Nasab Maadd wa al-Yaman al-Kabir

Nasab Maadd wa al-Yaman al-Kabir (The Great Genealogy of Ma'add and Yemen) is an early genealogical work by the Arab historian and genealogist Ibn al-Kalbi (d. 204 AH / 819 CE), covering the lineages of Northern (Adnanite/Ma'addite) and Southern (Qahtanite/Yamanite) Arab tribes Akhbar Qabail al-Khazraj+1.

Identification and Transmission

The book is closely identified in bio-bibliographical sources with Ibn al-Kalbi's major genealogical works, often referenced as al-Nasab al-Kabir (or al-Manzil) alongside Jamharat al-Nasab Tabaqat al-Nassabin+1. In the surviving manuscript tradition, a primary copy bearing the title Nasab Maadd wa al-Yaman al-Kabir is preserved in the library of El Escorial (MS 1698), dedicated primarily to the genealogies of the Yamanite tribes Jamharat al-Nasab - Ibn a…+1.

Scholars and editors have evaluated its relationship to Ibn al-Kalbi's other genealogical texts in different ways:

• Several researchers and editors, including Naji Hasan, treated the Escorial text of Nasab Maadd wa al-Yaman al-Kabir as the missing complementary second part of Jamharat al-Nasab (the first part of which, covering the Adnanite lines, is preserved in the British Museum MS Add 23297) Jamharat al-Nasab - Ibn a…+1. The orientalist Werner Caskel similarly treated the two manuscript parts as a single work in his two-volume study published in Leiden Tabaqat al-Nassabin.
• Other scholars, such as Bakr Abu Zayd, distinguished al-Nasab al-Kabir (or Maadd wa al-Yaman al-Kabir) from Jamharat al-Nasab, arguing that comparing surviving abridgments of the Jamhara reveals differences in arrangement and structure Tabaqat al-Nassabin.

Scope and Content

Ibn al-Kalbi compiled the book drawing extensively upon the materials gathered by his father, Muhammad ibn al-Sa'ib al-Kalbi, from tribal genealogists, synthesizing and organizing oral traditions into systematic tribal lineages Akhbar Qabail al-Khazraj. The text charts detailed genealogical descent, sub-tribes, notable figures, chieftains, pre-Islamic and early Islamic biographical notes, marital alliances, and historical events across the two major branches of the Arabs Akhbar Qabail al-Khazraj+1:

• Ma'add (Northern Arabs): Tracing the descendants of Mudar and Rabi'a, including tribes such as Kinana, Asad ibn Khuzayma, Hudhayl, Tamim, Qays 'Aylan, Ghatafan, Hawazin, Thaqif, and Iyad al-Fihrist.
• Yemen (Southern Arabs): Tracing the Qahtanite lineages, including Kinda, al-Sakun, 'Amila, Judham, Khawlan, Ma'afir, Madhhij, Tayy', Hamdan, al-Azd (encompassing al-Aws, al-Khazraj, and Khuza'a), Ghassan, Bajila, Khath'am, Himyar, and Quda'a branches such as Bali, Kalb, Juhayna, 'Udhra, and Mahra Mawsuat al-Qabail al-Arab…+1.

Reception and Influence

The work served as a fundamental source for subsequent classical historians, genealogists, and hadith scholars Akhbar Qabail al-Khazraj+1. Authors such as Ibn Sa'd, al-Baladhuri, al-Daraqutni, Ibn Hazm, and Abd al-Mu'min ibn Khalaf al-Dimyati cited Ibn al-Kalbi's data extensively for tribal identifications, companion lineages, and biographical verification, occasionally adding corrections or commentary on specific lineages Akhbar Qabail al-Khazraj+1.

Printed Editions

The work has been published in modern editions, including:

• An edition in two volumes edited by Naji Hasan (Beirut: 'Alam al-Kutub, 1408 AH / 1988 CE; reissued 2004 CE) Akhbar Qabail al-Khazraj+2.
• An edition edited by Mahmud Firdaws al-'Azm, introduced by Rooks ibn Za'id al-'Azizi (Damascus/Beirut) Akhbar Qabail al-Khazraj+1.