The Qahtanites (; ), also known as Banu Qahtan () or by their nickname ''al-Arab al-Ariba'' (), are the

Arabs 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 yea ...

who originate from modern-day

Yemen Yemen, officially the Republic of Yemen, is a country in West Asia. Located in South Arabia, southern Arabia, it borders Saudi Arabia to Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, the north, Oman to Oman–Yemen border, the northeast, the south-eastern part ...

. The term "Qahtan" is mentioned in multiple

Ancient South Arabian Ancient South Arabian (ASA; also known as Old South Arabian, Epigraphic South Arabian, Ṣayhadic, or Yemenite) is a group of four closely related extinct languages ( Sabaean/Sabaic, Qatabanic, Hadramitic, Minaic) spoken in the far southern ...

inscriptions found in Yemen. Some Arab traditions believe that the Qahtanites are the original

. In some Judeo-Christian-Islamic traditions, the Qahtanite Arabs descend from

Jokshan Jokshan (, ''yoqšān'') was, according to the Bible, a son of Abraham (Avraham) and his wife or concubine Keturah, whom he wed after the death of Sarah. Jokshan had five brothers: Zimran, Medan, Midian, Ishbak and Shuah; as well as two hal ...

, a son of Abraham through

Keturah Keturah (, ''Qəṭūrā'', possibly meaning "incense"; ) was a wife (1917 Jewish Publication Society of America translation). "And Abraham took another wife, and her name was Keturah...." and a concubine (1917 Jewish Publication Society of A ...

and half brother of

Ishmael In the Bible, biblical Book of Genesis, Ishmael (; ; ; ) is the first son of Abraham. His mother was Hagar, the handmaiden of Abraham's wife Sarah. He died at the age of 137. Traditionally, he is seen as the ancestor of the Arabs. Within Isla ...

son of

Abraham Abraham (originally Abram) is the common Hebrews, Hebrew Patriarchs (Bible), patriarch of the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In Judaism, he is the founding father who began the Covenant (biblical), covenanta ...

through

Hagar According to the Book of Genesis, Hagar is an Egyptian slave, a handmaiden of Sarah (then known as ''Sarai''), whom Sarah gave to her own husband Abram (later renamed Abraham) as a wife to bear him a child. Abraham's firstborn son, through Haga ...

Traditional Arab genealogy

According to Arab tradition, the Qahtanites are from South Arabia, unlike the

Adnanites The Adnanites () were a tribal confederation of the Ishmaelite Arabs who originate from the Hejaz. They trace their lineage back to Ishmael, son of the Islamic prophet and patriarch Abraham and his wife Hagar, through Adnan. The Islamic prophe ...

who are from the north of Arabia descended from

through

Adnan Adnan () is traditionally regarded as the patriarch of the Adnanite Arabs, a major Arab lineage that historically inhabited Northern, Western, Eastern, and Central Arabia. The Adnanites are distinct from the Qahtanite Arabs of Southern Arabia ...

. "The 'arabized or arabizing Arabs', on the contrary, are believed to be the descendants of Ishmael through Adnan, but in this case the genealogy does not match the Biblical line exactly. The label 'arabized' is due to the belief that Ishmael spoke Hebrew until he got to Mecca, where he married a Yemeni woman and learnt Arabic. Both genealogical lines go back to Sem, son of Noah, but only Adnanites can claim Abraham as their ascendant, and the lineage of Mohammed, the Seal of Prophets (khatim al-anbiya'), can therefore be traced back to Abraham. Contemporary historiography unveiled the lack of inner coherence of this genealogical system and demonstrated that it finds insufficient matching evidence; the distinction between Qahtanites and Adnanites is even believed to be a product of the Umayyad Age, when the war of factions (al-niza al-hizbi) was raging in the young Islamic Empire." Arab tradition maintains that a semi-legendary ancestral figure named ''Qahtan'' and his 24 sons are the progenitors of Yemen who controlled the

Arabian Peninsula The Arabian Peninsula (, , or , , ) or Arabia, is a peninsula in West Asia, situated north-east of Africa on the Arabian plate. At , comparable in size to India, the Arabian Peninsula is the largest peninsula in the world. Geographically, the ...

known as Qahtani. The genealogists disagree about the pedigree of Qahțān imself Some trace him back to Ismā'īl b. Ibrāhīm, saying that his

ame #REDIRECT AME {{redirect category shell, {{R from other capitalisation{{R from ambiguous page ...

was Qahṭān b. al - Hamaysa ' b. Tayman b. Nabt b. Ismā'īl b. Ibrāhīm.

Wahb ibn Munabbih Wahb ibn Munabbih () was a Yemenite Muslim traditionist of Dhamar (two days' journey from Sana'a) in Yemen. He was a member of Banu Alahrar (Sons of the free people), a Yemeni of Persian origin. He is counted among the Tabi‘in and a narrato ...

and Hishām b. Muhammad al-Kalbi held this genealogy (as true). Hisham ibn al-Kalbi quoted his father as saying that he had been contemporaneous with lderscholars and

genealogists Genealogy () is the study of families, family history, and the tracing of their lineages. Genealogists use oral interviews, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kins ...

who traced Qahțān's pedigree in this way. Other enealogistsargue that the

ame #REDIRECT AME {{redirect category shell, {{R from other capitalisation{{R from ambiguous page ...

was Qahţăn b. 'Abir b. Shalakh. Qahtan with the Yoqtan (

Joktan Joktan (also written as Yoktan; ; ) was the second of the two sons of Eber (Book of Genesis 10:25; 1 Chronicles 1:19) mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. He descends from Shem, son of Noah. In the Book of Genesis 10:25 it reads: "And unto Eber were bo ...

) son of

Eber Eber (; ; ) is an ancestor of the Ishmaelites and the Israelites according to the Generations of Noah in the Book of Genesis () and the Books of Chronicles (). Lineage Eber (Hebrew: Ever) was a great-grandson of Noah's son Shem and the father ...

( Hūd) in the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
. '' or genesis 25:2-3 that Qahtan is the similarly named Jokshan son of Abraham and Keturah. Among the sons of Qahtan are noteworthy figures like A'zaal (believed by Arabs to have been the original name of

Sana'a Sanaa, officially the Sanaa Municipality, is the ''de jure'' capital and largest city of Yemen. The city is the capital of the Sanaa Governorate, but is not part of the governorate, as it forms a separate administrative unit. At an elevation ...

Hadhramaut Hadhramaut ( ; ) is a geographic region in the southern part of the Arabian Peninsula which includes the Yemeni governorates of Hadhramaut, Shabwah and Mahrah, Dhofar in southwestern Oman, and Sharurah in the Najran Province of Saudi A ...

and

Jurhum Jurhum (; also Banu Jurhum or The Children of Jurhum) historically referred to as the ''Goramenoi'' () in the 5th century, was a tribe of Arabia associated with Mecca. Muslim texts state that they were succeeded by Qusayy ibn Kilab, the leader o ...

whose descendants formed the second Jurhum tribe from which

is traditionally believed to have learned Arabic by some. Another son is

Ya'rub Ya'rub (, also spelled ''Yarob'',''Ya'rob'', ''Yarrob'', ''Yarab'' or ''Yaarub'') is an ancient Arabic language, Arabic personal name. He is the grandson of Eber, Abir being the son of Qahtan and the ancestor of the Himyarite and Sabaeans, Sabae ...

, and his son Yashjub is the father of Saba'. All Yemenite tribes trace their ancestry back to this "Saba", either through

Himyar Himyar was a polity in the southern highlands of Yemen, as well as the name of the region which it claimed. Until 110 BCE, it was integrated into the Qatabanian kingdom, afterwards being recognized as an independent kingdom. According to class ...

Kahlan Kahlan () was one of the main tribal confederations of Sabaeans, Saba' in Ancient history of Yemen, Ancient Yemen. They are descended from Kahlan bin Saba bin Yishjab bin Yarub bin Qahtan. Conflict with Himyar By the 2nd century BC Saba' was decl ...

, his two sons. The Qahtani people are divided into the two sub-groups of

and

, who represent the settled Arabs of the south and their nomadic kinsmen (

nomad Nomads are communities without fixed habitation who regularly move to and from areas. Such groups include hunter-gatherers, pastoral nomads (owning livestock), tinkers and trader nomads. In the twentieth century, the population of nomadic pa ...

s). The Kahlan division of Qahtan consists of four subgroups: the Ta' or

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 ...

, the

Azd The Azd (Arabic: أَزْد), or Al-Azd (Arabic: ٱلْأَزْد), is an ancient Tribes of Arabia, Arabian tribe. The lands of Azd occupied an area west of Bisha and Al Bahah in what is today Saudi Arabia. Land of Azd Pre-Islamic Arabia Pre- ...

group which invaded Oman, the

'Amila Banu Amila (, '), also spelled Amela, was an Arab tribe that historically dwelt in the Levant (greater Syria) during the Byzantine (3rd–7th centuries CE) and early Islamic periods (7th–11th centuries). Before or during the Crusades (late 11th� ...

Judham The Judham () was a large Arab tribe that inhabited the southern Levant and northwestern Arabia during the late antique and early Islamic eras (5th–8th centuries). Under the Byzantine Empire, the tribe was nominally Christian and fought agains ...

group of Palestine, and the

Hamdan Hamdan ( ') is a name of Arab origin of aristocratic descent and many political ties within the middle east and the Arab World, controlling import/export mandates over port authorities. Among people named Hamdan include: Given name * Hamdan Mo ...

Madhhij Madhḥij () 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 and the Byzantine ...

group who mostly remain in Yemen. The Kahlan branch includes the following tribes:

( Aus and

Khazraj The Banu Khazraj () is a large Arab tribe based in Medina. They were also in Medina during Muhammad's era. The Banu Khazraj are a South Arabian Qahtanite tribe that were pressured out of South Arabia as a result of the destruction of the Marib ...

Bariq Bariq (also Romanization of Arabic, transliterated as Barik or Bareq, ) is a tribe from Bareq in south-west Saudi Arabia. It belongs to the ancient Al-Azd tribe which has many clans linked to it. As far as ancestry goes, Banu Aus, Aws, Khazraj, G ...

Ghassan The Ghassanids, also known as the Jafnids, were an Arab tribe. Originally from South Arabia, they migrated to the Levant in the 3rd century and established what would eventually become a Christian kingdom under the aegis of the Byzantine Empir ...

, Khuza'a and

Daws Daws may refer to: *Daws (name) *Daws Heath, woodland in Essex, England *Daws Road, Adelaide, Australia *Banu Daws, one of the tribes of Arabia during Muhammad's era See also * * Daw (disambiguation) * Dawes (disambiguation) * RAF Daws Hill, a ...

Khath'am Khath'am () was an ancient and medieval Arab tribe which traditionally dwelt in southwestern Arabia. They took part either in cooperation or opposition to the 6th-century expedition of the Aksumite ruler Abraha against Mecca. After initial hostil ...

Bajila The Bajīla () was an Arab tribe that inhabited the mountains south of Mecca in the pre-Islamic era and later dispersed to different parts of Arabia and then Iraq under the Muslims. The tribe, under one of its chieftains Jarir ibn Abd Allah, pla ...

Murad Murad or Mourad () is an Arabic name. It is also common in Armenian, Azerbaijani, Bengali, Turkish, Persian, and Berber as a male given name or surname and is commonly used throughout the Muslim world and Middle East. Etymology It is derived ...

Zubaid Zubaid or Zubayd () is an Arab tribe from the Madhhaj confederation, that is one of the largest, richest tribes of Arabia. It participated in the Islamic conquests in the early days of Islam. Among them were Abu Bakr al-Zubaydi, the great compa ...

Ash'ar Ash'arism (; ) is a school of theology in Sunni Islam named after Abu al-Hasan al-Ash'ari, a Shāfiʿī jurist, reformer (''mujaddid''), and scholastic theologian, in the 9th–10th century. It established an orthodox guideline, based on sc ...

Lakhm The Lakhmid kingdom ( ), also referred to as al-Manādhirah () or as Banū Lakhm (), was an Arab kingdom that was founded and ruled by the Lakhmid dynasty from to 602. Spanning Eastern Arabia and Southern Mesopotamia, it existed as a dependen ...

(

Shammar The tribe of Shammar () is a tribal Arab Qahtanite confederation, descended from the Tayy, which migrated into the northern Arabian Peninsula from Yemen in the second century. It is the largest branch of the Tayy, and one of the largest and mos ...

), and

Kinda Kinda or Kindah may refer to: People Given name * Kinda Alloush (born 1982), Syrian actress * Kinda El-Khatib (born 1996 or 1997), Lebanese activist Surname * Chris Kinda (born 1999), Namibian para-athlete * Gadi Kinda (1994–2025), ...

Pre-Islamic Qahtani migration out of Arabia

Early Semites who developed civilizations throughout the

Ancient Near East The ancient Near East was home to many cradles of civilization, spanning Mesopotamia, Egypt, Iran (or Persia), Anatolia and the Armenian highlands, the Levant, and the Arabian Peninsula. As such, the fields of ancient Near East studies and Nea ...

gradually relinquished their geopolitical superiority to surrounding cultures and neighboring imperial powers, usually due to either internal turmoil or outside conflict. This climaxed with the arrival of the

Babylonians Babylonia (; , ) was an ancient Akkadian-speaking state and cultural area based in the city of Babylon in central-southern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq and parts of Kuwait, Syria and Iran). It emerged as an Akkadian-populated but Amorite-ru ...

, and subsequently the rivaling

Medes The Medes were an Iron Age Iranian peoples, Iranian people who spoke the Median language and who inhabited an area known as Media (region), Media between western Iran, western and northern Iran. Around the 11th century BC, they occupied the m ...

and

Persians Persians ( ), or the Persian people (), are an Iranian ethnic group from West Asia that came from an earlier group called the Proto-Iranians, which likely split from the Indo-Iranians in 1800 BCE from either Afghanistan or Central Asia. They ...

, during the 7th and 6th centuries BCE, respectively. Though the Semites lost geopolitical influence, the

Aramaic Aramaic (; ) is a Northwest Semitic language that originated in the ancient region of Syria and quickly spread to Mesopotamia, the southern Levant, Sinai, southeastern Anatolia, and Eastern Arabia, where it has been continually written a ...

language emerged as the

lingua franca A lingua franca (; ; for plurals see ), also known as a bridge language, common language, trade language, auxiliary language, link language or language of wider communication (LWC), is a Natural language, language systematically used to make co ...

of much of the

Near East The Near East () is a transcontinental region around the Eastern Mediterranean encompassing the historical Fertile Crescent, the Levant, Anatolia, Egypt, Mesopotamia, and coastal areas of the Arabian Peninsula. The term was invented in the 20th ...

. However, Aramaic usage declined after the defeat of the Persians and the arrival of the Hellenic armies around 330 BCE. The

Ghassanids The Ghassanids, also known as the Jafnids, were an Tribes of Arabia, Arab tribe. Originally from South Arabia, they migrated to the Levant in the 3rd century and established what would eventually become a Christian state, Christian kingdom unde ...

(ca. 250 CE) were the last major non-Islamic Semitic migration northward out of Yemen. They revived the Semitic presence in the then

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

-controlled

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 ...

. They initially settled in the

Hauran The Hauran (; also spelled ''Hawran'' or ''Houran'') is a region that spans parts of southern Syria and northern Jordan. It is bound in the north by the Ghouta oasis, to the northeast by the al-Safa field, to the east and south by the Harrat ...

region, eventually spreading to Palestine, and

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

, briefly securing governorship of Syria away from the

Nabataeans The Nabataeans or Nabateans (; Nabataean Aramaic: , , vocalized as ) were an ancient Arabs, Arab people who inhabited northern Arabian Peninsula, Arabia and the southern Levant. Their settlements—most prominently the assumed capital city o ...

After the rise of Islam

Between the 7th and 14th centuries, the Qahtanites became involved in the

Arab conquests The early Muslim conquests or early Islamic conquests (), also known as the Arab conquests, were initiated in the 7th century by Muhammad, the founder of Islam. He established the first Islamic state in Medina, Arabia that expanded rapidly u ...

, migrating to the newly conquered territories and intermingling with the local populations. In the

Umayyad The Umayyad Caliphate or Umayyad Empire (, ; ) was the second caliphate established after the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and was ruled by the Umayyad dynasty. Uthman ibn Affan, the third of the Rashidun caliphs, was also a membe ...

era, a blood feud broke out between Qahtanites and the

Adnanite The Adnanites () were a tribal confederation of the Ishmaelites, Ishmaelite Arabs who originate from the Hejaz. They trace their lineage back to Ishmael in Islam, Ishmael, son of the Islamic prophet and patriarch Abraham in Islam, Abraham and hi ...

tribes of

Qays Qays ʿAylān (), often referred to simply as Qays (''Kais'' or ''Ḳays'') were an Arab tribal confederation that branched from the Mudar group. The tribe may not have functioned as a unit in pre-Islamic Arabia (before 630). However, by the ea ...

, which continued in various forms and degrees till the 19th century in what has become known as the

Qays–Yaman rivalry The Qays–Yaman rivalry refers to the rivalry between the tribal factions of Qays–Mudar and the Yaman. The history of the rivalry centers mainly within the armies and administrations of the Umayyad Caliphate in the 7th and 8th centuries, but p ...

Traditional Arab genealogy

Pre-Islamic Qahtani migration out of Arabia

After the rise of Islam

See also

Notes

References

Further reading