Governing property, making the modern state - PSI424

Part three | 11
the time of division. Mustafa gave his two youngest sons by Ghazala, Subhi and
Husain, the house and all the land in Ramtha. He endowed them specially since
he had arranged his older sons’ marriages but not theirs; as he was leaving the
two young boys, he feared for them as orphans. The large house in Hawwara was
divided between the other sons, Hasan and Khalil, sons of Hamiya ‘al-Tibnawiya’;
Muhammad Abu Khamis and Sulaiman each established separate households.
There are some problems in reconciling the different accounts. The end result,
however, is clear. Each of Mustafa’s four sons obtained 4q, while ‘Awad’s son
and daughter obtained five. Mustafa’s daughters were bypassed, should any ever
think to claim her inheritance. This was the distribution registered at the cadastre
in 1933, except that meanwhile Khalil and Hasan’s sons somehow lost 1q each. 45
Mustafa’s young sons, Subhi and Husain, received nothing in Hawwara but – so
we learn from Muhammad Khair – everything in Ramtha.
When Muhammad Khair was a boy his father’s household was joint between
the sons of his uncle Hasan and his own father Khalil. Hasan had married three
times but only his wife Fidda Hamad al-Jammal bore him children, ‘Abdul-Rahim,
‘Abdul-Rahman, Saita and Rahma. After Hasan’s death his widow Fidda married
his brother Khalil and remained in her own house. Khalil already had a wife,
Amina Ibrahim al-Gharaiba of Mughaiyir, who bore him one son and four daughters.
Fidda bore him Muhammad Khair, a second son and three daughters.
According to Muhammad Khair, the sons of Hasan and Khalil, bound one
might say by the presence of Fidda al-Jammal, divided only in 1950, along
patrilineal lines, so Muhammad Khair and his paternal half-brother moved out
of the compound only in 1952. When they had all farmed together, they had
cultivated 10q of land, with four to five camels and three ox teams, but in those
years they were still ploughing the land of Subhi and Husain in Ramtha too.
Divisions appear to have been more acrimonious between Khalil and his elder
paternal half-brothers. The civil court records leave trace of a quarrel between
Khalil and Sulaiman not long after division in 1934. 46
Mustafa Taha al-Shar‘ married a series of women, fathering many children, and
yet ensured that no land pass to any of his daughters. Both Mustafa and his son
retained widows by leviratic marriage, Mustafa having married Hamiya al-Dilh
when widowed by Shahada, perhaps contributing to the good working relation
with ‘Awad who married ‘Atna al-Ahmad. Fidda Hamad al-Jammal likewise remarried
Khalil al-Mustafa after Hasan al-Mustafa’s death. This set of women appear
central, if almost invisible, in the history of running the large compound under
the headship of Mustafa and then of Hasan and Khalil, the sons of Hamiya. This
was the stable core whereas otherwise the family practised widespread marriage
exchanges with other villages and families on the understanding that daughters
and wives had no power to alienate land.
General observations
The history of families in Hawwara appears bound up with that of agricultural
development in the plains. In the course of the nineteenth century family members
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