Bedouin

Iraq's Bedouin are the herding sections of the great Arabian confederations whose ranges cross Iraq's borders: the Shammar of the Jazira plains west of Mosul, the Anizah of the Western Desert and the Dhafir of the Southern Desert. They have lived in Iraq's deserts for centuries, and most of their kin have long since settled as ordinary tribal Arabs, but some 100,000 or more still move with camels and sheep between winter pastures and summer wells, living in black goat-hair tents. Coffee poured from the brass dallah, Nabati poetry and tribal law remain at the heart of camp life. Drought, dry wells and closed borders are pushing many to sell their herds and settle on the edges of towns.

Jordan's Bedouin are the Arab tribes of the eastern and southern desert, the Badia, which covers three-quarters of the country: the Bani Sakhr of the central plains, the Huwaitat of the south, the Bani Khalid, Sirhan and Ahl al-Jabal of the north, and small tribes such as the Bdul of Petra and the Zalabia of Wadi Rum. About 1.3 million Jordanians trace their descent to these tribes, but almost all now live in stone houses in desert towns and cities and count simply as Jordanians. Those who still live from their flocks of sheep and goats, moving them to the spring pastures and pitching black goat-hair tents beside them, number perhaps 45,000 to 60,000 in some 10,000 to 12,000 herding households, most in the Mafraq desert and the south around Ma'an. The tribes are the backbone of the army and the monarchy, and their customs define Jordanian identity: mansaf eaten from a shared tray, cardamom coffee served in strict order, Nabati poetry, and tribal truces and blood-money settlements that still run alongside the courts. Herding families buy most of their fodder and water, and drought, the cost of feed and the pull of army wages and of tourism in Petra and Wadi Rum draw more of them into town each year.

Saudi Arabia's Bedouin are the families of the great desert tribes, Anazah, Shammar, Utaybah, Mutair, Harb, Qahtan, Al Murrah and others, who still call themselves badu, about 1.5 million people of whom at most 200,000 still move with their herds. A century ago Ibn Saud settled their warriors in farming colonies and made them the army that built the kingdom; their sons now fill the National Guard, which still recruits by tribe. Most live in towns such as Hafr al-Batin and the outer districts of Riyadh, but after the winter rains whole families move out to black goat-hair tents beside their camels, and camel beauty contests near Riyadh offer prizes worth millions. Their Islam is the strict Hanbali faith preached to the tribes in the settlement era, and their pride rests on lineage, Nabati poetry and hospitality.