Page 187 - UAE Truncal States
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Chapter Four


                 5 Conclusion: The tribal system of the
                     Trucial States and Islam
                Traditionally, social differentiation in the Trucial Slates stemmed
                 from the tribal structure rather than from class distinction and
                 material well-being. The various levels of identification—family,
                 sub-tribe and tribe—allocated to a person his particular place in
                 society; thus even the poorest member of a powerful tribe could have
                 more social prestige than a prosperous trader without tribal
                 connections in the shaikhdom.
                   The role of Islam was that of levelling many of the differences
                 which are inherent in any society’s structure. When it came to
                 observing the tenets of Islam there was only one set of behaviour
                 for rich and poor alike, symbolised for instance in the way in which
                 all men make the same movement simultaneously when praying
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                 together.
                   In pre-Islamic times the Arab tribal structure of society evolved in
                 parallel with the development of the means to exploit the meagre
                 resources of their homeland. The tribal structure became the back­
                 bone of nomadic existence. The settled and the nomadic existences of
                 the population were often forced by circumstances to be interchange­
                 able; even village life in Eastern Arabia, after it had been colonised
                 by the various Arab tribes, remained for centuries based on tribal
                 bonds rather than on neighbourhood affiliations. This strongest of
                 social bonds, the tribal structure, survived more or less intact in
                 Inner Oman and on the coasts of Oman from pre-Islamic times until
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                 the present day, weathering foreign invasions, temporary subjuga­
                 tion by Persian overlords, religious strife, civil war and the threat of
                 colonial rule from the Portuguese and the British.
                   The historical evidence of this is readily available in the falaj-
                 irrigated towns and villages of Inner Oman and the Hajar mountain
                 range. As for the tribal population of the mountain foreland and the
                 desert to the west, the sparse water resources from wells dug in the
                 sand did not favour permanent settlement. The majority of the popula­  I
                 tion there remained nomadic until quite recently, and like all nomads
                 they depended vitally on the system of group identification, mutual
                assistance and hospitality which the tribal structure provided.
                   Islam, itself moulded by and grafted onto the tribal society of the
                Hijaz, therefore did not disrupt tribalism in Eastern Arabia, but
                rather solidified it and enhanced its strength, enabling this tribal
                society to withstand adversities of wars and economic crises. As for

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