'P G India Office Memorandum No B.437, P.Z.5620/1934, Historical Memorandum on the Relations of the Wahabi Amirs and Ibn Saud with Eastern Arabia and the British Government, 1800-1934' [‎5r] (20/82)

3
1804-1818.
From the Accession of Saud bin Abdul Aziz to the Egyptian
Conquest of the Wahabis.
Amir Saud Jhn Abdul Aziz (Novemher 1803-1814).
Amir Abdulla Bin Saud (] 814-1818).
15. Between 1804 and 1814 the Wahabis consolidated their influence in Trucial
Oman, delivered repeated attacks on the Sultan of Muscat, and for the first time
came into contact with the British Government. Between 1814 and 1818 they
succumbed to the attacks of the Egyptians and their power temporarily ended.
It will be most convenient to deal with their relations with the various sections of
the Arab littoral seriatim.
Muscat and the Wahabis, 1804-1818.
16. Saiyid Sultan died in 1804, and the Wahabis took an active share in the
disputes which followed about the succession. Saiyid Badr, to whom they lent their
support, was finally elected Sultan in 1805. The new Sultan, who in 1806 co-operated Lor. I, 1076.
with the British expedition against the Jowasimi pirates (paragraph 24 below), ruled
the Sultanate till his assassination by Said bin Sultan in 1807. Said bin Sultan,
who was to rule till 1856, was hostile to Wahabi influence, although he continued Lor. I. 1075,
to allow a Wahabi Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. to reside at Muscat, and in 1809 he conducted 442.
an abortive expedition against the new Wahabi Sheikh of the Jowasimis. In the
same year the Wahabis delivered a successful attack upon the Sultan from Baraimi,
and the punitive expedition sent in 1809 by the Government of India against the
Jowasimi pirates (paragraph 25 below) had" as an incidental object the easing of
the pressure on the Sultan. In L810-11, on the withdrawal of the British expedition,
further successful attacks were made from Baraimi by Syed bin. Mutlak, the Wahabi
lieutenant there, in_ face of which the Sultan appealed, but unsuccessfully, to the
Government of India for assistance. These attacks in 1812-13 penetrated to the
south-east of Muscat at Sur and Jaalan; and in the latter place the Beni bu Ali
tribe were permanently converted to Wahabism. In 1811 Bahrein was freed from
Wahabi rule by the Sultan of Muscat, who inflicted a severe defeat on the Wahabis
in Qatar in 1812. In 181o the Sultan endeavoured to co-operate with the Loi .1, 445.
Egyptians, who were now massing for their attack upon Nejd. A Wahabi attack
from Baraimi again, however, led to his temporary submission and to the payment
of a large fine. The increasing pressure of the Egyptians on the Wahabis appears
now to have led to a diminution of Wahabi activity in eastern Arabia ; with the
death of the Amir Saud in 1814 all further danger ceased by land, and 'from that
date to the fall of the Wahabi power in 1818 little is heard of them in connection
with Muscat, although in 1816 the Wahabis assisted the Sheikh of Bahrein to repel
an attempt by the Sultan to re-establish his control over Bahrein.
Trucial Oman A name used by Britain from the nineteenth century to 1971 to refer to the present-day United Arab Emirates. and the Wahabis, 1804-1818.
17. During most of the period from 1800 to 1814 the Wahabis appear to have
• held a dominating position in Trucial Oman A name used by Britain from the nineteenth century to 1971 to refer to the present-day United Arab Emirates. and its hinterland. Their Ao-ent
established himself in 1800 in the oasis of Baraimi, which he fortified and used
as a base for attacks on Muscat or for bringing pressure on the Trucial Sheikhs.
In 1803 the Jowasimi of Ras-al-Khaimah were compelled to co-operate in a Wahabi
attack on Muscat; but in 1806 a British punitive expedition sent against the Lor 1 1057
Jowasimis ignored the Wahabi connection with them, and a convention concluded 1074. 5 ' '
with the Jowasimis in that year was concluded without reference to the Wahabi
Amir and without protest from him. In 1808 Sultan bin Suggar, the hereditary
chief of the Jowasimi Arabs at Ras-al-Khaimah, was deposed by the Wahabis, and in
the following year a Wahabi nominee, the Sheikh of Rams, was substituted for him.
Ihe fallen Jowasimi chief was subsec^uently lured to isejd and there imprisoned,
but he escaped and returned through the Yemen to Muscat bearing overtures to
the Sultan from the Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. of Egypt for co-operation against the Wahabis. In Lor. 1, 1075,
1809 the Jowasimi responded to a Wahabi request for co-operation against Koweit, 445 -
though nothing seems to have come of this.
18. Piracy broke out in an aggravated form after the deposition of the Jowasimi
Sheikh of Ras-al-Khaimah and a further British expedition, with which Muscat
co-operated, was sent in 1809-10 which reduced the pirates to submission. The
Wahabi Agent at Baraimi is alleged to have proceeded to the assistance of
Ras-al-Khaimah ; but, if he did so, he did not arrive until after the departure of the
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