File 87/1926 Pt 1 'Arabia: Bin Saud; Title; Recognition as King of the Hedjaz' [‎117r] (227/306)

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make strong remarks about them - let them speak for themsel
ves . "
7. Two interesting letters have been seen,from bhuaib
Qureshi to Abdur Bahman bifdiqi, written while the former was
in the Hedjaz. One is dated simply '’December 1925”, and
part of it runs as follows
"All the stories of the demolition of the prophet’s tomb or
its dome or the demolition of Sydna Hamza’s tomb or its dome
are pure and simple lies. The fact will be known to you by
the long cable We are sending. There are marks of two stray
bullets on the dome of the prophot’s tomb and one on the
Majid Babvi minaret. Two of the earthen floral tops on the
iron railings surrounding Amir Hamza’s tomb have been dis
lodged. Portion of pucca .. (illegible) of Aqil’s tomb, by
the side of tfydna Hamza, was destroyed but has since been
restored. One platform, or dais, with tombs in front, which
was known as Masjid Abuzar also suffered; beyond this no
thing has changed, no damage done. Even the stray bullets
ohme from the direction of Awali, a place which was the head
quarter of a tribe of Bedouins, Shiah by persuasion and
hostile to Ali, who at siege time had opened hostilities
against him* It is difficult to locate responsibility. One
thing is certain, whoever shot, there was no intention to hit
The other letter, dated January 9th, contains the fol
lowing account of the visit, and of the conduct of 5afar Ali
lOian: -
’h/fc entered Jeddah on the r Jlst December and saw the quanti
ties of arms and munitions left by Ali. Six up-to-date
aeroplanes, machine guns, mountain guns, field guns, bombs,
armoured ears, 400,000 rounds of cartridges, motor lorries,
wireless apparatus, four stoamors etc. Most of these things
specially the artillery is of the days of the Turks, The
guns are all up-to-date. The man Ali, was a damned chicken-
hearted fellow not even to have tried to strike. He could
havo annihilated his opponents if he had courage and brains.
For the present I have to tell you that your wish for the quo
coss of the mission is not going to be realised. In the
first place because of this damned Zafar Ali Khan. I knew
the man, you knew him too and knew him bettor. But neither
you nor I could ever imagine that after solemnly undertaking
i* to present the resolutions of the body electing him to re
present it he would refuse to do so and work against those
resolutions. Yet this is what actually happened. He had