Banu Bakr

The Banu Bakr bin Wa'il (Arabic: بنو بكر بن وائل Banū Bakr ibn Wā'il), or simply Banu Bakr, today known as Bani Bakr is an Arabian tribe belonging to the large Rabi'ah, a branch of Adnanite tribe. It is registered as one of the oldest and most ancient Arab gatherings. The tribe is reputed to have engaged in many of the major wars of pre-Islamic Arabia, including the Basus War and the First Battle of Kulab. They also defeated the Sasanian Empire at the Battle of Dhi Qar.

The Banu Bakr tribe along with their cousins Taghlib are under the name Bani Bakr. Most of them today live in Arabia in Najd, north Hejaz, north of the Arabian peninsula and a small amount across the rest of the Middle East.

The pre-Islamic poet Tarafah was a Bakri.

Bakr Bin Wael was the oldest son for Wael from his Bakry wife. They come from a lineage of an Arab clan that named their first born sons Bakr in reference to their ancestor Bakr the Patriarch. Since young age, Wael and his brothers, set their sons to be desert warriors. Due to his fine and master characteristics, Wael put his son Bakr in charge of the clan. Bakr was a sleek horseman yet strong enough to travel long distances. As Bakr got older, he was able to form a fighting force along with his family members and other Arabs into a nomadic federation just as Wael advised. Bakr himself started a war clan along with Anizah and Banu Hanifa and few other Arab tribes. They seized the waterways and fought for their cattle's grazeland. They produced dairy and exported wool. They put up traveler caravans and did well at trade and transportation across Arabia; especially between Hejaz and Mesopotamia. Basically they stationed near Hafar al-Batin and used that region as a permanent camp ground. Later on in life, as the clan grew larger in numbers, they became known as Banu Bakr bin Wael since he started his own dynasty in Iraq; disengaging from the father tribe in Hejaz and its sheikhdom authority Banu Bakr ibn Abd Manat.

Banu Bakr's original lands were in Najd, in central Arabia, but most of the tribe's bedouin sections migrated northwards before Islam after winning the Battle of Dhi Qar against the Sasanian Empire, and settled in the area of Upper Mesopotamia, on the upper Euphrates. Later on they pushed against the Persians eastward and managed to conquer the Tigris banks as well; where they gained a foothold of the whole Mesopotamia territory. It won't be long before they headed northwards and reached the Anatolian Valley and the Caucasus. That's where the region of Diyar Bakr, and later the city of Diyarbakır in southern Turkey take their names from; Banu Bakr. Old sources mentioned that their cattle grazed in Bakuriani during the warm summer seasons as well.

The tribe is distinct from their distant cousins Bani Bakr ibn Abd Manat of Tihamah, who lived in the Hejaz and the costal area and had important interactions with Prophet Muhammad.

The nomadic tribe converted to Sunni Islam during the Umayyad and Abbasid eras in the 8th century. They had feud with many Shia tribes of southern Iraq, especially over the water ways, which went on until the Siege of Baghdad. In late 1257, as the Mongolian army marched towards Baghdad, Banu Bakr, just like the rest of Sunni Arab tribes, has had already retreated southwest towards inner Arabia along the first exiting caravan. They had a few months head up on the Mongolian attack thus surviving the entire war while on the move. They were never able to recover their losses from the Mongolian blow by Hulegu Khan which dried up their lands thus driving them along with their cattle out of Mesopotamia. Most of them ended up resettling in the Hauran region where they reside until this day.

The Bakry concept belongs to those who were born to the Bakr tribe. The legend Bakr comes from Pre-Islamic Arabia. It is a lineage of Arab nomads who descend from one man, Bakr the Patriarch, that birthed off his own dynasty. Thus, they're referred to as the Bakr Clan; Banu Bakr (sons of Bakr)).