Shammar
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The tribe of Shammar (Arabic: شمّر Šammar) is one of the largest tribes of Arabia, with over six million people in the Middle East. In its golden age, the tribe ruled eastern, middle, and northern Arabia all the way to northern Jordan and southern Iraq. It is one of the oldest and most illustrious Arabic tribes in history.
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[edit] Origins
The modern Shammar derive from the Tayy tribe in Yemen. In the Namarah Inscription (the second oldest pre-Islamic Arabic inscription, dating from 328 CE), the name "Shammar" is used to refer to a city in Yemen. The connection between the Shammar in the inscription and the tribe's name may have been a rebirth of ancient cultural heritage.[citation needed]
Led by Usma bin Luai in their massive exodus out of Yemen (115 BCE), the Tayy invaded the mountains of Ajaa and Salma from Banu Assad and Banu Tamim in northern Arabia. These mountains are now known as Jabal Shammar. The Tayy became camel herders and horse breeders and lived a nomadic lifestyle in northern Nejd for centuries. Because of their strength and blood relations with the Yemenite dynasties that came to rule Syria (Ghassan) and Iraq (the Lakhmids), they expanded north into Iraq all the way to the capital at the time al-Hirah. Early historical accounts refer to them as Tayy for that period, and it is not clear when the name Shammar became dominant
Ayas ibn Qabisa, a man from the Tayy tribe, ruled pre-Islamic Iraq for several years.
[edit] Religion
Although many of their nobles were said to be Christian, the Tayy also worshipped idols like Alfulus and many others. They later embraced Islam at the hands of Ali ibn Abi Talib. After destroying their idol Alfuls, they sent a delegation headed by Zayd al-Khayr to Mohammad to declare their allegiance to the new religion. Mohammad, the prophet, was impressed by their ambassador and said: ”Whenever someone is praised before me, upon meeting them I see in them less than what was described, except Zayd of Goodness. Whatever is their praise, he rises above it."[citation needed]
After the death of Mohammad, the Tayy remained Moslem. They supported Ali, the fourth Caliph, in his claim to the throne during the ensuing dispute with his rival Muawiya. They also stood against the Kharijites who were essentially anarchists. Later, Ibn Jareer relates that Altarmah bin Adi Alta'i offered to protect Al-Husayn ibn Ali ibn Abi Talib on a mountain called Mana' (the protector).
[edit] Modern History
It is not clear what the Tayy's role was in the next few centuries. Yet, we know that their domain over their original territory around Jabal Shammar was uninterrupted. From Tai comes many blood lines. Some genealogists relate the following genealogy (ibn=bin=son of): Shammar bin abd jethaimah bin tha'alabah bin Salaman bin tha'al bin amr bin Alghawth bin Tai. One of Shammar's children: Qais bin Shammar is praised in a poem by the fourth century king Imru Alqais: " I am going to reach the home of Qais ibn Shammar." Some individuals and tirbes are still called Tai, it is a much smaller tribe than Shammar. By the 1600s the name shammar became dominant and the modern history of the tribe begins forming. As with many tribes, its expansion leads to subdivisions and different leadership. It is estimated that people who belong to Shammar are well over 6 Million people in the world. All of Shammar comes from three tribes: Abda, Alaslam, Zoba'.
According to Alazawi, Abda the largest of the three is said to not be of the actual progeny of Shammar but his brother Abda. Some tirbes choose to neighbor Shammar because of the generosity and seeking their protection. These tribes are mistakenly called Shammar, but are not. Also, there are many different coalitions within Shammar that for because of their exodus out of the Arabic peninsula into greener areas in the Fertile Crescent. Some Shammari tribes lived in southern Palestine, but were forced out by the Israeli occuption. There are also reports of Shammari tribes moving into Egypt in Albuhaira province. Today, their main concetrations are in Saudi, Iraq, and Syria.
Under the leadership of Banu Mohamad known as Aljarba, their was a massive exodus into Iraq. Many of the Shammar in Iraq gave up the nomadic life to settle in the major cities, especially "Aljazeera". Aljazeera is the fertile area between the Tigris and Euphrates from Baghdad all the way to Mosul. As mentioned above, the presence of Tayy in Iraq is very old. In times of drought, there were several migrations of Shammar into Iraq, which according to the Ottoman census upon it's annexation, had only 1.5 Million inhabitants. Today, Alhuchaim tribes of Samawa has a large majority of Shammar. Clans in from Abda in Ain Tamur, Hacham of Alaslam in Souq Alshiokh, Aladhadh of Alaslam in the city of Nasiriyah are a few examples of Shammar outside of Aljazeera. Aljazeera was acquired in (insert date) after displasing Al-Ubaid tribe. In Iraq the total population of Shammar is estimated to be 2 Million. Iraq is also the home of Aljarba, the Shiekh of all of the Shammar tribe in the world.
Those that remained in Nejd began to be challenged by the rising House of Saud. In 1921 the Shammar heartland of Jebel Shammar was annexed to Saudi Arabia and the Shammar could resist Saud's troops. The Shammar remain powerful in Saudi Arabia and have grown wealthy from oil revenues. King Abdul Aziz Ibn Saud married a woman from Shammar to build alliances. She bore him the current king, Abdullah, who did the same. His blood relation with the Shammar tribe gives him great political support.
In Iraq the Shammar became one of the most powerful tribes, owning vast tracts of land. They were important supporters of the Iraqi monarchy of the House of Hashem. Shammar power was threatened after the overthrow of the monarchy in 1958 by Abdul-Karim Qassem, and the Shammar welcomed Ba'athist rule. With the rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Saddam Hussein, the House of Shammar lost favour in Iraq, due to their close links to their Saudi fellows. After the overthrow of Saddam, Ghazi al-Yawar was unanimously chosen as interim president. His uncle is the current Shiekh of Shiekhs of the tribe of Shammar.
[edit] al-Shammary Appellation
A person belonging to the Shammar tribe may append the identifier al-Shammary (Arabic: الشمّري aš-Šammarĩ) (variant transliterations: al-Shamari, al-Shamery, Alshamary, etc.) to their name. Although Arabs traditionally do not have last names in the Western sense, Arabs living in the West sometimes adopt their tribal name as a last name.
More often, Arabs use their clan name as a last name. Extensive knowledge of genealogy is required to know the origin of every clan. This is one of the cultural aspects of being from Shammar along with knowing the history and poetry of the tribe.
[edit] Main Sections
- ZOBA'
(CLANS)
Zoba'
Althabit
Alghafila
Alzameel
- ALASLAM
(CLANS)
Almanee' - Albu Salih (subclan)
Alsultah
- ABDA
(CLANS)
Aljaafar
Alrubaeya
Alyihya
[edit] References
- The History of Shmmar by John Frederich Williamson (Arabic)
- The Tribes of Iraq by Abbas Alazzawi (Arabic)
- The Days of the Arabs before Islam by Alfudaily (Arabic )
- www.shmmr.net
