Banu Uqayl

Banu Uqayl (Arabic: بنو عُـقَـيـْل‎‎) are an ancient Arab tribe that played an important role in the history of eastern Arabia and Iraq. They belonged to the Banu Ka'b branch of the large Banu 'Amir confederation.

The Banu 'Amir confederation of tribes had their original homeland in western Arabia, on the border between Hejaz and Najd. The 'Uqayl branch moved southwards and settled in the large valley known as "al-'Aqiq" (modern day Wadi al-Dawasir), which they later claimed was granted to them by the Muslim prophet Muhammad. During the Abbasid era, most of the Banu 'Amir moved from Najd into Iraq and Syria. The Uqaylids were among the last to leave, settling on the banks of the Euphrates. There a section of the tribe founded the Uqaylid dynasty, which controlled Mosul and other regions of northern Mesopotamia, though remaining largely nomadic. When the Uqaylid dynasty was brought down, three large Uqaylid tribes, the Khafajah, 'Ubadah, and Muntafiq, settled in southern Iraq and remain there to the present day.

Another section of the Uqayl, possibly coming from Iraq, according to Ibn Khaldun, took over the deserts of eastern Arabia, around the al-Hasa oasis. There they allied themselves with the Qarmatians, like many other Banu Amir groups. The Qarmatians fell to the Uyunid dynasty, a sedentary Arab clan from al-Ahsa, in 1076. In the mid-13th centuries, one Uqaylid clan leader, 'Usfur ibn Rashid, deposed the 'Uyunids, and founded the 'Usfurid dynasty, which lasted until 1330. The area was then taken over by the Shi'ite Jarwanid clan based in Qatif.

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