Introduction

Religion seems to have played a more important role in the observations of the various nineteenth-century travellers than it did in most of the tribal societies they encountered. The main observation was that Bedouin were, on the whole, not very religious and that they had only a vague concept of what their religion entailed. The dividing line between religion and folklore was blurred in most societies. Folklore, ancient rituals and the concept of sacred space blended in with the daily life of every tribe and played an important role in their daily actions. Because of this, efforts by Wahabi theologians to root out these ancient customs together with modern vices were largely unsuccessful.