Tuesday, 1 Sha‘ban 1431 AH, Issue No. 15359
Yaqoub Al-Rasheed: Historian of Al-Oqilat and Witness to Their Era
Journalist Salah Al-Zamil. Al-Oqilat is the well-known name given to a group of people from Najd. This community has a substantial history, journey, and story—an old and deeply rooted history. Sadly, the history of Al-Oqilat has yet to be written in the detailed, precise, expansive, thoroughly researched manner it deserves. These men left their homeland, families, children, towns, and birthplaces in pursuit of an honest living. They did not travel for the sake of estrangement, leisure, or comfort, but journeyed across countries and among their peoples to earn their livelihood. The history of Al-Oqilat reaches back not one year but hundreds of years into Najd's distant past. The narrator, historian, and journalist Yaqoub bin Yusuf Al-Rashid descends from Al-Oqilat: his father and grandfather were Al-Oqilat men from Unaizah who traded horses, especially his grandfather Abdulaziz in the early twentieth century and until his death. Yaqoub is, as the saying goes, a witness to the age of Al-Oqilat. It is no exaggeration to call him their historian. He saw, met, and heard a great deal from them. He traveled to Iraq and sat with Al-Oqilat there, as well as in Syria and Egypt. He knew them well and related their experiences, news, positions, struggles, and the economic, social, and political conditions through which they lived. God granted Yaqoub an iron memory that records and does not forget. His many recordings amount to an audio library rich in knowledge about notable figures in Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Syria. He also traveled through Europe, which enabled him to learn more about its peoples. Researchers and others interested in Al-Oqilat have benefited from the testimony of their historian Yaqoub Al-Rashid. He generously shares his knowledge, heritage, and life experience with every questioner and seeker of knowledge, although, naturally, he is not infallible. Yaqoub continually analyzes the historical issues and situations he witnessed, lived through, or heard about, whether concerning Al-Oqilat or others. He is not merely a narrative historian or repository of facts: his logical analyses, convincing interpretations, and calm conversations can be striking. He is educated and cultured and speaks and writes English fluently. Few books have been written about Al-Oqilat; one finds only a very small number of works in Saudi libraries. As I have said, Yaqoub is now an authority on Al-Oqilat. We ought to learn from him and record the heritage contained in his rare historical testimony about these men, the ambassadors of Najd in Syria, Iraq, Egypt, and other Arab countries. When I asked Yaqoub about the qualities of an Al-Oqilat man who crossed all these countries, he replied: ‘The first quality was honesty in dealings, even if that honesty might cost him his life and possessions. The second was loyalty—to one another and to those with whom they did business. Betrayal and treachery could have no place among Al-Oqilat themselves. Loyalty was their creed and banner, practiced in reality rather than merely proclaimed. They were therefore loyal in their dealings with the merchants of Iraq, Syria, and Egypt. They created an honorable impression of the people of Najd, especially in Iraq, where being Najdi—and particularly an Al-Oqilat man—came to signify courage, loyalty, and nobility.’ Yaqoub added: ‘For centuries, little was known of the virtues of Najdi men. Some imagined them merely as Bedouin men struggling among themselves over pasture and trading insults. But when Al-Oqilat caravans began extending into neighboring countries, trading there, residing in their cities for years, and mixing with their peoples, those peoples came to know the character, virtues, and fine qualities of Najd's inhabitants.’ Yaqoub emphasized these admirable qualities: ‘The honorable character Al-Oqilat left in the hearts of those who dealt with them is among the greatest gains for our beloved homeland. A good reputation is the greatest thing a person possesses in life; it is one's true second life after death. As the saying goes, remembrance gives a person another lifetime—but not just any remembrance. Only enduring good repute remains. We now recall the fine reputation of Al-Oqilat. They died and departed, yet left an inheritance engraved permanently upon the brow of time, for as long as this world endures.’ Here Yaqoub's words end. His treasury remains full of information and memories about Al-Oqilat, may God have mercy on them. Perhaps we will record more from him and publish it in future pages of Khuzama. It is also worth noting that approximately ninety percent of the material in Najdis Beyond the Borders, published years ago under the name Abdulaziz Abdulghani, came from the testimony of Sheikh and historian Yaqoub Al-Rashid. Regrettably, the named author denied due recognition to Yaqoub, who supplied the scholarly material, introductions to Al-Oqilat men in Syria and Egypt, and their addresses. He did not name Yaqoub, referring to him only vaguely as a businessman and claiming that he had shown him the book but Yaqoub lacked time to read it. I asked Sheikh Yaqoub about this. He said: ‘I was surprised when the book appeared under that man's name. I wrote to the publishing house, explaining every detail and the agreement between us. I also wrote to local publishers and national libraries. They cooperated with me and declined to deal with the ungrateful person whose name appears on the book.’
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Al-Oqilat: A Neglected Administrative Legacy
Mohammed Al-Muhanna Aba Al-Khail
In 1981, Professor William G. Ouchi published a book that became widely celebrated: Theory Z: How American Management Can Meet the Japanese Challenge. He explained the Japanese management approach, built upon deep mutual loyalty between employees and employers, which had contributed to Japan's economic dominance in the 1970s. The book encouraged proponents of the human-relations school of management to connect a people's inherited culture with its prevailing management style. It was followed by many books presenting this relationship as a formula for managerial success. From applying Zen values in Chinese culture to borrowing the methods of Mafia organizations, these works all reinforced the importance of cultural inheritance in explaining economic success.
Our country has a cultural inheritance reaching deep into history and an enormous accumulated heritage from which an effective management model might be built. Only a limited number of thinkers have addressed this subject, most focusing on religion in their research. The term ‘Islamic management’ now circulates among them, but the subject still requires further development and definition before it can describe a clearly delineated management model. One dimension of our modern management heritage, however, remains almost entirely neglected. It is scarcely mentioned except in oral accounts celebrating episodes in the history of the Saudi people: the management heritage of Al-Oqilat. These groups of Najdi merchants traveled to neighboring countries for trade and investment, then returned to their bases in Najd, especially Al-Qassim. Al-Oqilat developed a management model based on a simple organization and commitment to defined values. According to some sources, this enabled their activity to continue for five hundred years, before declining with advances in transportation and communication and with changes in the political and economic structures of the Arab East. Al-Oqilat played a central role in building the economic foundations of Najd in particular, and influenced many events in the Arab region during the weakening of the Ottoman state and the advance of Western colonialism. Yet their role has not received the research attention it deserves. Some contributions exist, but most concentrate on biographies of individual Al-Oqilat figures. In my research, I found only one book that devoted even a few pages to their organizational structure, working methods, and business dealings: Najdis Beyond the Borders, by Abdulaziz Abdulghani Ibrahim.
Al-Oqilat possessed a management model worthy of research and documentation. It rested on three essential elements: noble values, the campaign's organizational structure, and collective and individual relationships. Oral stories circulated among their descendants—some embellished almost into legend—allow us to discern these elements. In my view, they explain the success of Al-Oqilat's approach to trade and their ability to establish recognized commercial centers: Buraidah and Unaizah in Najd; Al-Khamisiyah, Suq Al-Shuyukh, and Baghdad in Iraq; Damascus and Amman in the Levant; Hebron and Gaza in Palestine; and Imbaba in Egypt. Across the centuries of their commercial prominence, Al-Oqilat upheld four noble values: chivalry, integrity, honesty, and accountability. The English terms are given here to connect them with values recognized as important to leadership models in Western scholarship. These four values stood at the core of every Al-Oqilat man's conduct, though individuals differed in other qualities. He took pride in his identity and proclaimed it through his clothing and expressions. Above all, he sought to demonstrate these four values to others. Anyone who knowingly violated them lost the relationship through which the community recognized him as an Al-Oqilat man. Simple though it was, their organizational structure had established grounds for advancement. A man began his working life as a hired hand on the caravans, known as a malhouq. At this stage he was entrusted only with the work from which he earned his wage. If he displayed sound judgment and adhered to Al-Oqilat values, the head of his group or the campaign sheikh recommended and vouched for him. He could then become a full Al-Oqilat merchant on the next campaign or the one after it. At this point he gained the right to solicit investment: he could announce that he accepted people's money to invest in his trade, receive contributions at his home, agree their terms, and solemnly undertake to protect and grow them as he would his own capital. Success over campaigns—some lasting between two and five years—earned trust and endorsement. A merchant could rise through the campaign's organization to become a rais khibrah, head of a group of no more than eight Al-Oqilat men. A khibrah might be united by family kinship, origin in the same village or town, or ties of friendship and companionship. At the top stood the campaign's sheikh or emir. Few attained this position, whose requirements included extensive wealth, renown among tribes and centers of authority, education, and wisdom. Al-Oqilat cultivated three fundamental relationships. The first was exchange, which they called ‘buying and selling.’ In it, the Al-Oqilat man displayed his noble values so that his business counterpart felt secure and trusted his word. The second was the bond between one Al-Oqilat man and another, based on support, counsel, and guidance; they called it khuwwah, brotherhood. A merchant did not interfere in another's trade, but offered advice based on what he knew and defended him if he suffered unfairness or fraud. The third relationship was with political authority. Al-Oqilat understood the importance of political stability to commercial growth, so they followed the campaign sheikh's instructions as he managed relations with the authorities. The sheikh was responsible for identifying and protecting campaign members before the governing powers.
Al-Oqilat were not a phenomenon that flourished in one age and then vanished. Their model arose in response to particular circumstances, but emerged from deep within Arab heritage and was rooted in the way of life shared by Najd's nomadic and settled communities. Their activity diminished as the conditions shaping modern life changed. Yet their management approach—responsive to many changing influences—had built a commercial enterprise that exerted a major, foundational influence on the unification movement led by King Abdulaziz, may God have mercy on him. We should therefore give this aspect of our heritage the study and grounding it deserves, reveal the sources of our own managerial capabilities, and not wait until a Western researcher publishes a book on ‘Theory A’ in Arab management.
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Monday, 2 Rabi Al-Awwal 1429 AH, issue no. 14504.
The Al-Oqilat Procession Draws Attention and Revives Elders' Memories
The participation of Al-Oqilat's descendants attracted the attention of many visitors to the Janadriyah grounds. An Al-Oqilat man was one who drove camels from Al-Qassim to the Fertile Crescent to sell them in favorable markets when camels were available in Al-Qassim. He also purchased camels from across the Arabian Peninsula and drove them to Kuwait, Iraq, Syria, Jordan, Palestine, Turkey, and Egypt for sale in good markets. Abdul Latif bin Saleh Al-Wuhaibi, supervisor of the Al-Oqilat activity, explained that this group of young men is known as the Descendants of Al-Oqilat. Through the festival, processions, and camps—with their photographs of Al-Oqilat men and camel journeys—they reenact their ancestors' way of life. Their aim is to revive the memory of their fathers and grandfathers, the honorable ancient past and enlightened culture embodied in those journeys, and their distinguished historical deeds, and to acquaint the public with this heritage.
Fahd Al-Subaihi, Poet of Al-Oqilat in the Thirteenth Hijri Century
The Name Al-Oqilat Began with Banu Aqil and Came to Include the Merchants of Najd
Saturday, 1 Ramadan 1430 AH
Saad Al-Hafi
My heart melted beneath the oppression of time, while the sight of humiliation veiled my eyes in mist.
Grey covered my head when I found myself met with coldness and saw barriers rise within the heart of one so close.
I believe a soul that never tires of filling itself with rancor has no regard for kindness.
If you can no longer reach the wanderer's supper in the open wilds, nor command regard among your people when duty calls—
Distance from a place of estrangement brings you dignity; nearness to a place of humiliation is torment
When you choose your course, set your bearing toward a land whose signs no line of hills can guide you to.
It can be reached only through resolve, resourcefulness, and skill; its changing turns are difficult indeed.
Yet the desert's haze may stand between, while dust and scorching gusts rise and sweep across it.
There the tents of plain cloth are spread beneath the Pleiades when the watchman has disappeared.
When the east wind blows across the riding camels, both mounts and riders seem carried away upon it.
The Bedouin draws near the ridges, while before him empty flats shimmer with blown dust and mirage.
Beyond them lie the Euphrates' two banks; before them, rugged rises and wearying heights.
The heavily laden camels tire upon that road, and even the surest guide hesitates before its daunting distance.
A wolf does not fear the trackless waste when the oppression of time has bitten it with a fang.
Hardship may drive you toward what you once disliked; it lies behind and before you—may your endurance be rewarded.
A noble man may withstand sword and spear, but humiliation is more than even an eagle can endure.
Humiliation, young men, diminishes your worth, even when comfortable means lie ready at hand.
Whoever refuses to leave the abode of misfortune is lost; he may die before any door opens for him.
A free man will not submit to oppression and misery while his own hand remains able to labor.
He takes flight and ranges far in search of sustenance, hoping to meet a livelihood with no barrier before it.
Hiding is for the curlew; should it rise over the high ground or circle above the green, an eagle waits above it.
Zaid, heed my counsel: a man like you sets out when the times turn barren and hope has failed.
Rise and bring near two she-camels, their legs like strong pillars among the folds of the ridges.
At daybreak they depart our land from beneath a dune the blowing winds have built of sand.
At midday they rest on the plain beneath an acacia's shade, grazing in those fertile hollows.
By afternoon they reach the land of buying and selling, where the markets offer paths to livelihood.
Keep to the left, westward along the riverbank, toward Sawb Aqil, where the beloved people I long for dwell.
Poet:
A manuscript collection of Nabati poetry compiled by an unknown collector introduces the poem with the words, ‘Among the verses of Fahd Al-Subaihi.’ Mandeel Al-Fuhayd, may God have mercy on him, wrote in Min Adabina Al-Sha'biyyah: ‘Fahd Al-Subaihi of Buraidah composed this praise of Al-Oqilat while they were abroad and commended their leader Ibn Arfaj.’ The poet belonged to the Subaih branch of Banu Khalid. He is considered a poet of the thirteenth Hijri century because he was a contemporary of Ibn Arfaj and because a manuscript recording the deaths of Nabati poets gives the year of Fahd Al-Subaihi's death as 1255 AH.
Textual Study:
Mandeel Al-Fuhayd recorded eighteen lines of the poem. His presentation suggests that lines were missing, because after several passages he wrote the phrase ‘until he says.’ He also omitted most of the lines reproduced here. In the manuscript collection of Nabati poetry by an unknown compiler, the poem contains thirty-five lines. Twelve further lines were added between the two hemistichs in handwriting that is mostly unclear; these praise Mohammed Ibn Arfaj. The matching hand suggests that the copyist added them later as a correction or supplement. The poet begins by lamenting the reversals of time after growing old and being shunned by friends. He believes that accepting humiliation strips a person of every admirable quality. If a man cannot provide supper for a guest and earns no esteem among his people because he is poor, then he suffers humiliation in his own country and should leave it to preserve his dignity. The poet next describes the land to which he should travel. Its landmarks are not rocky heights but shifting dunes, traversable only by someone with experience and knowledge. He describes summer dust devils and winds carrying grains of sand, then the dunes in spring covered by plants of many colors like patterned cloth spread across the ground. He portrays powerful easterly winds that raise sandstorms and cause caravans to lose their way. Beyond the dunes he describes the desert leading to the Euphrates. Travelers pass through the harrat—plural of harrah—rugged volcanic fields thick with black rock. An idle man who hesitates out of fear cannot cross this country, but a brave man, the ‘wolf,’ crosses without fear when circumstances compel him. A man can withstand sword and spear, but not degradation and humiliation. The poet then addresses young men generally, defining hardship as poverty and lack of means. Anyone who will not change countries in search of a livelihood may die without ever attaining prosperity. A free man will not tolerate humiliation while he is a man rather than a woman with hennaed palms—a metaphor asserting that labor and the search for provision are a man's task. He resembles a bird departing in the hope of finding sustenance no one can withhold. The word ikhmar means hiding pressed close to the ground, a behavior of the curlew when it sees a hunter or an eagle circling overhead. Finally, the poet addresses a young man named Zaid. He urges him to follow this advice now that circumstances have worsened, bring two strong purebred camels, travel to Iraq—the land of buying and selling—and join Al-Oqilat.
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Al-Jazirah Newspaper
Perspectives: The Maqamat of Al-Hariri — Ibrahim bin Sulaiman Al-Washmi
My father, may God have mercy on him, accompanied Al-Oqilat on their journeys to Iraq, Syria, and Egypt and joined them in trade. He was passionate about learning and literature. Whenever Al-Oqilat stopped in a town, he visited its bookshops, bought valuable books, and read newspapers and magazines. He became known for this habit and frequented the bookshops of Baghdad, Amman, Damascus, Jerusalem, and Cairo. Books he purchased that remain in his library include Al-Mustatraf fi Kull Fann Mustazraf, Sayd Al-Khatir, Hayat Al-Hayawan Al-Kubra, Lata'if Al-Ma'arif, Ighathat Al-Lahfan, and many others. The Maqamat of Al-Hariri, which he bought from a Damascus bookshop, held a special place in his esteem. He read the maqamat continually, asked us to read them, and even dictated long passages to us. He would say that Abu Zayd Al-Saruji, the character mentioned throughout Al-Hariri's maqamat, might have been an imaginary figure devised by the author to entertain readers and convey knowledge in an engaging and appealing way. Al-Hariri built his maqamat upon elegant rhymed prose and poetry in the basit meter, displaying rare Arabic vocabulary and the language's sources of beauty. Dear reader, here is an excerpt from the Maqamah of Sinjar: ‘Al-Harith bin Hammam related: I once returned from Syria, bound for the City of Peace, in a caravan of Banu Numair and a company endowed with goodness and provisions. With us was Abu Zayd Al-Saruji—the restraint of the hasty, consolation of the bereaved, marvel of the age, and man singled out by every pointing finger. Our arrival in Sinjar coincided with a banquet given by one of its merchants. He issued a general invitation to the settled people and the nomads, until word reached the caravan and gathered together those under obligation and those attending freely. When we answered his caller and entered his assembly, he brought forth foods for one hand and two, pleasing to the mouth and beautiful to the eye…’ The Maqamat of Al-Hariri is a valuable work that enriched Arabic language and literature. My father's last journey with Al-Oqilat was in 1355 AH. He then laid down his traveling staff and, with his loyal friend Saleh bin Sulaiman Al-Omari, may God have mercy on him, opened a shop in Buraidah where they sold carpets, Arab cloaks, and incense. — Buraidah
The Al-Oqilat Through the Eyes of Their Descendants: Ibrahim bin Sulaiman Al-Washmi
When Al-Oqilat men crossed the deserts on camelback to reach Syria, Iraq, and Egypt, where they traded with their Arab brothers, they carried with them authentic Arab virtues and treated people accordingly, earning respect, affection, and appreciation. Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, may God protect him, described Al-Oqilat as ‘the finest ambassadors for their homeland.’ Longing for family and homeland accompanied them on their journeys, and they expressed it in their poetry. Many people have written about Al-Oqilat and produced books on them. What prompted these lines, however, was the care devoted to their history and honorable lives by Abdul Latif bin Saleh Al-Wuhaibi. He traced their routes, preserved their poems and stories, collected their photographs, and established a website in their name. He also began an ambitious project dedicated to their ambassadors, poets, and authors. Many Al-Oqilat fought alongside their Arab brothers against British and French occupiers, and some fought Jewish forces in Palestine. With his father and brothers, Abdul Latif Al-Wuhaibi converted a large part of their farm in the Awhtan suburb southeast of Buraidah into an Al-Oqilat council named Qahwat Aqil. Gatherings are held there after the sunset prayer, and participants and visitors enrich them with accounts of Al-Oqilat and their achievements. He also established an accompanying temporary museum containing Al-Oqilat artifacts, portraits, names, documents, and writings about their journeys. Abdul Latif and a group of his brothers and colleagues participated in national occasions with a symbolic camel caravan representing Al-Oqilat, which they named the Descendants of Al-Oqilat Caravan. These camels, known as raka'ib, appear at celebration grounds bearing the same kinds of loads carried by Al-Oqilat in their day. Al-Wuhaibi said that he personally traveled by car with a group of men along Al-Oqilat caravan routes departing from Al-Qassim, stopping at water sources and stations including Zarud, Adhfa, and Al-Hayyaniyah. A project such as this deserves visits and encouragement, so that descendants do not forget the struggles of their forefathers.