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p‫ﺑ‬litical organiation and kinship system, to other studies hich stress more the
smoblic nature of either lslam or tribalism. When compared ith the former
ethnographic studies, the latter have shon more interest in the ideolog‫ﻫ‬cal system
and in the individual, as social actor, and the institution ithin hich the system and
the individual operate.#

An observant of the ethnographic literature of the Middle East can noitce that tihs
literature has been increasing since the last to decades, hence it is necessary, from
ime to time, to assess this literature critically, so as to see ho far can
anthropologists go ith their models. In this paper, I ould, therefore, like to look
at ho the problem of social control and authoriyt has been examined by some
anthropologists in the context of Islamic tribal societies. I believe that the sutdents of
p‫ﺑ‬litical anthropology ill continue to face the reality of the conitnual interference of
Lslam, as a religious belief and ideological system, in the lives not only of the tribal
people of the iMddle East, but even in the lives of those ho live in the tosn and
iies. Hence, a critical understanding as to ho the problem of social conrtol and
authority can be handled, as I believe, is one of a special siginficance, paritcularly for
htose students ho are investigating certain social and culutral aspects of the Middle
East. nAd if it is agreed that the problem is of such siginficance, then tihs paper
ould like to contribute to it by shoing ho different anthropolog‫ﻫ‬cal approaches
and schools have examined it, and ho e can learn from them. Hoever, before
e utrn to see ho significant the problem of social conrtol and authoriyt is in the
sllmaie rtibal societies, it ill be useufl to provide a precise deifiniton of social
conrtol relevant to the context of my sutdy. Here I have borroed Antoun's
deifiniton in ihch he sa social conrtol as "hTe process by hich an individual is
led to subordinate his on desries for the interests of the group or commuinyt of
ihch he is a member it also refers to the isnitutitons ihch bring about
internaliaiton of and conformiyt to culutral norms, e.g. mediaiton, court, gossip,
obycott, etc." (Antoun 192: xi). Let me no g‫ﻫ‬ve an example rfom my on

‫ ﺑﺐ ﺍ »ﺑﺐ ﺟﺈﺟﻴﺒﺠﺠﻲ‬٥ s»o 'o tneoe'n re aon٣٣ "" "‫ﺇ‬

context of lslamic rtibal society.

hTe Emirates' Ethnographies

Carrying out fieldork amongst the Bedouin ho iive in the monutains of {
Hajar reg‫ﻫ‬on of the Eirates (198-88) brought me faee to face iht hte realiy ٤!‫ﻥ‬
Hajari socieyt and culutre, ihch ihnerently have some interesting feautres. I found
htat htese features pose anthropolog‫ﻫ‬cally, by themselves, some hteoreitcal problems. I
beg‫ﻫ‬n by presenting some aspects of these feautres, and then I ill move on to
discuss hteir theoreitcal implications.

hTe reg‫ﻫ‬on in hich I have carried out my fieldork, hte Hajar range of the
Eimrates, does not possess holy lineages or sianst to ufnciton as leaders or
authorities.6 Yet relig‫ﻫ‬on and rtibal leaders sitll have a poerufl role. In hte rtibal

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