A Tribal Order by Shelagh Weir

Author:Shelagh Weir
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: -
Publisher: University of Texas Press
Published: 2013-06-08T04:00:00+00:00

The rules of affray also govern disputes defined as being between clans or hamlets. Before I understood this I tried to discover whether, in a dispute between clans from different Naẓīrī wards, for example, each clan would be supported by other clans in its ward—in other words, would they behave in a “segmentary” manner? Shaykh Nāṣir decisively quashed my expectation with a forceful expression of the Rāziḥī ideal of order-maintenance:

SW: If there was a fight between Ilt Rāshid [of the Upper Third] and Ilt Faraḥ [of the Middle Third], would the other bayts of the Upper Third support Ilt Rāshid?

Shaykh Nāṣir: Certainly not! They must not rise and support one another! If they did, then the shaykh and the elders would come and separate the wrongdoers. Elders not involved in the dispute should intervene and resolve the problem, and return those who have strayed to the right path (innahum ghāwū raddūhum). And if they resist, then they seize rabākhs from them—a gun or a jambiyyah. Then they take [i.e., slaughter] a sheep and make a settlement (sulḥ), and quickly solve the problem (yiḥillū al-mushkilah). Everyone supports his bayt to prevent the problem growing.

SW: Tribal governance (ḥukum qabalī) is good!

Shaykh Nāṣir’s daughter-in-law: What do you have?

SW: We have a strong government.

Shaykh Nāṣir: We don’t!

SW: [The hamlet of] al-Farq contains about seven bayts. If there’s a dispute, which bayt supports which?

Shaykh Nāṣir: If they have an internal dispute in al-Farq, everyone supports his own bayt. Then the elders intervene and crush it by slaughtering, and force them to make it up and return to the right path (yiruddūhim). There must be no ganging up! It should only be one on one.

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