Al-Oqilat Councils Across the Arab World. ‘Let us go for Aqil's midday meal … O Saad, or we shall pitch camp at Al-Sinani's. Red coffee beans, finely ground and blended with cardamom … and loaves laid in rows upon the trays. Men who crossed the open deserts on thoroughbred camels … through many lands, whether hard or easy.’ Al-Oqilat set aside their own councils, which began after the day's trading ended, either daily or weekly. There they exchanged conversation, discussed sales, and shared news arriving from their families and homeland. They generally avoided sitting in cafés and public markets. After the noon and sunset prayers, they therefore gathered in councils hosted by their leaders, or in the homes of resident merchants and their agents. Their discussions covered the following: deals that had been concluded; prices—whether they were favorable, or whether the market called for patience and withholding goods in the coming days; the market's present and future needs; sources of financing for future markets; news from Buraidah and information about those arriving there or departing from it; and ensuring that the men of Al-Oqilat were safe and offering help to anyone in need. (Al-Oqilat of Buraidah). ‘O homeland, where are those who once came to the watering places? Have the people of Buraidah journeyed west in these times? My kinsmen—may the grey she-camels carry them—crossers of the wilderness and the parched lands. On thoroughbred camels they wandered through many lands, hard and easy; pouring red coffee into cups, with loaves laid in rows upon the trays.’ Places where Al-Oqilat resided: Several locations became renowned as gathering centers for Al-Oqilat. Some of them are listed below. 1 – Al-Qassim: Buraidah's Al-Jardah. Situated southeast of the palace, this district combined several markets in one place, foremost among them the camel market. Al-Oqilat gathered on the eastern side of Al-Jardah, where they met and exchanged news about their fellow travelers.
Merchants and sellers came to Buraidah's Al-Jardah from across Najd to buy and sell. As the traveler Amin Al-Rihani observed, Buraidah was a center of commerce and a meeting place to which sellers from every tribe came to trade.
2 – Kuwait: Kuwait's market was large and offered every kind of merchandise.
One of Kuwait's gates.
3—Syria: Damascus, Al-Midan district, Hauran, Ghouta, Deir ez-Zor, Homs, Hama, and Aleppo. The poet Al-Ouni said: “When you travel there, ten and five after sunset … your evening destination is Al-Midan. When you reach the afternoon market, young men meet you … their sandals adorned with fine silk.”
Al-Midan district in Damascus.
Abdullatif bin Saleh Al-Wuhaibi visited Sheikh Hassan bin Hussein Kurdasi in Damascus, Syria. He and his father were among the men who bought camels from the Al-Oqilat. He praised the Al-Oqilat for their integrity, honesty, truthfulness, chivalry, honor, courage, and solidarity with one another.
4 – Palestine: Jerusalem, Nablus, Jaffa, Lod, and Gaza. Gaza was a gathering place for Al-Oqilat and a major market from which many other markets branched. It was home to many Al-Oqilat merchants and to agents representing traders in Amman, Damascus, and Egypt. The Gaza market operated on Thursday and Friday; Deir Al-Balah on Saturday; Khan Yunis on Sunday; and Beersheba on Monday and Tuesday. The Beersheba market was one of southern Palestine's largest and included gatherings of Al-Oqilat. One poet, celebrating Eid in Beersheba after failing to sell his piebald camel, said: ‘Everyone marks Eid in comfort and delight, while my Eid is here in Beersheba's market. These camels have worn me down; I drive them about, yet they remain unsold in my hands.’ Dignitaries and sheikhs of Beersheba in Palestine, with two men of Al-Oqilat.
Beersheba market in Palestine was among the markets frequented by the men of Al-Oqilat.
Compiled and prepared by Abdullatif Al-Wuhaibi
The city of Lod, where Al-Oqilat conducted trade.
Men of Al-Oqilat in the market by Jerusalem's western gate, alongside their Palestinian brothers.
5 – Jordan: Amman, Zarqa, Irbid, Ramtha, Balqa, Karak, Ma'an, and Aqaba. Ras Al-Ain market in Amman resembled Buraidah's camel market in the recent past. It bustled with camel owners from Jordan's Bedouin communities and elsewhere. The merchants of Buraidah were regarded as leading traders, and they were numerous. Among those I recall were Ali Al-Rumaih; Nasser Abu Humaidah; Mohammed Al-Shimasi; Yahya bin Abdulrahman Al-Shuraidah and his brothers Ibrahim, Mansour, Mohammed, Fahd, Musa, Abdullah, and Rashid; Saleh Al-Mutawwa and his sons Sulaiman, Hamad, and Ibrahim; Sulaiman Al-Jarbou and his brothers Saleh and Abdullah; Sulaiman Al-Hidayah and his brother Isa; Mohammed Al-Rujai; and many others. Amman's market was considered exceptionally large at the time and served as a point from which Al-Oqilat merchants set out.
Suwailih is a town in Jordan named after an Al-Oqilat man, Saleh Al-Rumayyan of Buraidah, who founded it in 1240 AH. Ras Al-Ain was a watering place for camels where Al-Oqilat gathered to buy and sell.
Wadi Rum in southern Jordan lay on the route taken by Al-Oqilat traveling toward Palestine and Egypt. The photograph shows Abdul Latif Al-Wuhaibi in the center, Raad on the right, and Abu Khalid on the left.
6—Egypt: Bilbeis, Zagazig, Al-Matariyya, Al-Marj, Helmiyat al-Zeitoun, Al-Salhiya, Abu Hammad, Abu Kabir, Kafr Nassar, Imbaba, Alexandria, and Cairo.
Imbaba Market. Sheikh Mohammed, son of the Al-Oqilat merchant Abdulaziz Al-Humaidan Al-Wuhaibi, appears in the photograph.
Kardasah, Giza. One Al-Oqilat man lamented a she-camel he had sold: ‘My moan is like that of the old she-camel brought to Bilbeis. I do not blame her streaming tears when the butchers closed in around her. Their knives were sharp, and how quickly they felled her. She cried out, and the fragrant breeze seemed to cry with her as a lean blade struck her side. I wish the memory had never stirred; I wish the drovers had refused to take her.’ Egypt's camel markets were large and numerous, bustling with camel owners from Egypt and elsewhere. Buraidah's merchants were regarded as leading traders; among them were Al-Hulaisi, Al-Barrak, Abu Butain, and Al-Wuhaibi. They owned large enclosures and were known for handling major commercial deals. Some Al-Oqilat merchants traded in partnership with their own groups, including Al-Ghufais, Al-Jarbou, Al-Sultan, and Al-Najidi. Imbaba market was one of the great markets where Al-Oqilat gathered, including senior merchants who had settled in Egypt to trade camels and horses. After hearing a train but receiving no news from his family, one poet said: ‘My heart groans like an iron train from Misr Station all the way to Alexandria. Al-Hulaisi, a trader strong as iron—I wish he would pass by me just once. My chest tightened when I saw the postman carrying nothing for me to ease the pain. I listen for news, however distant, in letters I wish he would read aloud to me.’ Al-Matariyyah was another of Egypt's major markets. Longing for his homeland while sitting with Al-Oqilat in the market, the Al-Oqilat poet Saleh Mohammed Al-Wuhaibi sent these lines to his people in Buraidah with Saleh Al-Rumayyan: ‘Oh, to see the palace of Al-Oqilat, Rashid's household and the Dawsiri kin; to see Al-Ama and those familiar groups, and Mohammed Al-Saleh, so dear to him.’ He meant Al-Lusayyib in Buraidah, home to his family and to his wife's family, the Al-Hamoud, whose head was the emir of Al-Lusayyib. This account came from his relative Saleh Al-Rumayyan; ‘Al-Ama’ refers to the Al-Rumayyan family in Al-Lusayyib village. Giza market was also among Egypt's major markets. The Al-Oqilat poet Saleh Mohammed Al-Wuhaibi, who extended credit to Giza's butchers while sitting with Al-Oqilat in the market, said: ‘Fortunate is the man who did not live in Dokki and never came to know the markets beyond Giza; who never had to tell the butcher, “Give me what you owe,” only to receive a piastre against five pounds.’ Related by his cousin Abdullah Al-Fahd Al-Wuhaibi.
Iraq. Sawb Aqil was a well-known place in Baghdad, on the eastern bank of the Euphrates. It belonged exclusively to them, so Iraqis called it ‘Sawb Aqil’—the Al-Oqilat side—and it is now part of Baghdad. Al-Zubair: near Al-Rawaf Mosque. Basra: the Najdi coffeehouse.
Al-Musayyib Bridge.
Al-Khamisiyah: an emirate established by Al-Oqilat in southern Iraq. Al-Khamisiyah stood in the marshlands, seventeen kilometers southwest of Suq Al-Shuyukh. It was founded by Abdullah bin Saleh bin Mohammed Al-Khamis Al-Tamimi, who named it after his family. A man from Najd, he migrated from his village of Al-Qusai'ah, near Buraidah, to Shiroun in the Al-Muntafiq region. There he joined a respected group of Al-Oqilat engaged in trade under the protection of Sheikh Falih Al-Saadoun, leader of the Al-Muntafiq tribes, who welcomed and honored them. Sheikh Falih Al-Saadoun wielded great influence throughout Al-Muntafiq and the surrounding country, but his circumstances deteriorated for a time after his relationship with the Ottoman authorities changed and restrictions were imposed upon him. Possessing a strong character and considerable foresight, Sheikh Abdullah Al-Khamis decided in 1303 AH (1881, according to the source) to establish a town specifically for his Al-Oqilat community. It stood on the edge of the Najdi desert at Iraq's border, in a region that had formed part of the cradle of Sumerian civilization. That year a great flood of the Euphrates surrounded Suq Al-Shuyukh and severed its overland links, diverting commercial caravans arriving from the Iraqi desert and the Arabian Peninsula. He chose an elevated site surrounded on three sides by marshes fed by the Euphrates. Only the western side opened onto dry land leading toward the Arabian Peninsula, where the terrain slopes gradually away into the deserts of Arabia and its heartland, Najd.
Al-Khamisiyah gained importance as a stopping place for caravans arriving from the Arabian Peninsula and the Iraqi desert, and as a broad market for displaying and bartering goods. The Anizah, Shammar, Ajman, Dhafir, Mutair, and other tribes of Arabia and the Iraqi desert brought camels, horses, ghee, wool, camel hair, and hides. These were exchanged for rice, wheat, barley, maize, and dates produced in the marshlands surrounding Al-Khamisiyah, as well as for clothing and textiles.
The emirate thus became a suitable home for many Al-Oqilat and for some people from the Iraqi desert and the Arabian Peninsula. Over time it expanded, its name and reputation spread, and people came to it in great numbers from many regions because of its economic role and stable security. When Britain occupied southern Iraq in 1333 AH (1915), it therefore sent Captain Cole Smith as its representative in Al-Khamisiyah. Britain's relations with the Al-Muntafiq tribes later improved, and Major Dickson was appointed political governor of the entire Al-Muntafiq district. In the early 1930s, after Britain learned of oil in Kuwait, he went on to serve as its senior representative in the Emirate of Kuwait.
The journalist Sulaiman Al-Dakhil, who founded and published Al-Riyadh newspaper in Baghdad early in the twentieth century, visited Al-Khamisiyah. In an article published in Lughat Al-Arab magazine in 1330 AH (1912), he recorded that the town had about five thousand residents, most of them Al-Oqilat.
Al-Oqilat lived in the western part of the town. Fishermen and owners of small boats occupied houses called sara'if, built of reeds and palm fronds, on the eastern side beside the marsh overlooking Al-Khamisiyah. This area was known as Al-Shari'ah, the landing place. Boats were then the only means of transport between Al-Khamisiyah and the surrounding marshlands. Among the best-known residents of Al-Khamisiyah was the poet Mohammed Abdullah Al-Ouni.
Sheikh Abdullah Al-Khamis and his sons maintained a strong relationship with His Majesty King Abdulaziz Al Saud. This is documented in the letter below, dated 6 Safar 1341 AH, in which King Abdulaziz urges Sheikh Hamad bin Abdullah Al-Khamis to secure Saeed Al-Baair’s rights from Nasser bin Khuzaim; all were subjects of the Kingdom.
Sheikh Hamad bin Abdullah Al-Khamis also maintained strong ties with Sheikh Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, then Emir of Kuwait. This is documented in a letter dated Shawwal 1333 AH from Sheikh Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah to Sheikh Hamad bin Abdullah Al-Khamis. In it, the emir acknowledges receiving a letter carried by Hamad's son Saleh Al-Khamis, who had passed through Kuwait on his way to visit Imam Abdulaziz Al Saud in Riyadh.
About Al-Khamisiyah: Al-Khamis Palace stood at the center of the town. Built in 1303 AH (1881), it had an enormous wooden gate followed by a long passage opening into a spacious courtyard. A liwan bordered the courtyard on its eastern, southern, and western sides. On the western side stood a large room known as the sheikh's council, where he received townspeople and resolved their everyday concerns; immediately to its south was the dining room. To the left of the courtyard was a dark chamber called Al-Taisiyah, which served as the emirate's prison. It took its name from a troublemaker once confined there who belonged to the Al-Tuyus branch of the Al-Jawarin clan. Merely mentioning Al-Taisiyah became enough to deter anyone tempted to disturb the peace. On the eastern side of the liwan was a decorated room furnished as a European-style salon for receiving distinguished guests. This room was called Al-Murabba'ah. Behind it, to the east, were several rooms where guests slept and stayed.
On the eastern side of the liwan, north of Al-Murabba'ah, stairs led to the palace's second floor. A large council occupied half of that level, including a section known as Al-Mukhtasar, the private chamber. Before it stood a wooden balcony carved with patterns and ornament. Above it rose an iron tower topped by a mast and a wind-driven fan. The fan powered a small generator that charged the battery for a large radio—the only radio in the region at the time. An Al-Oqilat horse trader brought it from India. Through it, the Al-Khamis family heard news from around the world and relayed what they learned to the surrounding villages and desert communities.
Gertrude Bell, secretary for oriental affairs to the British High Commissioner in Baghdad, wrote in her memoirs that in 1334 AH (1916) she listened to London news in Arabic on this radio. She was seated in Al-Mukhtasar with Sheikh Hamoud ibn Suwait, leader of the Dhafir tribe, who was then visiting the Emirate of Al-Khamisiyah, and with General Tidswell, commander of British forces in the region. Through the same radio, the people of Al-Khamisiyah learned in 1358 AH (1939) of the death of King Ghazi bin Faisal I of Iraq; the news then spread to Suq Al-Shuyukh and the surrounding districts.
At the time, the radio was their only daily link to their homeland. They began the Ramadan fast after learning that it had begun there, and celebrated the Eids according to the sighting of the new moon in their country of origin.
South of the imposing palace stood a large residence for the household's women. Nearby was a house for servants, and to the east were the horse stables.
Across a street distinguished from the town's other streets by its straight course stood the celebrated Al-Khamisiyah Mosque and its soaring minaret. The minaret's visible lean toward the west added to its beauty and remarkable character. Together with Al-Khamis Palace, it became one of southern Iraq's best-known landmarks at the time.
The mosque was built in 1305 AH (1883) by Sheikh Falih Al-Saadoun, leader of the Al-Muntafiq tribes. A school was established there to teach the foundations of religious learning according to the school of Imam Ahmed ibn Hanbal. Sheikh Ali Al-Arfaj, from a respected family in Al-Qassim, was brought to teach and issue legal opinions. He remained there until his death in 1328 AH (1910). Another scholar from Al-Qassim, Sheikh Ibrahim Al-Jasser—then judge of Buraidah—arrived to assume the duties of teaching and issuing legal opinions. He continued until his death, after which Sheikh Ibn Suwailim of Al-Qassim came to perform the same role.
The first muezzin of the Al-Khamisiyah Grand Mosque was Sheikh Nasser Al-Zuwaid. Its last muezzin was Sheikh Sulaiman Al-Musfir, who climbed the minaret’s difficult spiral staircase five times each day despite being blind.
A large wall surrounded Al-Khamisiyah; its gate opened by day and closed at night. In the town center was Al-Safah, the marketplace. Nearby, on its southern side, was an area called Al-Sif, where grain arriving from the marshlands was collected for sale. Orchards lay to the northwest and southwest and were irrigated by the Euphrates. At the far northwestern edge stood a grove of tamarisk known as Athl Al-Rumayyan. North of the town was a brickworks locally called a dogh, which produced bricks for construction. A group of saltworks on the western side produced salt in large quantities.
The first primary school in Al-Khamisiyah was established in 1345 AH (1927). The home of Sheikh Abdullah Turki Al-Khamis, east of the town near Al-Sif, was rented for the purpose. A modern school building was later constructed in the west of the town, and the school moved there in 1376 AH (1957).
In healthcare, the first clinic opened in 1362 AH (1944, according to the source).
A few kilometers from Al-Khamisiyah stands its twin town, Suq Al-Shuyukh, founded in 1175 AH (1761) by Sheikh Thuwaini bin Mohammed Al-Saadoun, leader of the Al-Muntafiq tribes. Al-Saadoun is an old Arab family descended from the sharifs of Makkah. They migrated to southern Iraq three centuries ago or more and follow the Maliki school. They came to lead the confederated tribes known as Al-Muntafiq and played a major and important role in modern Iraqi history. Abdulmohsen Al-Saadoun served as prime minister of Iraq in 1341 AH (1923), during the formation of the modern Iraqi state. Relations between the Al-Muntafiq tribes and the Emirate of Al-Khamisiyah were excellent.
Many people from Najd settled in the historic town of Suq Al-Shuyukh beside Al-Khamisiyah. One district there is called Al-Najada and retains that name today. Foremost among the Najdi residents was the Aba Al-Khail family, which had formerly ruled the Emirate of Buraidah. The well-known Kuwaiti poet Mohammed Al-Fayez was also born there. The Najdis in Suq Al-Shuyukh and the Emirate of Al-Khamisiyah maintained close ties of cooperation and alliance, sharing one another's joys and sorrows. Najdi families who lived in Al-Khamisiyah and Suq Al-Shuyukh included, but were not limited to:
Aba Al-Khail, Al-Tuwaijri, Al-Bassam, Al-Anqari, Al-Othaim, Al-Zammam, Al-Bassi, Al-Hassan, Al-Musfir, Al-Rubaish, Al-Umairini, Al-Muzairi, Al-Tarbaq, Al-Hathloul, Al-Humaidhi, Al-Ouni, Al-Shamlan, Al-Rumayyan, Al-Sinat, Al-Sallal, Al-Addad, Al-Saeed Al-Manfouhi, Al-Suwailim, Al-Khudair, Al-Dulaiqan, Aba Hussain, Al-Muayyid, Al-Suwaid, Al-Fayez, Al-Othman, Al-Saif, Al-Duhaim, Al-Saeed, Al-Fahd, Al-Nafisi, Al-Arfaj, Al-Jasser, Al-Dubai'i, Al-Ammari, Al-Surai, Al-Ayyaf, Al-Husain, Al-Nami, Al-Nafi, Al-Jutaili, Al-Dayil, Al-Muzaini, Al-Muharib, Al-Harbi, Al-Subaie, Al-Baqaawi, Al-Basri, Al-Suraihid, Al-Mirdas, and other families. Sheikh Abdullah Al-Khamis remained emir until his death in 1326 AH (1908). His son Sheikh Hamad Al-Khamis succeeded him. Hamad was born in Al-Qusai'ah in 1352 AH (1870, according to the source) and remained with his maternal uncles until the age of twelve, when he joined his father in Al-Khamisiyah. Hamad Al-Khamis ruled until his death in 1363 AH (1945), after which his brother Sheikh Ahmed Al-Khamis succeeded him. Sheikh Ahmed died in 1375 AH (1956).
Al-Khamisiyah declined in the late 1940s as its role as a station for caravans from the Arabian Peninsula and the Iraqi desert diminished. The growing use of Arabian Gulf ports for importing merchandise and exporting products, following the discovery of oil in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Iraq, had transformed regional trade.
A reader may ask what became of Al-Khamisiyah. It still exists under the same name, but it became an Iraqi village after all its Najdi residents departed. Compiled and prepared by website founder Abdul Latif Al-Wuhaibi. References:
(1) Abdullah Al-Muharib, ‘Al-Khamisiyah: Pearl of the Desert,’ Asharq Al-Awsat, Friday edition, no. 7080, 10/12/1418 AH, corresponding to 17 April 1998.
(2) British anthropologist Dr. Bruce Ingham, The Dhafir Tribe, translated by Atiyah Al-Dhafiri, 1415 AH/1995.
(3) Abdulkarim Mohammed Ali, History of the City of Suq Al-Shuyukh.
(4) Jassim Asi, ‘Al-Khamisiyah: An Abandoned City,’ Al-Turath Al-Sha'bi magazine, Baghdad, issue 6, year 6/6.
(5) The Memoirs of Gertrude Bell.
(6) Sulaiman Al-Saleh Al-Dukhail, “Souq Al-Shuyukh,” Lughat Al-Arab, Vol. 2, No. 6.
(7) Sulaiman Saleh Al-Dukhail, “Al-Khamisiyah: Pearl of the Wilderness,” Lughat Al-Arab, Vol. 1, No. 1.
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