Page 80 - A Hand book of Arabia Vol 1 (iii) Ch 3

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TRIBES OF THE CENTRAL EAST 81

SHAMMAR OF ‘IRAQ

Tribe. i Sub-Tribe. I Clan.

Tauqah, | Mas'ud (Mes‘ud) I
\ Zagdrit
Zaubai
Dhahi Mohammed

! 2. Beni Tamim

The BENI TAMIM are a famous stock of the northern people, who
played an important part in Arabian history before the age of the
Prophet, when they extended from the Syrian Desert to Yemamah.
They maintain their ancient seat, for they still form a large pro­

portion of the settled population of Nejd and Jebel Shammar; i
the oases of the Qaslm are almost exclusively inhabited by them :
\
and 6y the B. Khalid. Bus they are no longer an independent
*
tribe ;• they acknowledge the authority of Ibn Sa‘ud or of Ibn
llashid. At a very early date, probably before the Mohammedan
invasion, they began to come up into Mesopotamia, where they are
still to be found near Tarmlyah (some 1,500 families). All these
are shepherds, and while the Tamim of Nejd are strict Wahabites,
their kinsmen of Mesopotamia are Shiahs.

3. The Dhafir {or Dhuflr)

The DHAFIR form an important tribe whose district extends
south of the Shatt el-‘Arab and Euphrates from near Zobeir to
Samawah. From Samawah a line drawn almost due south to the
vicinity of Hafar in the Batin would mark their frontier, and the
depression of the Batin forms the SE. side of the triangle which
encloses their territory. Their neighbours are the Muntefiq confede­
rations© the NE., the Shammar to the W., the Muteir and ‘Ajman to
the E., while to the south they are in touch with the Sebei‘, one of
i
the tribes which acknowledges the authority of Ibn Sa'ud. The
Samid section, and more particularly the Juwasim (or Jawasim,
"ng- Qawasim), are accustomed to cross the Euphrates in the
■'llminer and pasture their flocks in the ‘Iraq.

The Dhafir are foes of the Muteir and are almost always on bad
cn.ns with the Shammar, whom they raid when they are in their
•'Pring pasturages east of the Nefud. They harry the Darb Zobeidah
*1) h 7^ UP ®ir“r’s caravans from Ha’il to Nejef; indeed the
roarj . °heidah has become so unsafe that the western pilgrimage
'Wu now a^most always chosen by caravans in preference to it.
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