ABSTRACT
The Bedouin of Arabia have always represented only part of the total population of the area. Despite the myths of many of the sedentary people who claim to have descended from nomads, most desert people have probably always been villagers living in oases. The Al Murrah, are an Arab tribe who exploit the deserts of the south-eastern and eastern parts of the Arabian Peninsula. The Amir, Talib ibn Rashid ibn Shoraim al-Marri, doubles as paramount chief of the Al Murrah and as head of a unit of the Saudi Arabian Reserve National Guard of which most of the members are from the Al Murrah tribe. The Al Murrah stands at the extreme end of the nomad-sedentary spectrum and are highly mobile camel nomads. The Islamic lands of Southwest Asia and North Africa, commonly referred to as the Middle East, display a number of physical characteristics that favour the combination of sedentary agriculture and nomadic pastoralism.
