Dawasir

Al Dawasir (Arabic: الدواسر‎‎, sing. Dosseri دوسري) is an Arabian bedouin tribal confederation primarily composed of Azdite, Adnanite, and Hamdanite clans originating from central Arabia.

The tribe gave its name to the famous valley in Najd or specifically the town of Wadi al-Dawasir (The Valley of Al-Dawasir) which had a population of 68,201 in 2010 and is divided into two main neighborhoods: Alnowaima and Alkhamaseen, and spread in various parts of the Middle East.

There various theories surrounding the definition and origin of the term Dawasir, the two most popular ones being that it was either derived from the name of the tribe's purported forebear Dosser or the eponymous Arabic word which translates to "soldiers".

The Dawasir migrated to Bahrain in 1845 from Zakhnuniya Island, south of Uqair and mainly settled in and around Zallaq and Budaiya. American author Yitzhak Nakash, a prominent expert on the history of Shiism, described the tribe in his book Reaching for Power: The Shi'a in the Modern Arab World as being the "second largest and most powerful tribe after the Utub [in Bahrain]. So powerful were the Dawasir that their members recognized Sheikh 'Isa Al Khalifa as ruler in name only and considered themselves immune from taxation." Members of the tribe worked in the pearl industry and opposed the overthrow of Sheikh Isa ibn Ali Al Khalifa. Virtually all members of the tribe left Bahrain for Dammam after suspecting that the new ruler, Sheikh Hamad ibn Isa would attempt to tighten his control over them with British support and force them into submitting to his rule in 1923. The Dawasir were officially allowed to return in April 1927 by Sheikh Hamad after being requested by Ibn Saud to do so.

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