Abd al-Qays were one of the inhabitants of the region of Eastern Arabia, including the modern-day islands of Bahrain, and were mostly sedentary.
The main body of the tribe was bedouin, but a powerful and autonomous sedentary sub-tribe of Bakr also resided in al-Yamama, the Bani Hanifa.
Anz inhabited southern Arabia, and are said to have been decimated by the plague in the 13th century, though a tribe named "Rabīʿa" in modern-day 'Asir is said to be its descendant.
During the Abbasid era, many members of Bani Hanifa and related tribesmen from Bakr ibn Wa'il migrated from al-Yamama to southern Egypt, where they dominated the gold-mines of Wadi Allaqi near Aswan.
While in Egypt, the tribesmen went by the collective name of "Rabi'a" and inter-married with indigenous tribes in the area such as the Beja peoples.