'Gazetteer of Arabia Vol. I' [‎489] (520/1050)

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DAWlSIR 489
ll Hamid at Bilad A1 Hamid in Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. Dawasir, the A] Hanaish at Dahlah in Salaiyil,
the Hijji at Tamnah in Salaiyil and at Lailah in Aflaj, the Al 'Isa at Thadiq in
s Aridh, the Jibarin or Al Jabir at Lailah in Aflaj, and in Bahrain, the Khadhran
who own Shutbah in Aflaj but do not reside there, the Khamasin at Mishrif in Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows.
Dawasir, the Midbal or Midabilah in Dhrumah, the Al Muhammad at Bilad Al
Muhammad in Salaiyil, the Al Nahish at Fara'ah in Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. Dawasir, the Al Suwailim at
Thadiq in 'Aridh and Muqabil in Salaiyil, the 'Umur at Kabkabiyah and Tamrah in
Salaiyil, and the Walamin at Nafjan in Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. Dawasir. The Walamin have two sub
sections known as Mana' and Sa'ad.
Character and life. —Little is known, in consequence of the remoteness of their country
and its inaccessibility to European travellers, of the main body of the Dawasir; but they
appear to be of consequence as a settled rather than as a nomad tribe. Palgrave considers
them to be the most contemptible of all the Arab race. According to Leachman, they are
a narrow-minded, fanatical, and lying people, disliked equally by townsfolk and Bedouins.
They possess many of the Wahhabi characteristics ; and Leachman was informed that
a woman will not look with favour on a man of the Dawasir tribe until he has killed seven
men. A section of the Dawasir live in the neighbourhood of Al-Hasa and raid along the
routes to Riyadh. They also visit the Jabrin oasis. A party of the Dawasir tribe from
the far interior, who supplied at Kuwait in 1905 most of the information about tribal
divisions given above, wore a somewhat distinctive dress in which differet shades of
red and brown were blended, and they carried silver-mounted swords. Their kerchiefs
and shawls were red, of European manufacture; their mantles were brown, some light,
some dark in colour; their swords, they said, were from India, Baghdad and Makkah.
In their Bahrain settlements none of the tribe are pastoral; there they are chiefly engaged
in pearl diving, in pearl dealing and in the culture of dates.
The Dawasir of Central Arabia profess to be follwers of Ibn Hanbal, but in reality
they are Wahhabis in the modern acceptation of the term ; in Bahrain they are Maliki
Sunnis ; and in Dashtistan about one-fourth are still Sunnis, while the remainder have
recently been converted to Shi'ism.
Political 'position. —The district of Widyan Dawasir forms a principality which is
almost purely D5siri in population, is ruled by a Dosiri chief with his capital at Dam,
and is but slightly attached to the Wahhabi state; Aflaj, on the other hand, though all
but exclusively a D5siri district, appears to be an integral part of the dominions of Ibn
Sa'ud. The political organisation of Widyan Dawasir is noticed more fully in the article
on that district. In the other districts of Najd where Dawasir occur they are not of
political importance in a tribal sense. The Dawasir of Bahrain are a practically
independent community; they pay no revenue to the Shaikh of Bahrain on account
either of their pearl boats or their date gardens, and under the weak regime of the present
ruler they would certainly resist any attempt by him at interference in their affairs.—
{Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. ; Leachman ; Palgrave.)
Another authority describes the Dwasir tribe as follows :—
The nomadic Dawasir are Wahabite and are under Ibn Sa'ud. Half-settled, they
have villages in the Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. Dwasir, which they inhabit during the summer. They breed
camels though not in such large quantities as the Qahtan. The Qasim dealers do not come
as far south as the Dawasir, but the latter bring their camels into Al Hasa and dispose of
them there to the Qusman.
The Dawasir have overflowed into the easterly provinces of southern Najd, and now
form a considerable settled element in Aflaj, where they are the chief owners of land,
worked by men of thefallah tribe of Bani Khadir. To a less extent they are found also
inHaria and Aridh, where the contribute a proportion of the village and even the town
population. Small parties of their nomads wander between Najd and Hsa and trouble
the routes. A considerable body is settled in Bahrain. Indeed so small a proportion of
the Dawasir is in any sense Bedawi, .that the tribe hardly comes within our purview
here, and it is not worth while to enumerate its imperfectly known sub-sections.
A third authority give the following additional sub-tribes of the Dawasir
I 1 N abit. Al Farhan.
Al Jaraiyis. Al Nashaiyir.
Al Katafin. Al Khadhaiyir.
Al Muraiya'. Al Rashid.
_ n/ Al Wazanin. Al Muqabilah.
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