Page 99 - UAE Truncal States

Chapter Two

The nature of the hand-to-mouth economy of this tribe, which had
never depended to the same extent as others on pearling, remained
very much the same even into the 1970s. Agriculture and fishing,
both on a modest scale, were the major occupations of the economi­
cally active section of the population. This situation is further
illustrated by the fact that in the State of Fujairah by far the greatest
number of households continued to live in harasli houses in the late
1960s.

A1 'Ali
Another Trucial shaikhdom where almost the entire population
belongs to one tribe which also comprises the ruling family is Umm al
Qaiwain.119 The Al ’Ali were about 6,750 strong when the Gazetteer
was compiled;120 some 5,000 of them lived in the town of Umm al
Qaiwain on the coast. They were also the only tribe at Falaj al 'Ali, an
inland oasis belonging to the ruling family of Umm al Qaiwain. Some
200 families of the Al ’Ali lived at Sharjah and 150 families were in
Ra's al Khaimah. There was also a small beduin faction of about 140
families who frequented the country between Umm al Qaiwain and
Jazirah al Hamra’, and who were, together with a varying number of
beduin from other tribes, always ready to fight for the Rulers of Umm
al Qaiwain. The Al ’Ali ruling family is called Al Mu’alla, a name
which is also attributed to the entire tribe by their kinsmen the Arab
tribe Al 'Ali, which settled in the Shlbkuh district of Persia.
The census of 1968 showed that a considerable number of Al ’Ali
had settled in Ra’s al Khaimah, where 1,445 were counted (Umm al
Qaiwain 2,862). This tribe, too, had suffered a decline in numbers
during six decades, totalling only 5,058 in 1968. Most of the Al 'Ali
used to participate in pearl diving, but only one seagoing merchant
vessel belonged to Umm al Qaiwain in 1905. The majority of the date
gardens which were tended by Al 'Ali tribesmen belonged to the
ruling family.

Za'ab
The Za’ab, although not very numerous, have at times played an
important role in the internal politics of the Qasimi realm. Their
stronghold is the peninsula of Jazirah al Hamra’, also called Za’ab in
the past because the entire population of the 500 households
belonged to that tribe, according to the Gazetteer. The inhabitants of
Za’ab owned some date gardens at Khatt in the Jiri plain, and their
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