'Gazetteer of Arabia Vol. I' [‎422] (441/1050)

422
BEDOUIN
fortress of Mushaqqar, held by a Persian Governor, on the coast between Qatar and
Kadhhima (the present Koweyt). This region was called al Ahsa (nowHasa) from the
readiness with which water could be got by digging shallow wells in the sand. Beyond
the Abdul Qeys up to the head of the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. were the great tribe of.Temim which
extended far inland along the course of the Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. ar Rumma into Qasim and Yemama.
Temim was divided into a great number of septs, the most important being Yarbu,
Darim and Sab ibn Zeyd Manat. It was porbably the largest aggregate of tribes in
Maadd. Dwelling in close connection with Temim were the four tribes called collectively
Ribab, of whom Dhabba and Teym were the chief.
Inland from the Bahreyn coast the whole of the great complex of mountains looking
down on the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. was anciently called Yemama, a name which now applies
only to the oasis which is the capital of the province of Kharj. This country had been
previously to the war of Basus between Bekr and Taghlib (first quarter of the 6th century
A.D. or end of the 5th), the home of those two great branches of Wail. The result of
that war was that the main part of Bekr and the whole of Taghlib migrated from
Yemama to the plains of Iraq, but one great division of Bekr, Hanifa, and another
Smaller, Qeys ibn Tha'aba, remained behind in Yemama. The Hanifa have left their
name to the Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. Hanifa in the heart of IbnSaud 's territories* The portion of
Yemama in the north vacated by Taghlib was occupied by Temim.
To the west of Yemama, and south of the valley of the Rumma, stretched the great
Maaddic group of Hawazin, of which Amir ibn Sasaa was the chief representative,
XJqeyl and Jada, constituents of Amir Ibn Sasaa were in Southern Yemama about Falj
(modern Aflaj), neighbours of Qeys Ibn Thalaba, and sections of Amir held settlements
in Tabala and Bisha when they met the Yemenites of Madhhij.
Further up the Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. ar Rumma, the great group of Ghatafan (Abs and Bhtibyan
with smaller elements of Ashja and Anmar) were opposed to Hawazin. This group
lay along the line of volcanic Harrahs which fringed the trade route going north from
Mecca and Medina, and were in close relations with the people of the oasis of Medina,
formerly Yathrib. Beyond the Ghatafan, and between them and the range of Selma,
the southernmost of the two ranges of Tai, was Asad. In the neighbouhood of Faid
and the modern Hail the Temim came in, and about the modern Aneyza was the meet ing
place of Amir Ibn Sasaa, Temim (Darim), Asad and Ghatafan (Abs and Fazara of
Dhubyan).
Turning to Mecca, the Heram or sacred area was occupied by Qureysh and Kinani,'
Maaddite tribes, and about it Yemenite and Maaddite stocks came into contact. To
the south were the Azd (Yemenite) touching Adwan and Fahm (Maddite), while the
surrounding country was inhabited by Amir mixed with the Yemenite Khatham and
Harith. To the north there was a branch of Hawazin called Suleym, and in theHejaz
and Tihama, west of them, Hudheyb. Further north towards Medina, Qudhaite tribes
of Yemenite origin, Juhena, Salaman and Bili were cantoned along the Tihama and
Hejaz. The oasis of Yathrib (Medina) was inhabited by the Yemenite tribes of Aus
and Khazraj, offshoots of Ghassan, but the main body of Ghassan went further north
into the Syrian desert, where, under the house of Yafna, they held the Roman border
until the Persian invasion. Other Yemenite groups in this direction (also from Qudhaa)
were Udhra, Judham and the great tribe of Kelb, which occupied the oasis of the Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows.
Al Qura and the Yauf, north of the Nefud. The Syrian desert was held by the Kalb
(Qudhaa) and Ghassan (Azd) with some ancient immigrants—
(1) The famous Qudhaa stock is a good example of the uncertainty as to tribal
origins. It is placed by some among the constituents of Himyar, and by
others among those of Maadd. The same uncertainty prevails to-day. Every
man of the Anazeh will claim descent from Wail, while the genealogists give
their descent from Asad, who with Wail was among the constituents of Rabia
of whom the Bahra (Qudhaa) were the most important. All these were Yemenites.
According to Arab tradition the first Arab tribe to move up into Mesopotamia was
Qudhaa, who established themselves at Hatra about 200 A. D. Some of the Maaddite
tribes are said to have pushed up between the rivers earlv in the 4th century, and the
Iraq held chiefly Maaddite stocks Taghlib, Bekr, Namir Ibu Qasit and lyad. Rabia
and Mudhar gave their name to two provinces in the extreme north, the one on the
Tigris, the other on the Euphrates, and the fame of the Bekr is perpetuated in the name