Banī Ghifār

Overview

Ghifār is reckoned within Kināna — Ghifār ibn Mulayl ibn Ḍamra ibn Bakr ibn ʿAbd Manāt ibn Kināna, in the chain Ibn Ḥazm gives — which places it under Muḍar. Its diyār are recorded along the road between Mecca and Medina, at the waters on that route, and the early narratives keep it there. The sources reckon Abū Dharr al-Ghifārī to it, which is why the nisba is met far more often than the tribe itself. The root gh-f-r in Lisān al-ʿArab is covering over and concealing, whence the mighfar, the mail hood worn under the helmet; the genealogists, though, take the tribal name from the ancestor and not from the word. This page describes a historical tribe and makes no claim about any modern family.

On lineage

Branch lists and affiliations here are given as reported by the classical genealogists, who themselves disagree. Nothing on this page establishes any living family's descent: a shared name may reflect descent, alliance (ḥilf) or clientage (walāʾ), and the sources usually say which only when they know.