The Banu Rabi'a of Tayy, whose Al Fadl and Al Mira branches lead the Bedouin of the Syrian desert, range south into northern Arabia.
Hiyari's account, drawn from thirteenth and fourteenth century writers, gives the Al Ali branch of the Al Fadl a range from the Damascus Ghuta to Tayma and al-Jawf (Dumat al-Jandal), the Al Fadl one down the Euphrates to al-Washm, and the Al Mira one from the Golan south to 'al-Harra' north of Mecca (which lava field is meant is not pinned). For 1200 this is the best available picture of who controls the oases of Tayma and Dumat and the wells of the Nafud's edge; no chief is named on the Arabian side.
Who holds it
- Name
- not known for 1 January 1200
- Title
- Amirs of the Banu Rabi'a of Tayy (the Al Fadl and their kin)
- 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
The Ayyubid princes of Syria pay and appoint the Banu Rabi'a amirs on their side of the desert (Latin East map).
What it holds
- the oases of Tayma and Dumat al-Jandal by protection
- the wells of the western Nafud and the Wadi Sirhan's southern end
- the desert between the Syrian and Iraqi frontiers
Allies and rivals
Cousins of the Al Fadl and Al Mira of Syria; paid by the Ayyubids.
How things stand that morning
Present; no chief named for the Arabian ranges.
Wealth
Camels, horses, protection of caravans and oases.
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: Range taken from Hiyari's thirteenth-fourteenth century picture; not dated to 1200.
On the map: Very rough: the northern edge is the modern frontier, beyond which the Latin East map draws the Banu Rabi'a's Syrian ranges.
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
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.