Page 158 - UAE Truncal States

The Islamic Basis of Society

What counted more was the fact that the division between those
communities who adhered to the Hanbali and those who adhered to
the Maliki madhab was almost identical with the long-standing
political division of the tribes of Oman and the Trucial States into
Ghafiri and Hinawi sections.10 The majority of the tribes which were
under the authority of Qawasim Rulers were Ghafiri, and having at
times co-operated politically with the Wahhabis, the more orthodox
madhab oflbn Hanbal was generally followed. Maliki Sunni were all
Hinawi tribes of the Trucial Slates, i.e. the Bani Yas, ManasTr, Marar,
Dhawahir and Za'ab, although the latter then still all lived in Qasimi
territory. Most of the people who immigrated from the Persian coast
were also Maliki Sunnis.20 The Hinawi Shi huh and some of the
Huwalah living in Sharjah were Shafi’i.
Apart from the 'Awamir, the predominantly beduin Hinawi tribe
who frequented Abu Dhabi territory, and a few Kunud in
Shamailfyah, there were no Ibadis in Trucial Oman. However
Ibadism had an important effect on the affairs of the coastal
shaikhdoms and the hinterland because these tribes inevitably took
sides in the frequent and deep-rooted internal disputes and the all-
out Civil War of the 18th century in Oman.21
The differences between Sunni and Shfah go beyond the slight
variations of religious ritual and legal interpretations. They extend in
particular to the concept of the leader in the Islamic community. At
the turn of the century only a few people such as the Baharinah of
Abu Dhabi town and Dubai and some people probably of Persian
stock were Shl'ah. This contingent was considerably increased with
the influx of merchants from the Persian ports in the 1930s. Along
with building-land and the right to pursue their trade from Dubai, the
immigrants who were Shl'ah were also given the right to build their
own mosques in Dubai, to bring their mullah and to celebrate in the
accustomed manner the anniversary of the death of Husain bin *Ali
at Karbala’ on the 10th of the month of Muharram.
In the early decades of this century the Khojah community in the
Trucial States was more important than the contingent of ordinary
ShT’ah, both socially and numerically. Khojahs are a sect whose
ancestors were Hindus in origin and who converted to the faith of the
Shl'ah Imams of the Isma’ilis in the 15th century. The Khojahs, who
were to be found in many ports around the Gulf, were descended
from Hindus originating in Sind and Kach.22 The Khojah community
on the Trucial Coast at the turn of the century numbered about 220,
with the largest contingent, 158, residing in Sharjah town; this was a
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