Harasis is the

Hinawi The Hināwī are one of two major tribal groupings of History of Oman, Oman and the Trucial Coast, the other being the Ghafiri, Ghāfirī. Characterized as two significant factions having distinct interests and organizations, their rivalry began app ...

Bedouin The Bedouin, Beduin, or Bedu ( ; , singular ) are pastorally nomadic Arab tribes who have historically inhabited the desert regions in the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, the Levant, and Mesopotamia (Iraq). The Bedouin originated in the Sy ...

tribe of

Oman Oman, officially the Sultanate of Oman, is a country located on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in West Asia and the Middle East. It shares land borders with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. Oman’s coastline ...

. They arrived in the Jiddat al-Harasis desert of

Dhofar Governorate The Dhofar Governorate () is the largest of the 11 Governorates of Oman, governorates in the Oman, Sultanate of Oman in terms of area. It lies in southern Oman, on the eastern border with Yemen's Al Mahrah Governorate and the southern border wi ...

in the late 19th century. Harasis people (about 1000-2000 people) in the Jiddat al-Harasis are reported to be of different identity compared to the Bedu nomads. They speak the Ḥarsusi language; though they are reported to be increasing their use of the

Mehri language Mehri () is the most spoken of the Modern South Arabian languages (MSALs), a subgroup of the Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic family. It is spoken by the Mehri tribes, who inhabit isolated areas of the eastern part of Yemen, western Oman, pa ...

, which is more dominant in the area, and are bilingual in

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

.Raymond G. Gordon Jr., ed. 2005. ''Ethnologue: Languages of the World''. 15th edition. Dallas: Summer Institute of Linguistics.

References

;Bibliography * {{Demographics of Oman Bedouin groups