Comparing the Rwala & the Mutair

According to William Lancaster (1981), the Rwala are the largest tribe of the Aneze confederation and probably the largest tribe in the northern Arabian desert. He estimated that they comprised somewhere between 250,000 and 500,000 people, all acknowledging a single emir. When he studied them, they were resident in Saudi Arabia, having been expelled from Syria. They were divided into five tribal sections: the Murath, the Doghman, the Ga'Adza'a, the Frejje, and the Kwatzbe and were primarily camelherding people before 1958.

The Mutair are another major Bedouin tribe, known as one of the more important, and wealthiest of the tribes in the region. According to Dickson, they included about 10,000 tents, which, using Lancaster's (1981) method of counting five people per tent, would give a total population of approximately 50,000. This, however, might be on the sh

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ves through a complex generative geneaology that begins with the Wayil and describes to the tribal groups of the present, which include the Murath, Doghman, etc. For example, the Anaz descend from the Wayil, the Jlas from the Anaz, the Zayyid from the Jlas, the Rweli from the Zayyid, the Abyath from the Rweli, and the Murath, Ga'adza'a, and Doghman from the Abyath (Lancaster, 1981). Lancaster (1981) further indicated that the grouping below this tribal group was more generational than anything. It comprised what he termed the "minimal section," including five generations of men descended from the same male ancestor. This grouping, within the overall tribal grouping, is relatively selfgoverning and has equal status and responsibility with other jural groupings. It is at this level that politics occur in their most volatile fashion. Economic Organization The economy of the Mutair tribe was long based on its camel breeding and herding, although they also bred horses and herded some sheep. The Mutair were actually wellknown for their horses, with the famous breed of the Krush horses attributed to them. They were horsemen during conditions of conflict and their horses were wellknown for their capacity to serve as warhorses a
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Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page)