Arab Tribes In Iraq
Many Iraqis identify strongly with a tribe (العشيرة'ashira). Thirty of the 150 or so identifiable tribes in Iraq are the most influential. Tribes are grouped into federations (qabila). Below the tribe, there are the clan (الفخذfukhdh), the house (البيتbeit) and the extended family (الخمسkhams).
On its accession to power in 1968, the Ba'ath party announced its opposition to tribalism (القبليةal-qabaliyya), although for pragmatic reasons, especially during the war with Iran, tribalism was sometimes tolerated and even encouraged.
Read more about Arab Tribes In Iraq: List of Major Tribes ('ashira), Confederations (qabila), Related Organizations
Famous quotes containing the words arab and/or tribes:
“I saw the Arab map.
It resembled a mare shuffling on,
dragging its history like saddlebags,
nearing its tomb and the pitch of hell.”
—Adonis [Ali Ahmed Said] (b. 1930)
“I have no doubt that it is a part of the destiny of the human race, in its gradual improvement, to leave off eating animals, as surely as the savage tribes have left off eating each other when they came in contact with the more civilized.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)