Al-Zayadina

Al-Zayadina (singular: Zaydani or Zidany, also known as Banu Zaydan) were an Arab clan based in the Levant with possible origins in the Hejaz. They were well known for being the clan of Zahir al-Umar, who ruled a semi-autonomous sheikhdom in the Galilee and other parts of Palestine in the 18th century. They were Sunni Muslims and affiliated with the Qaysi tribal alliance.

According to historian Ahmad Hasan Joudah, the origins of the Zaydani clan are obscure, but that they were certainly of Arab stock. Members of the clan claim descent from Zayd, the son of Hasan ibn Ali and grandson of Ali, the fourth caliph of Islam. However, historians Mikha'il Sabbagh and Isa al-Ma'luf assert that the clan's ancestor was a man named Zaydan, hence their name Zaydani (pl. Zayadinah). Several historians believe the clan was originally from the Hejaz, and that they migrated to the Levant during Saladin's conquest of the region in the late 12th century.

During the early Ottoman era (1517-1917), members of the Zaydani clan lived in the vicinity of Maarrat al-Nu'man, a city on the main road between Damascus and Aleppo. They were a semi-nomadic and relatively small clan of roughly fifty people and as such were under the protection of the larger Banu Asad tribe, according to Sabbagh. However, Joudah notes there was no tribe in Syria at the time known as the Banu Asad. Sabbagh maintains that from their base near Maarrat al-Nu'man, the Zayadina cultivated lucrative relationships with merchants from Aleppo and Damascus and the sheikh (chief) of the clan grew wealthy enough to become a target of their Banu Asad protectors. The Zayadina were attacked by the latter and moved southward, eventually settling in Tiberias in the eastern Galilee.

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