marriage of tribes

Justine: 'Always astonished by the force of my own emotions ¬ tearing the heart out of a book with my fingers like a fresh loaf.'
Lawrence Durrell, Justine

Ahmed Za’abanoot grew up in Hafoof, a scattering of houses high up on the mountain, looking over Dalkut near the Yemeni border. He identifies himself as Mahra, and says this family of tribes is spread out over much of the desert and some of the mountains. “Look for the Mahra and you will find the Za’abanoot in Mazyona, the Rafeed across the desert and in Dalkut, a sprinkling of Kamsait in Mazyona, the Amarjeet in the Rub al Khali, the Thoar in Tawi Attayr and Thumrayt, the Kalsha’at in the desert and the Kahor, Hamoosh and Bait say Fot in Shelim. The Jebbali, or Gara, consist of the Katan in the mountains around Salalah, the Jaaboob around Salalah, Tawi Attair and Jebel Samhan, the Amri in Mirbat, Mashani in Taqah, Hardan in Dalkut, Shamas in Airdit and Akak in Rakhyut.”

But it doesn’t have to be as complicated as that. Ahmed’s version represents the commonly used, present-day break-up and distribution of tribes. But he does allude to a larger picture: “The original people here were the Shahra, and some of them broke away and called themselves Jebbali.” Jebbali is inherently a vague term, alluding to nothing more than an association with the mountains. “Jebbali,” says Ahmed, “are the same as Shahra.” So where does the Mahra come into the picture? “The Mahra and the Shahra are like two brothers of the same family,” says Ali al Shahra, who has spent decades researching history of the tribes. “They are, in the end, the same.” But this sounds much too simplistic, and it is, for Ali has a few twists in the tale up his sleeve.

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