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(singular: Dawsarī), a large tribe based in central Arabia. The Dawāsir are remarkable for the way in which many of them have spread abroad and won success in areas and endeavours remote from their original environment, while at the same time even the settled elements among them have retained an unusually strong sentiment of tribal solidarity and attachment to the mores of their Bedouin forebears. Whatever the origins of the tribe, the Dawāsir became primarily identified with Wādī al-Dawāsir in southern Nad̲j̲d (the closest of the populated districts there to…

, a valley in Nad̲j̲d, the northernmost of those cutting through the western wall of the cuesta of Ṭuwayḳ. It is a true wādī with a strong flood whenever there is enough rain. The valley forms the dividing line between the district of Sudayr to the north and the district of al-Maḥmal to the south. Its head ( farʿa ) is in the low ground west of Ṭuwayḳ in the vicinity of the oasis of al-Ḳaṣab, south of which there is a large salt pan ( mamlaḥa or sabk̲h̲a ). After passing north of the hills of al-Bakarāt (pl. of bakra=she-camel 3-5 years old), the valley goes through the escarpment of Ṭuwayḳ by…

(officially written Bahrain) is a British protected state in the Persian Gulf consisting of an archipelago of the same name lying between the peninsula of Ḳaṭar and the mainland of Saudi Arabia, as well as another group of islands, of which Ḥuwār is the largest, just off the west coast of Ḳaṭar. The Ruler of al-Baḥrayn and the Ruler of Ḳaṭar disagree regarding the status of a small area surrounding al-Zubāra in north-western Ḳaṭar. The variety of explanations, none of them convincing, of the name al-Baḥrayn in the Arabic sources indicates that its origin remains unkno…

, a large oasis in Saudi Arabia on the southern shore of the Persian Gulf. 1. Geography and demography. The oasis fronts on Tārūt Bāy, named after the island facing its centre. Although al-Ḳaṭīf was for centuries a seaport of considerable importance, it is now, due to the shallowness of its waters, used only by small craft. Most of the maritime traffic had been diverted to the oil-shipping port of Raʾs Tannūra (Ras Tanura) on the narrow peninsula which forms the north side of the bay and to the commercial port of al-Dammām [ q.v.] at the southern extremity of the bay. The oasis stretches about 2…

(commonly written Abū Ḏh̲abī), a town (54° 22′ E. long., 24° 29′ N. lat.) and s̲h̲ayk̲h̲dom on the Trucial Coast of Arabia. The population of the town, the only settlement of any size in the s̲h̲ayk̲h̲dom, is several thousand. The most prominent structure is the ruler’s fortresslike palace. The town is said to have been founded about 1174-5/1761 by Banī Yās [ q.v.], a tribe then ranging in the interior of al-Ẓafra [ q.v.]. No evidence points ¶ to any earlier settlement on the site, which lies on the seaward side of a triangular island separated from the mainland by a nar…

Abū ʿAbd Allāh ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. ʿAlī Wad̲j̲īh al-Dīn al-S̲h̲aybānī al-Zabīdī al-S̲h̲āfiʿī , Arab historian and religious scholar, was born in 866/1461 in Zabīd and died there in 944/1537. Older biographers call him Ibn al-Daybaʿ, but al-D̲j̲irāfī refers to him simply as al-Ḳāḍī al-Ḥāfiẓ ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Daybaʿ. Daybaʿ, said to mean “white” in Nubian, was the laḳab of his remote ancestor ʿAlī b. Yūsuf. Ibn al-Daybaʿ, whose father died in India without having seen him, was brought up by his maternal grandfather in Zabīd [ q.v.], the centre of S̲h̲āfiʿite learning in Tihāmat al-Y…

, a district in the Yaman mountains southwest of Ṣanʿāʾ. The district, which is divided into al-Ḥayma al-K̲h̲ārid̲j̲iyya (Outer or Western al-Ḥayma) and al-Ḥayma al-Dāk̲h̲iliyya (Inner or Eastern al-Ḥayma), straddles the main route to Ṣanʿāʾ from the seaport of al-Ḥudayda. Ascending from Tihāma, one passes through the district of Ḥarāz [ q.v.] to reach al-Ḥayma. Manāk̲h̲a, the capital of Ḥarāz, lies ca. 2300 m. above sea level. Eastwards the way drops some 800 m. into the sink or graben of Mafḥaḳ, named after the main town of Outer al-Ḥayma. Glaser identi…

, tribe with its main centre in northwestern Saudi Arabia and southern Jordan. The tribal range extends from the vicinity of al-Karak in the north to the vicinity of Taymāʾ [ q.v.] in the south, and from the Red Sea in the west to Wādī al-Sirḥān and al-Ḏj̲awf [ qq.v.] in the east. The eastern part of this range is properly the homeland of Banū ʿAṭiyya, with whom the Ḥuwayṭāt as good allies share watering and grazing rights. This whole area corresponds in a general way to that occupied by the tribes of ʿUd̲h̲ra and D̲j̲ud̲h̲ām [ qq.v.] in the late D̲j̲āhiliyya and the early days of Islam [see the map in EI…

, a town about 30 years old some 20 km. south of Kuwayt City. During the early days of exploration for oil in Kuwayt, the Kuwait Oil Company (KOC), then owned in equal shares by the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (later renamed British Petroleum) and by the Gulf Oil Corporation of the United States, established its base camp at Magwa (al-Makwa) not far north-west of the ridge known as Dhahr (al-Ẓahr), which with an elevation of ca. 120 m. is one of the few fairly high places in the state. In 1356/1938 KOC discovered oil south of the ridge at Burgan (Burḳān), destined to bec…

, a district in Nad̲j̲d [ q.v.], the central province of Saudi Arabia. Al-K̲h̲ard̲j̲ stretches from al-ʿĀriḍ [ q.v.] in the north southwards to the area east of the oasis of al-Ḥawṭa [ q.v.] in Wādī Burayk (Wādī ’l-Ḥawṭa). To the west the crags of ʿUlayya, a section of the range of Ṭuwayḳ [ q.v.], rise above the vale of al-K̲h̲ard̲j̲, which is closed in on the east by the steppe desert of al-Bayāḍ. As the confluence of many wādīs (also called s̲h̲aʿībs ), al-K̲h̲ard̲j̲ is one of the most fertile places in Saudi Arabia. Wādī Ḥanīfa (classical al-ʿIrḍ) and …

, a tribe of Northern Arab descent in the vicinity of Mecca and al-Ṭāʾif. Belonging to the branch of Muḍar known as K̲h̲indif. Hud̲h̲ayl was closely related to Kināna and consequently to Ḳurays̲h̲ [ qq.v.]. Since early times ¶ Hud̲h̲ayl has occupied much of the territory immediately west and east of Mecca and on up into the mountains towards al-Ṭāʾif; there is no tradition of its having migrated here from elsewhere. This territory, which has been called “The heart of Ḥid̲j̲āz”, includes the valley of Baṭn Marr or Marr al-Ẓahrān (mod…

(sing. D̲j̲unaybī), one of the leading tribes of Oman. Apparently at one time the strongest of all the Bedouin tribes there, the D̲j̲anaba still number enough nomadic members to rank as peers of the Durūʿ [ q.v.] and Āl Wahība [ q.v.] in the desert. The main divisions of the D̲j̲anaba are the Mad̲j̲āʿila (sing. Mad̲j̲ʿalī, pronounced Mēʿalī), the Fawāris, Āl Dubayyān, and Āl Abū G̲h̲ālib, of which the first is recognized as paramount. The present chief ( ras̲h̲īd ) of the tribe is D̲j̲āsir b. Ḥamūd, whose predecessors were the descendants of al-Murr b. Manṣūr. Covering a wide territory, th…

, a small town close to the southern boundary of the Yaman Arab Republic (Northern Yaman) in the administrative district of Ibb [ q.v.]. A short distance to the south of the other side of the boundary lies al-Ḍāliʿ, formerly the capital of the ʿĀmirī amīrate [ q.v.] and now a forward base of the People’s Democratic Republic of the Yaman (Southern Yaman). Ḳaʿṭaba is located between the upper reaches of the Wādīs Tuban and Banā. Terraced fields in the surrounding rocky terrain produce cereals, fruit, coffee and ḳāt [ q.v.]. At an altitude of over 1200 m. Ḳaʿṭaba is still much lower tha…

(usually shortened to K̲h̲ārg; K̲h̲ārak in Arabic), a coral island in the Persian Gulf off the coast of Persia at lat. 29° 16′ N, long. 50° 19′ E. Lying 55 km. northwest of Būs̲h̲ahr [ q.v.], the island is 8 km. long from north to south and 4 km. broad. Much of it is covered by treeless hills with a maximum height of 75 m. Four km. to the north is the smaller island of K̲h̲ārgū (Arabic K̲h̲uwayrik). Between the two islands and also west of K̲h̲ārag are banks where pearls of exceptional value were sometimes found until commercial pearling withered away in the present century. Whether K̲h̲ārag is to b…

, the title of Sūra xlvi of the Ḳurʾān, and a geographical term the meaning and application of which have been generally misunderstood. The Sūra derives its title from verse 21, which speaks of ʿĀd as warning his people in al-Aḥḳāf. The word aḥḳāf is usually interpreted in dictionaries, books of tafsīr , and translations of the Ḳurʾān as meaning curved sand dunes. Medieval Arab geographers considered al-Aḥḳāf to be the name of a sand desert in Southern Arabia, said to lie between Ḥaḍramawt and ʿUmān, i.e., in the eastern part of al-Ramla or al-Rubʿ al-Ḵh̲âlî [ q.v.]. Modern Western geograph…

, a district in northern Nad̲j̲d in the central part of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Lying west of the northern end of the long scarp of Ṭuwayḳ: [ q.v.], the district is intersected by the lower reaches of Wādi ’l-Rumah [ q.v.] shortly before that great watercourse loses itself in the eastern sands. In classical Arabic the term ḳaṣīm (nom. unit.: ḳaṣīma ) is applied to sandy areas where the g̲h̲aḍā bush abounds. This description fits the district, which has large masses of sand to the north (ʿIrḳ al-Maẓhūr), the east (Nafūd al-Thuwayrāt), and …

, a town in Oman (ʿUmān [ q.v.]) in eastern Arabia. ʿIbrī is the capital of al-Ẓāhira, the highland district stretching from the inland slopes of the mountain range of al-Ḥad̲j̲ar westwards to the sands of al-Rubʿ al-K̲h̲ālī. The town lies in the great wadi coursing down from the mountains to the sands near the point where its name changes from Wādī al-Kabīr to Wādī al-ʿAyn. Higher up in the wadi are the towns of al-ʿArāḳī and al-Darīz. Just east of ʿIbrī is the settlement of al-Sulayf, while farther e…

( sing.Ḳāsimī), the ruling family of al-S̲h̲āriḳa (S̲h̲arjah) and Raʾs al-K̲h̲aymā [ qq.v.], two of the member states of the United Arab Emirates. The Ḳawāsim, who claim to be s̲h̲arīf s, are an offshoot of the Huwala, Arabs long established on the Persian side of the Persian Gulf, some of whom have returned to their original homeland. It is not known when the Ḳawāsim came back. Raʾs al-K̲h̲ayma under its older name D̲j̲ulfār was the native town of the noted Arab pilot S̲h̲ihāb al-Dīn Aḥmad b. Mād̲j̲id [see ibn mād̲j̲id ]. Writing in the late 9th/15th century, h…

D̲j̲amāl ( Nad̲j̲m ) al-Dīn Abu ’l-Fatḥ Yūsuf b. Yaʿḳūb b. Muḥammad al-S̲h̲aybānī al-Dimas̲h̲ḳī , reputed author of Tāʾrīk̲h̲ al-Mustabṣir (or al-Mustanṣir ), an important source for the geography, history, and customs of western and southern Arabia in the early part of the 7th/13th century. Yūsuf b. Yaʿḳūb, a native of Damascus said to have been of Persian descent, was born in 601/1204-5 and died in 690/1291. The brief biographical notices of him give little information on his career. The author of Tāʾrīk̲h̲ al-Mustabṣir does not tell enough about himself to satisfy our curio…

, the name of a number of valleys, mines, and other places in Arabia and elsewhere. When applied to valleys, ʿAḳīḳ is used in the sense of a bed cut out by a stream; when applied to mines, it may refer either to stones such as the cornelian ( ʿaḳīḳ) or more generally to any mineral cut away from its source. The name is much used by the Arab poets, who do not always make clear which of the many ʿAḳīḳs they have in mind. The best known of the ʿAḳīḳs is the valley passing just west of Medina, from which it is separated by Ḥarrat al-Wabra. It continues northwards to join Wādī al-Ḥamḍ [ q.v.], the classical Iḍam,…