Page 57 - UAE Truncal States

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Chapter Two
important part of the permanent or semi-settled population of the
Liwa. The settled existence of the Hawamil is underlined by the fact
that some of them also owned goats and sheep, which were kept in or
near the Liwa. They owned pearling boats and some spent a large
part of the year on Dalma. At present the wali of the Liwa, Saif bin
Musa, is a Hamili, and so are most of those few people who still now
live permanently in the Liwa.20 During the first four decades of this
century four Hawamil families achieved the much sought-after move
and bought property in the Buraimi oasis. The head of one of them,
'Abdullah bin Ghanum, was Shaikh Shakhbut’s wali of al 'Ain for a
short period.20
Another typical subsection of the Bani Yas is the Maharibah, who
were, however, much stronger in Lorimer’s time (about 150 houses in
the Liwa, 60 in Abu Dhabi, 50 nearby). In the 1950s they were only 75
houses strong altogether. Some of the Maharibah who owned
property in the Liwa were nomadic; others spent a large part of the
year in their houses in the Liwa. Their share in the pearling industry
was also considerable, with 40 boats of their own. A few Maharibah
spent even the winter on Dalma island, and one of them, 'Ali bin
Shaiban, was appointed by Shaikh Shakhbut as wali on the island
for several periods.30
A small predominantly beduin section were the Al MishaghTn, who
usually spent most of the year at Taff, east of Abu Dhabi town, but
also moved to Khatam near the Buraimi oasis. The Marar have
become a predominantly Dubai section, but some have property in
the Liwa where they are closely related to the Mazari'.
The Sudan, (singular Suwaidi), an important and numerous tribe
on the whole coast, now identify themselves with the Bani Yas,
especially those who live in Abu Dhabi. On the other hand, some of
the names used by members of the tribe such as al Kindi, and also
verbal traditions, support the theory that the Sudan are, together
with the Kunud of Oman, descendants of Aswad al Kindi, who is said
to have immigrated into Oman from Yemen at the time of the Prophet
Muhammad. The tribe’s strength was at the turn of the century in
the region of 5,500, most of whom lived in the ports of the Trucial
Coast.31 They had about 300 houses in Sharjah, 250 in Dubai, 20 on
Abu Musa island and 12 in 'Ajman. Outside the Trucial Coast there
were some at Hadd in Bahrain, and before 1867 the Sudan were quite
powerful in Qatar, according to Lorimer still maintaining a strength
of about 80 houses in Doha.
In Abu Dhabi at the turn of the century there were some 375

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