Page 112 - UAE Truncal States

Administering a Tribal Society

1948 with popular support. Ra’s al Khaimah has been under Shaikh
Saqr’s rule since then, and became a member of the UAE in February
1972.
Ra’s al Khaimah’s dependencies
Whether Ra’s al Khaimah was an integral part of the Qasimi empire
or a dependency of Sharjah, a number of small population centres
were usually under some form of administrative supervision from
Ra’s al Khaimah. In most of these places, however, the Shihuh and
their allied tribes presented a continuous challenge, either because
they formed the majority of the population, as in Sha'am, or because
they were able to exert their influence over the local tribal shaikhs, as
was often the case in Rams and Jazlrah al Hamra’.
Nominally all Shihuh were subjects of the Sultan of Muscat, whose
vvd/i resided at Khasab. But many Shihuh owned property and had
customary rights in places both in the mountains and on the coast
which were accessible only from Qasimi-held territory. Sha’am is the
best example of a Shihuh village becoming and remaining a
dependency of Ra’s al Khaimah through geographical circumstances
and economic need.16 All its inhabitants were Shihuh of the Bani
Shatair section. Two miles north of Sha'am the coastal plain, which
becomes progressively narrower, is finally sealed off from the ports
and coves further north by a spur of the Ru’us al Jibal which drops
into the sea. Sha'am consisted al the time of the Gazetteer of about
300 houses, and the population lived off fishing, date palms and
fodder and vegetable cultivation and diving for pearls, mostly in
boats belonging to other ports, since Sha'am itself had only 2
pearling boats. Sha'am exported firewood, charcoal and dried fish to
the 66 miles-dislant market of Sharjah, transported thither by small
coastal craft. In view of the economic dependence of this village on its
southern neighbours it is not surprising that repeated attempts to rid
itself of Ra’s al Khaimah’s control could not last for long. A revolt in
December 1885, for instance, was brought under control by the Ruler,
Humaid bin 'Abdullah, and the village even had to pay a fine of 1,600
M.T. Dollars.
Jazlrah al Hamra’, also called Jazlrah al Za'ab, is a small port on the
Gulf coast which was usually a dependency of Ra’s al Khaimah
rather than Sharjah, since a formal division was made between
Khalid bin Ahmad of Sharjah and Sultan bin Salim of Ra’s al Khaimah
in 1914. All theinhabitantsare from theZa'ab tribe, whose 500 houses
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