'File 10/3 VI Qatar Oil Concession' [‎87r] (185/481)

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ruler of Nejd {cv. paragraphs 138-9, 152, &c.). At that point there are definite
signs of revival, though, even so, the Trucial Sheikhs are divided among
themselves, Abu Dhabi and Debai being opposed, like Muscat, to any such revival;
Rasal Khaimah and Shargah inclined to sympathise; and the remainder neutral.
In the hinterland of the Trucial Sheikhs Wahabi influence appears to extend
in an informal fashion as far east as the oasis of Baraimi, a minority of the
tribes occupying it having paid zakat \ while Mr. Bertram Thomas and other
travellers report that the A1 Murra tribe of the Central Arabian Desert also
defer to it.
237. The main test of the existence of this influence is the payment of zakat
by tribes or rulers. No payments are now made by the Trucial Sheikhs, who, how
ever, exchange presents with the Amir of Hasa. The local political authorities
positively state that this payment is, in fact, a form of danegeld or blackmail,
and does not connote any political subjection.
" The position seems to be that the Trucial Chiefs and the tribes fear p.z.4860/34.
aggression from Ibn Saud and try to placate him, the former by presents of
courtesy, and by listening to representations, for example, in cases affecting his
nationals, and the latter by paying zakat to him. But these arrangements are
of recent standing, and merely indicate that for the moment Ibn Saud is
sufficiently powerful to make the payment of blackmail to him an appropriate
insurance.
(E) History and position of Baraimi.
238. Baraimi was in the past the only important Wahabi settlement in the
Trucial area. The oasis of which it is the centre is well watered, fertile and
strategically of great importance, since it commands the approaches into the
Sultanate of Muscat. It was captured by the Wahabis in 1800, and from that
date to 1869 was the headquarters of their representative in Eastern Arabia,
with intervals during which it passed out of Wahabi control from 1818, or
slightly earlier, to about 1833; from 1838 to 1845; and in 1848—9. In 1869 it
was captured by the Sultan of Muscat, and appears never since to have been
reoccupied by the Wahabis. Its forts are at present held by the Beni Naim,
who appear to be hostile to the Wahabis, though a minority of the tribes who
occupy the oasis were reported in 1924 to have paid zakat to the Wahabi tax
collectors. It will be seen that there is thus no history of continuous Wahabi
occupation, and that the oasis has not been under effective Wahabi control since
1869.
(F) Extent to which the Wahabi Amirs and Ibn Saud have in the past professed
allegiance to Turkey.
239. The Wahabi Amirs were decisively defeated in 1818 by the Egyptians,
and the Wahabi Amir himself executed at Constantinople. On the revival of
the Wahabi power in 1824 and for some years afterwards, the then Amir Turki
appears to have paid tribute to the Viceroy of Egypt, and to have endeavoured
to represent himself to the Viceroy (though not locally in Arabia) as the Viceroy's
agent (paragraph 37). They were again decisively defeated by the Egyptians
in 1837-39, and the Wahabi Amir taken prisoner to Cairo. He was released by
the Egyptians and returned to Nejd in 1842. From 1839 to his death in 1865, it
would appear (paragraph 90) that the Wahabi Amir paid tribute to Turkey,
though, at any rate in the latter part of this period, through the Turkish
authorities at Mecca.
240. In 1855 the Wahabi Amir professed (paragraph 91), in writing, to
a Turkish dependant, and stated that he had made it clear to Mehemet Ali,
when the latter approached him in 1837 with a view to securing his co-operation
a gainst the tribes of eastern Arabia, that he could do nothing without the approval
of the Sultan. In 1859 the Wahabi Amir, again in writing, referred to treaties
concluded in the past between him and the Sultan of Turkey. In 1866 the
Wahabi Amir (paragraph 92) made overtures, apparently almost simultaneously,
^ Great Britain and the Turks. But the overtures of his envoy were ultimatelv
ejected by the Turkish Wali of Baghdad.