'File 8/62 IV PRINCIPAL SHAIKHS & TRIBES OF OMAN.' [‎101r] (204/282)

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EL NA* IM (including Al bu Shamis)c
The Naim tribe was formerly the most numerous
and powerful tribe of the central portion of the Oman
promontory partly nomadic and partly settled in both
Trucial and Sultanate Oman. A branch of the tribe also
migrated to Bahrain and Qatar generations ago.
The Na’im are divided into two main sub-divisions,
Al bu Kharaiban and Al bu Shamis,
For years the tribe has been torn by internal
dissension and both their influence and population are
now much depleted.
The total strength of the bedouin and settled
portion of the tribe in Sultanate Oman, that is in
Dhahirah district and the somewhat disputed Jau tract in
which the Buraimi Oasis lies, and which is regarded by
the Na l im as their headquarters, might be about five
thousand, mustering perhaps two thousand rifles: but they
could never be regarded as one force. Settled in undisputed
Sultanate territory are perhaps two thousand, with about
eight hundred rifles.
Of these the Al bu Shamis division has altogether
broken away from the Naim and may for all practical
purposes be regarded as a separate tribe, with their
headquarters also in the Buraimi area. A bedouin section
under Shaikh Mohammad bin Salmin bin Hahmahlives around
Sanainah and Qabii, south of Buraimi e A settled portion,"^
under Shaikh Rashid bin Hamad al Shamis lives in Hamasah
near Buraimi, whileu another section, who unlike the others,
are Hinawis, is settled around Dhank (Dhahirah district)
under Shaikh Matar bin Salim al Azizi.
The bedouin section of the Al bu Shamis could
muster about four hundred rifles: the other section are
negligible. Their total population may be one thousand.
The Sultan claims influence over the Al bu Shamis and has
stated that he pays them annual allowances and fines them
for disturbances or diprders occuring in their territory.
There is no evidence o A f either payments or fines in recent
years, and it is doubtful if in fact the Sultan or Imam
of Oman exercise any control, and the tribe is virtually
independent, though at least portions are settled in
undisputed Sultanate territory (i,e 0 Dhank). Shaikh
Mohammad bin Salmin bin Rahmdiis believed to have visited ...
the Sultan in 1948 and to have offered to place himself
and his followers at his disposal for Rs* 25 ; 000/-
(M.T. Dollars 10,000). The Sultan seems to have been
unimpressed and to have sent him away with a present of
M.T. Dollars 500/- ( Rupees Indian silver coin also widely used in the Persian Gulf. 1,250).
With regard to the rest of the Na’im in
Sultanate Oman, that is the settled rertion of the Al
bu Khuraiban division; the principal shaikh appears to
be Saqr bin Multan al Hamud. His influence is weak,
and does not approach that of his father. He lives,
it is said, in fear of the Shaikhs Humaid bin Rashid
of the bedouin section and p#*Rashid bin Hamaid of
Ajman ( Trucial coast A name used by Britain from the nineteenth century to 1971 to refer to the present-day United Arab Emirates. ). In 1948, however, the Sultan
claims to have got the Na 1 im through the offices of his
Minister for the Interior, Saiyid Ahmad bin Ibrahim,
to accept Shaikh Sacr as their Tamimah and to have signed
a document to that effect. More recently though,
because
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