Page 176 - UAE Truncal States_Neat
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The Islamic Basis of Society

          world. He embodies the social standing of the family vis-a-vis other
          families, and if he is of true local tribal origin his children will never
          be considered anything less than full members of the local tribal
          society, even if their mother was of foreign origin. The social rating of
          an individual male—and through him of the whole family—depends
          first and foremost on the purity of his tribal Arab descent; since the
          tribal genealogies, along with some long-established legends thereof,
          are common knowledge to most tribal Arabs, the kinship relation­
          ships cannot be invented.
            But this does not mean that someone of pure tribal Arab stock will
          invariably be rated higher than a wealthy man of uncertain tribal
          background. The indicator for the social rating on the basis of a
          man’s wealth is the level at which he can expect to arrange marriages
          for the members of his family. The flourishing pearling industry of
          the early decades of this century has provided in the capitals of the
          larger Trucial Slates several examples of immigrants who became
          wealthy and so acceptable enough to intermarry with the ruling
          family of the state. Both the pearling-boat owners and the merchant
          communities of the coastal towns established their own social rating
          largely on wealth. Eventually the status on account of tribal descent
          and the status on account of wealth and property were rated on a par,
          and intermarriage became possible at the highest levels of both
          pyramids, although it was less common at lower levels. But in every
          case the social rating of the male head of the family is the rating that
          counts.
            Thus, the dominant position of the man, both within the family and
          vis-a-vis the outside world, was a given factor and not one which
          could be attained. As has been shown earlier, a woman had no
          position per se in the world outside the house, while her position
          within the family circle was a reflection of her personality and
          depended on the way in which she used this confined scope for the
          development of her abilities. In this structure of society not the
          individual but the family is the smallest unit. Neither man nor
          woman has an identity except in the context of the family to which he
          or she belongs.

          Other members of the household, servants and slaves
          In the Trucial States, family ('a’ilah) never meant the family nucleus of
          father, mother and children only; even in the rare cases where these
          were the only occupants of the household, such an arrangement

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