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eripheral tribal societies hich consist of tribal folloers, on the other. The question
here i‫ ﻭ‬ho these to authorities, the political and relig‫ﻫ‬ous ones, have continued to
maintain their authoritative role in these societies despite the orldise belief hich
sees peripheral tribal societies as being in continuous conflict ith the state or central
authority. We also encounter the question as to ho the secular and religious leaders
in the tons have gained authority and poer over the peripheral, tribal villages, and
ho rtibal and lslamic institutions have provided the to authorities ith poer to
mediate and arbitrate in local village disputes.

This kind of problem can also lead us to look into the question of ho the to
authorities, the tribal and religious ones, ork together. What sort of relationship
exists beteen them? And most importantly, ho does tihs relationship manifest
istelf in hte processes of social control? AI! these questions and problems that e
have rtied to raise so far are believed to be crucially important not only to the Hajar
socieytor the Emirates as hole, but also to other parts of the Middle East.

nL ihs inrtoduciton to lslam in Tropical Africn (198), a ell-knon anthropolog‫ﻫ‬st
like Leis poses an important problem to students of hte anthropology of lslam. The
problem that he highlights is that social anthropolog‫ﻫ‬sts have contributed very little to
hte sutdy of Muslim institutions in their social context and in everyday life. Leis
eses that the ifeld has been almost entirely left to Arabists ho have only rteated the
subject rfom a historical or theolog‫ﻫ‬cal perspective, hile social anthropologisst have
avoided the issue (Leis 198 : 1-3, 4). Leis arg‫ﻫ‬ment is quite convincing, because
ni traditional societies in general, and in the middle Eastern ones in paritcular,
religious instiutitosn sitll play a poerful role in shaping peoples' lives.

It is undoubtedly rtue that, in some societies, relig‫ﻫ‬on acst as a form of common
ideology and la, and as a means of maintaining social conrtol (Pitts 1968). lslam, for
snitance, is one of the orld religiosn that has a very dominant ilfnuence at different
levels of society. ihTs role has been recently defined by Ernest Gellner as a blueprint
for social order (Gellner 11981: 1). lslma, as a religion, provides a set of rules ihch
cover almost every aspect of a Muslim's life there are fe areas for ihch religious
precedenst do not exist. For instance, in sura al-nisan (I٧) hte Ouran states in detail
concise rules for the rights, duites and obligaitons of the husband, ife, siblings,
parenst and neighbours. In the same sura, for example, the share of each heir in the
pairtmony is clearly deifned, leaving no doubt as to hte righst of the individual.
hTsee rules are eternal and perpeutally sacrde they are shara Allah (urles of God),
and as such immutable.

A Muslim is not olny required to believe in hte five pillars of lslam: - professin‫ﺇ‬
of faith, or stating the oneness of God praying (salat), five itmes daily fasting during
the month of amadan performing haj‫( ﺯ‬hte pilgrimage), at least once and paying ak‫ﺳ‬t
(alsm) but is comimtted to fulfilling and careuflly obser‫ﺕ‬ing htsee requirements
throughout ihs life. lslam, moreover, neihter granst nor accepts rfom a Muslim any

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