Page 120 - UAE Truncal States_Neat

Administering a Tribal Society

Daid
The most important of the villages of the Qasimi Empire which are
not located on either of the coasts is Daid. Strategically it is important
because it commands the entrance to the Wadi Slji, which together
with the Wadi Ham forms the easiest of the natural routes between
Sharjah and its eastern dependencies. There is abundant grazing in a
wide area around Daid; “the water supply is excellent and ample, ” 43
which makes Daid a place of great economic importance for the
beduin of the whole region. The date groves form an oasis of about
one mile in diameter, watered by one falaj which divides into
channels. According to the Gazetteer the village consisted of about
140 houses, 70 of which belonged to the settled section of Tanaij, a
tribe otherwise found chiefly in Rams near Ra’s al Khaimah. The
Bani Qilab and a subsection of the NaTm, the Khawatir, owned
between them the remainder of the palm-frond houses; both the
Tanaij and the Khawatir had fortified mud-brick towers. The main
characteristic of Daid is that it is the meeting-point of the settled and
the beduin sections of the three tribes. The shaikhs of 'Ajman and
Hamrlyah, both belonging to subsections of the Na'Im, own gardens
in the oasis.44 The fort of the Qawasim overlords, built on the
standard pattern with two round and two square towers forming its
four corners, was built across the vital falaj, but the flow of the falaj is
so strong that it would be difficult to interrupt it forcibly to coerce the
inhabitants of the village.
Daid was at the turn of the century a perfect example of a wall’s
seat. Whoever administered the oasis on behalf of the Ruler of
Sharjah collected for him dates, which were paid in kind as a royalty
(100 jirabs in 1906), and the cash derived from the falaj water rates
(about 228 M.T. Dollars in 1906). The income was not for the use of
the wali, who was at that time a trusted old negro retainer of the
Qasimi family, but was remitted to the Ruler of Sharjah.
The revenues derived from Daid featured largely in the financial
claims and counter-claims after the deposition of Shaikh Khalid bin
Ahmad of Sharjah in November 1924. In June 1927 an agreement was
reached between him and his nephew the new Ruler, Sultan bin
Saqr, regarding compensation and upkeep of Khalid’s family.45 The
latter obtained in this agreement certain subsidies, the fort of Daid as
the residence of his and his brother 'Abdullah’s families, and
permission to collect for his own use the customary and other
revenues in Daid. Khalid did not take up residence there but
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