Page 158 - UAE Truncal States
P. 158

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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