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Chapter Three

were divided between two villages on the long and narrow sandbank
southwest of Ra’s al Khaimah. The Za'ab of Jazlrah al Hamra’ were
the only community of any size in Ra’s al Khaimah territory which
was almost exclusively dependent upon the sea; they owned only a
few date palms in Khatt, inland in the Jiri plain.
The Rulers of Ra’s al Khaimah were not often in the position to
appoint a wali of their own choice, but they were usually able to
restrict the independent ambitions of the Za’ab headman of the time
and make him declare his acceptance of t he Ruler’s supremacy. Thus,
the Shihuh and the Za'ab were often enough natural allies and
Jazlrah al Hamra’ was also a convenient refuge for opponents of a
Ruler in Ra’s al Khaimah.
The same may be said of Rams. This port, eight miles north of Ra’s
al Khaimah, is also situated beside a creek, but the harbour is not
nearly so deep, nor are its dale plantations inland so extensive. At the
turn of the century the town had 400 houses, only one shop, one
seagoing scinbuk and only three pearling boats. Since the inhabitants
were all from the settled section of the Tanaij,17 they had their own
tribal leaders who dealt with most affairs in their community and
reluctantly owed allegiance to the Ruler of Ra’s al Khaimah.10

Dibah
One of the most important of the Qasimi dependencies was Dibah, a
sizeable settlement on the east coast dating back to pre-Islamic times.
One mile north of Dibah lies its twin village of Bai'ah, inhabited by
Shihuh and subject to Muscat. During the early 19th century Dibah
usually had closer ties with Ra’s al Khaimah’s wo/is and Rulers than
with Sharjah.
In 1855 the wali of Dibah was Mashari, whose father Ibrahim bin
Sultan was wali at Ra’s al Khaimah at the lime. Mashari was killed in
that year by Shihuh tribesmen, an incident which illustrates the key
issue throughout the history of the Dibah dependency: that is, rivalry
between the inhabitants and their Shihuh neighbours. While Shaikh
Salim bin Sultan was Ruler of Sharjah (1868-83) his younger brother
Ahmad was granted in 1871 the revenues of the village of Dibah as an
allowance, which at that time was enough to meet his expenses. In
subsequent decades this was no longer the case, because “Salim bin
Sultan had a good influence with the Kawasims villages . . . but now
in the present rule of Shargah the tribe of the Shahiyain residing at
Baia near Deba have taken to encroach upon the revenues of Deba

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