Kalb

Banu Kalb
Yamani
Nisba	Kalbī
Location	Syrian Desert, Wadi Sirhan, Dumat al-Jandal, Palmyra, Homs
Descended from	Kalb ibn Wabara
Religion	Monophysite Christianity (up to late 7th century) Islam (post 630s)

The Banu Kalb or Kalb ibn Wabara was an Arab tribe. Prior to the Muslim conquest of Syria in the 630s, the Kalb's territory spanned much of northwestern Arabia, the Palmyrene steppe, the Samawah (desert between Palmyra and the Euphrates), the Hawran plain and the Golan Heights. One of their main centers was the desert town of Dumat al-Jandal. The Kalb became involved in the tribal affairs in the eastern frontiers of the Byzantine Empire since the 4th century and were likely the tribe of Mavia, the Bedouin queen of southern Syria. By the 6th century, the Kalb had largely become Monophysite Christians and came under the military authority of the Ghassanids, Arab vassals of the Byzantines.

During the lifetime of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, a number of his close companions were Kalb tribesmen, such as Zayd ibn Harithah and Dihya al-Kalbi, but the bulk of the tribe remained Christian at the time of Muhammad's death in 632. The Kalb formed political and marital ties with the Umayyad family, and were the main source of military and political power during the reigns of the Umayyad caliphs Mu'awiyah I, Yazid I, Mu'awiyah II and Marwan I. It was during early Umayyad rule, that the Kalb became a chief belligerent in the long-running Qays–Yaman feud, being the leading tribe of the Yaman. Under their leadership, the Yaman dealt a heavy blow to the Qays in the Battle of Marj Rahit in 684. By then, the Kalb were largely concentrated in the steppe around Hims and Palmyra, but were driven out of the Samawah in the late 680s by the Qays.

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