In July 2015, the families of Ayt Al-Akari and Ayt Awida held a meeting in the village of Ahmed Ourabi in Al-Ameriya to the west of Alexandria Governorate to resolve their dispute. The meeting ended in their reconciliation after the intervention of the tribe heads of Al-Kharfa and Ayt Al-Akari, Rasheed Bu Akari, and Sayed Shawlahi, head of the Shawalha tribe.
In July 2015, the families of Ayt Al-Akari and Ayt Awida held a meeting in the village of Ahmed Ourabi in Al-Ameriya to the west of Alexandria Governorate to resolve their dispute. The meeting ended in their reconciliation after the intervention of the tribe heads of Al-Kharfa and Ayt Al-Akari, Rasheed Bu Akari, and Sayed Shawlahi, head of the Shawalha tribe.
The two families, cousins from the same tribe, were reconciled after a long dispute over a piece of land which the each party wanted to buy. The efforts of tribe seniors managed to resolve the dispute after a large meeting organized by the tribe heads in western Alexandria.
Alexandria Governorate still hosts many large Arab tribes which are governed by many customs including the “traditional reconciliation meetings” which aim to restore rights, protect honors and pledges, stop the bloodshed and punish wrongdoers.
“The customary meetings, traditional judiciary or tribal meetings all refer to one of the strongest and established mechanisms used by Arab tribes to resolve their disputes. They are a cross between the Sharia law and the traditions governing the Bedouin society. Their resulting verdicts are binding and irrevocable,” said Abbas Shawlahi, Mayor of the Shawalha Tribe in western Alexandria, explaining the meaning of reconciliation meetings.
Shawlahi explains that such meetings begin by tribal elders and heads presenting the problem that caused the dispute between and they gradually contribute their suggestions to solve the problem, stressing that, in a later stage, another major meeting is organised to announce the reconciliation between the disputing families.
Customs and traditions
During the reconciliation meeting, custom has seniors from the tribes that caused injustice wear traditional Bedouin outfits and bring with them a number of sheep to be slaughtered or a sum of money to be placed on the banquet table as a sign of appreciation.
The “wronged” family returns the sheep and the money to the families that did them injustice to indicate that they have no bad feelings towards them and that they have forgiven them. Then they shake hands, which concludes the reconciliation meeting.
Hospitability
Salem Qat’ani, a tribesman from western Alexandria, stresses that the tribe leader is responsible for organizing such occasions. He orders the tribe’s youth to prepare what is needed. They install big Bedouin-like tents, place carpets on their floor and bring copper tables on which drinks and fruits are put and the attendees sit on the ground around them. This is a hospitability ritual.
He adds that the first speaker in these events is the tribe’s head, then the other tribe and family seniors. They outline the reasons of the dispute between the two families and then the floor is given to the wronged family to explain its problem and the degree of its damage. Then, the wrongdoer family speaks so that the audience understands the reason for the dispute and issues their verdict.
Outside the law
“This method of solving disputes by Arab tribes outside the judicial system is considered one of the best solutions. It proved successful, especially since the Bedouins do not like to solve their problems far from their established traditions and customs. Police are only approached in the case of murder,” said Aboudi Habbouni, a tribal head in western Alexandria.
Habbouni says the verdicts issued by the tribe heads are binding and irrevocable, making them strict social laws aimed at achieving justice and social peace among tribes and families. The meetings, says Habbouni, are known for their strictness, and are consequently considered “binding verdicts.”
Habbouni adds that these customary meetings are held in disputes between families related to marriage, land, heritage, revenge, killings, buildings and fights, stressing that the disputing parties are invited and the tribe head issues his sentence after consulting the other tribe heads and seniors and all have to accept the resulting rulings and instructions.
He stresses that the big meetings’ verdicts are documented at police stations and then submitted to the courts to be officially recognized and to allow for the release of perpetrators and thus resolving disputes. This, however, does not apply to the murder crimes.
Habbouni explains that cases which do not involve murders are left to the tribal heads to settle through reconciliation meetings but when the crisis is big, the reconciliation is done at the police station and the tribal heads from the two sides sign the reconciliation agreement so that they comply with the judiciary’s decisions.
More serious crimes
Shawlahi explains that blood money varies. The murderer’s tribe should leave its land and stay at another one for about year based on the customary terms. Then, the two parties are reconciled and blood money is paid.
The reconciliation through submitting the shroud, he explains, is only used between families in the Upper Niles and rarely in Alexandria. In the Arab tribes, when there is a fight between two tribes or families, other tribes step in to solve the problem and resolve the dispute. He adds that the blood money varies between L.E. 800,000 to 1,000,000, ($US 51,000 to 64,000) based on the damage done to the victim’s family.
Healthy phenomenon
“The reconciliation meetings are an ancient method first used with the Islamic conquest of Egypt and the displacement of the Arab tribes which spread to the countryside and desert areas,” said Dr. Jamal Faraj, a professor of sociology at Alexandria University. “Those who did not take their rights were stigmatized. This was the beginning of the revenge and the idea behind reconciliation meetings. They developed with time to be very important tools, helping the police stop the bloodshed and save innocent lives.”
Faraj believes this phenomenon is healthy and useful as it solves a good deal of problems between families, especially among Bedouins and in the Upper Niles. These reconciliations, he claims, help police fight crimes, especially murders.
Cooperation with the police
Brigadier General Abdulhamid, Director of Alexandria Investigation Department, says that one of the largest reconciliations the police were involved in this year was to end a revenge case after a holding a reconciliation meeting between two families in Ezbet Al-Maraghi. A number of MPs and 600 family members from both sides attended the event.
The incident began when the perpetrator hit the victim with a knife due to a disagreement over selling scrap metal. The suspect was sentenced on 20 March 2012 to seven years imprisonment. He was released on September 17, 2015. Afterwards, there were many quarrels and disagreements.
Abdulhamid stresses that the offender wanted to resolve the dispute and gave his shroud to the victim’s family and thus the two families were reconciled, explaining that the police do not hesitate to help any reconciliation efforts to save lives and preserve public and private possessions.
“These meetings are important and necessary, especially to solve complicated revenge problems which make some families hold information from the police, which aggravates matters and develops into unstoppable bloodshed.”
