Page 90 - UAE Truncal States

The Tribal Structure of Society

example of neighbouring tribes and tried to use as political
bargaining points or to obtain handsome subsidies, the keen interest
which the Sultan of Oman and the King of Saudi Arabia had in the
allegiance of these tribes at a time when prospecting for oil
commenced in their dar.103

Bani Qitab and Bani Ka'ab
The Bani Qitab and the Bani Ka’ab both form very much part of the
political scene in the hinterland of theTrucial Coast. Both tribes are
Ghafiri, as are the NaTm with whom they share some areas. But the
three tribes have rarely been on as good terms as the three principal
tribes which share the deserts of Abu Dhabi.
The Bani Ka’ab have the /alaj-irrigaled village of Mahadhah north
of the Buraimi oasis as their centre, but some also live on the Batinah
coast, in the Wadi Hatta and at the head of the Wadi al Qur, which
joins the sea al Khaur Kalba. The entire sub-tribe of Shwaihiyln,
numbering about 1,000 souls, and according to the Gazetteer one
other small subsection are entirely nomadic. Another 5,000 people
were settled mostly around Mahadhah and in the neighbouring
wadis draining towards the Trucial Coast. Some were settled in the
Sultanate of Oman, but none lived in the ports of the Trucial Coast.
The Bani Ka’ab had displaced the NaTm from the desert area south of
Sharjah but they in turn had to give way to the Bani Qitab.104
Although the NaTm and the Bani Ka’ab were rarely on good terms,
their shaikhs did act in unison for a brief period when it seemed
possible to them that they might obtain independent petroleum
agreements at the end of the 1940s.
Although the Bani Qitab are numerically weaker than the Bani
Ka’ab they have always played a very important part in the tribal
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politics of Trucial Oman due to their large beduin contingent. The
beduin Bani Qitab were 2,100 strong, whereas their settled families
numbered only 2,700 people.105 The former roamed a large part of the
Oman promontory on either side of the Hajar mountains. The areas in
Trucial Oman which they frequented mostly were the tract between
the Buraimi oasis and the Jiri plain north-east of Sharjah, the eastern
foothills between Wadi al Qur and Wadi Ham, and the good grazing
plain around Daid. In recent decades this northern section of the
tribe separated almost completely from the southern section in
Dhahirah which had the village of Afiaj Bani Qitab as a centre.
While the tribe was still more unified it was more than once in
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