Ḍabba

Overview

Ḍabba ibn Udd ibn Ṭābikha is reckoned by the genealogists to Muḍar, in the same stem that is said to yield Tamīm: Tamīm is recorded as Tamīm ibn Murr ibn Udd, so the two are placed as close cousins rather than as parent and branch — a distinction casual writing loses constantly. Its diyār are given in Najd, and sections of it are afterwards recorded in the garrison towns of Iraq, where much of its poetry and akhbār was collected. The name is the ordinary word for the ḍabb, the desert lizard, and belongs to the large class of Arab tribal names taken from animals. On its relation to al-Ribāb the sources differ: some count Ḍabba among the confederates, others place it beside them as an ally. This page describes a historical tribe and makes no statement 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.