Mutayr (مطير) is an Arab tribe with origins in the northern Hejaz near Medina, in present day Saudi Arabia. The tribe mainly inhabits Saudi Arabia (Najd), Kuwait, Iraq, UAE, and all arabian peninsula countries. They have also settled in Morocco and Tunisia.
Ahmad al-Qalqashandi who died in 1418 stated that al-Mutayr tribe belongs to Ghatafan who are descendants of Ishmael son of Abraham (the father of Arabs). John Gordon Lorimer (1870–1914), an official of the Indian Civil Service and other historians of Mutayr noted that the main branches of Mutayr today are Banu Abdullah, Al-'Ulwa (also spelled 'Llwah), and Braih. DNA tests for samples taken by male participants belonging to Mutair Tribe has confirmed that they are sharing the same haplogroup, and a common ancestor. Various published studies has referred to results from Mutair Tribe and stated that most of Y-Chromosome Lineage is from the J1 Haplogroup network. Members of Mutair tribe are considered to be one of the first among Arabian tribes to utilize genetic genealogy to study the genealogy of Mutair using most modern and recent technologies. Results of participants are published publicly in a dedicated website named MutirDNA.com and also on a public project in FamilyTreeDNA.
Mutayr's original homelands were the highlands of northern Hejaz near Medina. At some point in the 17th century, however, the tribe began a large-scale migration eastwards into central Arabia, displacing many other Bedouin tribes in the area, such as Harb and 'Anizzah who were forced to move northwards after. Mutayr also migrated to North Africa along with Banu Hilal and Banu Sulaym in the 11th century and settled in Morocco and Tunisia. By the 20th century, Mutayr's tribal lands extended from the highlands east of Medina, through the region of Al-Qasim, to the borders of Iraq. A rivalry developed between Mutayr and Harb, who inhabited roughly the same areas as Mutayr, as well as with 'Utaybah, who had just moved into central Arabia from Hejaz.