"دليل الخليج. مجلد I. القسم التاريخي. الأجزاء Iأ و Iب. ج.ج. لوريمر ١٩١٥" [‎٥‎٩‎١] (١٧٨٢/٧٣٤)

691
Usurpation of Saiyid Fadhl-bin Alawi, Moplah, 1875-1879
In 1875 probably about tlio moutli of August, an adventurer of an
unusual type and one of a kind peculiarly interesting to tlie Government
of India succeeded in establishing liis personal authority over Dhutar, and
the connection of the district with 'Oman was temporarily severed. The
usurper was Saiyid Fadhl or Fazl, a Moplah priest, who for participation
in the Moplah rising of 1852, had been expelled from India and forbidden
to return under pain of arrest; in his outlawry he had resided at
Makkah and other places in the Ottoman dominions; and he had acquired
a biffh reputation for sanctity. In 1853, at the instance of the British
Government, he was prohibited by the Porte from leaving Turkish terri
tory; and there he seems to have remained until 1875, when bo iett
his adopted home in the Mijaz province and proceeded, probably at the
invitation of local Shaikhs who had seen him at Makkah, by sea to
Dhufar.
Arrived in the district he began to enter into political arrangements
with the tribes and qnickly became master o£ the situation ; one ol
his sons administered justice in his name. At an early stage o ^ ieb(
proceedings he appears to have sought the lecogm ion o ic m
Government and to have asked for military assistance but both were
apparently witbbeld. The usurper was not ignorant of the connection
of the district with 'Oman; but, when the presence of the Sultan s fla
was mentioned as an obstacle to his clams, he contemptuously advised
the objectors to " make a pillow of it .
Saiyid Turki, who was Sultan of 'Oman at the time first became aware
of the Moplah's usurpation by a letter which that individual ^"^sied
to him,-a letter in which the writer described himself governor
of Dhufar under the Ottoman Porte and recommended Shaikh Aw
bin-'Abdullah, as a Turkish subject to the favourable "oticeofthe
Sultan. Saiyid Turki, who regarded Dhufar as part of his
dominions, immediately informed the Goveinmen o to Ihe
though not convinced of tbc vaHdity of the Omam Snltan s taUe ^
district, represented to Her Majesty s ('OvcioiHCn' ^ P i, emv 0 f the
to be apprehended from the settlement of a pio es f . £ Turkish
British Government in such a locality, and fi om e ex » gj-itish
influence to any point upon the South Aia ian c ?^ , i neither
Ambassador at Constantinople was accoi mg y j i £ ^ p or te
assuming that Saiyid Padhl had ac ^ d lt e J^Qman to suzerainty
nor asserting in any way the cla ™ kisli Gover nment against the
over Dhufar, to remonstrate with the iu > definite
proceedings of Fadhl and to urge them to repu _ia e V or ia>inally in
answer having been obtained to this commumca 10 /, , ^
1876, it was repeated in 1877, but still apparently without lesult.
In the end, however, the ueurpatimi "f capital, at
by local causes. The Moplah, who had m^e SaWah nis^ ^
first enjoyed the support of the 6ett ® ^ predatory Qara tribe;
^ 0 ry hostilities, not without success, a 0 a .
Early history
of Fadhl.
Arrival of
Fadhl in
Dhufar,
1876.
Protests by
the British
Government
to the Porte,
1876-77.
Expulsion
of Fadhl
hy the
Dhufaris,
1879.