Al-Ḫibā’

Authors: Roland Laffitte, Susanne M Hoffmann, Youla Azkarrula

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a bedouin tent in Mauretania, CC BY SMH 2008

Northern Tent constellation, identification and original image (CC BY Khalid Al-Ajaji for WGSN 2025).

al-Ḫibā’ (الخِباء), al-Khiba, theTent is an Arabian name. Qutayba, Qazwīnī, al-Ṣūfī and Miṣrī refer to different tent constellations (Laffitte (2012, 2025)). They defined a Northern Tent and a Southern Tent.

Concordance, Etymology, History

Spelling & Name Variants

Variants in Romanisation

• al-Ḥibā’
• Alkhiba
• al-Khiba
• al-Chiba
• Alchiba

Variants Name & Meaning

الخِباء	al-Ḫibā’	the Tent	Qutayba
الخِباء الشّامیَة	al-Ḫibā’ [al-Šāmiyya]	the [northern] Tent	al-Ṣūfī	10th c.
الخِباء الیمانی	al-Ḫibā’ al-Yamānī	the Yemenite [= Southern] Tent	al-Ṣūfī	10th c.
الخِباء	al-Ḫibā’	the [northern] Tent	Qazwīnī	13th c.
سَعْدُ الخِبَاء	Saᶜd al-Ḫiba’	the Lucky [star] of the Tent	Miṣrī	14th c.

• al-Ḫibā’ (الخِباء), "The Tent" refers to the same constellation as "The Northern Tent"
• al-Ḫibā’ al-Yamānī, the "Yemenite Tent" is then the southern counterpart,
• Saᶜd al-Ḫiba’, the Lucky Tent is yet another constellation

Sources and Identification (AlAjaji 2025)

Original	Translation	Map Adams (2018)	Map AlAjaji	Map Laffitte (2025)
لسانُ العرَب، باب الواو والياء المعُتَل فصَل الخاء المعُجَمةُ al-ʿarab, Lisān
	al-Ḫibāʾ (الِخَبــاء) is a tent made of camel wool or sheep’s wool, never of goat hair. It usually stands on two or three poles; anything larger than that is called a بيْت (large tent).		Al-Ḫibāʾ1: Southern Tent (uي ز اليمُا الخباء), alḪibāʾ alYamānī in Corvus (CC BY Khalid AlAjaji).	Arabian constellation of The Yemenite Tent (CC BY Laffitte 2025).
al-Ṣūfī: Lucky Tent
	Saʿd al-Aḫbiya (“Saad of the Tents”), the twenty-fifth of the lunar stations. It was given this name because it consists of four stars: three form a triangle, and one lies at the center of that triangle — the eleventh star [of Aquarius]. They considered the central one Saʿd, and the three surrounding it like the tent that shelters Saʿd.		Al-Ḫibāʾ2: Saʿd al-AḪbiya, in Aquarius (CC BY Khalid AlAjaji).
Al-Ṣūfī (d. 376H/986): Northern Tent
	In the region of the sky surrounded by this constellation (referring to the constellation of Auriga), along with the head of the Great Bear, Polaris, and the constellation Cassiopeia, there is an area with no bright star, nor any reported by Ptolemy except for the two at the head of Auriga. This area contains countless stars, densely packed together. In its center are stars of fifth and sixth magnitude, the Tent because they resemble the shape of a (الخِِبََاءُُ) which the Arabs call al-Ḫibāʾ tent. The two stars at the head of this constellation are considered part of al-Ḫibāʾ.		It is evident from the description that al-Ḫibāʾ (الخِِبََاء) refers to a region of the sky encompassing numerous stars, including the two on the head of Auriga, δ and ξ Aur. Restricting the definition to only a specific number of stars does not align with the account given by al-Ṣūfī. Al-Ḫibāʾ4: Al-Ḫibāʾ region as described by al-Ṣūfī (CC BY Khalid AlAjaji).
Ibn Qutayba (d. 276H/889):
			Alkhiba in al-Qutayba (CC BY AlAJaji 2025), stars in Cam+Aur.	Arabian constellation of The (Northern) Tent (CC BY Laffitte 2025)
Al-Marzūqī (d. 421H/1030)
			Al-Khiba in Al-Marzuqi (CC BY AlAjaji 2025), stars in Her.

Arabic Bedouin Tents

The Library of Congress has historical images (1890-1950) in the Matson (G. Eric and Edith) Photograph Collection.

• 
  a bedouin tent in Mauretania, CC BY SMH 2008
• 
  a bedouin tent in Mauretania at full moon, CC BY SMH 2008
• 
  Khaima (2007, Mauretania).

Previous Idenfications, collated by Laffitte (2025)

[Northern] Tent (الخِباء الشّامیَة)

Name Variants:

• The Tent
• The Northern Tent
• The Syrian Tent

Arabian constellation of The (Northern) Tent (CC BY Laffitte 2025)

Kunitzsch (1959) and Laffitte (2012, 2025) identifies الخِباء الشّامیَة (The Northern Tent) with stars in Lynx and Auriga.

Ibn Qutayba

(last but one line ۱۵ ـ الغفر )

والهبا اسفل من الحوض، كواكب فؾ مثل هؾة الهبا اليمانية

wa-al-ḫibā’ asfal min al-ḥawḍ kawākib fī miṯl hay’at al-ḫibā’ al-yamāniyya

“al-ḫibā’ [“the Tent”] below al-ḥawḍ [“The Watering Hole”], stars that have the form of al-ḫibā’ al-yamāniyya [“the Austral Tent”]”.

Which give us Kunizsch before talking of al-Ṣūfī (Untersuchungen, 70):

Ibn Qutayba 67,3 (bei den unter Mondstation 14 mitbehandelten Sternen): wa-al-ḫibā’ asfal min al-ḥawḍ kawākib fī miṯl hay’at al-ḫibā’ al-yamāniyya „al-ḫib ā’„: Sterne unterhalb von al-ḥawḍ [= τ,h,υ,φ,θ,e,f Ursae Maioris], in Form der Südlisches Zeltes [cf. Den folgenden Artikel]”.

“Ibn Qutayba 67.3 (regarding the stars discussed under Moondstation 14): wa-al-ḫibā’ asfal min al-ḥawḍ kawākib fī miṯl hay’at al-ḫibā’ al-yamāniyya “al-ḫibā’”: Stars below al-ḥawḍ [= τ,h,υ,φ,θ,e,f Ursae Maioris], in the form of the Southern Tent [cf. The following article]”.

It is difficult to identify this figure exactly, but it is highly probable that it is from series 2, 15, 31 Lyn, 10 UMa, 38 & a Lyn are part of al-ḫibā’ which can be qualified of “[Northern] Tent”.

NB: Kunitzsch then cites al-Marzūqī who makes a mistake by putting al-ḍibā’ instead of al-ẓibā’ to locate al-ḥawḍ. We may therefore leave him out of it.

al-Ṣūfī:

(Schjellerup, 94) :

وفي وسط منها كواكب من القدر الخامس والسادس تسميها العرب الهبا الاها على صورة الهبا والإثنان اللذان على رأس.من هذه الصورة داخل في جملة الهبا

“And in its center are stars of the fifth and sixth magnitude, which the Arabs call because they present the figure of a tent, and the two that are at the head of this image [of Auriga] are included in the group of the Tent”.

These are the two stars that, in his Index, Schjellerup identifies as δ,ξ Aur, but for the other stars of the group that al-Ṣūfī speaks of, he gives: “Fl. 9 or 10” (Schjellerup, 360). Kunitzsch writes about this (Untersuchungen, 70) :

Ṣūfī 91, 16-17 rechnet zu diesen al-ḫibā’ genannten Sternen die schwachen von Ptolemäus nicht beschriebenen Sterne des modernen Bildes Giraffe sowie auch den 1. und 2. Des proleMïschen Bildes Fuhrnann = δξ Aur.

“Ṣūfī 91, 16-17 includes among these stars called al-ḫibā’ the faint stars of the modern constellation Giraffe not described by Ptolemy, as well as the 1st and 2nd stars of the ptolemäischen Bildes Fuhrnann = δ,ξ Aur”.

Schjellerup had added some stars in Camelopardalis, but Laffitte (2025) argues that they are too far north:

Ibn Qutayba gives δ, ξ Aur. Based on al-Ṣūfī's description, Schjellerup adds 2 Lyn +α, β Cam. But, as Ibn Qutayba points out that the figure begins under Awlād al-Ẓibā’, this means that it includes α Lyn. One can reasonably remove from Schjellerup’s list α,β Cam, which are too far away, and add the brightest stars that connect 2 Lyn to α Lyn.

There is also confusion in Ibn Qutayba, who places this figure under the one that he places under Station XIV and which he calls al-Ḫibā’ al-Yamānī, “the Yemeni” or “the Southern”. The one we are talking about, which is northern, should reasonably be called al-Ḥibā’ al-Šāmiyya, “the Syrian,” i.e. “the Northern”.

Yemenite Tent (الخِباء الیمانی)

Arabian constellation of The Yemenite Tent (CC BY Laffitte 2025).

Name Variants:

• The Yemenite Tent
• The Southern Tent

The Yemenite Tent is mentioned by al-Qutayba and al-Sufi; the latter also calls it the "Southern Tent" as opposed to the Northern Tent in the Lynx area. It is located in Corvus. Laffitte (2025) identifies: β, γ, δ, ε Crv and argues:

By Ibn Qutayba, this figure is located under Lunar Station XIV. The epithet al-Yamānī, given by al-Ṣūfī, must be interstood in relation to another al-Ḫibā’, located between Awlād al-Ẓibā’ and al-ᶜAyyūq, which is boreal, and which we have therefore named al-Šāmiyya, “the Syrian” or “the Northern”.

Laffitte (2025) also points out that the stars of Corvus form an Arabic Lunar Station and are also listed with other Arabic names:

Native Name	Romanisation	Translation	Author
	al-Maᶜlaf	the Manger	Qutayba
	al-Aḥmal	the Lambs	Ḥanīfa
	al-Ağmal	the Camels	Ṣūfī
	al-Ğimāl	idem	Fāris
	al-Buᶜūl	the Masters	Mammātī

Lucky [star] of the Tent (سَعْدُ الخِبَاء)

al-Su^ʿūd, “the Lucky [stars]” are an Arabian asterism in Aquarius. Several modern star names resemble this historical asterism (e.g. Sadalsuud, Sadalmelik, Sadalbari...). Laffitte (2025) lists two names among the lucky stars that include tents:

Native Name	Romanisation	Translation	Author	Identification
	Saʿd al-Aḫbiyya	the Lucky [star] of the Burrows or the Tents	Mālik	Lunar Station XXV: γ, ζ, π, η Aqr
	Saʿd al-Ḫiba’	the Lucky [star] of he Tent	Miṣrī	γ, ζ, π, η Aqr

IAU Working Group on Star Names

The name was discussed and approved by the IAU WGSN in 202x. As this star is already named ..., the WGSN chose ... (not to apply/ to apply the name to a neighbouring star/ to ...) in the IAU-CSN.

Reference

• References (general)
• References (early modern)