United Arab Emirates Tribes and Clans

United Arab Emirates Wiki Topics

United Arab Emirates Beginning Research

Getting Started Online Learning Record Finder Research Strategies Finding Town of Origin

Record Types

Cemeteries Census Church Records Civil Registration Colonial Records Compiled Genealogies Emigration & Immigration Newspapers Online Genealogy Records Tribes and Clans

United Arab Emirates Background

Biographies Gazetteers History Languages Maps Naming Customs Social Life & Customs

United Arab Emirates Genealogical Word Lists

Arabic

Local Research Resources

Archives & Libraries Societies Local FamilySearch Center

In other languages: العربية

United Arab Emirates

Tribes and Clans

Resources

Online Resources

• Al-Maktabah al-Shamilah (The Comprehensive Library) - Genealogy Category (Arabic) - catalogue of Arabic books on genealogy with detailed descriptions; books not accessible directly on website
• Arab Genealogy Books Online at FamilySearch Library; open access collection of Arabic genealogy books that have been digitized and can be browsed by country/region. They contain valuable information about tribal histories and family lineages.
• Genealogical Science Library (Arabic - مكتبة علوم النسب) - digital catalogue of Arabic books on family and tribal genealogies; open source books are linked and accessible
  • Email: olomanasb@gmail.com
• Muʻjam qabāʼil al-ʻArab al-qadīmah wa-al-ḥadīthah v.1 by Kaḥḥālah, ʻUmar Riḍā. Dimashq:al-Maktabah al-Hāshimīyah, 1949. Online at: New York University; Encyclopedia of Arab tribes
  • .معجم قبائل العرب القديمة والحديثة الجزء الأول .عمر رضا كحالة دمشق:المكتبة الهاشمية ,1949
• Muʻjam qabāʼil al-ʻArab al-qadīmah wa-al-ḥadīthah v.2 by Kaḥḥālah, ʻUmar Riḍā. Dimashq:al-Maktabah al-Hāshimīyah, 1949. Online at: New York University; Encyclopedia of Arab tribes
  • .معجم قبائل العرب القديمة والحديثة الجزء الثاني .عمر رضا كحالة دمشق:المكتبة الهاشمية ,1949
• Muʻjam qabāʼil al-ʻArab al-qadīmah wa-al-ḥadīthah v.3 by Kaḥḥālah, ʻUmar Riḍā. Dimashq:al-Maktabah al-Hāshimīyah, 1949. Online at: New York University; Encyclopedia of Arab tribes
  • .معجم قبائل العرب القديمة والحديثة الجزء الثالث .عمر رضا كحالة دمشق:المكتبة الهاشمية ,1949
• Sabāʼik al-dhahab fī maʻrifat qabāʼil al-ʻArab by Suwaydī, Muḥammad Amīn. Qum:al-Maktabah al-ʻIlmīyah, 198-. Online at: New York University; Overview of Arab tribes
  • .سبائك الذهب في معرفة قبائل العرب .محمد أمين سويدي قم:المكتبة العلمية، 198-
• Nihāyat al-arab fī maʻrifat ansāb al-ʻarab by Qalqashandī, Aḥmad ibn ʻAbd Allāh. Baghdād:Maṭbaʻat al-Najāḥ, 1958. Online at: New York University; Important classical text detailing the histories and genealogies of major Arab tribes
  • .
• Kitāb nasab Quraysh by Zubayrī, Muṣʻab ibn ʻAbd Allāh. al-Qāhirah:Dār al-Maʻārif lil-Ṭibāʻah wa-al-Nashr, 1953. Online at: New York University; Classical genealogy of the Quraysh tribe, the tribe of the Prophet Muhammad
  • .كتاب نسب قريش .المصعب بن عبد الله الزبيري [القاهرة]:‏دار المعارف ,1953نهاية الأرب في معرفة أنساب العرب .أحمد بن عبد الله القلقشندي بغداد:مطبعة النجاح ,1958

Print Publications

Arabic

• جمهرة أنساب العرب. أبو محمد علي بن أحمد بن سعيد بن حزم الأندلسي. بيروت، لبنان: دار الكتب العلمية, ٢٠١٨
• الفيصل القاسم في أصل القواسم. الأستاذ خلفان بن علي القاسمي. الأستاذ خلفان بن علي القاسمي, ٢٠١٣
• نسب معد واليمن الكبير. أبو المنذر هشام بن محمد بن السائب الكلبي. بيروت، لبنان: عالم الكتب, ٢٠١٠
• سيرة آل هذال: شيوخ قبيلة عنزة، أخوان بتلا. الشيخ احمد العامري الناصري. بيروت، لبنان: الرفدين, ٢٠٠٩
• قبيلة بني خالد في التاريخ. الشيخ احمد العامري الناصري. بيروت، لبنان: الرفدين, ٢٠٠٩
• قبيلة عنزة تاريخها، رجلاتها، أنسابها في العراق والجزيرة. الشيخ محروث الهذال. بيروت، لبنان: دار الرفدين, ٢٠٠٥
• جمهرة النسب. أبو المنذر هشام بن محمد بن السائب الكلبي. بيروت، لبنان: عالم الكتب, ٢٠٠٤
• معجم بلاد بني كلاب وقبيلة السهول وأهم أسرها في الجزيرة العربية. فهّاد بن سعد بن هملان السهلي. بيروت، لبنان: الدار العربية للموسوعات, ٢٠٠٤
• قلائد الذهب في معرفة أنساب قبائل العرب. مصطفى حميدي بن أحمد الكردي البالوي الدمشقي. بيروت، لبنان: دار ومكتبة الهلال بئر العبد , ٢٠٠٠
• مشجرات أنساب قبائل والعوئل العربية: مع مراصظات تاريخية وجغرافية. فرديناند فوستنفلد. بيروت: دار الورَّك, ١٨٥٢
• نهاية الارب في معرفة انساب العرب. أبو العباس أحمد بن علي بن أحمد بن عبد الله القلقشندي. بيروت، لبنان: دار الكتب العلمية
• Tarikh al-Ballush. By al-'Attar, 'Adnan. Beirut, Lebanon: Dar Ayah, 2004/2005. FS Catalog book INTL 953.35 D2a
• The Arab Tribes: Their Historical Origins and Roots (in Arabic), by Jamal Mashari al-Rafdi. Online at: Archive.org.
  • القبائل العربية: أصولها جذورها التاريخية، جمال بن مشاري الرفدي.
• The Glorious Pearls in the News of the Latest Arabs (in Arabic), by Sheikh Muhammad al-Bisam al-Najdi. Online at: Archive.org; description of Arab tribes at time of writing in the 19th Century
  • الدرر المفاخر في أخبار العرب الأواخر، الشيخ محمد البسام النجدي.

English

• Area Handbook for the Persian Gulf States. By Richard F. Nyrop. Washington DC: Foreign Area Studies of The American University, 1977.

German

• Ǧamharat an-nasab : das genealogische Werk des Hišam Ibn Muḥammad al-Kalbī (Band I und II). By Werner Caskel. Leiden, Netherlands: E.J. Brill, 1966. FS Catalog book INTL 953 D2c

Background

In the Middle East and North Africa, the term "tribe" refers to large collection of inter-related families that can trace their lineage back to a common ancestor; although, as is discussed in greater detail below, a shared ancestry is not always necessary for a family to join a tribe. It is typically used as a translation for the Arabic word "قَبيلة" (qabīlah), although in the Research Wiki "tribe" is also used for other Arabic terms. Tribes in the region can number in the hundreds to tens of thousands; some are relatively localized, while others are stretched or scattered over vast areas. Tribes are often divided into increasingly smaller kinship groups, including "بَطْن" (baṭn), "فَخْذ" (fakhth), and "عَشيرة" (ʿashīrah). The latter is translated in the Wiki as "clan".

Like many regions of the Middle East and the Gulf in particular, tribes in the United Arab Emirates continue to play an essential role in shaping society and identity for Emiratis. In pre-modern UAE, tribes were the main social unit and governed all aspects of life. Although the country's rapid and extensive modernization in the last century has altered the traditional nomadic lifestyle of some Emiratis, tribal identities remain an important element of society, even factoring into the nation's political structure.

Some larger Emirati tribes include the Banu Yas (بنو ياس) in Abu Dhabi and its offshoot, Al Bu Falasah (البوفلاسة), in Dubai; Al Qasimi (القواسم) in Sharjah and Ras Al Khaimah; the Na'im (النعيم) in Ajman; Al Ali (آل علي) in Umm Al Quwain; and the Sharqiyin (الشرقيين) in Fujairah. Others include the Al Bu Shamis (آل بو شامس), Banu Ka'ab (بنو كعب), and Al Awamir (العوامر). Given that the Arabian Peninsula is the ancestral homeland of Arabs and the area from which Arabic and Islam spread throughout much of the Middle East and North Africa, many of these tribes extend beyond the borders of the UAE.

Tradition holds that all Arab tribes trace their lineage to two primary ancestors: Qahtan (قحطان), progenitor of the "pure" Arabs originating from modern Yemen, and Adnan (عدنان), ancestor of the "Arabicized" Arabs and a descendent of Abraham's son Ishmael.

Throughout Arabian history, free, arms-bearing tribesmen, whether nomadic or settled, dominated society. Sultans, emirs, and sheikhs were often drawn from these tribes and sought their support. The descendants of the Prophet Muhammad, who hold the titles of sayyids and sharifs, traditionally enjoyed a higher social status and sometimes exercised theocratic rule as spiritual leaders.

It is important to note that affiliation with a particular tribe does not necessarily entail direct kinship to that tribe. In some cases, new tribes formed as the result of alliances between pre-existing tribal groups. Individual families may have occasionally become clients of a different tribe and eventually adopted as members. On an even smaller scale, individuals were sometimes adopted into a tribe. This was particularly true during the first centuries of Islam, when non-Arab converts to Islam were required to become clients, or "mawali" (Arabic مَوالٍ), of an Arab tribe. Therefore, association with a tribe does not automatically imply descent or kinship relationship within a given lineage.

Types of Records

Books - There are numerous books written on Emirati and, more broadly, Arab tribes. Both categories of books can be valuable to researchers, as many tribes found in the United Arab Emirates are also found elsewhere in the Middle East and North Africa and can provide historical context for families and tribes in the UAE.

Information Recorded in the Records

Tribal histories and genealogies can contain a variety of data useful for family history researchers. Depending on the type and detail of tribal genealogy, typically include the names of fathers and sons but may exclude wives or daughters. Additionally, these genealogies may not include exact birth or death dates, although background information can often allow the researcher to estimate these data for individuals in the records.

Even without detailed lineages, tribal histories can still be useful for researchers. These records often contain details on tribal origins, migrations and movement, and traditional beliefs and culture.

Strategy

The published works above include information useful for tracing Emirati tribal lineages. These works include lineages, tribal histories, biographies of prominent individuals, poetry, or encyclopedic entries of tribes and their sub-divisions.

As with all genealogical research, start with what you know. If you know your ancestor's tribal affiliation already, search books on that tribe. If not, search for resources on their country or region of origin, which can often identify the major tribes located there. Become familiar with the various branches within the tribe to better understand where your ancestors fit within the larger tribal structure. Within tribal lineages, search for the names of familiar individuals or places as clues to identify your exact family line.