COMUNICACIÓN EXTERNA

’S h a m m a r ’ tribe and 'Aslam’ clan was made with him, during his visit to London,. Marble Arch, Winter 19 79 ,

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hands of Al-Jarba family from A1-Mohammad lineage. Before their defeat in 1921 by Ibn Saud, they were powerful and able to control almost all the central ' parts of Arabia, under the sheikhship of Abd Al-Aziz A l ~ M i t fib Al-Re s h e e d who forced the-King-to-be Abd

Al-Aziz Ibn Saud and his father to flee away to Kuwait. Utaibah

This was a powerful tribe over west central Arabia, occupying the eastern side of Hijaz. The main

clans of this tribe are the 'Rugah' and ’B a r g a h T. The rR u g a h ’ are chiefly in Hijaz, while the fB a r g a h r to the east of Hijaz. The paramount sheikhs of the

Bargah and the Rugah were Ibn Hindi, and I b n R u b a i Tan respectively.

Bani-Khalid

In the pre-Wahhabi movement, this tribe was the most, powerful tribe over the eastern province of Arabia as w e have seen w h e n the Al-Subah arrived in

Kuwait. The main clans of this tribe are Al-Amayer, Al-Subaih, Bani-Fahd, Al-Megdam, Al-Mahasher, Al-Jbur,

and Al-Humaid. The paramount sheikhs are from the Al- Humaid clan, from A l - U r a i far lineage,

Bani-Haj er

This tribe is found on the east coast of Arabia over Al-Hasa and adjacent to Qatar. The main

clans of this tribe are ’A l - M u k h a d d a b a h f, and fAl- Mohammad', The paramount sheikh of this tribe was Shafi b i n S h a f i . The original place of Bani-Hajer was Wadi Al-duwasir,

Sbai f a

Their original places were Wadi S b a i ’a in the Peninsula, It is normally a small tribe because many clans separated from the mother tribe and preferred to be recognized as independent, i.e. the Shual tribe which is beli e v e d to be originated from S b a i ’a.

Another large clan is found in Anezah known as Sib'an under sheikh bin Marshad. The main clans of this tribe are Bani-Oma.r, Bani-Amir, 'Al-Graishat1 , TA 1 - S u d a n ’ and Al-Umair.

Awazim

Usually found inside the limits of Kuwait principality, hence well-known as a Kuwaiti tribe.

The A w a z i m appeared to have migrated to Kuwait about three generations before 1917. The A w a z i m of Kuwait are divided into two main sections, the TK u ’a h T, 'Aiyal K u w a i T, or ’A w l a d K u w a i ' , and the--’Aiyal A y a d h ’.

Observers trace, the origin of this tribe to Al-BinAAli of Harb tribe, or to Talhah of Rugah of Utaibah tribe.

They usually intermarry among themselves and with the Reshydah, but not with the previous tribes . The present sheikh of

this tribe in Kuwait is bin J a m i ’a. Reshydah

It is also another tribe found in Kuwait, and also over Al-Hasa. They look like the A w a z i m in their physical features., The main clans of this tribe are thu-

Sayyad Al-Ownah, A l - K h a l a w i y a h , Al-Mhaimzat, Al-Ajarmah, and Al-Rwajeh. The sheikhs of this trib.e at the present are the descendants of Al-Mesallam lineage. They usually serve as bodyguards for the ruling family.

limits of Kuwait. Some had the majority of their

tribes in Kuwait, i.e. the Awazim; others h a d certain clans together w i t h individuals from other clans like the Mutair and the Ajman, while the remainder had small collections of their tribes in the town, i.e. Shammar, Utaibah, Anezah, Bani-Hajer, S b a i ’a, and Bani- Khalid. In the oil era, however, the numbers of Badu had increased and able to absorb almost 50 percent of the Kuwaiti society, (see Chapter 6 and A p p e n d i x 3).

Three main characteristics distinguish this group from other groups in the society, these were:

(a) almost all belong to the working class group in society as their jobs indicated, i.e. divers, farmers, g u a r d s , soldiers, policemen, etc. (b) It is the closest group to the shyoukh or the

ruling family. The shyoukh usually intermarry with them in order to strengthen their position by

obtaining the loyalty of the wife's tribe, and

obtain strong backing from those tribes. The power of each sheikh was usually determined by the tribes which were loyal to him. Their relation in fact might have been more favourable to the Sheikh of Kuwait than his relations with merchants. The merchants always caused trouble to him, and in the words of Hay: "His (the Ruler's) relations with

them (the merchants) are often a thorn in his flesh"

(c) The Badu represented the 'army’ of Kuwait or the majority of the army in the pre-oil era of the country. Early in 19 38 there was a martial race in Kuwait called ’Fdawiyyah', which was used by the ruling family as bodyguards and which was d i s ­ banded in 1949 when the regular army was established. The Fdawiyyah were all Badu with some freed African s l a v e s . ^

The Baharnah and Hasawiyah

The members of these groups are the S h i ’ah Arabs.as they are known- in eastern Arabia and in Kuwait, These two groups used to be known only as Al-Baharnah. However, w h e n each group settled in certain areas, for instance Bahrain and the Al-Hasa region, coupled with other circumstances which we shall discuss later, each contrived to acquire such names, although the term "Baharnah” is widely used.

According to Al-Reshaid, "The S h i ’ah of Kuwait divided into three main schools, i.e. Osuliyah, Ekhbariyah

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and Shykhiyah", The three groups belong to the Imamiyah school, although each has certain distinct conceptions of some aspects of Islamic interpretations.

1. Al-Saidan, H., 1972, o p . c i t ., p. 1122,

2. Al-Reshaid, A,, 1926, History of K u w a i t ,, p. 68. See also, Lorimer, o p . c i t ., p . 3371,

(iii) The Baharnah

M any writers presented vague interpretations about their origin. However, they all agreed on two main points, (a) that their mother tongue is Arabic, and (b) that they are an old S h i fah group (if not the oldest) in the history of Shi'ah doctrine over these areas particularly Bahrain and Al-Hasa.^

The terminology Baharnah has significant background, Baharnah is the name of the race or class to which this group belongs. To this group nearly all the S h i ’ah of Bahrain Island and the oasis of Al-Hasa,

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Al-Qati'f and the Peninsula of Qatar belong. The very name Al-Baharnah (plural), Bahrani (singular) has

some nationality-sectarian implications. We must be

1. In a recent study by one of the Baharnah, Mahdi A b d