The National Library and Archives Continues its Activities on its Platform at Abu Dhabi International Book Fair
The National Library and Archives continued its distinguished participation in its platform at Abu Dhabi International Book Fair 2022; which witnessed two new books signing ceremonies on Al Dhafra region, namely: (The Gazetteer of Places’ Names in the Poetry of the People of Al Dhafra) by Ali Ahmed Al Kindi Al Marar, and (Migrants from Al Dhafra.. The Migration of Bani Zaraf as a Model) by Abdullah Muhammad Al Muhairi.
The signing took place in the presence of His Excellency Abdullah Majid Al Ali, Acting Director General of the National Library and Archives. His Excellency emphasized the importance of the history and heritage of Al Dhafra region as an important part in the history of both the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and the United Arab Emirates. HE also asserted that the National Library and Archives has realized the importance of documenting this history and heritage in its publications in order to enrich the library and to preseve the same for the generations to come.
It is noteworthy that the first book is a gazetteer of places’ names mentioned in the poetry of some of the poets of Al Dhafra region, or in their oral heritage, or from the memory of some of the senior people of the region. The author arranged this gaetteer in alphabetical order, and defined each of one of these places - be it a watering place, a city, a village or a country... - indicating its location, its borders, its features and its importance..., and citing what the ancient or the modern authors said about it, or what he heard from the senior citizens or the interviews he conducted with some of them in Al Dhafra region. The book is one of the valuable and well-documented references of the history of the UAE.
The second book is a study in the history of Emirati tribal migrations, tracing their routes, and determining the lineages and offsprings of the migrating people in accordance with an objective scientific vision that relies on the methodology of that links the new outcomes of the scientific genetic model with the developments in the theoretical historical model. The book emphasizes that the study of local genealogies do not need a novel, poem or story that tells us about the origins of the tribes and their migrations, as the role of oral narrations and stories in the majlises and forums has not been a good means of genealogy documentation and codification and now the advanced scientific research is taking over this role. The researcher combines two research methods: firstly the theoretical scientific method, which depends greatly on the context significance and speech clues and seconly the applied scientific method.
The book has eight topics: the first topic deals with the tribal migration in the writings of local historians, the second topic reveals the tribal migration in the writings of Western travelers and politicians and the third topic deals with the migration of Arab tribes to Al Dhafra and Twam and other places. The fourth topic explores the early migration of the prople of Al Dhafra to the northern eastern region, the fifth topic throws lights of the diaspora of the people of Al Dhafra in the 14th century. The sixth topic traces the migrations and the genealogies of the people of Al Dhafra and the destinations for these migrations, the seventh topic uncovers Yas migration in the memoirs of Ibn Zahir and the eighth topic is about the migaration of Bani Zaraf as a model.