Al-Darai
A family name (nisba) to al-Duruʿ of the Omani interior; the same written form is also a territorial nisba, so it is not confined to that tribe.
- Type
- Tribal nisba, and separately a territorial one
- Attributed to
- Al-Durūʿ (the Omani interior); or Darʿah in the Maghrib
- Form
- Reverts to the singular: al-Durūʿ gives al-Darʿī
Overview
Al-Darai (al-Darʿī, also written al-Duraie) is the nisba of al-Durūʿ, a tribe recorded in the interior of Oman, in the country between the settled oases and the sands running toward the Empty Quarter. The nisba reverts to the singular, as Arabic usage requires when a tribal name is itself a plural: al-Durūʿ gives al-Darʿī, not al-Durūʿī — which is why the family name and the tribe name do not look alike at first sight.
A form that arises more than once
Al-dirʿ is an ordinary word — the lexicographers give it as the coat of mail, with a woman's shift on the same root — and Yāqūt records Darʿah, a town of the far Maghrib whose nisba takes this same form. A name so written may therefore be territorial and carry no connection to the Omani tribe at all. Where one nisba has more than one origin the name alone settles nothing; and even on the tribal reading, a man may hold a tribal name by alliance (ḥilf) or clientage (walāʾ) as well as by direct descent (ṣarīḥ). Families should verify their own documented lineage.
Sources
- ابن منظور، لسان العرب، 711هـ — مادة: درع — الدِّرْع لَبوس الحديد، ودِرْع المرأة قميصها
- ياقوت الحموي، معجم البلدان، 626هـ — مادة: دَرْعة — للنسبة البلدية
- الحسن الهمداني، صفة جزيرة العرب، 334هـ — في ذكر عُمان وبلادها؛ يُراجَع ويُوثَّق قبل إثبات التفاصيل
This page is an educational, historical reference compiled from published sources. It is not an authority on lineage. Where sources differ, we report the difference without taking a position. Corrections are welcome via our contact page.
Last reviewed: 2026-08-31