The Al Bu Shamis or Al Shawamis (singular Al Shamsi) is an Arab Bedouin tribe that mostly inhabit the southeastern part of the Arabian Peninsula. They are located mainly in Northern Oman, the United Arab Emirates, and to a lesser extent Kuwait, Qatar, eastern Saudi Arabia, Bahrain. Due to the large nature of the tribe, there are today in fact many branches that trace themselves to the Al Bu Shamis tribe.
The Na'im is divided into three sections, the Al Bu Kharaiban, the Khawatir, and the Al Bu Shamis. It is from the former section that the current Rulers of the emirate of Ajman are drawn.[1] Of the three sections, the Al Bu Shamis has become virtually independent and associated closely with the Al Bu Falasa of Dubai.[2]
The Al bu Shamis emigrated from Western Arabia to settle around the Sunaynah area (an inland desert settlement in the Buraimi Wilayat of Oman). Later migrations led some of them to Al Ain and Buraimi oases. Al Shamsi were also traditionally the heads of both Hamriyah and Al Heera, dependencies of Sharjah that frequently attempted to assert their independence through the 19th and into the 20th century.
The following families form branches of the Al Bu Shamis: