The Murad and other Madhhij tribes hold the desert edge east of the highlands: Ma'rib by its broken dam, Harib, Sirwah's eastern side and the wadis that run out into the Ramlat al-Sab'atayn.
Camel herders and flood farmers, they obey no state in 1200; their shaykhs are not named in the sources reached. Beyond Harib lie Bayhan and the Hadramawt marches (the hdr map).
Who holds it
- Name
- Not named
- Title
- Shaykhs of Murad
- Since
- Not pinned
- Confidence
- low
Overlord
None in practice.
What it holds
- Ma'rib
- Harib
- Raghwan's wadis
- The western edge of the Ramlat al-Sab'atayn
How things stand that morning
Self-governing tribal country.
Customs
Customary law; desert grazing and flood farming; the market at Ma'rib.
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: General tribal geography.
On the map: The desert edge drawn loosely.
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.