Al-Zayadina

Al-Zayadina (singular: Zaydani or Zidany, also called the Banu Zaydan) were an Arab clan based in the Galilee. They were best known after one of their sheikhs (chiefs) Zahir al-Umar, who, through his tax farms, economic monopolies, popular support, and military strength ruled a semi-autonomous sheikhdom in northern Palestine and adjacent regions in the 18th century.^[1] They were Sunni Muslims^[2] and tribally affiliated with the Qays faction, in opposition to the Yaman.

History[]

Origins[]

According to the historian Ahmad Hasan Joudah, the origins of the Zayadina are obscure, but that they were certainly of Arab tribal stock. Members of the clan claim descent from Zayd, the son of Hasan ibn Ali and grandson of Ali, the fourth caliph of Islam. However, the historians Mikha'il Sabbagh and Isa al-Ma'luf assert that the clan's ancestor was rather a man named Zaydan, hence their name '[Banu] Zaydan' (plural: 'Zayadina'). Several historians believe the clan was originally from the Hejaz (western Arabia), and that they migrated to the Levant during Saladin's conquest of the region in the late 12th century.^[1]

During the early Ottoman period (1517–1917), members of the Zayadina lived in the vicinity of Maarrat al-Numan, a city on the main road between Damascus and Aleppo. They were a semi-nomadic and relatively small clan of roughly fifty persons and as such were under the protection of the larger Banu Asad tribe, according to Sabbagh.^[1] However, Joudah notes there is no record of a Banu Asad tribe in the Levant at the time. Sabbagh maintains that from their base near Maarrat al-Numan, the Zayadina cultivated lucrative relationships with merchants from Aleppo and Damascus and the sheikh of the clan became wealthy enough to become a target of their Banu Asad protectors. The Zayadina were attacked by the latter and moved southward, eventually settling in Tiberias in the eastern Galilee.^[3]

Establishment in Galilee[]

The identity of the Zaydani sheikh who settled the family in Tiberias in the 17th century is not definitively known. A number of sources refer to him as 'Abu Zaydan'.^[4] The first member of the dynasty to be attested in contemporary in the historical record was Sheikh Umar al-Zaydani. His father was Sheikh Salih,^[4] who was known to have developed a good reputation and a leadership role in the Shaghur subdistrict in the central Galilee. Umar's father or other ancestors had likely subleased iltizam (limited-term tax farms) in the area from the emirs of the Druze in Mount Lebanon from the Ma'n dynasty, who often held the iltizam of Safed.^[5]

Toward the end of the 17th century, Umar had become the multazim (holder of iltizam) of the Shaghur, while his brother Ali was the sheikh and multazim of Damun and its environs in the southeastern Galilee, and their brother Hamza was multazim of the vicinity of Nazareth.^[5] The name of this particular Zaydani chieftain is disputed, though Joudah believes he was "probably called Zaydan".^[3] Around 1697, when the Ma'ns were succeeded by their Shihab relatives as the paramount tax farmers and local leaders of Mount Lebanon, their paramount chief Bashir I appointed his nephew or cousin Mansur governor of Safed. Bashir made Umar the subordinate of Mansur over Safed and its vicinity. In 1701 or 1702, Umar became governor of Safed as a result of Mansur's death. He remained in the position until his death in 1706.^[6]

At some point, the Zayadina were compelled to leave Tiberias, but were invited to settle elsewhere in the Galilee by the tribe, which controlled the region west of Tiberias. The Zayadina chose to live in Arrabat al-Battuf. That village's inhabitants welcomed the Zayadina and were impressed by the generosity of the Zaydani sheikh, who kept his doors open to receive visitors from Arrabat al-Battuf and its vicinity.^[3]

The Zaydani sheikh defended Arrabat al-Battuf from encroachments by the Druze sheikh of nearby Sallama.^[3] The Zayadina proceeded to sack Sallama sometime between 1688 and 1692.^[2] Nine other Druze villages were also destroyed, including Kammaneh and Dallata.^[7] Thereafter, the Zayadina gained iltizam rights over the Battuf subdistrict of Safed Sanjak and later the Shaghur subdistrict from the governor of the Sidon Eyalet, Qublan Pasha al-Matarji.^[3] The entrenchment of the Zayadina's power in the Galilee, particularly with the rise of Zahir al-Umar in the mid-18th century led to a partial exodus of Druze from the Safed region to the Hauran.^[7]

His son Sa'd al-Umar succeeded him as head of the clan, though his younger brother Zahir al-Umar was ceded control over the clan's iltizam, granting him significant influence over the Zayadina. The clan under Zahir's command successfully defended the village of Bi'ina in the Shaghur from the forces of Sidon's governor sometime between 1713 and 1718, earning him prestige among the local inhabitants.^[8] In the 1720s, the Zayadina fortified Deir Hanna in Battuf, turning it into their rural stronghold.^[9]

Peak of power[]

Between the 1720s and 1776, the Zayadina under Zahir had consolidated their control over the entire Galilee and other parts of Palestine from his capital in Acre. The Zayadina's territories were virtually autonomous from the Ottoman Empire. Their rule was ended by the Ottoman forces of the admiral Hasan Pasha al-Jaza'iri and the incumbent governor of Acre, Jezzar Pasha.^[9]

Descendants[]

Family tree of Zahir al-Umar's branch of the Zayadina clan up to his modern-day descendants

In Haifa in the 19th and early 20th centuries, the al-Bashir al-Zaydani family, descendants of the Zayadina, were influential among Haifa's ulema (Muslim scholarly class) and its sharia (Islamic law) court.^[10] The Bashirs' position among Haifa's religious offices dwindled by the 1880s and by then they had lost most of their properties.^[11]

Many of the descendants of the Zayadina in modern-day Israel use the surname 'al-Zawahirah'^[12] or 'Dhawahri'^[13] in honor of Zahir (whose name is colloquially transliterated as 'Dhaher'). They mostly live in the Galilee localities of Nazareth, Bi'ina, Kafr Manda, and, before its depopulation in the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, the village of Damun.^[14]

A member of the Zayadina, Yousef Abbas, settled in Amman in Transjordan in the late 17th century. Around three decades later, his family migrated to Irbid and were thenceforth called 'al-Tal' (the Hill). The family was named al-Tal because in Amman they had lived close to the town's citadel, which was built on a hill or tal. Yousef's four sons, Hussein, Hassan, Abd al-Rahman, and Abd al-Rahim and their modern-day descendants continue to use the surname al-Tal, sometimes with 'Yousef' as an antecedent.^[15] From Irbid, members of the al-Tal family served in various Ottoman governmental positions in the 19th and early 20th centuries.^[16] The family was involved in the establishment of the Emirate of Transjordan, a British protectorate under the nominal rule of Emir Abdullah and played important roles in its government. Prominent family members include a general of Jordan's Arab Legion, Abdullah al-Tal, and Jordanian Prime Minister Wasfi al-Tal and his father, the poet Mustafa Wahbi Tal.^[17]

The Beverly Hills-based Palestinian American architect Mohamed Hadid, father of models Gigi, Bella and Anwar, claims descent from Zahir al-Umar through his mother's side.^[18][19]

References[]

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