Al-Zubaidi
One spelling for two separate nisbas: to Zubayd, a Madhhiji tribe, and to Zabid, the town of the Yemeni Tihama.
- Type
- Tribal nisba, and separately a territorial one
- Attributed to
- Zubayd of Madhḥij; or the town of Zabīd (Tihāma)
- Note
- The two are told apart by vowelling, not by spelling
Overview
Al-Zubaidi is written the same way for two names the sources keep apart, and the difference between them is one of vowelling. Al-Zubaydī is the nisba of Zubayd, a tribe reckoned to Madhḥij and so to the Qaḥṭānī line as the genealogists report it; recorded in Yemen, and reported afterwards in Iraq as well. Al-Zabīdī is the nisba of Zabīd, the town of the Yemeni Tihāma and long a centre of learning; it is a territorial nisba borne by scholars, with no tribal attribution in it at all.
Which of the two a family holds
Unpointed script does not separate them, and Latin spelling separates them less still, so a bearer cannot read an origin off the name: one answers where a family is from, the other whom it is reckoned to, and these are different questions. Even where the tribal reading is the right one, the name alone establishes no line — 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
- الحسن الهمداني، صفة جزيرة العرب، 334هـ — في ذكر مذحج وزبيد؛ يُراجَع ويُوثَّق قبل إثبات التفاصيل
- ياقوت الحموي، معجم البلدان، 626هـ — مادة: زَبيد — للنسبة البلدية
This page is an educational, historical reference compiled from published sources.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