'Gazetteer of Arabia Vol. I' [‎174] (189/1050)

174
'ANAZAH
Character and life of the Bedouin 'Anizah. —The 'Anizah are respected by their neigh
bours and enemies the Shammar as being, next to themselves the noblest ofthe Bedouins
in descent and character; nevertheless the more suthern 'Anizah are perhaps the
most evilly disposed tribe, except the Qahtan, of Central Arabia. The features of
The northern 'Anizah are often of a Syrian or even Jewis caste. Some 'Anizah
families, for the sake of a more comfortable life, live among the Hataim ; but they do not
intermarry with them. The tents of the 'Anirzah are high compared with others, and
the apartment of the wife is upon the left in entering.
Political sympathies. —In the recent struggle in Central Arabia the Bedouins, at least
of the 'Anizah took part with Ibn Sa'ud and the Shaikh of Kuwait against Ibn Rashid.
Settled 'Anizah. —The foregoing remarks relate to the Bedouin 'Anizah ; but, as already
observed, a large part of the settled population of Najd claim to be, and many
of them probably are, of the 'Anizah. In Jabal Shammar they are not mentioned ex
cept at elauf-al'Amir and Ghazalah ; but in Qasim settled Arabs who call themselves
'Anizah are apparently found at 'Anizah, Buraidah, Dhalfa'ah Dharas, 'Ain-ibn-Fahaid
Ghaf I, Khabrah, Khadhar, Qusaibah, Muraid Saiyid. Rass, Raudhat-ar-Rubai'i
Saib, Shaihiyah, Shiqqah, Ta'amiyah, Watit and Wathal, and possibly at Khabb,
Mudhnib and Qisaiya'ah. In Sadair they are said to occur at Dakhilah, Dhalmah,
Harmah, Ijwai, Janubiyah, Khis, Majma', Ruwaidah, Tuwaim and Zilfi ; in 'Aridh at
Barrah, Haraimlah and Malham in Mahmal, at Batfn-ash-Shuyukh, Manfuhah and
Riyadh on Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. Hanifah, and at Dhrumah town, Mizamiyah and R5dhah in the
Dhrumah tract. In Hariq their presence is reported at Hariq town and Mufaijir, and in
Hautah at Hautah town and Hilwah. In Aflaj they are found at Raudhah and in
Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. Sabai' at Khurmah and Raudhah. They also occur in Kharj.
The sections to which the setteld 'Anizah belong have not been investigated in many
cases, but the following are mentioned :—
'Askar in Kharj and at Dhalmah and Majma' Hawaishan in Zilfi.
in Sadair. Hazazina at Hariq town and Mufaijir
in Hariq.
Daud at Hautah town in Hautah If qahah at the town of Dhrumah.
Harqan at Malham in Aridh Ijdaimat at Raudhah in Aflaj.
Hawaidi at Majma'; in Sadair. Raba (Al Bu) at Dakhilah in Sadair.
Of these the Hazazinah are said to be a branch of the Ruwalah, already mentioned
in the paragraph on Bedouin divisions. Among the settled 'Anizah mention must also
be made of the Misalikh. According to some authorities these are a branch of the Waid
'Ali; and the Al Maqran the family of the rulers of Southern Najd together with the
family of the Shaikhs of Buraidh in Qasim are said to be sprung from them.
Another authority describes this tribe as follows:—
The great group of the 'Anazah, numerically probably the largest group of nomad
Arab tribes, occupies the triangle of the Syrian Desert, the Hamad, which has its base on
the Nafud, about lat. 30°, and its apex near Aleppo, about lat. 36°. On the east bank
of the Euphrates the pasture lands north of Der-ez-Zor and tilong the Khabur are also
'Anazah country ; while a smaller group of kindred tribe is seated round Taima,
between the Hejaz railway and the south-west borders of the Nafud. Ibn Sa'ud is
laid to come of the same stock (Hazainah).
The 'Anazah belong to the people of the North, Ahl-ash-Shamal. Historians give
their descent from 'Anazah, son of Asad, who" sprang from Rabi'a, one of the two
great branches of Nizar. The modern 'Anazah tribesman will aways claim descent
from Wail, who bleonged to a younger branch of the Asad group, and relate that it is
his son 'Anz or 'Anauz^ who is the eponymous founder of the tribe. They are not,
however, united under one head, but are divided into several large sections which
maintain towards one anoher an attitude generally friendly, though it does not exclude
marauding expeditions and private feuds among the smaller Shaikhs. There hereditary
foes of the 'Anazah are the Shammar ; indeed the history of i\omad Arabia is dominated
for the last 150 years by the rivalry between these two.
The original seat of the Shammar seems to have been to the north of the Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows.
Rummah, on the pilgrim road from Basrah to Al-Madinah, or even farther south
towards Yemen. One of those mysterious impulses which, from the beginning of histori c