Huwala people
Huwala also collectively referred to as Bani Huwala, are Iranian Arabs of tribal lineage who initially migrated to Iran in the 13th and 14th century and intermixed with the indigenous population of older Arabic-speaking background. Such migrations continued till around 19th century to the area which is now Iran's Hormozgan province and Fars province, mainly Bandar Abbas, Qishm, and the mainland near Bandar Lengeh. The Huwala follow Sunni Islam, like most Peninsular Arabs, and as opposed to the majority of Persians, who are Twelver Shia. Most of the Huwala have remigrated back to the Arabian Peninsula between late 19th century and early 20th century. The imposition of restrictive economic policies by Reza Shah in the 1930s led to the migration of most of the rest of the Huwala back to the Arabian Peninsula.
The term "Huwala" does not refer to Sunni Larestani Achomi families such as Awadhi, Kandari, Janahi, Khaloori, Zarooni, and Bastaki. It specifically refers to the actual Arab Huwalas, which encompasses the Qawasem, Hammadi, Al Nasur/Nassour, Obaidli, and Bani Tamim tribes.
The original Huwalas have commonly been referred to as "the Arabs of the Eastern Coast", or simply "Arabs of Persia", but some of them prefer not to be called Huwalas as the term is used for Achomis in the Gulf. On the other hand, Achomis sometimes choose to identify themselves as Huwalas due to societal pressure to assimilate.
Although Huwalas and Achomis have lived in close proximity to each other in Southern Iran, they are genetically dissimilar. Huwalas are relatively recent inhabitants of Southern Iran migrating from Arabia over the past five centuries. However, some have been residing there since the Sassanians, such as the Bani Tamim tribe.
Some families of non-Arab origins have adopted the surnames of Arabian Huwala tribes. For example, they are often Hammadi and Marzooqi only in name.
Etymology
Huwala, is a plural Arabic term for Huwali. The meaning of the word remains unclear, and many Gulf historians continue to debate its origins and significance. Contrary to popular belief, there is very little evidence to support the claim that it means "to change over."It appears that the Huwala was a tribal confederation formed in Coastal Oman, similar to the Al-Utub confederation, who were at times their arch rivals. However, it appears that the term was abandoned shortly thereafter, which explains its disappearance in the oral tradition of the Huwalas themselves.
A book by Dejanirah Couto and Rui Loureiro into Portuguese interactions in Hormuz defines Huwala as "migrant Arabs".
Author Lawrence G. Potter defines Huwala as
History
In the 18th century, the Arab Al Qasimi tribal affiliation, once a major maritime power, took control of southern Iranian coasts and islands around Bandar Lengeh. In 1779 the Iranian Zand dynasty acknowledged a fait accompli and recognized a Qasimi as local ruler of Bandar Lengeh. At about the same time the Zands allowed the British East India Company to establish its residency and presence in Bushehr. The Qasimis remained in control of Bandar Lengeh and surrounding region until 1887, when they were defeated by the British in their self proclaimed “anti-piracy” campaign which Emirati based scholars argue was a myth used to dominate trade routes to India and Iraq. The Qasimis retreated to the southern coast of the Gulf, and their Iranian domains reverted to nominal rule by Tehran.The Achomi Iranian population lived on the coast alongside the Qasimis. They prospered under Al Qasimi rule as merchants in pearl trading. Author John W. Limbert argues that in response to Reza Shah Pahlavi's policies of centralization, conscription, civil status reforms, and, most important, the forced unveiling of women led to many of the Achomis to follow the Qasimis back to the Arabian Peninsula, further mixing the Huwala's Arabic and Persian roots.
Identity and origin
Contemporary historians of that period, such as Niebuhr, Lorimer, David Seton, and others, did not neglect to record for us a huge number of political and social events in the Gulf during the period preceding the period of the recent migration of the inhabitants of the southern Iranian region to the Gulf states during the reign of Shah Reza Pahlavi at the beginning of the twentieth century AD. We find in these historians a clear description of the identity of the true Huwala Arabs according to geographical and social standards.These historians agree geographically that the Huwala Arabs live in a specific geographical area starting from Bandar Kanj in the south and reaching Bandar Kangan in the north, and from the coast of the Arabian Gulf in the west to the region of the mountains in the east. This geographical area is called the Shibkoh region, meaning the sloping mountain, and there are no Huwala Arabs according to this description in the regions outside this region, such as the Bandar Abbas, Bastak, Bushehr, Falamarz, Ahvaz or Abdan regions.
According to the Saudi historian Jalal Al-Haroon, there are two types of Huwalas:
- The first type consists of the original Arabs who migrated to Southern Iran from Coastal Eastern Arabia during the 16th and 17th centuries, such as the Bani Hammad, Qawasim, Obaidli, and Al-Haram. Those are now are now referred to Arab Fāris or Arab al-Sāḥil.
- The second type of Huwalas refers to the indigenous people of Southern Iran who resided under the rule of the aforementioned tribes and later migrated back with them to Arabia during the 20th century after the invasion by the Iranian government.
Huwala families
Historical sources tell us that the "Al-Hawla Arabs" do not descend from a single tribe, but rather they descend from a union of several specific Arab tribes. We must focus here on the word “specific,” as the tribes belonging to the "Huwala Arabs" are the following tribes:- Al Qasimi or Al-Qawasim
- Al Marzooqi or Al-Marazeeq
- Al-Ali
- Bani Bishr
- Bani Hammad or Al-Hammadi
- Bani Obaidel or Al-Obaidly
- Al-Haram or Al-Harami
- Bani malik or Al-Malki
- Bani Tamim or Al Tamim
- '''Al Nasur/Nassour or Al-Mathkur'''