‘Policy in the Middle East. III. The Arab Movement.’ [‎116v] (2/6)

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The religious divergences are also not ol' intense importance, the old
fanatic lire of Wahabi Puritanism apparently being on the wane.
In Muscat the case is different, the isolation of Oman from the rest of
Arabia being a strong factor in the situation. In Muscat there is a distinct
quarrel, and the Sultan lias been ousted from his authority in the land by a
pretender to religious supremacy. This is a purely local affair, and the
exceedingly rigid and primitive form of Islam prevailing in Oman has no
adherents elsewhere. However, the Oman Arabs, the Sultan included, have
a strong sense of race and breed.
In Yemen and Assir the large proportion of sedentary and village-
dwelling Arabs, the long reign and prestige of the Imam, the large number
of men he can raise and keep in the field tend to produce a more compre
hensible situation. Yemen in fact is a nearer approach to a State in the
European sense than any other part of Arabia. In the Aden hinterland and
Hadhramaut the sedentary Chiefs are too widely scattered and too small
to be of any great account. Turkish influence in Yemen is tolerated, the
Imam doing little to support the Turks in war and collecting his own taxes.
The Shiism of the Yemen Arabs has nothing in common with that of the
people of Kerbella, which will be referred to later.
The Imam claims to be commander of the faithful in his own dominions,
and does not regard the Sultan as caliph; his relations with the Sherif of
Mecca are fair, and, under given circumstances, there is no reason why he
should not recognise the latter's premier position, though he would naturally
not recognise him as caliph.
In Hejaz the situation is influenced by the holy cities of Mecca and
Medina, which are large towns which subsist on pilgrimage, the Bedouin
sharing in the. protits ol carriage, traffic, and dues. The Sherif has a strong
position in virtue of his character, lineage, linanchl resources,»and office, and
few very bitter and no powerful enemies. His relations with the Imam of
Sanaa, Ibn Reshid, Ibn Sand are good enough to enable him to obtain
their recognition a^ paramount ruler, provided other circumstances are
propitious. Between Medina and the cultivated parts of Syria the tribes
Beni Sakhr, Shararat, and the clans around Kirak would no doubt fall into
line with the Sherif owing to their bitter dislike of the Turks, from whom
they have suffered considerably in the past.
G roup II.—THE ARABS OF LOWER MESOPOTAMIA.
(See map. Topographical Section, (Jeneral Staff, No. 25G3 Lower
Mesopotamia, scale 1 1,000,000.)
Section 1.—Population of banks of Tigris from Fao to Kurna, settled
Arabs, Shia sect, living in villages, in position of tenant and landlord ;
accustomed to regular administration.
Landlords are mostly local and tribal notables.
Section 2.—Population of banks of Euphrates between Kurna and Suk-
es-Sheyukh, as in Section 1.
Sertion 3.— Population of swampy area contained by triangle Suk-es-
Sheyukh—Kurna—Gannet-Ali, excluding riparian population mentioned in
Section 2, are primitive, predatory people, with little attachment to religion,
and little political cohesion.
Section 4.—Population of banks of Tigris and its tributary canals from
Kurna to Aziziyah are semi-nomadic Arabs, mostly Shias in transition stage
from pastoral nomads to sedentary agriculturalists, economically, socially in
transition from tribal chief and clansmen to landlord and tenant. White
patches on east and west of Tigris and of Shatt-el-Gharraf inhabited by pure
nomads.
Section 5. Area contained in rough polygon Museyib-Kerbela-Kasr
Reheima (a point 10 miles west, of Bahr Shinafie), Tel Maaja (10 miles south
of Samawa), I m Dukan (10 miles east of Samawa), .1 in Khor el Afei-
Museyib.
Urban population of Nejef, Kerbela, Meshed Ali, mixed Arab, Persian,
Indian. Fanatical and factious. These towns are centres of intense Shia
religious feeling. Rural population as in areas described in Sections 1, 2,
and 4, according to circumstances, but influenced by above-mentioned towns.