, Saḳīfat Banī Sāʿida . The word saḳīfa ( LʿA , s.v.), an approximate synonym of ṣuffa (LʿA, s.v.: bahw , mawḍiʿ muẓallat ), denotes in Arabic a covered communal place appropriate for conversation and discussion. While the word ṣuffa seems rather to be applied to the space covered with palm foliage which constituted the primitive mosque (see masd̲j̲id . I, 2), saḳīfa appears to denote any type of forum or public courtyard, covered in accordance with the same traditional procedures.

In historical texts, the term is applied virtually exclusively to the prolonged and acerbic ne…