TheZayadina (also transliteratedZiyadina orZiyadneh; singularZaydani orZidany), or theBanu Zaydan, were anArab tribal family based in theGalilee whose members served as localmultazims (tax farmers) during theOttoman period. Their best knownsheikh,Daher al-Umar, became the strongman of northernPalestine and surrounding areas through economic monopolies, popular support, and military strength in the mid-18th century.[1]
According to the historian Ahmad Hasan Joudah, the origins of the Zayadina are obscure, but that they were ofArab tribal stock. Members of the clan claim descent from Zayd, the son ofHasan ibn Ali and grandson ofAli, the fourthcaliph ofIslam. However, the historians Mikha'il Sabbagh and Isa al-Ma'luf assert that the clan's ancestor was a man named Zaydan, hence their name '[Banu] Zaydan' (plural: 'Zayadina'). Some historians speculate that the clan was originally from theHejaz (westernArabia), and that they migrated to theLevant duringSaladin's conquest of the region in the late 12th century.[1]
During the earlyOttoman period (1517–1917), most members of the Zayadina lived in the vicinity ofMaarrat al-Numan, a city on the main road betweenDamascus andAleppo. They were a semi-nomadic and relatively small clan 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 thesheikh 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 toTiberias, ending their semi-nomadic way of life.[2]
They wereSunni Muslims[3] and tribally affiliated with theQays faction, in opposition to the Yaman.
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 the historical record was SheikhUmar al-Zaydani. His father, Salih, had developed a good reputation and a leadership role in theShaghur subdistrict in the central Galilee. Umar's father or other ancestors had likely subleasediltizam (limited-term tax farms) in the area from theemirs of theDruze inMount Lebanon from theMa'n dynasty, who often held theiltizam ofSafed.[5] The Zayadina evidently had a foothold in the Shaghur valley, wresting control of it from the Druze sheikh of nearbySallama.[2] The Zayadina sacked Sallama sometime between 1688 and 1692.[3] Nine other Druze villages in the same vicinity were also destroyed, includingKammaneh andDallata.[6]
Around 1698, Umar was appointed the tax collector of theSafedmuqata'a (fiscal district) byBashir Shihab, a descendant of the Ma'ns from his mother's side who inherited the chieftainship of theDruze inMount Lebanon and theiltizam, or limited-termtax farm, of Safed by the governor ofSidon. By 1703, Umar had grown powerful enough to be considered the "paramount sheikh of the Galilee" by the French vice-consul of Sidon, while his brothers Ali and Hamza weremultazims in the westernLower Galilee and the vicinity ofNazareth, respectively, around this time.[7][a]
Umar died in 1706 and was succeeded by his eldest son,Sa'd.[9] The Zayadina were deposed from theiriltizam by the governor of Sidon the following year, after the death of Bashir, but were restored by Bashir's successor,Haydar Shihab, when hedefeated his Druze rivals for control of Bashir's formerilitizam in 1711.[8] Around 1707, the Zayadina were compelled to leave the Tiberias area, and were invited to settle elsewhere in the Galilee by theBanu Saqr tribe, which controlled the region west of Tiberias. Sa'd chose to live inArrabat al-Battuf.[2]
The Zayadina expanded theiriltizam and territory over much of the Galilee during the 1730s, with Sa'd's younger brother,Daher al-Umar (also transcribed Zahir al-Umar) emerging as the family's preeminent chief. He took over the town of Tiberias, gained itsiltizam, and fortified it as his headquarters starting around 1730. Sa'd moved the family seat from Arraba to nearbyDeir Hanna, which he considerably fortified. Their cousin Muhammad, the son of their uncle Ali, continued to dominate the area of Shefa-Amr from his father's headquarters inDamun. By 1740, Daher and the family had gained theiltizam or otherwise imposed their control inSafed and its environs,Nazareth, the fortress ofJiddin and the coastal plain of Acre, and the fortress villages ofBi'ina in the Shaghur,[10]Deir al-Qassi, andSuhmata.[11]
The Zayadina under Daher and Sa'd withstoodsieges against their Tiberias and Deir Hanna headquarters in 1742 and 1743 by the governor of Damascus,Sulayman Pasha al-Azm, who had the support of the imperial government inConstantinople. The failure of the sieges and the subsequent, long-term détente reached with Sulayman Pasha's successor,As'ad Pasha al-Azm enabled Daher to focus on capturing the strategic port village ofAcre. He occupied it in 1744 and was granted itsiltizam by 1746. In the process, he had his cousin Muhammad of Damun arrested and executed to remove him as a contender for influence in Acre.[12]
Headquartered in Acre from 1750, Daher installed his sons at strategic fortresses across the Galilee to safeguard his interests there, namely by keeping subordinate village chiefs in check and protecting his domains from Bedouin raids. While entrusting these commands to his sons was meant to guarantee his grip over the region, the sons eventually struggled against Daher, and each other, for power and influence. Thie process intensified in the 1760s, as the sons sought to strengthen their positions in anticipation of their aging father's death.[13] Daher's sons had different mothers and often drew on their maternal kinsmen in these disputes.[14] Daher's three eldest sons,Salibi, Uthman, and Ali, all considered themselves their father's successor-in-waiting,[14] and the latter two in particular, were the main drivers of the rebellions for more territorial control.[15]
As early as 1753, Uthman rebelled and set up base inJenin, a stronghold of the Zayadina's rival, theJarrars. From there, he led intrigues against Daher, who captured and exiled him to Egypt for an unclear period.[15] In 1761, Daher detected a plot by Sa'd, hitherto his chief adviser and a key figure behind his successes, to topple and replace him, with the support of Uthman. Daher persuaded Uthman to assassinate Sa'd in exchange for control of Shefa-Amr. Uthman killed Sa'd, but pleas by Shefa-Amr's residents caused Daher to retract the appointment.[16] Backed by his full-brothers Ahmad and Sa'd al-Din, who were also angered by Daher's refusal to cede them more territory, Uthman besieged Shefa-Amr in 1765. Under Daher's instructions, the local residents successfully defended the town. The three brothers then appealed to Daher's eldest and most loyal son, Salibi, who had been in charge of Tiberias since Sulayman Pasha's failed siege, to intervene on their behalf, but Salibi was unable to persuade Daher to make concessions.[17]
The four brothers then attempted to rekindle their alliance with the Saqr, who Daher had since been routed in theMarj Ibn Amer plain in 1762. Their efforts failed when Daher bribed the tribe to withhold their support. He subsequently imprisoned Uthman inHaifa for six months before exiling him to a village near Safed.[17] In May 1766, Uthman renewed his rebellion against Daher with backing from the Druze clans of the Galilee, but this coalition was defeated by Daher.[18] Mediation by Isma'il Shihab ofHasbaya culminated in a peace summit nearTyre where Daher and Uthman reconciled. Uthman was consequently granted control of Nazareth.[19]
In September 1767, a conflict between Daher and his son Ali, who was headquartered in Safed, broke out over the former's refusal to cede control of the strategic fortress villages of Deir Hanna and Deir al-Qassi. Before the dispute, Ali had been loyal to Daher and proven effective in helping him suppress dissent among his other sons and in battles against external enemies. Daher's forces marched on Safed later that month, pressuring Ali to surrender. Daher pardoned him and ceded Deir al-Qassi.[20] The intra-family conflict was renewed weeks later, with Ali and his brother Sa'id poised against Daher and Uthman. Ibrahim Sabbagh, Daher's financial adviser, brokered a settlement, whereby Sa'id was granted control over the villages ofTur'an andHittin.[21]
Ali refused to negotiate, as he continued to seek control of Deir Hanna, which Daher denied him. Ali gained Salibi's backing, and the two defeated their father, who had since demobilized his troops and was relying on local volunteers from Acre. Daher remobilized his Maghrebi mercenaries in Acre and defeated Ali, who subsequently fled Deir Hanna in October. Out of sympathy for Ali's children, who remained in the fortress village, he pardoned him on the condition he pay 12,500piasters and 25Arabian horses for the fortress.[22] By December 1767, Daher's intra-family disputes had subsided.[23]
The rebellions by Daher's sons were nearly always backed by the governor of Damascus, Uthman Pasha, who sought to sustain the internal dissent to weaken Daher.[24] The latter lodged complaints to the imperial government about Uthman Pasha's support for his rebellious sons at least once in 1765.[25] Daher received the support of the governor of Sidon,Muhammad Pasha al-Azm, an opponent of Uthman Pasha who sought to restore the Azms to office in Damascus. While Sidon's support had no practical military value, the support of Daher's nominal superior provided him with official legitimacy amid his family's insurrections.[26]
InHaifa in the 19th and early 20th centuries, the al-Bashir al-Zaydani family, descendants of the Zayadina, were influential among Haifa'sulema (Muslim scholarly class) and itssharia (Islamic law) court.[27] The Bashirs' position among Haifa's religious offices dwindled by the 1880s and by then they had lost most of their properties.[28]
Many of the descendants of the Zayadina in modern-dayIsrael use the surname 'al-Zawahirah'[29] or 'Dhawahri'[30] in honor of Daher (whose name is colloquially transliterated as 'Dhaher'). They mostly live in the Galilee localities ofNazareth, Bi'ina,Kafr Manda, and, beforeits depopulation in the1948 Arab-Israeli war, the village ofDamun.[31]
A member of the Zayadina, Yousef Abbas, settled inAmman inTransjordan in the late 17th century. Around three decades later, his family migrated toIrbid 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 ortal. 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.[32] From Irbid, members of the al-Tal family served in various Ottoman governmental positions in the 19th and early 20th centuries.[33] The family was involved in the establishment of theEmirate of Transjordan, a British protectorate under the nominal rule of EmirAbdullah and played important roles in its government. Prominent family members include a general ofJordan'sArab Legion,Abdullah al-Tal, and Jordanian Prime MinisterWasfi al-Tal and his father, the poetMustafa Wahbi Tal.[34]
TheBeverly Hills-based Palestinian American real estate developerMohamed Hadid, father of modelsGigi,Bella andAnwar, claims descent from Daher al-Umar through his mother's side.[35][36]