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Bahrain History Tribal Nature of Gulf Society pg. 2
picture courtesy newarabia.net
Two of the most important tribal groups in Arabia are the Qahtan and the Adnan, whose roots stem from the belief that tribes in the north of the peninsula were descended from Adnan, one of Ismail's sons, and that tribes in the south were descended from Qahtan, one of Noah's sons. People in the gulf often attribute the structure of tribal alliances to this north-south distinction, and many still classify their tribes as Adnani or Qahtani. Historically, the tribal nature of society has occasioned petty warfare in the gulf. Arab tribes have attacked each other since before Islam, but tribal customs have prevented these attacks from turning into random violence. Clans, however, have defected from their tribe and made alliances with other tribes, and tribes have sometimes banded together to form a more powerful group. Moreover, although some tribes may trace their lineage to some heroic figure, the real identity of the tribe lies in the people that currently compose it. In the tribe, an individual bases his or her sense of self-esteem on the honor of the tribe as a whole. In Arabia it was impossible to survive in the desert alone, and so families banded together to find water and move their flocks to new grazing lands. Once they established the necessary resources through collective effort, they guarded them jealously and refused to share them with outsiders. It therefore became necessary to set up boundaries between members of the group or between the tribe and outsiders. The tribe worked to restrict membership in order to preserve its sense of solidarity. As a result, birth into the right family tended to be the only way to become a member of a tribe. Marriage sometimes extended the tribal line beyond blood lines, but, in general, people tended to marry within the tribe and only went outside to establish alliances with other tribes. courtesy FRD country studies next page - Tribal Nature pg. 3 Contents of History of Bahrain: The Gulf in the Ancient World - The Gulf in the Middle Ages (page 1, page 2) - The Age of Colonialism (page 1, page 2) - Wahhabi Islam and the Gulf (page 1, page 2) - Treaties with the British (page 1, page 2) - Discovery of Oil (page 1, page 2) - Independence (page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5)- Developments since Independence (page 1, page 2) - Tribal Nature of Gulf Society (page 1, 2, 3, 4) bahrain home - bahrain map - bahrain hotels - bahrain nightlife - bahrain overview - bahrain history index - bahrain pictures
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