Tribes and Tribalism: Fadan Kharasa Tribe

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TRIBES AND TRIBALISM: FADAN KHARASA TRIBE

Kharasa is one of two factions of the Fadan, which is a major tribe in the Anaza confederation of tribes.

The other faction is the Fadan Waʿad. The Kharasa numbered 1,500 bayt (household) or khayma (tent) in the early 1930s. According to the Ottoman Sal-name, which gives the size of the khayma as equal to about five persons, the total number of the Kharasa would have been 7,500 inhabitants. The Kharasa spread in the summer season along the Balikh and the Euphrates rivers in Syria; they are not allowed by the Syrian authorities to cross both rivers to the west. In winter, they go eastward into Iraq, especially during the years of drought. The Kharasa are divided into smaller clans, and they are on the whole warlike tribes.

abdul-karim rafeq

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