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Administering a Tribal Society

         1948 with popular support. Ra’s al Khaimah has been under Shaikh
         Saqr’s rule since then, and became a member of the UAE in February
         1972.
         Ra’s al Khaimah’s dependencies
         Whether Ra’s al Khaimah was an integral part of the Qasimi empire
         or a dependency of Sharjah, a number of small population centres
         were usually under some form of administrative supervision from
         Ra’s al Khaimah. In most of these places, however, the Shihuh and
         their allied tribes presented a continuous challenge, either because
         they formed the majority of the population, as in Sha'am, or because
         they were able to exert their influence over the local tribal shaikhs, as
         was often the case in Rams and Jazlrah al Hamra’.
           Nominally all Shihuh were subjects of the Sultan of Muscat, whose
         vvd/i resided at Khasab. But many Shihuh owned property and had
         customary rights in places both in the mountains and on the coast
         which were accessible only from Qasimi-held territory. Sha’am is the
         best example of a Shihuh village becoming and remaining a
         dependency of Ra’s al Khaimah through geographical circumstances
         and economic need.16 All its inhabitants were Shihuh of the Bani
          Shatair section. Two miles north of Sha'am the coastal plain, which
         becomes progressively narrower, is finally sealed off from the ports
         and coves further north by a spur of the Ru’us al Jibal which drops
         into the sea. Sha'am consisted al the time of the Gazetteer of about
          300 houses, and the population lived off fishing, date palms and
          fodder and vegetable cultivation and diving for pearls, mostly in
          boats belonging to other ports, since Sha'am itself had only 2
          pearling boats. Sha'am exported firewood, charcoal and dried fish to
          the 66 miles-dislant market of Sharjah, transported thither by small
          coastal craft. In view of the economic dependence of this village on its
          southern neighbours it is not surprising that repeated attempts to rid
          itself of Ra’s al Khaimah’s control could not last for long. A revolt in
          December 1885, for instance, was brought under control by the Ruler,
          Humaid bin 'Abdullah, and the village even had to pay a fine of 1,600
          M.T. Dollars.
            Jazlrah al Hamra’, also called Jazlrah al Za'ab, is a small port on the
          Gulf coast which was usually a dependency of Ra’s al Khaimah
          rather than Sharjah, since a formal division was made between
          Khalid bin Ahmad of Sharjah and Sultan bin Salim of Ra’s al Khaimah
          in 1914. All theinhabitantsare from theZa'ab tribe, whose 500 houses
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