ملف رقم ٢١٨٢ لسنة ١٩١٣ الجزء ١٠ "الحدود الشمالية الغربية: البعثة الروسية المقترحة المختصة بعلم الحيوان" [و‎‎٢‎٩‎٣] (٦٦٤/١٧٧)

[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty’s Government. 1
EASTERN.
[ June 20.]
CONFIDENTIAL. Section 3
[31521] No. 1.
Sir E. Alienby to Earl Curzon.—(Received June 20.)
(No. 269.)
My Lord, Cairo, June 11, 1919.
WITH reference to my telegram No. 950 of the 10th June, I have the honour to
forward one copy of a note by Captain Garland, of the Arab Bureau, on the “ Khurma
dispute.”
I have, &c.
E. H. H. ALLENBY.
Enclosure In No. 1.
NoteJy Captain Garland, of the Arab Bureau, on the Khurma Dispute between
King Hussein and Ibn Saud.
Ibn Baud.
IN 1915 a treaty was arranged between Emir Ibn Saud and His Britannic Majesty’s
Government, in which the latter recognised Ibn Saud as the independent sovereign of
Nejd, El Hasa, Catif, and Jubail. It was a temporary agreement made chiefly for
reasons of military expediency after the expulsion of the Turks, and no . definite
boundaries of the territory were specified.
Ikhwan.
Although generally regarded as a new creation, the Ikhwan or Brotherhood move-
ment is really a fevival in an intensified form of Wahabism, the great puritanical revolt
against Orthodox Mohammedanism in the 18th century, which was ultimately
crushed by the Egyptian troops under Mohammed Ali in 1817, and which, since
then, has existed in a merely moribund state chiefly within the confines of Nejd.
The tenets of the Ikhwan creed are very similar to those of Wahabism, thouoh its
followers are without doubt more fanatical. To the non Moslem, however, it is the
brutal methods of effecting conversions and of punishing sinners, rather than the
principles of the creed itself, that appear objectionable. There is no doubt whatever
that the Bedouin are systematically terrorised into conversion, and that those who
refuse are done to death. In war, the Ikhwan are said to take no prisoners, but to cut
the throats of all who fall into their hands.
It has been stated repeatedly that Ibn Saud had no connection with the Ikhwan
movement in its early stages, and this is probably true, but it is now sufficient for our
present purposes to know, firstly, that the sect originated close by his own capital, and
was allowed to flourish there, and its leading missionaries are his own subjects ; secondly,
that it is merely a desperately fanatical edition of Wahabism, of which he is the
acknowledged leader ; and, thirdly, that Ibn Saud has recently put himself at the head
of the movement, and will certainly not fail to use it for furthering his own ends.
For the purposes of this review, therefore, it is unnecessary to differentiate between
Ibn Saud and the Ikhwan, or between the latter and the Wahabis.
Since the first appearance of the Ikhwan, about ten years ago, in the vicinity of the
Nejd capital, Biadh, it has made rapid progress. It is practically certain that the
whole of Nejd is Ikhwan, and its missionaries have penetrated to all the corners of
Arabia.
But its doctrines are detested by all orthodox Moslems, and the rulers of the Arab
States surrounding Nejd (especially King Hussein) live in constant dread of its spread to
their people. •