The two most popular theories are that it was derived from either the name of the tribe's purported forebear Dosser or the eponymous Arabic word which translates to "soldiers".
So powerful were the Dawasir that their members recognized Sheikh 'Isa Al Khalifa as ruler in name only and considered themselves immune from taxation.
Virtually all members of the tribe left Bahrain for Dammam, Saudi Arabia after suspecting that the new ruler, Sheikh Hamad bin Isa, would attempt to tighten his control over them with British support and force them into submitting to his rule.
The Dawasir were officially allowed to return in April 1927 by Sheikh Hamad after being requested by Ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia to do so.
[3] The cities of Dammam and Khobar, in Eastern Saudi Arabia, were founded in 1923 by the Al Dawasir tribe that migrated from Bahrain after King Abdul Aziz allowed them to settle within the area.
The tribesman had laid a fish trap near the Hawar Islands; little did he and his family know that their actions, seen as largely inconsequential at the time, would directly shape the boundaries of the future states of Bahrain and Qatar and result in one of the longest and most complex cases in international law.