History of Qatar: Al-Hajri

Maryam Al-Hajri

Family/Tribe

“Al-Hajri”

Introduction:

Qatar located in the western coast of the Arabian Gulf. There are around 2.576.181 people living in Qatar. When we talk about the state of Qatar, we should know that Qatar and all the Arabian Gulf have many tribes, customs and traditions. They lived in tents. One of the most well-known tribes in Qatar is Al-Hajri family. Despite of All tribes in the Middle East had many problems in the first but Al-Hajri family faced all these problems firmly and strongly. They had the ability to cope with the bad conditions in that time because they were belonged together. There are many important characters and special traditions in Al-Hajri family, so I will talk about Al-Hajri family and my research will highlight on their origins and traditions.

Tribal Nature

There are many traditions and customs distinguish tribal people rather than any other people. Tribal people lived only in deserts seeking for water and growing animals such as camels and sheep. Most of time they travelled from one place to another. They live in the Middle East especially in Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Qatar. About 5 million people live in deserts around the world. They are decreeing now. The tribal life is very difficult and no one in any other place can live with them .They have own lifestyle and culture. They are proud of their hospitality and generosity. They live in special tent which made of animals hair. In their spare time, they usually sing and clap their hand to their animals to make them feel happy. Their food is very delicious and tasty. Their food are rice and flour. They never eat fruits or vegetables. They have special clothes. Men dressed only galabia. They also cover their head by shalls. They have many colors cloths. Women also have special dressing. They dressed only Abbaya with brightly colors when they went outside. They covered also their face and no one can see them. Tribal people have many languages and dialects distinguished them only depending on their location.

History of the tribe

Al-Hajri Family is one of the most important tribes in the Middle East, especially in Qatar. The tribe of Al-Hajri comes from the Sharif tribe. We know that Sharif tribe arose from the sons of Sharif gene Almzhadji. There are two great parties in Al-Hajri family. The big parties are Al- Mohammed and Al- almukhddaba. They are considered the big and well known parties in the Al-Hajri family. They were located in the Eastern Province of the state of Qatar. Most of the family tribe lived in the southern Saudi Arabia, especially in the valley of Yaeud and at the bottom of the valley of Alhvlan. They were lived also in the village of Freij in the state of Kuwait and connected with each other. The family was enjoyed with the generosity, courage, helping all poor people, kindness and all good deeds. There were many habits and traditions distinguished them from any other tribes in the Middle East. The fishing and the pearl driving were the most hobbies for them.El-Sheikh Mohamed Ben Shaban leaded the Al-Hajri family in the beginning of the thirteen century. He ordered them to live in Al-Sarah which located in the south of Najd. After that, When the Chaffee Ben Safar who is the grandson of the El-Sheikh Mohamed Bin Shabban had the title of the leader, he transferred them from the south of Najd to other place. They lived in Hasaa with their leader. Some of them also conveyed and lived in Qatar until now. In the Al-Hajri family, there were many elder characters such as Ibn Shafi, Ibn Ayed and Ibn Baeeth. The Al-Hajri family consisted of seven branches. They were Obeida, Aljuhadr, Sherif, Sanhan, Alhbab, Rafidah, and Bani Bashar. We know that all tribes in the Middle East had many customs and traditions. They travelled and conveyed a lot from one place to another place. They travelled and conveyed in order to find water and plants for their sheep and camels, so they called the nomadic tribe.

The features and characteristics of Al-Hajri family

There are many features and characteristics distinguished Al-Hajri family. When Al-Hajri family allied or entrusted with other family, they committed by its promises and charts even if the entrusted to another family lead to killing the last man of their family. There is no mentioned in the history that Al-Hajri family entrusted to other family and cheated it even if the order reached to happening big wars. Because of all these features El-sheikh Abdullah Al-Khalifa selected this family and considered it one of the most and strong families among all families in the Middle East and then El-Sheikh Qasem hired them to help him in establishing his rule in Qatar. The Al-Hajri family fulfilled with all charts with El-Sheikh Qasem and his rule was established in this time. El-sheikh Fares Nasser Ibn Khalil Al-Shahwan Al-Hajri who was belonged to the Al-Hajri family contributed in establishing the rule of El-Sheikh Qasem. The Co-operation between El-Sheikh Qasem and El-Sheikh Fares came after Qasem saw that his father paid much money which imposed to Qatari people to the Bahrain ruler under the contract done in 1968.

The root of Al-Hajri family

In Al-Hajri family, they divided into many branches as follows: the branch Al-Sultan and they are two sub branches as Al-Khalid including Al-Aswad, Al-Rashdan and Al-Growan. The second sub branch of Al-Sultan is Al-Ghanem including Al-Hotan, Al-Asimy and Al-Samad. There were many also sub-branches related to Al-Sultan but they were died out such as Al-Saqr, Al-Safoq and Al-Shreem. The second branch is Al-Fahid and they were six main branches including Al-Doghman, Al-Hobran, Al-Shohiman, AlKober and Al-Goghan. Each of all these main branches have many families. The third branch is Al-Falha and they were listed under three branches such as Al-Baqr including Al-Ramis, Al-Awir and Al-Marbid, the second sub branch of Al-Falha is Al -Shraa including Al-Mohamed and Al-Qrity. The third sub branch is Al-Mosalma among them Al-Nomian and Al-Monqash and there are many other families belonged to Al-Falha but we don’t know anything about them. Finally there are many other branches such as Al-Gadi, Al-Masrir, Al-Zaid and Al-Shhwan.

Conclusion

There is no doubt that Qatar is an important countries in the world. There are many families in the Middle East especially in Qatar. One of the strongest and generosity family in Qatar is Al-Hajri family. They located in many place in different countries like Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait and Emirates. They are famous by travelling from one place to another place and they not settled on one place. The family have many good features and characteristics like helping people and courage. There are many things distinguished this family such as promising and their charts with other families. In the history, there is no mentioned that any one in Al-Hajri family break the convent with any person. They helped El-Sheikh Qasem to establish his rule. There are many branches in Al-Hajri family like Al-Sultan and Al-Mosalma. In the end Al-Hajri family is one of the strongest and generosity family comparing to all families in the Middle East.

References

Advameg. (1997). Qatar. Retrieved from everyculture: http://www.everyculture.com/No-Sa/Qatar.html