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Al-Muntafiq () was a large Arab tribal confederation of southern Iraq and Kuwait. The confederation's tribes predominantly settled in Iraq's southern provinces and northern Kuwait. The confederation is not homogeneous in terms of sect/religion. Centuries of intermarriage and intermingling created a mix of Sunni and Shia tribes. Therefore, a minority of individual tribes within the confederation is Sunni. Overall, it is almost impossible to delineate who is, and who is not part of the Muntafiq.
The tribe migrated to Iraq during the Islamic conquests. In Ottoman Empire times, the tribe held control over the region of Basrah under Ottoman suzerainty. In 1521, they successfully occupied Al-Ahsa Oasis and al-Qatif (eastern Saudi Arabia today) on the Ottomans' behalf, before being expelled by Banu Khalid.
During the Ottoman era, most of the tribe settled into sedentary life and took up agriculture in southern and western Iraq. During the Ottoman era, from the late eighteenth century onwards, al-Muntafiq converted to Shia Islam. The Shi'is of Iraq By Yitzhak Nakash, pg.27Lorimer, Gazetteer, 2B:1273; Great Britain, naval intelligence division, geographical handbook series, Iraq and the Persian Gulf, September 1944, 379-80; Great Britain, office of the civil commissioner, The Arab of Mesopotamia, Basra, 1917,6.
The city of Nasiriya in southern Iraq was named after one of the tribe's sheikhs, and the surrounding province was known as "Al-Muntafiq Province" until 1976.
Formerly those who were sedentary or herders of small animals such as sheep and goat, rather than , were consequently less mobile and less competent as a fighting force compared to the camel-herding tribes of inner Arabia.
Although the tribe's nominal leaders, the Al Saadun, are Sunnis, most of the tribe's members follow the Shi'ite sect of Islam. After many decades of sedentarization, the tribal bond has weakened and the leadership of the Al Saadun is largely nominal.
Many stateless Bedoon in Kuwait belong to the Muntafiq tribal confederation.
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