Tribes and Tribalism: Shammar
TRIBES AND TRIBALISM: SHAMMAR
A tribe of north-central Saudi Arabia.
The Shammar are a sharif tribe (a tribe claiming noble descent), centered in northern Najd in the region of Haʾil, Jabal Shammar, and the Nafud. The Shammar are led by the Al Rashid family, former rulers of Haʾil who captured Riyadh in 1891 and were ousted by Ibn Saʿud in 1902. Divided into four sections—Abda, Aslam, Al Sinjara, and Tuman—the Shammar tribe was primarily camel-herding bedouin. Some few lineages live in farming villages. Many of their lineages, including the ruling Al Rashid, were seminomadic, maintaining oasis gardens during part of the year and grazing their animals in the desert in the wake of winter rains. In the nineteenth century, the Al Rashid were active proponents of the Muwahhidun reform movement, though they opposed the extension of Al Saʿud family rule into their territory, encouraged Qurʾanic education for boys and girls, and required Friday attendance in the mosque by men. In the twentieth century, the Shammar intermarried with the Al Saʿud family and benefit today from the patronage of the ruling family, although they have been generally excluded from governing posts.
eleanor abdella doumato