Page 301 - UAE Truncal States

Chapter Eight

The Civil War had weakened Ihe central authority in the Slate, and
the A1 Bu SaTd Sultans, even at the height of their strength and
popularity, could not equal the most popular Imams, who in their
times were leaders of all of Eastern Arabia. The Sultans’ State had
also become more formalised through having a regular army. The
division of the population into Ghafiri and Hinawi might sooner or
later have become a thing of the past once a new Imam was finally in
command, but the Civil War had been so violent and prolonged that
it had re-kindled the latent struggle between the earlier settlers and
the newcomers for predominance throughout Oman. Since the Civil
War each tribe has been identified as being either Ghafiri or Hinawi,
and there are only a very few cases of a tribe changing sides.11
Until this very day every local tribesman of the UAE, too, knows
which faction his tribe belongs to and usually also knows where
most of the important tribes between Ra’s Musandam and Dhufar
stand. On innumerable occasions since the middle of the 18th
century the forming of alliances and the outcome of disputes among
the tribes of the Trucial States and neighbouring Omani territory
have been decisively influenced by the division of the land into the
Ghafiri and the Hinawi groupings. Therefore, in order to understand
better many aspects of the history of the Trucial States, it is
necessary to include the following catalogue of the tribes on the coast
and in its hinterland.

Enumeration of Ghafiri and Hinawi tribes of the area later called
“Trucial Oman”
The Ghafiri tribes of the area live either in the territory of the "Qasimi
realm” or in the hinterland of the coastal States where it merges
with Oman. Like the Qawasim of Ra’s al Khaimah and Sharjah, the
inhabitants of Hamrlyah and HIrah, of Dibah and Umm al Qaiwain
and the NaTm of 'Ajman are all Ghafiri.12 The beduin Tanaij of Daid
and the Jiri plain, their neighbours the Mazarf and the Ghafala, the
Dhahuriyin of Ru’us al Jibal (but not their allies, the Shihuh), the
Bidtiwat of the Wadi Halta and the Dahaminah in Ra’s al Khaimah
territory are all Ghafiri, making the area north of the creek of Dubai
and to the west of the mountains a natural stronghold of the
Ghafinyah. In Shamailfyah the principal Ghafiri tribes are the
NaqbiyTn, the Kunud and the Najadat. In the Buraimi area and in
Dhahirah the Ghafiri balance was held by the Na'fm and their
relatives the Al Bu Shamis, the Bani Ka'ab and the Bani Qitab, the

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