Tribe or land · The Bedouin tribes · as at first light, 1 January 1200

Southern Najd

South of al-Yamama the Tuwayq escarpment runs on to the spring oasis of al-Aflaj and the long oasis strip of the wadi later named after the Dawasir, beyond which the sands of the Rub' al-Khali begin; the ruined caravan city of Qaryat al-Faw stands at the edge.

In the tenth century al-Hamdani put the Ja'da and Qushayr of the Banu Amir ibn Sa'sa'a at al-Aflaj. Who holds these oases and the sand edge in 1200 is not recorded.

Who holds it

Name
not known for 1 January 1200
Title
Headmen and shaykhs of the southern oases
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.

What it holds

  • al-Aflaj and its springs
  • the oasis strip of Wadi al-Dawasir
  • the wells and grazing of the northern Rub' al-Khali

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. The oasis people farm palms and grain on springs and wells.

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: Tenth-century evidence only.

On the map: Very rough; the sands south of it are anchored to the Bedouin.

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

  1. al-Hamdani, Sifat Jazirat al-Arab (tenth century), the standard description of the tribes and places of the Sarat, Najd and the Hejaz, as used in the Wikipedia tribal articles cited here

Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.