'Gazetteer of Arabia Vol. II' [‎991] (28/688)

KA'AB
991
in descent from Ishmael. It is stated that the original home of the Ka'ab was in Najd
and that some of the tribe are still to the found there at a place called Bishauramyahi;
all efforts to identify this locality have, however, up to the present, been unsuccessful.
According to tribal tradition the majority of the descendants of Ka'ab eventually es
tablished themselves in Northern Africa ; but Nassar and Dris, the legendary progenitors
of the Ka'ab of Southern 'Arabistan made their way from Najd to Doraq and occupied
it after expelling some other Arab tribes and some Afshar or 'Aushar Turks whom they
found in possession. The date of these supposed events is altogether uncertain. Early
in the seventeenth century, apparently the capital of the Ka ab tribe was at Qubban ;
and there it remained until 1747, when a move was made to Fallahiyeh Town or Doraq-
al-Fallahiyeh as it was then styled. Another old settlement of the Ka'ab, since abandoned,
was Sablah or Sablah ; it stood on the right bank of the Karun river, opposite to the
island of Dair and the Marid creek. The history of the Ka'ab tribe in the eighteenth
and nineteenth centuries is a part of that of 'Arabistan, which is related at length else
where. Here it is enough to add that shortly after 1775 the jurisdiction of the Ka'ab
chiefs seems to have extended from the neighbourhood of Basrah to the confines of
Behbehan ; but their influence declined as that of the Muhaisin rose, and the chiefs of
the Ka'ab, stripped of political power, have sunk in recent years into undistinguished
vassals of the Shaikh of Muhammareh.
The divisional Shaikhs have no political power; the most important among them are
Shaikh Rizaij of the A1 Bu Ghubaish (Bait Hilayil), who is in charge of Buziyeh and lives
there ; Shaikh 'Abud, the head of the Khanafireh ; Shaikh Musa of the 'Asakireh, and
Shaikh Sultan of the Muqaddam, who is at present in jail.
KA'AB (B ani)—
Sin ular Ka'abi. A tribe in the interior of the 'Oman Promontory, having their
headquarters at Mahadhah, in the neighbourhood of which they are nearly all found.
In politics they are Ghafirlyah ; in religion Sunnis. Their principal sections are :
Section.
Habitat.
Approximate
number
of souls.
R emabks.
Drisah ..
Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. Shiya
150
Nomadic.
1
Makatim
Mahadhah and Kahal
villages.
600
Settled.
Misa'id ..
•
Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. Bu Jila'ah
350
Do.
Miyadilah
Miyaisah
Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. -al-Hayul and
Shibakah in Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows.
Qahfi.
Jawaif and Sharam in
Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. Khadhra.
500
150
Do.
Do.
Mizahamiyin
Mahadhah village
50
Do.
Nawaijiyin
Khatwah in Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. Bu
Sa'ad, also Khabbain,
also Zahar and Subai-
thah in the Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows.
'Abailah affluent of
Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. -al-Jizi.
1,400
Do.
Salalat
Mahadhah village
300
Do.