Tribes and Tribalism: Butayna Tribe

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TRIBES AND TRIBALISM: BUTAYNA TRIBE

One of two major factions within the Sibaʿa (also Asbiʿa) tribe of Syria.

The Sibaʿa is a major tribe of the Anaza confederation of tribes. The other faction is al-Abda tribe. Both factions were divided into clans. Those clans spend the summer season north of al-Salamiyya in Syria, to the east of Hama, and also east of Homs.

The Sibaʿa tribe as a whole numbered about 4,000 households (bayt) in the early 1930s. A bayt or khayma (tent) numbered about 5 persons, according to the Ottoman Salname (yearbook). Thus the Sibaʿa would total 20,000 persons. It is not known what percentage of this total the Butayna tribe represented.

abdul-karim rafeq

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