Qays ʿAylān (Arabic:قيس عيلان), often referred to simply asQays (Kais orḲays) were anArab tribal confederation that branched from theMudar group. The tribe may not have functioned as a unit inpre-Islamic Arabia (before 630). However, by the earlyUmayyad Caliphate (661-750), its constituent tribes consolidated into one of the main tribal political factions of the caliphate.

The major constituent tribes or tribal groupings of the Qays were theGhatafan,Hawazin,Amir,Thaqif,Sulaym,Ghani,Bahila andMuharib. Many of these tribes or their clans migrated from theArabian Peninsula and established themselves inJund Qinnasrin, the military district of the northernregion of Syria andUpper Mesopotamia, which long became their abode. From there they governed on behalf of the caliphs or rebelled against them. The power of the Qays as a unified group diminished with the rise of theAbbasid Caliphate, which did not derive its military strength solely from the Arab tribes. Nonetheless, individual Qaysi tribes remained a potent force and some migrated toNorth Africa andal-Andalus, where they carved out their power.

The full name of the tribal confederation isQays ʿAylān orQays ibn ʿAylān, though it is most frequently referred to simply asQays; occasionally inArabic poetry, it is referred to solely asʿAylān.^[1] Members of the Qays are referred to asal-Qaysĭyūn (sing.Qaysī), transliterated in English-language sources as "Qaysites" or "Kaisites".^[1] As an ethno-political group, the Qays are referred to in contemporary sources asal-Qaysīyya.^[1] Unlike most tribes of Arabia, the sources seldom use the termBanū (literally "sons of") when referring to the descendants of Qays.^[1]

Qays is the namesake andprogenitor of the confederation, and traditional Arabgenealogy holds that the father of Qays was a certain Aylan.^[1] According to the traditional genealogists, ʿAylān was the epithet ofal-Nās, a son ofMudar ibnNizar ibnMa'ad ibnAdnan. The theory that Aylan is the father of Qays is rejected byIbn Khaldun (d. 1406), a medieval historian of Arab tribes, and is indirectly rejected by other medieval Arab historians.^[1] Rather, Ibn Khaldun asserts that "Qays Aylan" is the epithet of al-Nas ibn Mudar ibn Nizar ibn Ma'ad ibn Adnan.^[1] These historians hold varying theories as to the origins of the "Aylan" part of the epithet; among these are that Aylan was either the name of al-Nas's famous horse, his dog, his bow, a mountain where he was said to have been born, or a man who raised him.^[1]

Qays was one of the two subdivisions of Mudar, the other being theKhindif (also known asal-Yās).^[2] As descendants of Mudar, the Qays are consideredAdnanites or "North Arabians";^[2] Arab tradition traces the descent of all Arab tribes to either Adnan orQahtan, father of the "South Arabians".^[3] By the dawn ofIslam in the mid-7th century, the descendants of Qays were so numerous and so significant a group that the termQaysī came to refer all North Arabians.^[3]

The Qays consisted of several branches, which were divided into further sub-tribes. The first-tier divisions, i.e. the sons of Qays, were Khasafa, Sa'd and Amr.^[4]

From Khasafa descended the large tribes ofHawazin andBanu Sulaym, both of whose founders were sons of Mansur ibn Ikrima ibn Khasafa, and theBanu Muharib, whose founder was the son of Ziyad ibn Khasafa.^[4] The Hawazin was a large tribal grouping that included several large sub-tribes.^[5] Among them were theBanu Amir, whoseprogenitor was Amir ibn Sa'sa' ibn Mu'awiya ibn Bakr ibn Hawazin, and theThaqif,^[5] whose progenitor was Qasi ibn Munabbih ibn Bakr ibn Hawazin.^[6] However, references to the Hawazin often excluded the Banu Amir and Thaqif, and were limited to the so-calledʿujz Hawāzin (the rear of Hawazin).^[5] The latter included the tribes ofBanu Jusham, Banu Nasr andBanu Sa'd, all of whose founders were sons or grandsons of Bakr ibn Hawazin.^[5] The Banu Sulaym was divided into three main divisions, Imru' al-Qays, Harith and Tha'laba.^[7]

Sa'd's sons A'sur andGhatafan each bore several sub-tribes. The largest sub-tribes of A'sur were theBanu Ghani, whose founder was a son of A'sur, and the Banu al-Tufawa, which consisted of the descendants of three other sons of A'sur, Tha'laba, Amir and Mu'awiya, who were half-brothers of Ghani; they were collectively called after their mother, al-Tufawa. TheBahila was the other large sub-tribe of A'sur, and its founders were the sons of a certain Bahila, who, at different times was the wife of two of A'sur's sons, Malik and Ma'n; there were many clans of the Bahila, the largest being the Banu Qutayba and Banu Wa'il.^[8] The largest sub-tribes of the Ghatafan were theBanu Dhubyan andBanu Abs, both of whose founders were sons of Baghid ibn Rayth ibn Ghatafan, and the Banu Ashja', whose founder was a son of Rayth ibn Ghatafan.^[9] From Banu Dhubyan came theFazara, whose founder was a son of Dhubyan, and theBanu Murra, whose founder was a son of 'Awf ibn Sa'd ibn Dhubyan.^[9]

The two main sub-tribes of the Amr branch were the banu Adwan and banu Fahm, both founded by sons of Amr.^[4]

According to Arab legend, the original homeland of the Qaysi tribes was in the low-lying areas of theTihamah along theHejaz (western Arabia).^[10] ByMuhammad's time (ca. 570 CE), the numerous branches of the Qays had spread to the areas southeast and northeast ofMecca, the region ofMedina, other areas in the Hejaz, the highlands of theNajd and theYamama (both in central Arabia),Bahrayn (eastern Arabia), and parts ofLower Mesopotamia where theLakhmids ruled.^[10] Like other Arabian groups, numerous Qaysi tribes migrated northward during and after theMuslim conquests.^[10] Qaysi tribes spread throughoutSyria andMesopotamia, particularly in the northern parts of those regions, in the provinces ofQinnasrin (aroundAleppo) andDiyar Mudar.^[11] However, they also had a presence aroundHoms,Damascus, theGhouta andHawran plains, theGolan Heights,Palestine,Transjordan (al-Balqa), and in the cities ofKufa andBasra.^[12]

By the 14th century, only remnants of the Qaysi tribes still lived in their central Arabian ancestral lands. Huge numbers of Qaysi tribesmen had made their dwelling places throughoutNorth Africa in a series of migratory waves.^[12] Among them were the Banu Sulaym inIfriqiya (central North Africa) andFes, the Adwan in Ifriqiya, the Fazara and Banu Rawah inCyrenaica,Tripolitania andFezzan, the Banu Ashja' inAlgeria andMorocco, theBanu Hilal (a sub-tribe of the Banu Amir) in Ifriqiya,Constantine andAnnaba and the Banu Jusham in Morocco.^[12]

According to A. Fischer, the recorded history of Qays, like most Arabian tribes, begins with their engagements in the pre-IslamicAyyām al-ʿArab (battle days of the Arabs), which Fischer refers to as the "epic of the Arabs".^[12] Qaysi tribes were involved in numerous battles and feuds, some of which were against non-Qaysi tribes, but the vast majority being intra-Qaysi conflicts.^[12] Historian W. Mongtomery Watt holds that in the history ofAyyam al-Arab, only individual Qaysi tribes were named, rather than the larger confederation.^[13] Accordingly, the Qays did not function as a unit in the pre-Islamic era.^[13] Among the most well-knownAyyam battles was theBattle of Shi'b Jabala between the Qaysi Amir, Abs, Ghani, Bahila andBajila on one side and the Qaysi Dhubyan and non-QaysiTamim,Banu Asad, Lakhmids andKindites on the other side.^[12] The long war ofDahis and al-Ghabra was fought between the Abs and Dhubyan.^[12] Like other central Arabian tribes, the Qays were part of theKindite Kingdom.^[12]

In the beginning, Qaysi tribes were hostile toMuhammad and hisIslamic teachings, which conflicted with theirpolytheistic religion.^[14] The Ghatafan and Sulaym, in particular, were in conflict with the Muslims in Medina in between 622 and 629.^[14] However, the Ashja' sub-tribe of Ghatafan had made an alliance with the Muslims in 627.^[14] By 630, the Sulaym and Ashja' had largely embraced Islam and backed Muhammad'sconquest of Mecca in 630.^[14] These tribes fought against their Hawazin kinsmen shortly after.^[14] By the time of Muhammad's death in 631, all Qaysi tribes had likely converted to Islam, but after his death, many if not most apostatized and fought the Muslims in theRidda Wars.^[14] The most active Qaysi tribe fighting against the Muslims was the Ghatafan, which attempted several times to capture Mecca before joining the anti-Islamic leader,Tulayha of the Banu Asad.^[14] The pagan Arab tribes were finally defeated in theBattle of Buzakha, after which they once again returned to Islam and submitted to the Muslim state based in Medina.^[14]

After the Ridda Wars, Qaysi tribesmen played an important part in theMuslim conquests ofPersia underal-Muthanna al-Shaybani and theLevant.^[14] During CaliphUthman's reign (644–656), the governor of Syria,Mu'awiya I, brought numerous Qaysi tribesmen from theBanu Kilab,Banu Uqayl (both sub-tribes of the Banu Amir) and the Sulaym to inhabitUpper Mesopotamia, northern Syria and the frontier region with theByzantine Empire andArmenia.^[15] Qaysi tribesmen largely fought on the side ofAli against his rivals withinQuraysh at theBattle of the Camel in 656 and against Mu'awiya in theBattle of Siffin in 657, respectively.^[14]

Mu'awiya I founded theUmayyad Caliphate in 661. Between then and the Umayyads' collapse in 750, the Qays formed one of the main political and military components of the Caliphate.^[14] Their main antagonist were theYamani tribes, led by theBanu Kalb. Other than competition for political, military and economic power, there was an ethnic component that defined theQays–Yaman rivalry; the Qays were "northern Arabs" while the Yaman were "southern Arabs".^[14] Mu'awiya and his son and successorYazid I relied militarily and politically on the Kalb to the chagrin of the Qays.^[14] When Yazid and his successorMu'awiya II died in relatively quick succession in 683 and 684, respectively, the Qays refused to recognize Umayyad authority. The Kalb and their Yamani allies essentially selectedMarwan I to succeed Mu'awiya II, while the Qays largely joined the rebel cause ofAbd Allah ibn al-Zubayr.^[14] Fighting in the latter's name, the Qaysi tribes of Amir, Sulaym and Ghatafan underal-Dahhak ibn Qays al-Fihri fought Marwan I and the Yamani faction at theBattle of Marj Rahit in 684.^[14] The Qays were severely routed, leading to years of revenge-driven tit-for-tat raids between the Qays and Yaman.

After Marj Rahit, the Qays came under the leadership ofZufar ibn al-Harith al-Kilabi andUmayr ibn al-Hubab al-Sulami.^[14] From their respective strongholds inal-Qarqisiya andRas al-Ayn they tenaciously fought against the Yaman and resisted Umayyad authority.^[14] Most battles against the Kalb were fought in the desert between Syria andIraq.^[16] Umayr also entangled the Qays against theTaghlib, and the two sides fought several battles near theKhabur,Balikh andTigris rivers.^[16] Umayr was killed by the Taghlib in 689 and Zufar submitted to Umayyad authority under CaliphAbd al-Malik in 691 in return for a high place in the Umayyad court.^[16] The Qays were strong partisans of the powerful Umayyad governorsal-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf of Thaqif andQutayba ibn Muslim of Bahila.^[16] The Qays dominated the Umayyad government during the reigns ofYazid II andWalid II.^[16] As a result, the Yaman revolted against and killed Walid II, who was then replaced by Yazid III, who entirely depended on the Yaman.^[16] The Qays found a new patron in the Umayyad princeMarwan II, who wrested the Caliphate from Yazid III and relocated the Umayyad capital from Damascus toHarran in Qaysi territory.^[16] The Qays were Marwan's principal military source in theBattle of the Zab in 750, in which Marwan was killed; shortly after, the Umayyad realm entirely fell to theAbbasid Caliphate.^[16] The Qays were not able to recover from the huge losses they suffered during the late Umayyad period, and their political role, though present, was not of significant consequence during the ensuing Abbasid era.^[16]

• Qays
• Tribes of Arabia
• Tribes of Saudi Arabia

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