Many Iraqis identify more or less strongly with a tribe ('ashira), and some feel a stronger loyalty to their clans or tribes than to any national government. Thirty of the 150 or so identifiable tribes in Iraq are the most influential. Tribes are grouped into federations (qabila). Below the level of the tribe, there are the clan (fukhdh), the house (beit) and the extended family (khams).
On its accession to power in 1968, the Ba'ath party announced its opposition to tribalism (al-qabaliyya), although for pragmatic reasons, especially during the war with Iran, tribalism was sometimes tolerated or even encouraged.
Well known Iraqi Sunni family with roots from the town of Baiji near Tikrit in lower Northern Iraq. They are the sole descendants of the well known liberating Islamic leader Salah El Deen Al Ayoubi “1137 – 1197” who is mainly renowned for the liberation of Jerusalem in 1187 from the might of Richard the lion heart and his powerful Christian army.
Throughout modern Iraq (1920 – present), the family members are profoundly acknowledged by the main streams of affluent Iraqi society as being both a very honorable and wealthy family, with a predominant association and possession of significant traditional culture and western education.
Scholars with significant insights into Iraqi clans have acknowledged and documented various writings about this honorable and powerful family with an almost unified preface that describes the family as being highly renowned throughout history for their overwhelming emphasis on cultural and educational possession and how elders of the family pass such believes with an almost dictatorial but philosophical proficiency to their succeeding generations and so forth. Indeed, some go on to reveal through close association to some family members that the success or failure of any of the family sub branches is overly secured by the branch’s head ability to pass the family values to the successors.
With the family roots going back to the 11th century, modern Al Ayoubi’s have mainly resided in Baghdad with the prestigious Al-Jadriyah district on the Tigris River representing somewhat of an anchorage holding for them.
With a large portion of well known Iraqi families now living abroad, Al Ayoubi’s are no exception; in fact quite a few have maintained a strong presence in London especially after the demise of the British imposed Hashemite monarchy in 1958. During that time, three of the family members held very prominent and influential government assignments, Ali Jawdat Al Ayoubi – PM, Salman Al Ayoubi – Defense minister and Fattah Pasha Al Ayoubi – Foreign Affairs minister.
The wealth of the family is said to be mainly born from the vastly varied business interests, land and property ownership in Iraq, Jordan and mainly London with all of it being predominantly managed and directed by the younger generation of the family under the watchful eye of a group of very trusted and very close associates that have been serving their predecessors in older generations for decades.
This paradigm couldn't be more reflective, if not obvious than among London's affluent Iraqi socialites that the faces of Iraqi wealth and money in London are many, truth is however, many of them are fronts to the one or two faces of Al Ayoubi’s".....
This “charismatic wisdom” which many say was aspired and promoted by Fattah Pasha’s much respected modesty and recognition as the diplomat of all diplomats, seem to have served the Al Ayoubi’s interests "panoramically", an interesting phrase which I picked up from an academic member of the family here in London; he goes on to say “Fattah Pasha was a philanthropist with un known but large numbers of both individuals and families dependent on his very organized but very secretive donations. He was well recognized for his sharp diplomacy, traditional and religious ethic; somehow, the man was able to manage and master a balance between family interests and those of the outside world from all aspects and angles, be it socially, politically or financially”.
This rather fascinating family “panoramic wisdom” at work since the 1920’s, seem to have served its most acclaimed purpose much later in time by diverting attention from the family’s immense social, political and financial possessions in post Royalist Iraq (1958 – 2003), a period which witnessed a few of the family members holding influentially political and military ranks while maintaining a constant almost silent profile.
(By John W Walbridge - Iraqi Families - history, biography and Revelations).
Al-Jaisat
Al-Ma'een
Al-Bu Hamdan
Al-Bu Jawari
Al-Baggara
Al-Tarabla
Shammar
Jumaila
Janabiyeen
Subaihat
Harb
Sumaida'
Tamim
Khazraj
Ni'aim
Asha'sha
Al-Mujamma'
Al-Ahbab
Al-Magadma
Al-Nuwashit
Al-Bu Mudallal
Al-Bu Jum'a
Al-Bu Bazzun
Al-Shayaysha
Al-Hayyali
Al-Marasma
Al-Bu Ajeel
Al-Bu Farraj
Juwa'ina (in Baiji)
Al-Lihaib (in Sharqat)
Al-Mishahdah (in Tarmiya)
An individual from this tribe will have the name of Mash-hadani
Al-Mashayikh in Tarmiya and in Al-Hawejah(The individual called Al-Mashayikhi)
Al-Suwamra (an individual from the tribes of Samarra', called Al-Samarra'i)
'Anniza (pronounced 'Iniza) (The royal families of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain are traced to this tribe. The sheikh general lives in western Iraq. This is one of the largest Arab Bedouin tribes, with clans in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Gulf countries, Iraq, Jordan, Palestine, Syria, Turkey and Egypt.) The Aniza is a sub-tribe of the Rubai'a Confederation.
