Amongst Bedouins, modern life blunts demand for ancient daggers
| Amman, Jordan
Nawwaf Khazaeeya lives each day on a knife鈥檚 edge.
From his tent near the livestock听souq听in Madaba, at the edge of the central Jordanian desert,听Mr. Khazaeeya spends his day pounding out steel.
鈥�This is more than a knife,鈥� Khazaeeya says. 鈥淭his is life and death.鈥�
Khazaeeya belongs to one of the last families of shibriya makers, carrying on an ancient craft handed down through generations that has armed听Bedouin nomads听for centuries.
Yet modern bans on weapons,听the听Bedouins鈥� increasingly urban lifestyle and an听influx of听cheap Chinese imitations are undermining the market for traditional听shibriya. Dagger-makers warn they may soon have to pack up their hammers and anvils for good.
Should the dagger-makers disappear, so too will a symbol of Bedouin life, honor, and independence. The daggers are both functional art and potent symbols of Middle Eastern manhood that have underpinned the honor code and culture that once united Arab tribes across the Levant and the Gulf.
罢丑别听shibriya听has also been a status symbol, and until recently was worn by tribal judges, sheikhs, princes, and warriors alike.
鈥湴粘蟊鹛�蝉丑颈产谤颈测补听was a sign of respect, strength, and stature,鈥� says Nayef Nawiseh, a Jordanian historian. 鈥淚f you were a man, you wore a听shibriya.鈥�
Ottoman knowhow, Bedouin skills
The name听shibriya听comes from the Arabic听shibir, a unit of measurement equal to an outstretched adult hand from thumb to finger 鈥� some听five听to听six inches听long, the approximate length of the blade.
Unlike the curved, ornate daggers of Yemen and Oman, the听shibriya听is a straight, workmanlike blade made for the rough-and-tumble of daily Bedouin life. Not a decoration but a tool, it is designed to be easily drawn, to cut through canvas听and听rope, to shear sheep 鈥� and to kill.
While Bedouins have been carrying crude versions of the听蝉丑颈产谤颈测补听for centuries, the dagger as it is known today dates back to the 1850鈥檚, when the Ottoman emperor, fighting the Crimean War, conscripted thousands of Arabs into his army.
Among the recruits was听Mohammed Abu Mohaisen, from what is now southern Jordan,听who听was drafted into the Ottoman army鈥檚 armaments division and spent years mastering听Ottoman blacksmith skills, crafting bayonets, muskets and swords.
When the war ended, blacksmiths like听Mr. Abu Mohaisen were sent back to听what is today听Jordan. There they began producing the听蝉丑颈产谤颈测补听dagger for local Bedouins, updating the desert weapon using Ottoman knowhow.
Abu Mohaisen introduced the now-distinctive angle to one edge of the blade; that made it better for domestic purposes such as cutting fabric, chopping vegetables, or trimming the fat off meat, and also more lethal as a weapon.
In other innovations, he gave his blades copper or silver sheaths, and made handles out of ivory and goat horn.
Today, Abu Mohaisen鈥檚 descendants carry on the family craft near Amman鈥檚 Roman theater, hammering out blades by hand in the same way the Ottomans did nearly two centuries ago.
Recycling and resourcefulness have been key to the听蝉丑颈产谤颈测补鈥檚听longevity. Abu Mohaisen鈥檚 father and grandfather used discarded railroad track from the Hijaz railway for the steel for their blades. Now Abdulrazzak Abu Mohaisen and his four brothers use the coil and suspension springs from old cars and trucks, among other sources.
Working on his own, Abdulrazzak can make two听or听three daggers a day, and sell each one听 - including a lifetime warranty 鈥� for up to $50听to tribesmen living as far away as Syria, Iraq and Gulf countries.
There is some art involved.
On the sheath,听shibriya听makers carve floral or geometric designs; on the pommel they stamp tribal symbols,听Allah听or the Jordanian royal crown; on the hilt they embed gemstones - blue turquoise听to ward off the evil eye, brown听aqeeq听quartz for good luck.听The Abu Mohaisen family engraves customers鈥� names on the face of the blade, in addition to their family stamp.
But it is, first and foremost, a weapon.
鈥淭his is a simple weapon from a simpler time,鈥� Abu Mohaisen says as he swiftly draws a dagger from its sheath. 鈥淚t was built for strength, toughness and endurance, not for cosmetics.鈥�
An ancient weapon in a modern world
Modern law has reduced the听shibriya鈥檚 prominence in daily life. In the 1950鈥檚, Jordan passed a penal code barring the carrying of weapons in urban areas; the knife soon disappeared from the streets of Amman and other cities.
In today鈥檚 Jordan, only ceremonial palace guards and elite desert forces are allowed to wear them in town in public. Tribal judges and sheikhs wear them at social gatherings.
But outside Jordan鈥檚 cities, in Bedouin towns and villages, the听shibriya听is still very much part of daily life, an accessory second only to the mobile phone.
In the town of Maan, 135 miles south of Amman at the edge of Jordan鈥檚 southern desert, grocers sell the daggers from large plastic Tupperware bins next to their cash registers, as if they were candy.
One shopkeeper showed a video on his phone of a man slaughtering three camels with a听shibriya听to serve for dinner at a recent wedding. It was not pretty, but it was effective: 罢丑别听蝉丑颈产谤颈测补听made surgically precise cuts,听bringing the beasts down instantly.
Today, Jordan鈥檚 dagger-makers face a difficult market. Fewer than five percent of Jordanians still live the Bedouin way of life, so most of Abu Mohaisen鈥檚 customers are tribal sheikhs or foreign embassy employees looking for a unique gift. US diplomats are particularly good customers.
A flood of imported imitation daggers selling for as little as seven dollars apiece has taken over the tourist market; visitors are often unable to distinguish听aluminum Chinese models from the real thing.
Abu Mohaisen and Khazaeeya are reluctant to train their children in the ways of dagger-making. Instead, they want them to go to university and choose a profession offering security, health care and retirement benefits. With many of Jordan鈥檚 Bedouins choosing desk jobs over sheep herding, the craftsmen fear their days are numbered.
Once nobody is living the desert life any more, there will be no demand for the dagger, they say.
听鈥淎s long as there are Bedouin in this world, there will be a need for us,鈥� says Khazaeeya.
鈥淏ut if we lose the Bedouin, the world will lose the听shibriya."
