The Anaza, a tribe of the Rabi'a, settled in the Khaybar country at the end of the tenth century (al-Hamdani, al-Bayhaqi).
Ibn Sa'id al-Maghribi, writing in the thirteenth century, calls them the only Rabi'a group still riding horses and migrating, 'in the regions of Khaybar'. Qatada ibn Idris took one of his wives from the Anaza, the mother of his sons Ali the elder and al-Hasan. They protect and tax the oasis farmers of Khaybar and Fadak.
Who holds it
- Name
- not known for 1 January 1200
- Title
- Shaykhs of the Anaza
- Since
- not pinned
- Born
- not pinned
- Family
- not pinned
- Confidence
- low
No chief of this people is named for the winter of 1199-1200 in the sources read.
Overlord
None; married into the sharif Qatada's house.
What it holds
- the pastures of Harrat Khaybar and the country north to Wadi al-Qura
- protection over Khaybar and Fadak
Allies and rivals
In-laws of Qatada ibn Idris.
How things stand that morning
Present; no chief named.
Wealth
Horses and camels, dates of Khaybar by protection, raiding.
Military
Mounted tribesmen and camel riders under their shaykhs; no fortresses.
Customs
Kin-ruled pastoralists under shaykhs chosen within leading lineages; summer camps at the wells and the edges of the oases, winter grazing in the open desert after the rains; they sell camels, sheep, butter and wool in the oasis markets, take protection money (khuwwa) from villages and caravans, and serve the sharifs or the caravan commanders for pay.
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: Two independent writers place them at Khaybar before and after 1200.
On the map: The Wadi al-Qura villages and Khaybar oasis are drawn in their own records.
Primary sources for The Bedouin
Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.
- History of the Observant Traveller (A Traveller in Thirteenth-Century Arabia), Ibn al-Mujawir (Jamal al-Din Yusuf ibn Ya'qub) (about 1226 to 1232). A merchant-traveller's description of western and southern Arabia a generation after 1200: Mecca and the Hijaz ports, the Red Sea crossing, Zabid and the Tihama, Aden with its customs and tariffs, the Hadramawt coast, Dhofar and Oman, Socotra, and the opposite African shore at Zeila and the Dahlak islands. Read online
Sources and studies
- Anazzah (English Wikipedia, citing al-Hamdani, Bayhaqi, Ibn Sa'id al-Maghribi and al-Umari)
- Qatada ibn Idris (English Wikipedia, citing Ibn Fahd, Ibn Khaldun, al-Qalqashandi, Ibn al-Athir trans. Richards, Peters)
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.