'The Muntafik. Al Sa'dun, Bani Malik, Ajwad, Bani Sa'id, Bani Huchaim' [‎5r] (14/196)

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more intimate contact with Mesopotamian tradition. The Sa’dCin have
preserved the characteristics of Beduin Arabia. They are Sunnis and Ahl al
Ba ir, people of the camel; their dirahs are in the Hamad west of the Hai or
south of the Euphrates, where they have dug or reopened wells in their
accustomed camping grounds. Here they repair after the early rains, and here
they assume their natural part as independent chieftains of the desert. The
Iraq tribes, who acknowledged them as overlords, differ from them in every
particular. 1 hey are Shi’ahs, settled or half-settled cultivators and marshmen,
whose link with the desert people has long been broken ; socially inferior, but
strong numerically, and stronger still in their hereditary hold upon the land
., r ., Muntafik league under the Sa’dun remained until the time of
Mid-hat Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. , in 1871, almost independent of Turkish rule. From the middle
of the loth century onwards, however, they seem to have paid tribute to the
lurks. The first mention of this tribute is in 1747, when the BesideUt at
Basrah reported that the Muntafik were in rebellion against the Turks
because of the tribute imposed on them. In 1769 they again rebelled under
their Shaikh Abdullah on account of arrears of the tribute which the Turks
had attempted to exact.^ In 1776 the Muntafik helped the Turks to defend
asrah against the Persians under Karim Khan, but were defeated and
presumably submitted to the Persians during the 3 years of the Persian
occupation, which ended in 1779. In May 1787 the Sa’dun Shaikh Thuwaini
entered Basrah with a large force, took possession of the towm and the Turkish
cct and imprisoned the Musallim, but was expelled from Basrah by the
Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. of Baghdad in October 1787.
. Between 1797 and 1802 the Muntafik formed the chief bulwark of Basrah
against the Wahhabis. In 1798 they marched with the Turks into Hasa
against the Wahhabis, and in 1801 the Shaikh Thuwaini, already mentioned,
led an expedition against the W r ahhabi Capital, but was murdered not far from
Kuwait.
Between 1810 and 1817 the Muntafik seem to have been in open rebel
lion against the Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. of Baghdad. In 1813 ’Abdullah Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. of Baghdad
marched against the Muntafik chief, Humud al Thamir, but was defeated near
Basrah, cajitured and put to death. Upon this the Sa’dun greatly extended their
powci and ruled uj) to Samawah. Baud Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. of Baghdad attempted about
^ ^ iea h U P the tribe by nominating a rival chief in opposition to
Humud, but the intrigue failed, and after the deposition of Baud Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. in
1831, Humud s son, Majid, regained the old independence and ascendancy of
the Sa dun. In 1850 the Muntafik districts were once more torn by feuds" in
which the lurks feebly interfered, laris ibn ’Ajil being finally recognised as
the principal chief.
From this time onwards the Turks began getting a firmer hold over the
Muntank by constantly changing the Shaikhs and setting them one against the
other, increasing on the occasion of each change the tribute payable by the
tribe. Ihus between 1851 and 18o3 the nominal tribute was increased from
200,000 to 310,000 Shamis, and the regular system of farming out the country
by auction to the Shaikhs seems to have begun. In 1863 the Wali of Baghdad,
Kamiq Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. , attempted to break the tribal power by taking away altogether
the Muntafik lands south of Qurnah, together with the Hai lands, and turning
the Sa’dun Chief into a regular Qaimmaqam whose powers were to be much
diminished and restricted to Suq al Shuyukh. A Tufjkish VTuhasibji w 7 as put in
to rule the country with him. The Chief, Shaikh Mansur, rebelled against
these restrictions and tried to engineer a general Arab rising against the
lurks, on the express ground that the Turks w r ere attempting to interfere in
the internal administration of the tribes. The Wali was forced to withdraw
from his new policy, but it was'noted by the Resident at Baghdad that, if the
Turks had had the strength and perseverance to carry it out, it would have
been approved by the Muntafik tribes, who had suffered much oppression at the
hands of their chiefs.
In 1864 and 1865 the two principal chiefs, Shaikh Fahad and Shaikh
Mansur, were stili in a state of veiled rebellion asaiust the Turks, owing to the
attempts of the latter to break up the tribal system. Shaikh Mansur finally