Tribes of Arabia

The tribes of Arabia (Arabic: القبائل العربية) have inhabited the Arabian Peninsula for thousands of years and traditionally trace their ancestry to one of two forefathers: Adnan, whose descendants originate from West Arabia, North Arabia, East Arabia, and Central Arabia; or Qahtan, whose descendants originate from South Arabia.^[1] Further, it is held in the Abrahamic religions—particularly Islam—that the Arab people are descended from Abraham through his son Ishmael.

From the 7th century onward, concurrent with the spread of Islam, many of these tribes' members began migrating and settling in the various regions that were subdued during the early Muslim conquests, including the Levant,^[2] Mesopotamia,^[3] Egypt,^[4] Khuzestan,^[5] the Maghreb,^[6] and Sudan.^[7] This phenomenon triggered a process of Arabization that significantly influenced demographic shifts across most of West Asia and North Africa, culminating in the growth of the Arab population far beyond the Arabian Peninsula.^[8]

Today, these regions collectively comprise what is known as the Arab world, excluding Khuzestan, which, although home to a considerable Arab minority, is part of the Iranian world. The Arab tribes' migrations played a vital role in ethnically, culturally, linguistically, and genetically Arabizing these regions' populations.^[9]