Page 74 - Truncal States to UAE_Neat

The Tribal Structure of Society

During the rule of Shaikh Khalifah bin Shakhbut, who succeeded
his brother Tahnun in 1833 (after he and his brother Sultan had
killed Tahnun), the emigration of the A1 BQ Falasah section of the
Bani Yas to Dubai, repeated attempts at secession by the Qubaisat
section of the Bani Yas, and a prolonged war with Sultan bin Saqr of
Sharjah, stretched the resources of Abu Dhabi to their limits.
Nevertheless Khalifah availed himself of the opportunity presented
by a quarrel between the NaTm and the Dhawahir in the Buraimi
oasis to intervene on the latter’s behalf and try to evict the NaTm from
the oasis in 1839, justifying his intervention by saying that the date
groves “are common to them (Dhawahir) and us”.70 A peace was
effected in 1840 when the British Political Resident, at that time
Captain Hamerton, visited the oasis under the protection of the A1 Bu
Shamis shaikh.77 Soon after that a dispute arose between the Bani
Yas, supported by the Manasir, and the Bani Qitab, a tribe living
immediately to the north of the oasis along the communication line
between it and the towns of Sharjah, Dubai and 'Ajman. In a
subsequent agreement between Shaikh Khalifah and the shaikhs of
the tribes in and around Buraimi, Shaikh Khalifah accepted full
responsibility for the Bani Yas and the Manasir and for the first time
also for the Dhawahir. In August 1841 Commodore G.B. Brucks
reported to the Political Resident, Persian Gulf, on the news
regarding the coast from Abu Dhabi to Ra's al Khaimah and the
interior. According to his information some Manasir were in
particularly close relationship with the Dhawahir, who afforded
them refuge at times; he referred to the Dhawahir as ‘‘belonging to
Khalifah and occupying six or seven villages in the neighbourhood of
Brahamee, and under the immediate control of his Father”, Shaikh
Shakhbut.78 By 1844 the picture of tribal allegiance in the Buraimi
area presented itself to the Residency Agent in Sharjah, Mullah
Husain, as follows: ‘‘Sheikh Khuleefa bin Shackboot and his forces
consisting of horsemen and Camel men set out from Aboothabee on
the commencement of the hot weather. I heard of their being at
Brymee and that all the Naim tribes, the Al boo-Shamis and Al boo
Khureyban and the other Beduin Tribes such as the Beni Kuttub
[Qitab], Beni Kaab, Ghuflah and Zowahir [Dhawahir], the whole had
entered into engagements with him and became united with him as
one. It appears to me that at the present time there is not throughout
the interior one Beduin tribe opposed to him.”79 Shaikh Khalifah’s
successor SaTd bin Tahnun (1845-55) proved equally successful at
rallying the tribes of the area around him, in this case to counter

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