'Gazetteer of Arabia Vol. II' [‎1375] (430/688)

NAS—NAS
1375
NlSlR (AULAD )— _
A section of the Bani Jabir tribe (q. v.) of the 'Oman SUtanate.
NASIR (QASR 'Ain IBK)—
A settlement in Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. -as-Sirr {q. v.) between 'Anaizah and Shaqrah, in central Arabia.
KASIR JULSAH—
A creek, with one or two huts on it, in Fao (q. v.), at the mouth of the Shatt-al-'Arab.
KASIR SAFAR—
A creek, with some huts on it, in Fao {q. v.) at the mouth of the Shatt-al-'Arab.
NASIR MUHAMMAD (WIT,AD)—
A section of the Bani,Ruwahah tribe {q. v.), of Ha^ar, in the Sultanate of 'Oman.
NASIR I YAH—
One of the rural tribes of 'Iraq (q. v.).
KASIRIYAH DISTRICT—
A division of the Muntafik Sanjaq of the Basrah Wilayat in 'Iraq.
Position and boundaries.—The District of NasirTyah is situated on the extreme lower
course of the western branch of the Shatt-al-Gharaf, and on the Euphrates both above
and below the confluence with it of that branch. The district is surrounded by tho
District of Samawah on the west, Shatrat-al-Muntafik on the north, Suq-ash-Shuyukh
on the east; on the south it is bounded by the ShamTyah Desert.
Topoqatphy and inhabitants. —The only large place in the district is the town of
Kasiriyah, but the villages of Azairij and Butaihah may be mentioned as they are the
centres of Nahiyahs. The former of these is on or near the right bank of the Enphrates
above Kasiriyah Town. The Euphrates and Gharaf rivers are the dominant
physical features. The Arabs of the country belong to the Muntafik tribe.
Population. —The fixed population of the Qadha is estimated at 53,000 souls, of whom
all except 1,000 Sunnis and about 1,100 persons of other races and religions who reside
in the town of Nasiriyah, —are Shi 'ah Arabs.
Administration. —Besides its Markaz Nahiyah, this district comprises two others,
Azairij and Butaihah, each of which is presided over by a Mudir resident in the village
after which his subdivision is named.
The whole of the cultivated land and the Marsh land from the borders of Nasiriyah
downwards along the 'Aqiqah channel and the Mazlik channel, as far as the Hammar
Lake, seem to have been held, up to comparatively recent times, by various aboriginal
tribes as tribal property. The tribesmen paid light dues to their Shaikhs and
probably re- distributed the land periodically amongst themselves. Date palms were
few, and the main cultivation was rice. Towards the end of the fifteenth century the
Sa 'adun family came in from the desert, dominated the aboriginal tribes, and settled
in the country as overlords, holding at first none of the territory as their private pro
perty, but imposing a fixed tribute upon the various tribes. This state of affairs conti
nued until about 40 years ago, when the Turks began to bring 'Iraq under their regular
control.
Date gardens are found from a few miles above Nasiriyah on both banks of the
river down to the boundaries of Suq, with considerable gaps in which only grain crops
are grown. As the area which can be watered by '' lift '' is limited (the date gardens
are of no great depth. On the Azairij side the gardens have the advantage of being
flooded for a short time each spring.
The gardens belong mainly to Muntafiqs or to non-tribal owners who have bought
them from the Muntafiqs. The gardens on the actual edges of the Euphrates are usually
cultivated by fellahs Arabic for ‘peasant’. It was used by British officials to refer to agricultural workers or to members of a social class employed primarily in agricultural labour. who do not belong to any of the regular tribes, and call themselves
either Najjada (natives of Najd) or Hasawi (natives of Hasa).
There is practically no rice cultivation in Nasiriyah, the crops being barley and
wheat in the spring and millet in the summer.