Mutayr

Mutayr (Arabic: مطير‎‎; also spelled Mutair,Mutir and Mtayr other : Al-Mutairi) is one of the largest predominantly Sunni Arab tribes in the Arabian Peninsula, especially Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. The traditional leaders (or "shaykhs") of Mutayr are the Doshan clan (singular "Dewish").

Ahmad al-Qalqashandi who died in 1418 stated that Mutair tribe belongs to Ghatfan who are descendants of Ishmael son of Abraham (the father of Arabs). John Gordon Lorimer (1870-1914), an official of the Indian Civil Service and other historians of Mutayr noted that the main branches of Mutayr today are Banu Abdullah, Al-'Olwa (also spelled 'Llwah), and Braih.

Mutayr's original homelands were the highlands of northern Hejaz near Medina and Najd. At some point in the 17th century, however, the tribe began a large-scale migration eastwards into northern Nejd, displacing many other bedouin tribes in the area, such as Harb and 'Anizzah who were forced to move northwards after. By the 20th century, Mutayr's tribal lands extended from the highlands east of Medina, through the region of Al-Qasim, to the borders of Kuwait. A rivalry developed between Mutayr and Harb, who inhabited roughly the same areas as Mutayr, as well as with 'Utaybah, who had just moved into northern Nejd from Hejaz.

Because Mutayr were the dominant nomadic tribe of Al-Qaseem, which was the main bone of contention between the clans of Al Saud and Al Rashid vying for control of Nejd in the early 20th century, Mutayr came to play an important role in the history of Arabia during that era. Mutayr, then, was led by Faisal Al-Dewish, who frequently changed sides in the conflict between the two Nejdi leaders. In 1912, the ruler of Riyadh, Abdul Aziz Ibn Saud undertook to settle the nomads of his realm in newly created villages (hijras), where the bedouins were to be indoctrinated into a puritanical form of Islam and become warriors for Ibn Saud's cause. These new forces were known as the Ikhwan ("Brotherhood"), and Faisal Al-Dewish had led the Ikhwan movement enthusiastically, providing Ibn Saud with crucial military support. The most important Mutayri settlement was al-Artawiyya, at the northern edge of the Dahna desert.

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