Hawsawi

{{Short description|Prominent Afro-Saudi family}} The '''Hawsawi''' ({{langx|ar|هوساوي}}) are a prominent and large Black Saudi family<ref name="Hala Saudia - Hawsawi">{{cite web |last1=تحديث |first1=آخر |title=قبيلة هوساوي وش ترجع؟! أصل هوساوي وديرتهم - هلا سعودية |url=https://halasaudia.com/%D9%82%D8%A8%D9%8A%D9%84%D8%A9-%D9%87%D9%88%D8%B3%D8%A7%D9%88%D9%8A-%D9%88%D8%B4-%D8%AA%D8%B1%D8%AC%D8%B9%D8%9F-%D8%A3%D8%B5%D9%84-%D9%87%D9%88%D8%B3%D8%A7%D9%88%D9%8A-%D9%88%D8%AF%D9%8A%D8%B1%D8%AA/ |website=halasaudia.com |access-date=26 July 2025 |language=ar |date=27 September 2024}}</ref> whose name derives from the original name of the tribe in the Hausa language. The Hausa language is the second most-spoken Afro-Asiatic language in the world after Arabic<ref name="Babbel">{{cite web |last1=Wood |first1=Sam |title=All In The Language Family: The Afro-Asiatic Languages |url=https://www.babbel.com/en/magazine/afro-asiatic-language-family |website=Babbel Magazine |access-date=26 July 2025 |language=en}}</ref> and the second most-spoken indigenous language in Africa after Kiswahili.<ref name="World Data">{{cite web |title=Hausa speaking countries |url=https://www.worlddata.info/languages/hausa.php |website=Worlddata.info |access-date=26 July 2025 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="School for Africa">{{cite web |title=The most spoken native languages in Africa – schoolfor.africa |url=https://schoolfor.africa/people-of-africa/the-most-spoken-native-languages-in-africa/ |website=School for Africa |access-date=26 July 2025 |date=10 November 2024}}</ref>

The Hawsawi of Saudi Arabia are the descendants of the first wave of migrants from Hausaland to the Hijaz region in response to British colonization and proselytization efforts there in the late 19th century AD.<ref name="MEE">{{cite news |last1=Munu |first1=Adama J. |title=Hawsawi: Uncovering the history of Saudi Arabia's Afro-Arab Hausa community |url=https://www.middleeasteye.net/discover/saudi-arabia-hawsawi-documentary-uncovering-afro-arab-history |access-date=26 July 2025 |work=Middle East Eye |agency=Middle East Eye |date=1 December 2022 |language=en}}</ref>

==History== The Hausa kingdoms were a loosely-connected group of Islamic city-states between the Western Sudanic (بلاد السودان‎) kingdoms of Ancient Ghana, Mali and Songhai and the Eastern Sudanic Kanem–Bornu Empire.<ref name="WH Encyclopedia">{{cite web |last1=Cartwright |first1=Mark |title=Hausaland |url=https://www.worldhistory.org/Hausaland/ |website=World History Encyclopedia |access-date=26 July 2025 |language=en |date=9 May 2019}}</ref> The first historical mention of these kingdoms was made by Muslim geographer and historian al-Yaʿqūbī in the 3rd century AH (9th century AD on the Western calendar).<ref>{{cite book |last1=Levtzion |first1=Nehemia |editor1-last=Hopkins |editor1-first=J.F.P. |title=Corpus of early Arabic sources for West African history |date=1981 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge [Eng.]; New York |isbn=0-521-22422-5 |url=https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000048669 |access-date=26 July 2025}}</ref>

The pre-historic origins of the Hausa people are unknown, but one theory includes a migration of peoples from the southern Sahara who, leaving their lands due to desertification, established new settlements in what would become known as "Kasar Hausa". Another theory suggests that the Hausa people descend from Shuwa Arabs who left the western shore of Lake Chad when the lake shrank (due to desertification also affecting Sahara-adjacent areas) and settled new and fertile land in the far-north of modern-day Nigeria. Neither of these theories is supported by archaeological evidence. As a consequence, a third hypothesis arose, which is that the Hausa had not migrated from another area but were indigenous to the region. This theory is supported by the fact that there is no tradition of pre-historic migration in Hausa oral history.<ref name="WH Encyclopedia" />

After their foundation in the first millennium AD the Hausa city-states developed internecine trade resulting in a common language, laws and customs. As trade grew they became known for fishing, hunting, agriculture, salt-mining, and blacksmithing. Eventually, city-states like Katsina became bases of trans-Saharan trade in salt, cloth, leather and grain by the 14th century AD. Access to Arab trade and investment networks fostered the development of a internationally-networked feudal aristocracy that persists to this day.<ref name="Golden Trade">{{cite book |last1=Bovill |first1=E.W. |title=The Golden Trade of the Moors |date=1958 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=London |edition=1 |url=https://archive.org/details/goldentradeofmoo0000bovi/page/n7/mode/2up}}</ref><ref name="History of Nigeria">{{cite book |last1=Falola |first1=Toyin |last2=Heaton |first2=Matthew M. |title=A history of Nigeria |date=2008 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge, UK; New York |isbn=978-0-521-68157-5 |pages=32–33 |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/history-of-nigeria/A40B304ED4F66FEE40381C280F4B506D |access-date=26 July 2025}}</ref> This merchant-nobility adopted Islam and use of the Arabic script, which was used as first Hausa writing system.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.press.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/hfs.cgi/00/14758.ctl|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071223162442/http://www.press.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/hfs.cgi/00/14758.ctl|title=Paul Stoller, "Money Has No Smell: The Africanization of New York City," Chicago: University of Chicago Press|archive-date=December 23, 2007}}</ref>

The Hausa kingdoms were incorporated into the Sultanate of Sokoto as a result of the Jihad of Usman dan Fodio (which facilitated the mass-adoption of Islam and attendant literacy among commoners and peasants in the area) in the early 19th century AD.<ref name="Britannica.com">{{cite web |title=Hausa states {{!}} Nigeria, Niger, Sahel {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Hausa-states |website=www.britannica.com |publisher=Encyclopedia Britannica |access-date=26 July 2025 |language=en}}</ref> Unfortunately, following the Berlin Conference, European imperialism expanded into Southern Nigeria, and by 1901 made a push into the Sokoto Caliphate.<ref>The Cambridge History of Africa: 1870-1905. London: Cambridge University Press. 1985. p. 276.</ref> By 1903 British occupation forces had successfully captured Sokoto and appointed Muhammadu Attahiru II as caliph.<ref>Falola, Toyin (2009). Colonialism and Violence in Nigeria. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.</ref>

The British came with instruments of cultural imperialism, such as Anglican missionaries and Western education, which the Hausa population universally resisted.<ref name="Joshua Project">{{cite web |title=Hausa people group in all countries {{!}} Joshua Project |url=https://joshuaproject.net/people_groups/12070 |website=joshuaproject.net |publisher=Joshua Project |access-date=26 July 2025}}</ref> Certain Muslim emigrants decided to travel east ("make hijra")—to Makkah, al-Madinah an-Nabi and Jidda. These migrants arrived in Saudi Arabia already speaking and writing Arabic, which facilitated their assimilation into Saudi culture.<ref name="MEE" />

The Hawsawi of Saudi Arabia are the descendants of the first wave of these migrants to the Hijaz region.<ref name="MEE" />

*There were neighboring west African communities, such as the Fulani and Kanuri, who also migrated to Saudi Arabia and go by the names "Fallata" and "Barnawi" respectively.<ref name="MEE" />

==Notable Figures== *Hamzah Hawsawi, Saudi singer and winner of season 4 of ''The X Factor Arabia''<ref name="Arab News - Hamza 1">{{cite news |last1=Dennaoui |first1=Hassan |title=Hamza Hawsawi: The R&B voice with an 'X Factor' |url=https://www.arabnews.com/offbeat/news/763161 |access-date=22 July 2025 |agency=Arab News |date=17 June 2015}}</ref><ref name="Deeds Mag - Hamza 1">{{cite news |last1=Olaiya |first1=Olawale |title=Saudi R&B Pioneer Hamza Hawsawi: Breaking Barriers and Building Bridges in Global Music Scene |url=https://www.deedsmag.com/stories/saudi-r-b-pioneer-hamza-breaking-barriers-and-building-bridges-in-global-music-scene |access-date=22 July 2025 |work=www.deedsmag.com |agency=Deeds Magazine |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241121143457/https://www.deedsmag.com/stories/saudi-r-b-pioneer-hamza-breaking-barriers-and-building-bridges-in-global-music-scene |archive-date=21 November 2024}}</ref> *Etab (1947–2007), Saudi singer *Bashaer Hawsawi (born 1992), Saudi artist<ref name="Riyadh Art - Bashaer bio">{{cite web |last1=Noor Riyadh |first1=Saudi Arabia |title=Bashaer Hawsawi - Riyadh Art |url=https://riyadhart.sa/en/artists/bashaer-hawsawi/ |website=Riyadh Art |publisher=The Royal Commission for Riyadh City |access-date=22 July 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |author1=Berlin Art Institute |title=MISK ART INSTITUTE sends Bashaer Hawsawi, Sara Alghesheyan, and Somaya Alsayed to the BAI Residency Program |url=https://berlinartinstitute.com/misk-art-institute-sends-bashaer-hawsawi-sara-alghesheyan-and-somaya-alsayed-to-the-bai-residency-program/ |website=BERLIN ART INSTITUTE {{!}} BAI |access-date=22 July 2025 |date=7 June 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Editorial Staff |title=Highlights from Art Week Riyadh: Selected works by some of the Saudi artists participating in the inaugural edition |url=https://www.arabnews.com/node/2595880/lifestyle |access-date=22 July 2025 |work=Arab News |date=4 April 2025 |language=en}}</ref> *Nur Al Hausawi, Saudi-American philanthropist and wealth manager <ref name="Nur 1">{{cite web |last1=Waxmann |first1=Laura |title=Downtown S.F. museum in trouble after missing key fundraising deadline |url=https://www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/mexican-museum-downtown-san-francisco-20374540.php |website=www.sfchronicle.com |publisher=The San Francisco Chronicle |access-date=24 June 2025}}</ref><ref name="Nur 2">{{cite news |last1=Yeh-Gilman |first1=Io |title=Mexican Museum courts donors amid financial troubles |url=https://missionlocal.org/2024/07/amid-financial-troubles-mexican-museum-courts-donors/ |access-date=20 July 2025 |agency=Mission Local |date=1 July 2024}}</ref> *Ahmad Hawsawi, Saudi engineer and Chief Executive Officer of Siemens Saudi Arabia <ref>{{cite web | title=The Siemens Management | url=https://www.siemens.com/sa/en/company/about/management.html }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title=Siemens inaugurates electrical equipment facility in Jeddah | date=29 February 2024 | url=https://www.arabnews.com/node/2468906/business-economy }}</ref> *Zainab Idrees Hawsawi, Saudi writer and Chief of Communications for Saudi Arabia at Snap (company)<ref>{{cite web | title=Who's Who: Zainab Idrees Hawsawi, head of communications for Saudi Arabia at Snap Inc | date=19 August 2023 | url=https://www.arabnews.com/node/2357916/saudi-arabia }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title=Snap shows power of AR in transforming fashion, beauty in Saudi Arabia | url=https://www.arabnews.com/node/2177376/spa/aggregate }}</ref> *Mustafa al-Hawsawi (born 1968), member of al-Qaeda and allegedly an organizer and financer of the September 11 attacks *Osama Hawsawi (born 1984), Saudi football player *Omar Hawsawi (born 1985), Saudi football player *Motaz Hawsawi (born 1992), Saudi football player *Abdullah Al Hawsawi (born 1996), Saudi football player<ref>{{cite web | title=Abdullah al Hawsawi - stats, career and market value | url=https://www.fotmob.com/players/1287476/abdullah-al-hawsawi }}</ref> *Abdulelah Hawsawi (born 2001), Saudi football player<ref>{{Cite web | title=Abduleallah Hawsawi stats and ratings {{!}} Sofascore | url=https://www.sofascore.com/football/player/abduleallah-hawsawi/1533745 | access-date=2026-01-30 | website=www.sofascore.com}}</ref> *Zakaria Hawsawi (born 2001), Saudi football player *Aysha Hamza Hawsawi, Saudi neurosurgeon<ref>{{cite journal | last1=Ajlan | first1=A. | last2=Basindwah | first2=S. | last3=Hawsawi | first3=A. | last4=Elmutawi | first4=H. | last5=Alsaleh | first5=S. | last6=Alrasheed | first6=A. | last7=Alroqi | first7=A. | last8=Alqurashi | first8=A. | title=Early Displacement of Reconstruction Material is a Predictor of Cerebrospinal Fluid Leak Post Endoscopic Skull Base Surgery | journal=World Neurosurgery | date=2024 | volume=181 | pages=e897–e905 | doi=10.1016/j.wneu.2023.11.008 | pmid=37944857 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last1=Ajlan | first1=A. | last2=Basindwah | first2=S. | last3=Hawsawi | first3=A. | last4=Alsabbagh | first4=B. | last5=Alwadee | first5=R. | last6=Abdulqader | first6=S. B. | last7=Alzhrani | first7=G. | last8=Orz | first8=Y. | last9=Bafaqeeh | first9=M. | last10=Alobaid | first10=A. | last11=Alyamany | first11=M. | last12=Farrash | first12=F. | last13=Alaskar | first13=A. | last14=Alkhathlan | first14=M. | last15=Alqurashi | first15=A. | last16=Elwatidy | first16=S. | title=A Prospective Comparison Between Soft Tissue Dissection Techniques in Pterional Craniotomy: Functional, Radiological, and Aesthetic Outcomes | journal=Operative Neurosurgery (Hagerstown, Md.) | date=2024 | volume=26 | issue=3 | pages=256–267 | doi=10.1227/ons.0000000000000929 | pmid=37815213 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last1=Ajlan | first1=A. | last2=Basindwah | first2=S. | last3=Hawsawi | first3=A. | last4=Ali Omar | first4=M. | last5=Alsaleh | first5=S. | last6=Alrasheed | first6=A. | last7=Alroqi | first7=A. | last8=Alqurashi | first8=A. | title=Early Postoperative Computed Tomography Scan Air Distribution Predicts Postoperative CSF Leak in Endoscopic Skull Base Surgery | journal=World Neurosurgery | date=2023 | volume=172 | pages=e605–e610 | doi=10.1016/j.wneu.2023.01.096 | pmid=36731775 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last1=Hawsawi | first1=A. H. | last2=Bawazir | first2=M. | last3=Basindwah | first3=S. A. | last4=Alqurashi | first4=A. | last5=Ajlan | first5=A. | title=Modified retrosigmoid extended approach to jugular tubercle meningioma: A video abstract | journal=Surgical Neurology International | date=2022 | volume=13 | article-number=289 | doi=10.25259/SNI_361_2022 | pmid=35855117 | pmc=9282764 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last1=Arab | first1=A. | last2=Hawsawi | first2=A. | last3=Bafaquh | first3=M. | last4=Orz | first4=Y. | last5=Alyamany | first5=M. | last6=Alobaid | first6=A. | title=Medial Extension of Medial Sphenoid Wing Meningioma from the Anterior Clinoid Line: Does It Truly Affect the Surgical Outcome? | journal=Journal of Neurological Surgery. Part B, Skull Base | date=2021 | volume=82 | issue=6 | pages=624–630 | doi=10.1055/s-0040-1715523 | pmid=34745829 | pmc=8563272 }}</ref> *Abeer Hawsawi, Saudi doctor <ref>{{cite journal | last1=Hawsawi | first1=A. | last2=Fernandez | first2=R. | last3=MacKay | first3=M. | last4=Alananzeh | first4=I. | last5=Mutair | first5=A. A. | title=Exploring facilitators, barriers, and maternal perspectives of a novel educational intervention in promoting skin-to-skin contact | journal=Patient Education and Counseling | date=2025 | volume=139 | article-number=109260 | doi=10.1016/j.pec.2025.109260 | pmid=40669408 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last1=Hawsawi | first1=A. | last2=Fernandez | first2=R. | last3=MacKay | first3=M. | last4=Alananzeh | first4=I. | last5=Al Mutair | first5=A. | title=Psychometric Testing of an Arabic Version of the Attitude Toward Skin-to-Skin Contact Instrument among Women in Saudi Arabia: A Cross-Cultural Validation Study | journal=Nursing Reports | date=2024 | volume=14 | issue=4 | pages=2946–2955 | doi=10.3390/nursrep14040215 | doi-access=free | pmid=39449452 | pmc=11503429 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last1=Hawsawi | first1=A. H. | last2=Fernandez | first2=R. | last3=MacKay | first3=M. | last4=Alananzeh | first4=I. | last5=Mutair | first5=A. A. | title=Co-creating an educational resource to promote the uptake of Skin-to-Skin Contact in Saudi Arabia | journal=Nurse Education in Practice | date=2023 | volume=72 | article-number=103783 | doi=10.1016/j.nepr.2023.103783 | pmid=37722236 | doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last1=Al Mutair | first1=A. | last2=Almutairi | first2=W. | last3=Aljarameez | first3=F. | last4=Kay | first4=E. | last5=Rabanal | first5=R. | last6=Abellar | first6=K. | last7=Napaod | first7=A. | last8=Hawsawi | first8=A. | last9=Saha | first9=C. | last10=Ahmed | first10=G. Y. | title=Assessment of nurses' knowledge, attitude and implementation of skin-to-skin care within the perinatal setting in Saudi Arabia: Survey study | journal=Nursing Open | date=2023 | volume=10 | issue=4 | pages=2165–2171 | doi=10.1002/nop2.1464 | pmid=36354110 | pmc=10006611 }}</ref> *Alaa Hawsawi (born 1992), Saudi doctor {{citation needed|date=August 2025}} *Ashraf Hawsawi, Saudi doctor <ref>{{cite journal | last1=Basodan | first1=N. | last2=Al Mehmadi | first2=A. E. | last3=Al Mehmadi | first3=A. E. | last4=Aldawood | first4=S. M. | last5=Hawsawi | first5=A. | last6=Fatini | first6=F. | last7=Mulla | first7=Z. M. | last8=Nawwab | first8=W. | last9=Alshareef | first9=A. | last10=Almhmadi | first10=A. H. | last11=Ahmed | first11=A. | last12=Bokhari | first12=A. | last13=Alzahrani | first13=A. G. | title=Septic Shock: Management and Outcomes | journal=Cureus | date=2022 | volume=14 | issue=12 | article-number=e32158 | doi=10.7759/cureus.32158 | doi-access=free | pmid=36601152 | pmc=9807186 }}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

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Category:Arabic-language surnames