'File 8/7 I Jidda Intelligence Reports' [‎57v] (114/536)

with that formed in January by the Political Resident A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency. in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , who
found His Majesty hale, hearty and young for his age. He dislikes all Hejazi
climates as being too hot, too damp or too dry. He had just been through the
strenuous labours of the pilgrimage, and he has had the problems of the Hejaz
increasingly in his mind and on his nerves. These factors may well account for
ms appearance on the 1st May. There is no reason to suppose that his health
is peimanently impaired. It may be mentioned in this connexion that an
American doctor from the mission hospital at Bahrein left for Taif on the
M)th May in response to an urgent summons, but it is supposed that he was
pi mcipally lequired to attend a wife about whose health the King has been much
concerned. The doctor was still at Taif late in June, and appeared to be greatly
in demand among the notables there.
Ibn Sand left Jedda on the 2nd May, sooner than had been anticipated.
He moved to Taif on the 22nd May, and was still there at the end of June. He
had been expected to go to Nejd in the course of that month, but was doubtless
influenced to delay his departure by the situation in the Northern Hejaz (see
below). It is, indeed, somewhat remarkable that he did not proceed to some spot
neaier the scene of action, e.g., Medina. It has been suggested in some quarters
that the unruly tribes round Taif have been so restless that the King’s presence in
that area is necessary to control the situation.
155. The King created a sensation by a speech which he delivered to a
gathenng of notables at Mecca on the eve of his departure. It was in his usual
fervent vein, and resembled in many respects the address recorded in the last
report (paragraph 113), but its special quality was that of a cautionary sermon
to the Hejaz is. Ihis note is struck in the version published in the “ Umm-al-
Gura. According to private reports, His Majesty was much more outspoken
than appeared from that version. He is said to have talked of chopping off heads
as a remedy which he had thought of applying at once to the corruption which he
rebuKed. He had decided to content himself with a warning addressed more
particularly to those in high places, including his own officials, and to people of
the middle class; he could excuse persons of the meaner sort for their share m the
exploitation of pilgrims, which would appear to have been one of the objects of
the onslaught. Another was the goings-on of the young men, whose leanings
towards modern political ideas and European materialism the King deprecates
156. Such utterances are part of the King’s reaction to the growing
unpopularity of his rdgime in the towns. The malaise was intensified in June
by distorted accounts of what was passing in the north, and companion rumours
of unrest in the Taif region, perhaps also in Asir. One arrest in Mecca probably
Iw "/^.“xioii with the theory of a widespread Hashimite conspiracy
that of Faudhi Ley Kawokji, who was removed last year, after a short tenure
from the post of Director-General of Military Organisation. The Government
have shown other signs of nervous suspicion. Tribal notables are said to have
been arrested at Taif or Mecca. Laughter was aroused by the action of the
director of police m the latter city in filling the town with armed men at mid
night, with no greater object it subsequently appeared, than to locate illicit
alcohol, a small quantity of which was discovered. More anxiety was caused
when on the night of the 28th June some forty people were arrested in Jedda.
I he majority were released at once and some others later, but a fair number
e ? 1 f ia f te f ( [’ Were held m custody. The bag was so mixed that it was
difficult to detect the common factor. Some suppose that these proceedings are
merely intended to instil a general fear. The public execution in Jedd£ of a
tnbes r n n 0 I V he ^ ^ ma y have fortified impression
although he seems to ha\e deserved his fate, and was interesting only because
he had made a spirited get-away from gaol across the reefs and shallows outside
the town. It is said that it took three minutes to hack off his head, and that his
wife and children were compelled to attend as a counter-agent to possible heredity
but these details cannot be vouched for. * p e neieait y>
f i (° r the y°. un g men > interest has centred round the question whether
football, latterly much m vogue at Jedda and Mecca, is now prohibited or not
The game can hardly be held to be forbidden by the sacred law. The Prophet
is said to have played ball with his ladies, and the Amir Feisal played the modern
game early this year in Jedda^ It is not the football itsel/which has fallen
under suspicion but the fact that it brings young men together in clubs One
of those interested explained gravely about the end of June that the' King