Na'im

The Na'im (Arabic: نعيم) (singular Al Nuaimi Arabic: النعيمي) is a traditionally Ghafiri Arab tribe in the United Arab Emirates. The tribe is also present in other gulf countries.

Many of the tribes that constituted the population of the coastal towns and villages along the Gulf possessed Bedouin sections that shared portions of the surrounding semi-desert territory. The most significant tribe in the hinterland was the Na'im, owing both to their numerical strength and to the fact that they regarded the region as their principal center. In addition, the Na'im were widely distributed across Trucial Oman and the Sultanate of Oman. In the period following the Second World War, the combined Bedouin and settled population of the Na'im was estimated at approximately 5,000 individuals, with the capacity to mobilize around 2,000 armed men. According to the Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf, the tribe numbered about 13,000 at the beginning of the twentieth century. However, its population and political influence had been in decline for several decades, largely as a result of persistent internal divisions among its sub-tribes. Lorimer records that around 10,500 non-nomadic Na'im resided in the region at the time, excluding those who had migrated to Qatar and Bahrain in earlier generations. Of these, approximately 4,500 lived in the Sultanate of Oman, 3,500 in the shaikhdoms of the Trucial Coast, and 2,500 in the district referred to as “Independent Oman,” in addition to an estimated 2,500 Bedouin members of the tribe.

The Na'im are divided into three sections, the Al Bu Kharaiban, the Khawatir and the Al Bu Shamis (singular Al Shamsi). It is from the former section that the current Rulers of the Emirate of Ajman are drawn. The Al Bu Shamis have become virtually independent and are closely associated with the Al Bu Falah of Abu Dhabi. Despite this de facto independence, the shaikhs of the Al Bu Shamis periodically affirmed their continued recognition of the tamimah (supreme authority) of the Na'im as a whole. The traditional heart of Na'im territory was the oasis town of Buraimi and nearby Al Ain, where the Ghafiri Na'im’s predominant expansion came at the expense of the Dhawahir tribe, but also rubbed up against the Bani Yas and the allied Manasir, both of whom were classified as Hinawi within the framework of Omani political affiliations. The tribe followed the Ghafiri tradition and supported the Omani Iman, Yarub, in his bid to control Oman in 1723.

Although the Na'im were linked to the growing Wahhabi influence in the Buraimi area and adopted the doctrine unlike most tribes in the region, they allied with other forces of the Al Bu Falah ruler Khalifah bin Shakhbut in 1848 and Sultan Azzan bin Qais in 1869 to evict the Wahhabis from Buraimi. Following these campaigns, the Na'im subsequently occupied many of the forts around Buraimi. The tamimah of the Na'im established residence in the fort of Buraimi village and was regarded as the Sultan’s representative in the area, receiving a regular allowance analogous to that provided to other walis. However, following the death of Zayed the Great, the Na'im once again came under Saudi influence, leading to their participation in the Buraimi dispute.