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* [https://olomlnassb.blogspot.com/ Genealogical Science Library (Arabic - <big>مكتبة علوم النسب</big>)] - digital catalogue of Arabic books on family and tribal genealogies; open source books are linked and accessible | * [https://olomlnassb.blogspot.com/ Genealogical Science Library (Arabic - <big>مكتبة علوم النسب</big>)] - digital catalogue of Arabic books on family and tribal genealogies; open source books are linked and accessible | ||
**Email: [mailto:Olomanasb@gmail.com olomanasb@gmail.com] | **Email: [mailto:Olomanasb@gmail.com 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:''''' [https://dlib.nyu.edu/aco/book/aub_aco003046 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:''''' [https://dlib.nyu.edu/aco/book/aub_aco003047 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:''''' [https://dlib.nyu.edu/aco/book/aub_aco003048 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:''''' [https://dlib.nyu.edu/aco/book/columbia_aco002259 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:''''' [https://dlib.nyu.edu/aco/book/columbia_aco000445 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:''''' [https://dlib.nyu.edu/aco/book/nyu_aco001366 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=== | ===Print Publications=== | ||
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==Background== | ==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 "<big>قَبيلة</big>" (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 "<big>بَطْن</big>" (baṭn), "<big>فَخْذ</big>" (fakhth), and "<big>عَشيرة</big>" (ʿashīrah). The latter is translated in the Wiki as "clan". | |||
In a country with as rich an ethnic makeup as Mauritania, most tribes can be categorized by their ethnic background. The three main ethnic groups are the Bidhanes, Haratin, and Sub-Saharan African. The first two groups are primarily Arabic speaking, while the third consists of a collection of ethnic groups from Sub-Saharan Africa, including the Wolofs, Halpulaar, Soninke, and Bambara<ref>Wikipedia contributors, "Demographics of Mauritania," ''Wikipedia: the Free Encyclopedia,'' https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Mauritania, accessed 29 January 2024.</ref>. | In a country with as rich an ethnic makeup as Mauritania, most tribes can be categorized by their ethnic background. The three main ethnic groups are the Bidhanes, Haratin, and Sub-Saharan African. The first two groups are primarily Arabic speaking, while the third consists of a collection of ethnic groups from Sub-Saharan Africa, including the Wolofs, Halpulaar, Soninke, and Bambara<ref>Wikipedia contributors, "Demographics of Mauritania," ''Wikipedia: the Free Encyclopedia,'' https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Mauritania, accessed 29 January 2024.</ref>. | ||
Specific tribes in Mauritania include the Liglal (<big>لقلال</big>), Soninke (<big>سوننكي</big>), Fula (<big>الفلان</big>), Sanhaja (<big>الصنهاجة</big>), and Beni Hassan (<big>بني حسن</big>), with countless more. | |||
Tradition holds that all Arab tribes trace their lineage to two primary ancestors: Qahtan (<big>قحطان</big>), progenitor of the "pure" Arabs originating from modern Yemen, and Adnan (<big>عدنان</big>), ancestor of the "Arabicized" Arabs and a descendent of Abraham's son Ishmael.<ref name=":0">"People of Arabia," ''Britannica'', https://www.britannica.com/place/Arabia-peninsula-Asia/People, accessed 5 September 2024.</ref> | |||
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.<ref>Wikipedia contributors, "Spread of Islam," ''Wikipedia: the Free Encyclopedia,'' https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spread_of_Islam, accessed 8 October 2024.</ref> Therefore, association with a tribe does not automatically imply descent or kinship relationship within a given lineage. | |||
==Types of Records== | ==Types of Records== | ||
'''Books''' - There are numerous books written on Mauritanian and, more broadly, Arab tribes. Both categories of books can be valuable to researchers, as many tribes found in Mauritania are also found elsewhere in the Middle East and North Africa and can provide historical context for families and tribes in Mauritania. | '''Books''' - There are numerous books written on Mauritanian and, more broadly, Arab tribes. Both categories of books can be valuable to researchers, as many tribes found in Mauritania are also found elsewhere in the Middle East and North Africa and can provide historical context for families and tribes in Mauritania. | ||
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