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Coll 6/19 'Arabia: (Saudi Arabia) Hejaz-Nejd Annual Report.' [‎38v] (77/540)

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The record is made up of 1 file (268 folios). It was created in 18 Apr 1931-18 May 1945. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .

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48
Jedda. The statement seemed to have been made under the impression that
Saudi Arabia was a British protectorate or at least in alliance with the United
Kingdom in the same way as Iraq and Egypt. It was explained to Mr. Kodaki
that Saudi Arabia was an entirely independent country and not in alliance with
His Majesty’s Government. Mr. Kodaki expressed his thanks for this informa
tion, and said that the Japanese Government had wished to communicate the
suggestion to His Majesty’s Government because it was their wish to do nothing
incompatible with Anglo-Japanese friendship.
202. A man named Muhsin Japan-oglou, who is perhaps a Turkish-
Japanese half-caste, and who appeared to have some obscure mission from the
Japanese, came to the Hejaz in April after a visit to the Yemen. He registered
with the Saudi authorities as Muhammad Muhsin-bin-Sadiq, a Turk and
president of the Moslem Association of Japan. His Majesty’s Legation learned
that he came with the avowed intention of setting up a Japanese propaganda
bureau such as is believed to exist in Egypt, and that, on being informed by the
authorities that no political propaganda could be permitted in the holy land of
the Hejaz, he left the country after a short visit to Mecca.
203. In April the Saudi Government asked for the advice of His Majesty’s
Minister about an invitation which they had received from the Japanese Govern
ment to send a representative for the inauguration of a new mosque in Tokyo;
the Egyptian Government were sending a delegate, and the Yemen was to be
represented by the Amir Husain. Sir R. Bullard gave his personal opinion to
the following effect: The object of the Japanese Government might be mainly
political propaganda, but, from the point of view of the Saudi Government, the
opening of a mosque was a purely religious affair in which they could take part
without fear of being misunderstood; the Government responsible for the holy
places of Islam would naturally be unwilling to lag behind the Governments of
Egypt and the Yemen in this matter, and, while it was for the Saudi Govern
ment to decide, Sir R. Bullard saw no harm in participation. In the end the
Saudi Government appointed Sheikh Hafiz Wahba, their Minister in London, to
represent them at the ceremony, the extent of whose religious significance was
indicated to some extent by the prominence of the Italian representative in Japan
and the absence of those of Turkey and Afghanistan. The scheme is not likely to
have had any great effect on Ibn Saud.
204. Only seven Japanese are known to have made the pilgrimage in 1938.
In July the Mecca press announced that Yahya Musa Bukhari had reached Tokyo
to carry out propaganda for the coming pilgrimage. It is the custom for touts
to be sent to Moslem communities abroad to advertise the pilgrimage, and this
Yahya, who is a boy of 19, is in fact the son of a Jedda pilgrim guide, Sheikh
Abdullah Musa Bukhari; but it is probable that he had other objects also in
visiting Japan. His father had stated some months before that he was sending
him to Japan to become an expert in electricity, but there is reason to believe
that the young man was acting as go-between for a Turki-speaking general from
Chinese Turkestan, Mahmud Si Jang, who took refuge in India and then came
on the pilgrimage, and who is reported to be inclined to assist the Japanese
against Soviet influence in Sinkiang.
China.
205. A few Chinese Moslems come to Mecca for the pilgrimage, but the
number is usually so small that the Saudi statistics record them with other
miscellaneous elements from the Far East, 6.y., Filipinos. In 1938, however, the
Chinese were in evidence because among them was a group of men who described
themselves as the Chinese Moslem Near-East Goodwill Mission, and stated that
the rnajn puipose of their journey was to arouse sympathy in Moslem countries
foi China, especially for Chinese Moslems who have suffered at the hands of the
Japanese. Saudi Ai abia would tend to have a greater interest in a country with
many millions of Moslems, such as China, rather than in Japan, which is an
almost purely non-Moslem country, but whether the propaganda of the mission
had any effect in this or any other respect was never ascertained.

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Content

This file contains copies of annual reports regarding the Kingdom of Hejaz and Nejd (later Saudi Arabia) during the years 1930-1938 and 1943-1944.

The reports were produced by the British Minister at Jedda (Sir Andrew Ryan, succeeded by Sir Reader William Bullard) and sent to the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (and in the case of these copies, forwarded by the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs to the Under-Secretary of State for India), with the exception of the reports for 1943 and 1944, which appear to have been produced and sent by His Majesty's Chargé d’Affaires at Jedda, Stanley R Jordan.

The reports covering 1930-1938 discuss the following subjects: foreign relations; internal affairs; financial, economic and commercial affairs; military organisation; aviation; legislation; press; education; the pilgrimage; slavery and the slave trade; naval matters. The reports for 1943 and 1944 are rather less substantial. The 1943 report discusses Arab affairs, Saudi relations with foreign powers, finance, supplies, and the pilgrimage, whilst the 1944 report covers these subjects in addition to the following: the activities of the United States in Saudi Arabia, the Middle East Supply Centre, and the Saudi royal family.

The file includes a divider which gives a list of correspondence references contained in the file by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence.

Extent and format
1 file (268 folios)
Arrangement

The papers are arranged in approximate chronological order from the rear to the front of the file.

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the main foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1 and terminates at the last folio with 269; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located at the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio. An additional foliation sequence is present in parallel between ff 2-12 and ff 45-268; these numbers are also written in pencil but are not circled.

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English in Latin script
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Coll 6/19 'Arabia: (Saudi Arabia) Hejaz-Nejd Annual Report.' [‎38v] (77/540), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/12/2085, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100036362870.0x00004e> [accessed 29 March 2024]

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