| Banu Tayy | |
|---|---|
| Kahlanite Arab tribe | |
 Banner of the Tayy from the Battle of Siffin. | |
| Nisba | Arabic: الطائي, romanized: Aṭ-Ṭāʾī |
| Location | 2nd century CE–10th century: Jabal Tayy and Syrian Desert 10th century–16th century: Jabal Tayy, Syrian Desert, Jibal al-Sharat, al-Balqa, Palmyrene Steppe, Upper Mesopotamia, Northern Hejaz, Najd |
| Descended from | Julhumah ibn 'Udad ibn Malik ibn 'Udad ibn Zaid |
| Parent tribe | Madhhaj |
| Branches |
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| Religion | Polytheism (pre-630) Miaphysite Christianity (pre-638) Islam (post 630) |
The Tayy (Arabic: طيء/ALA-LC: Ṭayyi’), (Musnad: 𐩷𐩺), also known as Ṭayyi, Tayyaye, or Taiyaye, are a large and ancient Arab tribe, among whose descendants today are the tribes of Bani Sakher and Shammar. The nisba (patronymic) of Tayy is aṭ-Ṭāʾī (ٱلطَّائِي). In the second century CE, they migrated to the northern Arabian ranges of the Shammar and Salma Mountains, which then collectively became known as the Jabal Tayy, and later Jabal Shammar. The latter continues to be the traditional homeland of the tribe until the present day. They later established relations with the Sasanian and Byzantine empires.
Though traditionally allied with the Sasanian client state of the Lakhmids, the Tayy supplanted them as the rulers of al-Hirah in the 610s. In the late sixth century, the Fasad War split the Tayy, with members of its Jadila branch converting to Christianity and migrating to Syria where they became allied with the Ghassanids, and the Ghawth branch remaining in Jabal Tayy. A chieftain and poet of the Al Ghawth, Hatim al-Ta'i, is widely known among Arabs until today.
Adi ibn Hatim and another Tayy chieftain, Zayd al-Khayr, converted to Islam together with much of their tribe in 629–630, and became companions of the Prophet. The Tayy participated in several Muslim military campaigns after Muhammad's death, including in the Ridda Wars and the Muslim conquest of Persia. Al-Jadila in northern Syria remained Christian until the Muslim conquest of the Levant in 638.
The Tayy were split during the First Fitna, with those based in Arabia and Iraq supporting Ali as caliph and those in Syria supporting Mu'awiya. The latter and his Umayyad kinsmen ultimately triumphed and members of the Tayy participated in the Umayyad conquest of Sindh in the early eighth century. Nonetheless, a branch of the Tayy under Qahtaba ibn Shabib al-Ta'i were among the leaders of the Abbasid Revolution which toppled the Umayyads in the mid-eighth century. The Tayy fared well under the Abbasid Caliphate, producing military officials and renowned poets such as Buhturi and Abu Tammam.
By the mid-9th century, Abbasid authority had eroded and the Tayy were left dominant in the southern Syrian Desert and Jabal Tayy. Under the Jarrahids, they established themselves in Palestine under Fatimid rule. As the virtually independent rulers of the area between Ramla and Jabal Tayy, they controlled the key routes between Egypt, Syria, Arabia and Iraq. They vacillated between the Fatimids and the Byzantines and then between the Seljuks and Crusaders until the late 12th and early 13th centuries, when the Tayy's various subbranches, chief among them the Al Fadl, were left as the last politically influential Arab tribe in the region extending from Najd northward to Upper Mesopotamia.