the Tayy tribe, one of the three powerful tribes of Syria at the time; the other two were Kalb and Kilab.
Fadl ibn Isa, also known as Fadl II, was a prince of the Al Fadl, an Arab dynasty that dominated the Syrian Desert beginning in the 13th century. Between 1311 and 1317, he served as amir al-ʿarab, which gave him authority over the Bedouin tribes of northern Syria on behalf of the Mamluk Sultanate.
Hazim ibn Ali ibn Mufarrij ibn Daghfal ibn al-Jarrah al-Ta'i was a chieftain of the Jarrahids, a Bedouin clan of the Banu Tayy tribe that intermittently controlled Palestine, Balqa and northern Arabia in the late 10th and early 11th century. The dynasty remained influential in the northern Arabian Desert in later centuries. Hazim was the son of Ali ibn Mufarrij, and grandson of Mufarrij ibn Daghfal, a former governor of Palestine under the Fatimid Caliphate. There is scant information about Hazim in medieval sources.
The amir al-ʿarab was the commander or leader of the Bedouin tribes in Syria under successive medieval Muslim states. The title was used as early as the 11th century to refer to Salih ibn Mirdas, but was formalized as a state institution by the Ayyubid Sultanate and strengthened by the latter's Mamluk successors. The office was preserved under the early Ottomans, at least ceremonially, but its importance had declined by then. The jurisdiction of the amir al-ʿarab was generally limited to central and northern Syria, and its holder often held iqtaʿat (fiefs) in the Syrian steppe, which formed the imarat al-ʿarab. The imarat al-ʿarab was created both to co-opt the often rebellious Bedouin tribes of Syria and to enlist their support as auxiliary troops. Under the Mamluks, some of the principal duties of the amir al-ʿarab were guarding the desert frontier against the Mongol Ilkhanate in Iraq and Anatolia, ensuring Bedouin loyalty to the state, gathering intelligence on enemy forces, protecting infrastructure, villages and travelers from raids and providing horses and camels to the sultan. In return, the amir al-ʿarab was given iqtaʿat, an annual salary, official titles and honorary robes.
Muzaffar ad-Din Musa ibn Muhanna was the amir al-ʿarab in Syria and lord of Salamiyah and Palmyra under the Mamluks in 1335–November 1341. He was the chieftain of the Tayyid clan of Al Fadl, having succeeded his father Muhanna ibn Isa. Musa maintained close relations with Sultan an-Nasir Muhammad and cooperated with him during Muhanna's defection to the Mongol Ilkhanate and later during his own reign. In return for Musa's support and supply of noble Arabian horses, an-Nasir Muhammad granted substantial, high-income iqtaʿat (fiefs) in Syria.
