Page 94 - A Hand book of Arabia Vol 1 (iii) Ch 3

•c y'-VTjV ~ :*'-j:r."m:- •■« a_:;. i

i

<S8 THE BEDOUIN TRIBES ?

Sub-Tribe. Clan.
Makhadhabah (<continued): Mdna*.
Mazdhimah.
Qumzah.
Sa'ayyid.
Shaba* in. (Sheikh is chief of
Shahwdn. whole sub-tribe.) «
Shara'an.
i
Shardhin.
Sultan. V
Tawwa. »
:
Zahar. :
Zakhdnin.
Mohammed 'Amirah. If
(mainly in Hasa). Filahah.
Kidadat. i
Kilabah.
c: ^
Misarii. ♦V
Qaruf. <*•
Sha'amil. (Sheikh is chief of
Simdhin. whole sub-tribe.) ,t
Taya\
«•. »>■
•»
8. TAe AM Murrah

The AHL MURRAH (Ahl Morra), a savage and ill-known tribe,
wholly nomadic, range to the south of Hasa, into the Jafurah Desert,
and down to the wild oasis of Jabrin which lies beyond on the con- ].
fines of the great South Desert. On the north they come up to near
‘Oqair, while inland they lie south of the Hofuf-Riyadh routes (which if
they harry) as far as the borders of Kharj. In most of this inhospit- l
able tract they wander alone, and neither the Turks nor the Ibn J
Sa'uds (who^e feudatories they nominally are) have ever been able ; •
to follow thorn far enough to subdue them. In 1915-16 they gave
the Emir . f Riyadh a great deal of trouble. Their savagely and
tie chery are due mainly to the wild character of their dlra, but .
perhaps theh evil reputation is due also in some degree to the small . $
knowledge of them possessed by the outside world. •I ,

They have, however, physical and linguistic peculiarities, which f •
make it possible that they are survivors of the pre-Arab population , '
of the peninsula, like the inhabitants of Ras Musandam and the J I
fSouthei n Mahiah. They are virtually pagans, but profess, on occasion, 1 1
Islam of the Hanbali school, which is akin to Wahabism. They are
A I
as ill armed as they are ill provided with any domestic apparatus ‘
;
or clothing in advance of the Stone Age ; but they are brave fighters, ;
who have twice in recent years made short work of Turkish punitive
detachments. They own many camels.
i