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The '''Huwala''' (also spelled howala, howila, huwalah) ([[Arabic]]: الهولة) meaning "Those that have changed or moved". Originally the "Huwala" word is Arabic, but since Persian does not contain the emphatic ḥ "ح" present in Arabic, it pronounced it Huwala. Huwala are the descendants of Sunni Arabs, who migrated to Persia and returned to the [[Arabian Peninsula]] later on. The word was also mistakenly used to call Sunni Persians who migrated from [[Persia]], or [[Iran]] to the Arabian peninsula. The Huwala are different from the Sunni Persians who have migrated from their original homeland, except that they share the same faith
The '''Huwala''' (also spelled howala, howila, huwalah) ([[Arabic]]: الهولة) meaning "Those that have changed or moved". Originally the "Huwala" word is Arabic, but since Persian does not contain the emphatic ḥ "ح" present in Arabic, it pronounced it Huwala. Huwala are the descendants of Sunni Arabs, who migrated to Persia and returned to the [[Arabian Peninsula]] later on. The word is mistakenly used in bahrain to call Sunni Persians who migrated from [[Persia]], or [[Iran]] to the Arabian peninsula, and this is WRONG. The howilla are arabic tribes that immigrated long ago to the southern part of iran , because of the famine and hunger that had struck the arabian peninsula, forming emirates there ruled by arabic leaders.

== The Story of the Original Huwala ==
== The Story of the Original Huwala ==


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Some of the Arabs that were moving to Iran turned to be business men and some had a better life and settled in Iran for decades, others were left there since the arrival of Islam and the victory over the [[Persian Empire]]. They went to live in some Persian ports like [[Bandar Lengeh]] and [[Bandar Charak]], both of them were ports in the south east coast of Iran, in the [[Hormozgān Province]].
Some of the Arabs that were moving to Iran turned to be business men and some had a better life and settled in Iran for decades, others were left there since the arrival of Islam and the victory over the [[Persian Empire]]. They went to live in some Persian ports like [[Bandar Lengeh]] and [[Bandar Charak]], both of them were ports in the south east coast of Iran, in the [[Hormozgān Province]].


After Reza Khan overthrew the weakening Qajar Dynasty and became Shah, the Howilla tribes slowly began to immigrate back to the arabian peninsula. Migrations might of even began before that, as the iranian governments were trying to turn the arabs into persians by imposing laws against them, changing their arabic names to persian one and forcing them to abandon their arabic ways.
After Reza Khan overthrew the weakening Qajar Dynasty and became Shah, the Howilla tribes slowly began to immigrate back to the arabian peninsula. Migrations might of even began before that, as the iranian government was trying to turn the arabs into persians by imposing laws against them, changing their arabic names to persian one and forcing them to abandon their arabic ways.


== The Original Huwala Tribes ==
== The Original Huwala Tribes ==
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# Al Bosmait ([[Bandar Lengeh]]).
# Al Bosmait ([[Bandar Lengeh]]).
# al Khonji Tribe ( in Oman, Qais Mahmood al-Khonji is the 4th generation leader of the tribe and Mahmood Abdulla al-Khonji is the leader of the 3rd generation ).
# al Khonji Tribe ( in Oman, Qais Mahmood al-Khonji is the 4th generation leader of the tribe and Mahmood Abdulla al-Khonji is the leader of the 3rd generation ).
# Al Naama family
# Al Naama tribe
# Al Jaber family


The fact about those tribes however isn't official and clear, some argue that half of these tribes actually didn't reach the shores of Persia, some suggest that only 7 Arabian tribes were able to live in Persia's ports and shores.


== The common Confusing with Sunni Persians ==
== The common Confusing with Sunni Persians ==

Revision as of 13:00, 15 July 2008

Huwala
Regions with significant populations
Languages
Gulf Arabic, Persian
Religion
Sunni Islam, Shafi`i

The Huwala (also spelled howala, howila, huwalah) (Arabic: الهولة) meaning "Those that have changed or moved". Originally the "Huwala" word is Arabic, but since Persian does not contain the emphatic ḥ "ح" present in Arabic, it pronounced it Huwala. Huwala are the descendants of Sunni Arabs, who migrated to Persia and returned to the Arabian Peninsula later on. The word is mistakenly used in bahrain to call Sunni Persians who migrated from Persia, or Iran to the Arabian peninsula, and this is WRONG. The howilla are arabic tribes that immigrated long ago to the southern part of iran , because of the famine and hunger that had struck the arabian peninsula, forming emirates there ruled by arabic leaders.

The Story of the Original Huwala

Some Arabs left the Arabian peninsula to Iran for hunting and vacations as well as doing business because of the proximity of the Persian coast. And this journey began since the arrival of Islam in Persia. Some suggest they were going there to teach Qur'an and Sunni faith, while other argue they moved there to have a better life from the desert, however those facts are unclear.

Some of the Arabs that were moving to Iran turned to be business men and some had a better life and settled in Iran for decades, others were left there since the arrival of Islam and the victory over the Persian Empire. They went to live in some Persian ports like Bandar Lengeh and Bandar Charak, both of them were ports in the south east coast of Iran, in the Hormozgān Province.

After Reza Khan overthrew the weakening Qajar Dynasty and became Shah, the Howilla tribes slowly began to immigrate back to the arabian peninsula. Migrations might of even began before that, as the iranian government was trying to turn the arabs into persians by imposing laws against them, changing their arabic names to persian one and forcing them to abandon their arabic ways.

The Original Huwala Tribes

The original Huwala tribes that left Arabia to Iran were mainly from the Bani Tamim, Bani Malek, Bani Aubaidel, Al Manaser, Al Haram, Al- Nesor/Nassour, Al Ali, Al Qawasim, Bani Bushor and Al Marazeeq tribes. Since the modern state of Iran under the Previous Shah of Iran and his Persian policy of identity especially against those non-Arabs, most of the Arabian tribes were exiled out from the ports and villages of Iran, to many GCC countries. This was at the other hand a historical point for the original Huwala were they called it "Returning to the mother land of Arabia" since they were already called "Huwala" which means people who moved from place to another.

List of Arabian tribes who lived on the shore of Persia:

  1. Al S'aie Family.
  2. Al 'Abadela tribe.
  3. Al Hamad tribe.
  4. Al Jaboor tribe. Parts of this tribe became know as Al Nassour Tribe. They originated in Saudi Arabia and then went on to rule Bahrain before moving to Persia. In Persia, the Al Nassour became the ruling family of Kangaan in the province of Bushehr; however, after the Islamic revolution they moved to and are currently living in Abu-Dhabi, UAE. Their last Sheikh was Sheikh Soleiman Bin Hatam Al-Nassour, grandson of Shaikh Jabbara (Ruler of Bahrain - Please See External Links Below). They have had and still hold close ties with the current Bahraini ruling family too.
  5. Al Matareesh tribe.
  6. Al 'Abadi tribe.
  7. Al Ali tribe (Created A state in Qais Island).
  8. Al Haram tribe.
  9. Al Naim tribe (Ruled Qishm Island before Al Qawasim tribe).
  10. Al Tamimi tribe.
  11. Al Bu 'Ainain tribe (were with Al Ali tribe in Qais Island).
  12. Al Ansari tribe (some of them are original Arabs while the other are Persians).
  13. Al Ka'abi tribe (Khuzestan of Iran).
  14. Al Marzoqi tribe (Independent state on the shore).
  15. Al Suwaidi tribe (had a presence in both Abu Mosa and Qishm Islands).
  16. Al Qawasom Tribe (ruled some of the shores and Islands of Persia that were opposite to U.A.E in different eras between 1100 and 1890).
  17. Al Bosaidi Tribe (ruled Qishm Island for short periods when it was acquired from Al Qawasims).
  18. Al Dawasir tribe clans (from Wadi Al-Dawasir in Najd, nowadays Saudi Arabia)
  19. Al Ajman Tribe.
  20. Al Mora tribe (Morah Island).
  21. Al Bosmait (Bandar Lengeh).
  22. al Khonji Tribe ( in Oman, Qais Mahmood al-Khonji is the 4th generation leader of the tribe and Mahmood Abdulla al-Khonji is the leader of the 3rd generation ).
  23. Al Naama tribe
  24. Al Jaber family


The common Confusing with Sunni Persians

Another issue shows that mistakenly, some people still think that all of the Sunni Persians in Iran are from Arabian descent, thanks to the arrival of the Huwala and Sunni Persians to Arabia and their claims to be Arabs.

Iran still has some big cities which include Sunni Muslims, else of Bandar Lengeh and Bandar Charak there is Ahvaz near the Iraqi border and Mashhad except that the latter two cities didn't have the Huwala who only travelled to the west cost of Persia, Ahvaz especially had and still has Arabs from Iraq. There are still Sunni mosques in both Bandar Lengeh and Bandar Charak.

The other groups who arrived to Arabia were original Sunni Persians. Their villages are many and can still be located mostly in the Fārs Province as well as Hormozgān Province. And these locations obviously still has Sunni mosques up until now. In later years Some of the those Sunni Persians left Iran to the GCC countries to work or to make Business, many of them moved to the GCC countries in the same period when the Arabian Huwala tribes were exiled from Iran, thus creating a confusing issue of how to distinguish between Persians and Arabs, since both had the same faith and Persian Language as well as influence.

Of the reasons Sunni Persians left for the Arabian peninsula, was that most had the anti-relegious pressure of Iran's former king Muhammad Reza Shah. The Shah forced everyone to accept his Liberal ideas or what he called it the White Revolution, and he disliked religious people from both faiths.

Under his father, Reza Shah, women were ordered to lose the scarves.

This led many to leave Persia, both Shia and Sunni Persians, not only to the Arabian peninsula, but to other parts of the world too. But because the GCC countries were the nearest point, it was the Persians first choice to leave for. It had also many job opportunities by that time so they could start a new life. One of the famous people to leave Iran in that period too, was Iran's former leader Ruhollah Khomeini who was opposing the White Revolution by that time, which meant that both Sunni and Shia muslims were facing exile due to the Shah's regime.

Until recent years, Iran official census still shows such coastal areas as mostly populated by Arabic ethnic people which confirms origins of Huwala that migrated back to Arabia are Arabs since they lived in same areas. This however is useful to distinguish between sunni Persians and Sunni Arabs in Iran[1].

Many of the other Sunni Persians, or at least most of them, claimed to be Huwala or "originally Arabs" too. The reason was that at the beginning of their arrival to the Persian Gulf countries, they weren't accepted that much, and were to many foreigners, or as what the Arab call them "Ajams" (Arabic: عجم) which means in Arabic a foreigner or who didn't speak Arabic.

Arab Origins and DNA

Current day science has developed so much that one can know his Arabic purity simply by testing (Y-DNA) (male descendant gene markers). Studies show Arabic Y-DNA largest cluster to be of J1 and J2 types (could be interpreted by some as Qahtanite and Adnanite origins of Arabs in Arabian peninsula). One interesting factor is that Jews also share J2 YDNA type which confirms known semitic lineage between Arabs and Jews. Main institute that carry out such gene test is family tree DNA in coordination with National Geographic [2].



Persian Families

An example of one Persian family is The Khonji family comes originally from Khonj. Khonj is a township (city) in province of Fars 270 km south of Shiraz with a population of 60,000. Its history goes back to 2000 years and its inhabitants were known to be the followers of Zoroastrianism. The ancient names for Khonj has always been Hong and Konj (corner in Persian) and over time it was changed to Khonj[3].

Another famous Huwilla family in Bahrain are the Bastaky family, they come originally from Bastak, a large city in the province of Hormozgān. They are well known to be traders and have business interests. However their city of Bastak is mixed between Arabs and Persians.

The Kanoo family is the richest business family in Bahrain.

Other well known leading families in Bahrain include the House of Al Khan, Alansari, Alkooheji originally from the city of Kohig, Alawadhi coming from Awaz, Kanoo from Kanee, Khonji coming from Khonj, Janahi from Jeneh, Karmostaji from Karmostaj and Alnaser.

The Alkhan family is one of the biggest and most well known of the Persian families in Bahrain. The family is known for being very religious. There are many branches of this family that include the Eshaq,Najibi,and Yaquby families. Many of Bahrain's most prominent businessmen and religious scholars come from this family.

Some of the previous mentioned families may be Persians according to history and locations of their native origins, but most of them instead refer to themselves to be Arabs in order to avoid racism or being controversial. At the end it only depends of how strong was their Persian culture, and the environment that surrounds them, this also explains why that some members from the same family may even argue about their exact origin, Persian or Arab.

It is well known also that most of them added the "Al" (Arabic: ال) which means "The" on their family names, in order to make it sound more Arabic. Many actually view their actions like "giving up" or abandoning their origins and culture, other explain it to avoid racism troubles. These changing facts can be noticed today in their official appearance since they changed their costumes and only speak fluent Arabic.

Some even refuse to speak, or even learn how to speak Persian, and only prefer to marry from the Arabs or Sunnis. This indeed shows how the Arab had influence on them.

The Complete List of Sunni Persian Families in the GCC countries:

1- Janahi Family ( From the village of Jeneh, they are noted business men as well as Building constructers).

2- Karmostaji Family ( From the village of Karmostaj, where mostly there are Sunni muslims with manority Shia. Many of the Karmostaji family carry the name "Zainal" which is a short name of "Zain Al Abeden").

3- Bastaki Family (from the village of Bastak).

4- Galadari Family ( From the village of Galadar where some are Shia and some Sunni).

5- Herangi Family ( From the village of Herang, and they are a noted Bakeries).

6- Gawdai Family.

7- Go'od Family ( Originally a mixture between Janahi and Awazi families).

8- Awadhi Family ( Another successful Sunni Persian Family in the Business).

9- Falamarzi Family ( from the village of Falamarz, they are well known traders).

10- Khunji Family ( From the Village of Khonj, are a well known traders).

11- Khameri Family ( From the village of Khameer).

12- karmastaj ( kanoo desecendants)

13- Kanoo Family ( Most of them claim to be Arabs originally, however maps and old family members claim that they are from a Persian village name "Kani", but due to their very old history in the GCC country, they claim to be Arabs now).

14- Al Moayyad Family ( Originally Kanoo descendants).

15- Behdahi Family.

16- Maraghi Family ( From the village of Maragh).

17- Kato Family ( Some claim they are from the Village of Keteh or Kato, some say they are a mixture of Janahis and Awadhis, they are one of the best in the tailoring Business).

18- Kangoni Family ( From the village of Kangoon, they are noted bakeries and the first who introduced the local Persian bread in the GCC countries).

19- Gerashi Family ( From the village of Gerash, one of the most famous food Agents and traders all over Iran and the GCC countries, most of them turned Shia by now).

20- Faqehi Family ( Some Shia and Some Sunni).

21- Alkhan Family in Saudi Arabia, House of Al Khan ( The word "Al Khan" comes from "Khan" in Persian, which means "Leader" or "King" in Persian, however this is only a family nick name, the original name is Al abbasid, descended from `Abd Allah ibn `Abbas.

22- Eshaq Family ( The Sheikh Eshaq family that is one branch of the AlKhan family in Bahrain)

23- Najibi Family ( Another branch of the Alkhan family in Bahrain)

24 - Mustafa bin Abdulatif Family

25 - Yaquby Family

26 - Saffy Family

27- Al Emadi family .

28- Bucheeri family ( from the village of Bucheer ) .

29- Al Zarouni Family ( from a village called Zarawn. Its a well known business familly , and its now located in the U.A.E )

30- Bo 'Alai Family .

31- Bo Zaboon Family ( "Zaboon" means tounge in Persian ) .

32- Faramarzi Family ( mostly from the village of village of Faramarz or Falamarz ) .

33- Al Naqi family in Saudi Arabia ( A very well known Business family, they are from Persian roots ) .

34- Al Kookherdi family ( A very well known family in Sharjah ( The UAE) that originates from the village of Kookherd which is between Bastak and Lengeh) .

35- Ahli Family (this family came from the ahal village in Persia [it is not there now], all members of the family are sunni [shafi'i], some say that they come from mongol or tattar origins.

36- Khoory Family.

37- Sharafi Family.

The Shared accents and culture of Persians in Bahrain

The Persians in Bahrain can be easily identified, whether they were following the Sunni or Shia faith. They both live the same neighborhoods, use the same style of Persian decoration in their houses especially that they love and feel proud to own Persian carpets. They also speak almost the same Persian dialect, it can even be shown of how they greet each other.

History shows that the accent Sunni Persians use, is very old indeed. Due to the very old Persian words it has that goes back to the old Persian Language when it was used thousand of years ago during the peak of the Persian Empire.

They use words such as "Tar" for dark instead of the current Persian word "Tareek" and the word "Charkh" for turn or rotate, and "Sera" for house instead of the modern Persian word "Khona". These words are actually very old compared with the current Persian Language, which the latter doesn't include them anymore except in far separated villages.

In the other hand, the Persian Dialect the Ajams or Shia Persians use is more similar to the current official Persian language used in Iran.

The current official Persian language itself has numerous Arabic words due to the influence and arrival of Islam in Iran. The reason for the existence of such old words in the Huwala's Persian accent, is because that their villages were between and on the mountains, which was so far away from the central Islamic new locations in Persia where Arabic has been sometimes used and always taught, and the Arabic language taught by the Arabs and Qur'an didn't have that much effect and influence on them. This also shows how pure Persians they were.

For example the current Persian language use the Arabic word "Asr" for the afternoon, similar to the Arabic word "Al Aser" (Arabic:عصر), while the Sunni Persians use the old word "Paseen" instead, and they call noon "Pesheen" instead of "Zohr" used by Iranians similar to "Dhuhr" (Arabic:الظهر) in Arabic.

The same goes for Islamic words, in Iran the word "Azoon" like the Arabic "Adhan" (Arabic:أذان) which means calling Muslims to prayer is used, while the Sunni Persians use the word "Bong" instead for it.

Both Sunni and Shia Persians in Bahrain also eat and cook the same food. One of the famous food they brought with them to the Arabian peninsula was a very famous and popular fish juice called "Mahyawa", which is known to be very healthy.

They were also known to be the first who started the bakery business, which they are very famous of introducing a light bread called "Falazing" which has some Mahyawa on it. Namely the Persian family of Herangi coming from the city of Herang are the most famous and best Bakery Family. The bakeries themselves were always keen to be loyal to Iran, their original homeland. This also explains why most Persians in the GCC countries return to Persia when they take a vacation or lose their business as well as their jobs.

In their common celebrations and greetings, the Persians in Bahrain and other GCC countries also celebrate their marriages in the same old fashion traditional Persian style, and enjoy listening to the same style of Persian music, which proves that they only differ from each other in the Islamic faith.



See also

References

http://wikitude.com/wiki/List_of_Arabs#Omanis www.qais-alkhonji.com

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