Page 81 - UAE Truncal States

Chapter Two

would not be a threat to the Bani Yas ascendancy in the oasis. Hence
the A1 Bu Falah’s growing interest in the affairs of all the other settled
and nomadic tribes which were in any way associated with the
Buraimi oasis. Inevitably, the latter interest brought the A1 Bu Falah
Rulers into conflict with the interests of the other Rulers in the area.

Conclusions
The number of beduin splinter-groups actually living in Abu Dhabi
territory during any one winter has always been impossible to
ascertain. The fact that some A1 Murrah as well as Rashid, Manahll
and 'Afar groups and some individuals from other Omani and
Dhufari tribes came to the Buraimi oasis for the summer or to the
desert of Abu Dhabi for the winter shows that until the advent of oil
transformed the beduin way of life, the only really lasting authority
was the capricious climate. If rainfall was plentiful in the Dhafrah
and was scanty elsewhere, many beduin from far away would
converge on it; and the traditional users of that dar, the Bani Yas and
the Manaslr, knowing full well that they might have to move a long
distance to another tribe’s dar some other winter when there would
be little rain in Dhafrah, would not object as long as the visitors did
not engage in raiding. The desert version of law and order was
enforced by rules common and known to all nomadic and semi-
settled people of Eastern Arabia. The few disputes which were not
settled among the tribes themselves were brought to the A1 Bu Falah
Ruler or his wali. The A1 Bu Falah Ruler usually saw to it that the
visits even of small groups from the beduin tribes were good
opportunities to befriend people whose help might one day be very
useful indeed.
Once the Buraimi oasis, this focus of tribal interests, had been
firmly added to the territory over which the A1 Bu Falah had
undisputed tax-authority, they needed as wide a screen of “non-
hostility" as could be created by influencing the inter-tribal politics
of the whole region. Some of these beduin groups were of only
peripheral importance while in Abu Dhabi territory, but were
numerous and powerful elsewhere and had powerful friends, or
enemies.
Tribal politics were concerned with authority over people, not over
territory with boundaries. One of the most instructive illustrations
for this is the Buraimi oasis in its strategic position.
The establishment of a “state" and the delineation of the state’s

56