Page 90 - UAE Truncal States_Neat
P. 90

The Tribal Structure of Society

        example of neighbouring tribes and tried to use as political
        bargaining points or to obtain handsome subsidies, the keen interest
        which the Sultan of Oman and the King of Saudi Arabia had in the
        allegiance of these tribes at a time when prospecting for oil
        commenced in their dar.103

        Bani Qitab and Bani Ka'ab
        The Bani Qitab and the Bani Ka’ab both form very much part of the
        political scene in the hinterland of theTrucial Coast. Both tribes are
        Ghafiri, as are the NaTm with whom they share some areas. But the
        three tribes have rarely been on as good terms as the three principal
        tribes which share the deserts of Abu Dhabi.
          The Bani Ka’ab have the /alaj-irrigaled village of Mahadhah north
        of the Buraimi oasis as their centre, but some also live on the Batinah
        coast, in the Wadi Hatta and at the head of the Wadi al Qur, which
        joins the sea al Khaur Kalba. The entire sub-tribe of Shwaihiyln,
        numbering about 1,000 souls, and according to the Gazetteer one
        other small subsection are entirely nomadic. Another 5,000 people
        were settled mostly around Mahadhah and in the neighbouring
        wadis draining towards the Trucial Coast. Some were settled in the
        Sultanate of Oman, but none lived in the ports of the Trucial Coast.
        The Bani Ka’ab had displaced the NaTm from the desert area south of
        Sharjah but they in turn had to give way to the Bani Qitab.104
        Although the NaTm and the Bani Ka’ab were rarely on good terms,
        their shaikhs did act in unison for a brief period when it seemed
        possible to them that they might obtain independent petroleum
        agreements at the end of the 1940s.
          Although the Bani Qitab are numerically weaker than the Bani
        Ka’ab they have always played a very important part in the tribal
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        politics of Trucial Oman due to their large beduin contingent. The
        beduin Bani Qitab were 2,100 strong, whereas their settled families
        numbered only 2,700 people.105 The former roamed a large part of the
        Oman promontory on either side of the Hajar mountains. The areas in
        Trucial Oman which they frequented mostly were the tract between
        the Buraimi oasis and the Jiri plain north-east of Sharjah, the eastern
        foothills between Wadi al Qur and Wadi Ham, and the good grazing
        plain around Daid. In recent decades this northern section of the
        tribe separated almost completely from the southern section in
        Dhahirah which had the village of Afiaj Bani Qitab as a centre.
           While the tribe was still more unified it was more than once in
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