Al-Absi
A family name (nisba) to ʿAbs of Ghaṭafān — the tribe of the pre-Islamic poet ʿAntara ibn Shaddād.
- Type
- Tribal nisba
- Attributed to
- ʿAbs (Ghaṭafān, under Muḍar)
- Best-known bearer
- ʿAntara ibn Shaddād al-ʿAbsī
Overview
Al-Absi (al-ʿAbsī) is the nisba of ʿAbs, reckoned by the genealogists to Ghaṭafān under Muḍar, with its remembered range in Najd. It is among the most frequent tribal nisbas in the early literature, carried above all by ʿAntara ibn Shaddād al-ʿAbsī, the pre-Islamic poet and horseman. It is borne today in Arabia, Iraq, the Levant and Yemen.
Descent, alliance, clientage
When an early work calls a man al-ʿAbsī it may mean a member of the tribe by descent (ṣarīḥ) or a mawlā attached to it by clientage (walāʾ) — and the two are distinguished only where the source knows. Alliances (ḥilf) among the tribes of Ghaṭafān likewise moved names between groups. For all three reasons the nisba records an attachment to ʿAbs rather than a demonstrated line of descent, and families should verify their own documented lineage.
Sources
- ابن حزم الأندلسي، جمهرة أنساب العرب، 456هـ — أنساب عبس من غطفان؛ يُراجَع ويُوثَّق قبل إثبات التفاصيل
- القلقشندي، نهاية الأرب في معرفة أنساب العرب، 821هـ — باب غطفان وما تفرّع عنها
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Last reviewed: 2026-08-31