Page 149 - UAE Truncal States
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Chapter Three

                 between a member of a beduin tribe which inhabits the fringes of his
                 shaikhdom and a member of a tribe living under the authority of
                 another shaikh, the former turns to him for protection and justice.
                 This would indicate that the former considers himself to be a subject
                 of that Ruler, and such cases were extensively used to prove that the
                 A1 Bu Falah Rulers and their representatives had authority over all
                 the tribes living in the area which was claimed by Saudi Arabia. It
                 proved that the extent of A1 Bu Falah jurisdiction was well known to
                 and respected by the other Trucial Rulers and local shaikhs.98
                   The decentralised system of jurisdiction, where the majority of
                 cases were never brought to the hukumah (government) of a Ruler,
                 demonstrates most impressively the tribal structure of the society in
                 the Trucial Stales. The families, tribal units and village communities
                 are basically self-sufficient and self-reliant; but there are occasions
                 when they are compelled to turn to a more distant tribal leader or a
                 Trucial Ruler for peace within the community, for external assist­
                 ance or for new economic opportunities.
                   In an industrialised society certain obligations may be undertaken
                 by the State within the social security system, whereas in the society
                 under discussion such matters are dealt with in the first instance
                 within the family and the tribal structure. Orphans, widows and
                 disabled people would usually be provided for by their relatives or by
                 members of the tribal unit. In the rare cases of failure in this system
                 the responsibility for the welfare of such persons would devolve on
                 the wali of the district or even on the Ruler himself.



                 5 Conclusion
                 To sum up the manifestations of administrative authority over a
                 small population, spread over a large area in a tribal shaikhdom, one
                 may enumerate the ‘civil servants’ within the system: there is the wali
                 (or amir as in Dalma or na’ib as he was often styled in al ’Ain), a
                 general representative of the Ruler, sometimes one of his relatives,
                 but in the case of Abu Dhabi not a fief; there is the muzakki, who
                 collects the taxes and customs duties; there are the mutarzlyah (or
                 fidawlyah) who are the Ruler’s own retainers and may be sent on
                 special missions of all kinds; there are the 'askars, salaried but
                 untrained armed tribal men; there are the guards at the gate to the fort,
                 haras; there is a duri, a camel guard in the LTwa;99 there is a secretary,
                 frequently an educated man from the Iranian coast; there is the ’arlf

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