"ملف ٦٣/٨ شؤون دولة مسقط: قبيلة الشحوح" [و‎‎٨] (٥٦/١٥)

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irreiiminary note on Shihuh politics,
A brief note would appear to be necessary to give
recent eirents a bacicground.
The Shihuh are the rude, suspicious and wild
inhabitants of RU l US AL JAbAh. hossibly in part aborigi
nal ( their alleged descent from the Azdite invader of
the 2nd Centu^iry A.h. Malik bin tfaham is improbable)
they are more ignorant and uncouth than their neighbours
either of Trucial Oman or of the oulanante.hthnologi
cally they are not one. The Kumazara of the villages of
Aumz&r exclusively and of Ahasb and i.imah partly are
Iranian elements,racially and linguistically peculiar,
and it is they who have established a shaikhly ascendancy
over tne southern half of the ahihuh, by v/hich tribe in
name and politics they have been absorbed. This southern
confederation by name J^ani bhatair and a northern one
.Bani Hadiyah together compose the Sihhuh Ixkx tribe. The
seats of their Shaikhs are Dibah and Khasb respectively.
These towns are the foci of Shihuh politics. The tv/o
Sheikhs are generally regarded as equal and rival, iheir
respective confederations the jsani nadiyah and the nani
shatair v with which is associated the numazaaca) are
traditional enemies and are normally divided by old
blood feuds.
nistoric&lly, the keeping of the tribal peace
between these tv/o elements has been the ‘raison d^tre 1
of the sulatanate wall at nhksab.
The Shihuh, v/hen free from external cares are
thus a house divided aganist itself, but they unite in
the face of the common enemy -traditionally the neighbour
ing ^wASIm tribe, ihe shihuh belong to the ninawi factior
the tyAWASIM to the U-nAFARI faction. The menace which the
^AWASIlti. constituted for the inhabitants of musandam.
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