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Manasir (tribe)

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Manasir (tribe)

The Al Manasir (Arabic: المناصير, romanizedal-Manāṣīr, singular Mansuri) is a tribe of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), long closely associated with Abu Dhabi's ruling Bani Yas.

Nomadic, warlike and fiercely independent, the Manasir roamed between Buraimi and Qatar, the Persian Gulf coast to Liwa and also settled in the Northern emirates. They subsisted through date farming, pearling and moving goods with their camel trains, as well as camel breeding.

One of the most important tribes in the emirate of Abu Dhabi (together with the Bani Yas, with whom they cooperated and coexisted closely), the tribe was traditionally predominant in the desert areas between Buraimi and Qatar and the Persian Gulf coast to Liwa, but Manasir families had settled Abu Dhabi, Buraimi, Al Khan and Jumeirah by the turn of the 20th century. Apart from the settled population in the towns, the Manasir were entirely nomadic Bedouin, while the tribe they shared this region with, the Bani Yas, was largely settled. There were also a number of nomadic Marar families in the Liwa region.

Manasir houses in the Liwa Crescent were mostly seasonal areesh, or palm frond constructions, maintained as dwellings during the summer date season.

Some 1,400 Manasir roamed this tribal area or dar at the turn of the century, but surveys in the 1950s point to a total population of some 4,000: 2,800 of these lived in the emirate of Abu Dhabi while the balance lived both settled and nomadic lives in the other Trucial States.

The Manasir were fiercely independent and, unlike their settled counterparts the Bani Yas, did not necessarily consider themselves dependents of the Sheikh of Abu Dhabi. They did co-operate closely with the Bani Yas, however, and of 42 settlements in the Liwa area, Manasir were found in 36. They were an inland people with limited maritime resources and had few boats of their own. They worked the pearl banks with the Bani Yas, or worked as divers or haulers for various nakhudas. During the date season, Manasir who did not own their own plantations would work on settled plantations for payment in kind. The Manasir were exempted from paying the customary date tax to the Ruler of Abu Dhabi.

Subsections of the tribe include the Al Bu Mundir (Kaabara, Mani, Marashid, Matawaah, Midahima); Al Bu Rahamah (Al Bu Khail, Tarsif, Tararifah and Wabran) and the Al Bu Shaar (Ghawainam, Rashaiyid and Al Bu Thuwaibit), and Al Rabeea. All of these wintered to the North West (by the border with Qatar) and summered in Liwa, although the Al Bu Khail section of the Al Bu Rahamah wintered in Semeih and Abu Dhabi and summered in Buraimi.

Formerly subject to the Wahhabi government, they had asserted their independence by the turn of the 20th century and were closer to Abu Dhabi, but remained essentially independent, with their own sheikhs.

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