Coll 30/23 'Persian Gulf. Koweit: Status. Position vis a vis Iraq and Ibn Saud. Boundaries of Koweit' [‎304r] (608/695)

The 1 Ajman, usually pronounced'Aiman—the
singular of which is 'Ajmi (Aimi)—are one of
the most important tribes of Eastern Arabia.
Pheir proper summer range is the Gulf lowlands
from Taff to 'Uqair {'Ujair) enveloping the Hasa
oasis on the norrh and east. Inland their count"
ary stretches back over the Summan, and in
winter as fir as Sudair, On the littoral they
have sometimes straggled into Qatar, and fre-
quentlv to, and beyond, Kuwait town. Some
fettled ’Ajman, detached fr un the tribe, have for
many years be n found in Kuwait town, and in
the coastal villages to the south of it. The tribe
is a strong one, although their claim to be able ro
turn out over 10,000 fighting men, including
2,000 horsemen, is probably exaggerated ; yet
there is little doubt that they number over 30,000
souls. In politics they have always been a shift
ing ard inconstant factor. During the Ottoman
occupa’ion of Has t and Qatif they were constant
ly recalcitrant. Tiny welcomed Ibn Sa ud when
he invaded Hasa in 1913, hut, once he was
establhhed, liked him and his taxes no better
than the Turks. In 1915 he organized a cam
paign against them but was defeated in an abortive
night attack, and his own brother, Sa’d, w'as
ki led. Later on, with the assistance of a Kuwait
force under Shaikh Salim, he hemmed them in
near the Qat f coast. After being besieged for
some time the ’Ajman surrendered to Shaikh
Salim, who sent them to Kuwait, where Shaikh
Mubarak accepted them, aginst Ibn Sa’ud’s
wishes, who wished to further avenge his brother’s
death. Soon after this Shaikh Mubarak died,
and Shaikh Jabir, in order to placate Ibn Sa’ud,
ejected the’Ajman from Kuwait territory. After
making oveitures first to ’Ujaimi as-Sadun and
then to Ibn Rashid, thev obtained permission
from the Shaikh of Zubair to settle quietly at
Safwan. On the occasion of Ibn Sa’ud’s visit to
Kuwait and Basrah in November 1916 a truce was
arranged between him and the ’Ajman. In the
middle of 1917 however Ibn Sa’ud induced the
Awazim to leave Kuwait ter: it ry and settle in
Najd. Shaikh Salim, who was then Ruler, retali
ated by seducing the ’Ajman, who moved en maSxe
into Kuwait territore Eventually after much
eorresp ndence, Ibn Sa’ud agreed to restore the
Awazim if Shaikh Salim would turn out the ’Ajman
and cut off his relations with the Shammar. The
Awazim were returned, but the ’Ajman remained
in Kuwait territ ry. By the beginning of 1-H8
the question had become such a burning one that
it was decided to take the tribe under British
protection, and they were settled to the north of
Zubair. Here they were guilty of so much raid
ing that Ibn Sa’ud way eventually told that, so
far as the British were concerned, there was no
objection to his taking action against them.
About a year later the ’Ajman again acknowledged
their allegiance to Ibn Sa’ud and returned to Najd.
Since then they have become Ikhwan.
The paramount chieftainship of the ’Ajman is
in the Hithlain family of the Naji’ah sub-section
of the Mai’dh section of the tribe, the present
holder being Dhaidan al-Hithlain. His head
quarters is at Sarar (165 miles south of Kuwait).
The chief sections of the tribe are the Arjah
under Saikh Maui bin’ Jum’ah ; the Dha’in, under
Shaikh Fahad bin Sa’d ; the Hadi, under Shaikh
Nahar al-Mutalaqqim (recently in ’Iraq) ; the
Hajraf, the Hajjan, the Hamad bin Rashid and
the Hithlain, all under Nahar al-Mufalaqqim; the
Khuwaitir; the Mahfudh, under Mabkhut al-
Muqrad ; the Maidh, the Miflih, the Misra, the
Rushaid and the Sulaifi, under Dhaidan al-
Hithla n himself; the Shamir under Sultan bin
Hithalain; the Shawawilah, under Fahad bin
Hithlain ; the Sifran, under Mansur bin Shaft
al-Munaikh; the Sulaiman, under Muhammad
bin Must mi; and the Suraih.
The Aivazim (singular Azimi) are a Bedonin
tribe of the country to the south of Kuw r ait.
About 250 non-nomadic families of the tribe are
settled in Kuwait town, where one of the quarters
is called after them; others possess the village of
Dimnah to the west of Ras al-Ardh ; and a few
more live on Maskhan island, or Mascban as it is
always called. The tribe has no connection with
another tribe of Awazim or Hawazim found in
Central Arabia, especially near Jauf. These
Awazim, who claim to be of Harb origin, appa
rently first made their appearance in the neigh
bourhood of Kuwait during the early part of the
19th Century. They are divided into two main
sections, the Kuah and the Ghiyadh, of which
the former takes precedence. Their paramount
shaikh is Habib bin Jami of the Hadalin sub
section of the Kuah. The tribe numbers about
4.009 souls. They are pastoral nomads, fishermen
and pearl divers. They are large breeders of
camels, sheep and goats, also a fair number of
donkeys, but few horses. In Kuwait town the
fishing trade is mostly in their hands. The
Awazim are recognised as an inferior tribe and
intermarry only amongst themselves and with the
Rasbaidah. For many years the Awazim were
the loyal subjects of Kuwait, and from a military
point of view formed the backbone of Ibn Subahs
state. During the rule of Sha : kh Salim the ques
tion of their tribute was one of the chief causes of
his quarrel with Dm Sa’ud. The nomads of the
tribe have now become Ikhwan, and have natu
rally oriented themselves towards Ibn Sa’ud.
The Rashaid h (singular Rashidi) are an
inferior tribe of Kuwait and the territory to the
south of it. They number about 4,000 souls and
are said to be of Hutaim extraction ; those in
Kuwait town, who are largely of th^ Hirshan
section, are not unfrequeotly called Hutaim—a
term which is also applied to the Saluba, those
despised tinker outcasts who are found all over
Arabia. A few years ago the majority of the
nomadic Rasbaidah became Ikhwan. The chief
shaikhs of the tribe at present are Mutlaq al-
Musailim (whom I last heard of in Laq) and
Asi al-Musadim (who is with the Ikhwan).
There are seventeen sections to the tribe, but no
useful purpose is served by enumerating them.
The Dhafir is an Iraq tribe of Bedouins whose
winter habitation is the country to the south of
the railway line between Zubair and Nasiriyah.
In the summer they are mostly on the Umm
al-Afur island, opposite Samawah. They have
for some time been flirting wdth Ikhwanism.
The Muntafik .—Or “Muntafiq” as the name
is officially spelt in English in ’Laq, though I
have never heard it pronounced that way, or spelt
that way in Arabic—are a very large ‘ Iraq tribe,
of which a portion are still Bedouin. We are
only concerned with them here in that, amongst
other places, they are found in the western desert