Page 301 - UAE Truncal States
P. 301

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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