Al-Nawfali
A family name (nisba) attributed to Banū Nawfal b. ʿAbd Manāf of Quraysh; Nawfal is a repeated personal name, and the written nisba does not say which Nawfal is meant.
- Type
- Tribal nisba
- Attributed to
- Banū Nawfal b. ʿAbd Manāf, a clan of Quraysh (Mecca)
- Root
- n-f-l
Overview
Al-Nawfali (al-Nawfalī) is attributed to Banū Nawfal b. ʿAbd Manāf b. Quṣayy, brother of Hāshim, a clan of Quraysh at Mecca in Ibn Ḥazm and al-Qalqashandī. The root is n-f-l: in Lisān al-ʿArab nafal is a gift or a share of spoils and nāfila an addition freely given, and nawfal is glossed as the open-handed man, and also as a name for the sea.
Names easily confused
Nawfal is one of the personal names the genealogists repeat often, and the nisba follows the man, not only the clan. The sources record men named Nawfal inside other clans of Quraysh, and others in Kināna and beyond it; a family called al-Nawfalī after such an ancestor is not thereby of Banū Nawfal b. ʿAbd Manāf. Written without a chain, the form does not distinguish them.
Bearing the name
A tribal nisba records what a family is called, not who its ancestors were. It may follow descent (ṣarīḥ), alliance (ḥilf) or clientage (walāʾ), and only a family's own documented record tells those apart.
Sources
- ابن منظور، لسان العرب، 711هـ — مادة: نفل
- ابن حزم، جمهرة أنساب العرب، 456هـ — في ولد عبد مناف، وفي كنانة
This page is an educational, historical reference compiled from published sources.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: 2026-09-07