Arabs who traversed the Indian Ocean: The history of the al -'Attas family in Hadramawt and Southeast Asia, c. 1600--c. 1960.

Abstract

It is generally accepted that the emigrants from Hadramawt, a region in South Arabia (currently a part of the Republic of Yemen), in the Indian Ocean operated within family networks. However, few studies of the Hadrami diaspora have focused specifically on family history. The purpose of the present study is to shed new light on the history of Hadramawt and the migration patterns of its population by following the vicissitudes of the al-'Attas family, one of the most famous <italic>sada</italic> clans from Hadramawt. The history of the family started in the seventeenth century, when its founder 'Umar b. 'Abd al-Rahman al-'Attas established himself as a political and religious authority in the town of Hurayda. Since that time, the al-'Attas family has been producing religious figures ('<italic> ulama</italic>' and <italic>sufis</italic>), entrepreneurs, secular scholars, politicians and even professional entertainers. In the world of politics, the members of the al-'Attas family held different government positions in at least four different states (Indonesia, South Yemen, Republic of Yemen and the al-Qu'ayti Sultanate). The present study shows the ability of the members of the al-'Attas family to adapt to changing political and social situations. The most important factor that enabled the family to show great adaptability was the diversity of its members in terms of their career and education. Many of them became prominent in business, political, religious, and academic spheres. This was made possible by the family's emphasis on education, whether traditional or modern, Islamic or Western. In addition, the documents recording their genealogy, their awareness of having the same ancestor, consanguineous marriages, and occasional religious ceremonies have functioned to maintain the family's unity. Despite the diversity of the careers of the members of the al-'Attas family, their historical writings focus only on the achievements of family saints, and this trend has remained virtually unchanged until today. The present study brings to light the biographies of entrepreneurs, political figures, and social activists from the al-'Attas family who were prominent in modern times, but to whom not much attention has been paid in the literature generated by the al-'Attas family.