The Khafaja, a Bedouin tribe of the great Amir ibn Sa'sa'a and Uqayl family, range over the desert west of the Middle Euphrates from the Razzaza depression and Ain al-Tamr down past Najaf toward the pilgrim road into Arabia.
For two centuries they have been both the escort and the scourge of the Iraqi pilgrim caravan and of Kufa, Hilla and the shrine towns: Ibn Jubayr (1184) blamed them for the ruin of Kufa. The caliph pays them, fights them and calls them out as auxiliaries (they march with the Uyunid emir against the robbers of the pilgrim road in 598/1201-1202). Their chiefs in the winter of 1199-1200 are not named in the sources read.
Who holds it
- Title
- Chief (shaykh, amir) of the Khafaja
- Since
- not pinned
- Born
- not pinned
- Family
- not pinned
- Confidence
- low
No chief of this tribe is named for the winter of 1199-1200 in the sources read.
Overlord
The caliph, when he can pay or punish them.
What it holds
Tribal range held by custom and force.
Allies and rivals
See summary.
How things stand that morning
In their winter pastures in the desert west of the Euphrates; no raid is dated to the winter of 1199-1200 in the sources read.
Wealth
Camels and horses, escort fees on the pilgrim road, payments from the caliph, raids on the date gardens of the Euphrates.
Military
Bedouin horsemen and camel riders; no numbers in the sources read.
Threats
- the caliph's punitive expeditions
- rival tribes on the pilgrim road
Customs and assemblies
Ruled by their shaykhs in council of the clan heads; they take payments (khifara) for escorting caravans and protection of villages.
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: Their range and role are well known for the eleventh and twelfth centuries; the names of their chiefs in 1199-1200 were not found.
On the map: A tribal range, not a frontier: the tribe moves with the seasons and shares wells and pastures with others.
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
- Arabic Wikipedia: al-Dawla al-Uyuniyya (after Ibn al-Muqarrab's diwan and its commentary)
- Ibn Jubayr, Travels (1184)
- G. Le Strange, The Lands of the Eastern Caliphate (1905)
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.