'Arabia. Handbooks prepared under the direction of the Historical Section of the Foreign Office - no 90' [‎33] (48/148)

Arabia] BOUNDARIES OF NEJD
33
present discontent to develop the revivalist propa
ganda of his " Akhwan " college into a general offen
sive, supported by much sympathy in the outer world
of Islam, and were to spread the bounds of his
Emirate to the old limits of Wahabite power, or even
beyond, he would endure but a little while, like all who
rely on revivalism. But much—for example, the King
dom of Hejaz—might be struck down before he retired
again.
Consideration of Hasa has carried our survey
already right across the peninsula to the shore of the
Gulf. It will be convenient, therefore, to complete it
on that side before dealing with what lies south of
Hejaz.
Boundaries of Nejd
The Emir of Nejd claims, by right of recent con
quest, and of intermittent possession in the latter
part of the eighteenth and first half of the nine
teenth centuries, all the Gulf shore from the Jafura
desert (about latitude 24°), which bounds the range of
the Ahl Morrah, to the northern limit of the Ajman
country (about latitude 29°). Here he marches with
territory claimed by the Sheikh of Koweit. Ibn Saud,
however, does not occupy effectively the fifth part of
this strip of some three hundred miles, but only the
Hasa group of oases towards the south of it, with the
ports of Katif and Ajer. Of his hold on the northern
part, the Ajman dira, the most that can be said is that
he has made a desert and called it peace.
Koweit
The Sheikh of Koweit's territorial claim is not much
more substantial. Outside a twenty-five-mile radius
from his capital, he rules nominally on the west up to
the wells of Hafar, where he meets the equally nominal
jurisdictions of Ibn Eashid on the north-east and of Ibn
Saud on the south-west. To the north of his capital, a
post at Safwan, formerly Turkish, gives him more real
[285—8] ^ J)