Nisbat (onomastics)

Adding a nisbat (Arabic: نسبة‎ nisbah "relation") is the practice of adding a specifier as part of an Arabic name, indicating the person's place of origin, tribal affiliation or ancestry.

The practice has been adopted in Iranian names, where the nisbat sometimes became a surname.

Original use

Main article: Arabic grammar#Nisba

A nisba "relation" is a grammatical term referring to the suffixation of masculine -iyy, feminine -iyyah to a word to make it an adjective. As an example, the word ‘Arabiyy (عربي) means "Arab, related to Arabic, Arabian". Nisbated forms are very common in Arabic names.

Use in onomastics

Arabic names do not include family names or surnames, but rather patronymics (nasab), where the name of the person is followed by the name of his father, usually linked by ibn or bin ('son'). Patronymics may be long as they may include all known forefathers. When a name is simplified to one or two ancestors, it may become confused with other persons' names, so an additional specifier, a nisbat, may be added as an attribute.

A nisba is usually prefixed by al ('the') and may be to almost anything:

Nisba to a place

• Al Baghdadi, related to the city of Baghdad. ex. Al-Khatib al-Baghdadi, Junayd al-Baghdadi.
• Al Masri, related to Egypt. ex. Taher al-Masri, Abu Hamza al-Masri.
• Al Hijazi, related to the region of Hijaz in Saudi Arabia. ex. Amal Hijazi, Farouk Hijazi.

Nisba to a tribe of clan

• Al Tamimi, from the tribe or clan of Bani Tamim. ex. Modher Sadeq-Saba al-Tamimi, Talib al-Suhail al-Tamimi, Alaa al-Tamimi.
• Al Qurashi, from the tribe or clan of Quraish. ex. ibn Kathir Al-Qurashi, Abû 'Uthmân Sa'îd ibn Hakam al Qurashi.
• Al Ta'i, from the tribe of Tai'. ex. Hatem at-Ta'i.

Nisba to a person

• Al Maliki, related to Malik ibn Anas. ex. Nouri al-Maliki.
• Al Farouqi, related to Farooq the Great. ex. Ismail al-Faruqi.

Multiple nisba

One can have more than one nisba, one can be related to a city, a clan, a profession and a person at the same time. Examples include:

• Ali ibn Abi-Hazm al-Qarshi al-Dimashqi, from the tribe of Quraish and from Damascus (Dimashq).
• Abd al-Qahir ibn Tahir al-Tamimi al-Shaffi al-Baghdadi, from the tribe of Bani Tamim, from the city of Baghdad and a follower of Muhammad ibn Idris ash-Shafi`i.

The nisba is optional but is quite widespread.

Examples

• Ansari — from Ansar, Medina people who helped prophet Muhammad
• Tabataba'i — someone who has two Seyyed as parents
• Bukhari — someone born in Bukhara
• Hanbali — someone following Hanbali Madhhab
• Thalabi

See also

• Kunya (Arabic)

References