‘Administration report of the Persian Gulf Political Residency and Muscat Political Agency for 1888-89.’ [‎54r] (16/60)

b.esidenct and MUSCAT POLITICAL agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. FOE 1888-89.
15
APPENDIX A TO PART I.
NOTES ON THE "IBN RASHEED" FAMILY OF JEBEL SHAMMER, AND PRESENT POSITION
OF MOHAMMED "IBN RASHEED."
The works of Mr. Palgrave and o£ Mr. and Lady Anne Blunt have rendered the names of
Jehel Shammer and its capital, Hayil, familiar to many readers of travel, and in the past year a
more elaborate book was published by Mr. C. Doughty, containing a very full description of
Central Arabia, and much valuable information. Indeed, Mr. Doughty's book must take rank
as the standard English work on Arabia of modern times.
Mr. Palgrave visited Hayil about 15 years ago, when Telal^ eldest brother of the present
Chief, was Emir. Mr. Doughty travelled in Arabia from 1876 to 1878, and the Blunts in 1879,
Since the latter date the power of tc Ibn .Rasheed >} has been extended, and is now paramount
in Nejd.
The word " Nejd," as is well known, means " high " or " table-land," and according to
Arabian geographers the region so named comprised all Central Arabia from Hejaz to 'Irak.
Whilst the power of the Wahhabi Emirs lasted, El-Hasa was, in a political sense, a portion of
Nejd, and now that a Turkish Governor resides in El-Hasa that Turkish administration is
called by the Turks the " Government of Nejd." At one period, it may be, Nejd was held to
mean the provinces ruled by the Wahhabi; but, however that may be, the name should now be
regarded as a geographical expression, including in its scope Jebel Shammer and all the prov
inces of Central Arabia lying within the tracts of red-sand deserts [ Dahna or Nefood].
The Shammer tribe which is connected with the Kahtan has risen to importance in Nejd
within the last half century. Some sixty years back the family of the Shaikhs of the Sham
mer was divided into rival branches, the Al-'Ali and the A'l-Uasheed. A contest for supre-
premacy, as usual, occurred, which ended in the extermination of 'AVAli, and Abdallah-Ibn
'Ali-lbn Rasheed became Shaikh of the Shammer, with Hayil for his residence, circa 1835
A.D.
It is said that Abdallah succeeded through the aid of the Wahhabi Emir, Feysal Ibn
Toorkee, He had also a staunch and able supporter in his brother ^Obeyd.
'Abdallah Ibn Rasheed, as he was commonly called, a man of rare ability^ inaugurated the
policy which, followed by his successors, has led to the establishment of the supremacy of the
Shammer Chief over a large portion of Central Arabia. By the Wahhabi Emir,'Abdallah
was nominated " Muhafidh," or " Warden of the Marches," and thus was in the position of a
Frontier Governor under the Wahhabi, Jebel Shammer at that epoch being a province of the
Wahhabi Empire. Until his death 'Abdallah-Ibn Rasheed remained a vassal of the Wahhabi
Emir.
In the year 1846 Abdallah Ibn Rasheed died, and was succeeded by his eldest son Tilal,
whose name became so well-known through the eulogies of Palgrave. Tilal became wholly
independent of the Wahhabi Chiefs of Riadh, and governed with consummate skill and caution
until A.D. 1867, when, tortured by some internal malady, perhaps fearing loss of reason, he
committed suicide by shooting himself.
Tilal was succeeded by his brother Muta 'Ab-Ibn 'Abdallah, who lacked the prudence and
skill of Tilal, and behaved harshly to his nephews, the sons of the latter. Two of these
nephews. Bandar and Bedr, conspired against Muta' Ab and succeeded in putting him to death
in the year 1868 A.D.
Bandar-Ibn-Tilal then assumed the reins of Government at Hayil.
At that time Mohammed Ibn Abdallah, younger brother of Tilal, and now Emir, was
residing at Riadh as a fugitive, and was kindly treated by the Wahhabi Emir Abdallah-Ibn
Feysal, who effected a sort of reconciliation between Mohammed and his nephew Bandar.
Mohammed became the leader of pilgrims, and it was when entering Hayil in that capacity
that he suddenly stabbed his nephew Bandar to death. This event, which occurred in^ 1868,
was immediately followed up by the slaughter of all the remaining children of Tilal, and
Mohammed Ibn Abdallah, or, as he is now generally called, " Ibn Rasheed," became Emir and
Muhafidh in Hayil. A full account of the circumstances attending the accession of the present
Emir is given by Mr. Doughty in his work " Travels in Arabia Deserta.