Page 74 - UAE Truncal States_Neat

The Tribal Structure of Society

During the rule of Shaikh KhalTfah bin Shakhbut, who succeeded
his brother Tahnun in 1833 (after he and his brother Sultan had
killed Tahnun), the emigration of the A1 Bu Falasah section of the
Bani Yas to Dubai, repeated attempts at secession by the Qubaisat
section of the Bani Yas, and a prolonged war with Sultan bin Saqr of
Sharjah, stretched the resources of Abu Dhabi to their limits.
Nevertheless Khallfah availed himself of the opportunity presented
by a quarrel between the NaTm and the Dhawahir in the Buraimi
oasis to intervene on the latter’s behalf and try to evict the NaTm from
the oasis in 1839, justifying his intervention by saying that the date
groves “are common to them (Dhawahir) and us”.70 A peace was
effected in 1840 when the British Political Resident, at that time
Captain Hamerton, visited the oasis under the protection of the A1 Bu
Shamis shaikh.77 Soon after that a dispute arose between the Bani
Yas, supported by the Manasfr, and the Bani Qitab, a tribe living
immediately to the north of the oasis along the communication line
between it and the towns of Sharjah, Dubai and 'Ajman. In a
subsequent agreement between Shaikh Khallfah and the shaikhs of
the tribes in and around Buraimi, Shaikh Khallfah accepted full
responsibility for the Bani Yas and the Manasfr and for the first time
also for the Dhawahir. In August 1841 Commodore G.B. Brucks
reported to the Political Resident, Persian Gulf, on the news
regarding the coast from Abu Dhabi to Ra's al Khaimah and the
interior. According to his information some Manasfr were in
particularly close relationship with the Dhawahir, who afforded
them refuge at times; he referred to the Dhawahir as “belonging to
Khalffah and occupying six or seven villages in the neighbourhood of
Brahamee, and under the immediate control of his Father”, Shaikh
Shakhbut.78 By 1844 the picture of tribal allegiance in the Buraimi
area presented itself to the Residency Agent in Sharjah, Mullah
Husain, as follows: “Sheikh Khuleefa bin Shackboot and his forces
consisting of horsemen and Camel men set out from Aboothabee on
the commencement of the hot weather. I heard of their being at
Brymee and that all the Naim tribes, the Al boo-Shamis and Al boo
Khureyban and the other Beduin Tribes such as the Beni Kuttub
[Qitab], Beni Kaab, Ghuflah and Zowahir [Dhawahir], the whole had
entered into engagements with him and became united with him as
one. It appears to me that at the present time there is not throughout
the interior one Beduin tribe opposed to him.”79 Shaikh Khallfah s
successor SaTd bin Tahnun (1845-55) proved equally successful at
rallying the tribes of the area around him, in this case to counter
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