Page 142 - Truncal States to UAE_Neat

Administering a Tribal Society

their production in the LTwa. During 1952-4, when locusts had
earlier invaded the LTwa, none of the producers came up to the nisab
of 10 jirabs, and the Manasir date gardens had not been taxed for
decades—possibly because none produced more than 10 jirabs.
Therefore the tax collector only visited the oases to the west of
TharwanTyah. The tax income from gardens in al 'Ain and the other
villages in the Buraimi oasis did not amount to more than 1,200 jirabs
in the 1950s. There the annual taxation on dales and crops was
l/10th of the crop if the plot was watered by a falaj and l/20th if the
water was drawn from wells.
The owners of date gardens in every /aJaj-irrigated oasis con­
tributed to the maintenance of these channels; but not everywhere
were they asked to pay a tax on the water to the Ruler. In the oasis of
Daid, for instance, the owners of date gardens paid a tax on dates to
the Ruler of Sharjah amounting to 100 jirabs, but were also taxed on
the use of the falaj water, for which 228 M.T. Dollars were collected in
cash per year on behalf of the Ruler.81 Such water tax (also called
naub) was no longer paid by anyone in Mu'tirid, al Qattarah, JTmi.
HTli and al Muwaij'i during the 1950s, because the aflaj in these
villages were owned by members of the Ruler’s family and in Mas'udi
water was provided only from wells. The falaj taxation system in al
'Ain was simplified in the early 1950s and the owners of date gardens
eventually paid a flat rate of one Rupee for three hours and the
proceeds were used to maintain existing aflaj and to help to refurbish
those which had fallen into disrepair.82
Another taxable asset was domestic animals, and some shaikhs in
the Trucial States levied this kind of zakdh. But the Al Bu Falah did
not collect taxes on camels or any other livestock. In the rare
incidents when individuals living in Dhafrah or even in the vicinity of
Buraimi paid zakdh on camels to lax collectors from Saudi Arabia,
there were either political reasons behind this or it was because it
was impossible for the scattered beduin families to oppose the well-
armed party which sometimes accompanied the tax collector.83
Because only a few very small gardens exist in Bainunah, Dhafrah
proper and Batn LTwa, the Al Bu Falah did not have any occasion for
a yearly visit of their tax collectors. For several years the beduin in
this area, whatever the tribe, paid the customary 10 Rupees per head
of camel they owned—if and when a tax collector from al Hasa came.
The collection of taxes or zakah was a very important factor in the
frontier dispute between Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi.84 The

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