Banī Mudlij

Overview

Mudlij is reckoned to ʿAbd Manāt ibn Kināna, through Murra in the chain Ibn Ḥazm gives, though the sources differ over the intermediate name. Its diyār are recorded on the Tihāma coast toward Yanbuʿ. It matters to a genealogy reference for one reason above all others: the qāfa of Mudlij, the men called on to judge a child's paternity by physical resemblance, are named so consistently in the classical literature that qiyāfa and Mudlij are nearly a single entry, and Surāqa ibn Mālik is counted among them. That is recorded here as a historical practice and not as a method — resemblance establishes nothing about descent, and nothing in this reference treats it as evidence. The root d-l-j in Lisān al-ʿArab is travelling by night, the idlāj, and the name is understood from it. 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.