Coll 6/19 'Arabia: (Saudi Arabia) Hejaz-Nejd Annual Report.' [‎71v] (143/540)

48
to the Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. at Koweit more and more is heard among tribal people of
the possibility of a revolt in Nejd if Ibn Sand should die or his powers fail. It
is often said, he reports, that a pact exists between the Ajman (Ibn Hithlain,
mentioned in paragraph 125 of the report for 1936), the Mutair (Al-Duwish) and
the Ataina (Ibn Humdaid), to take concerted action as soon as opportunity offers.
Two prominent tribal leaders still show no sign of wanting Ibn Saud’s pardon :
Naif-bin-Humaid, of the Ataiba, who is still in Iraq, and Mutlaq-al-Sur of the
Mutair, who remains in Koweit.
182. To what extent law and order are stable in tribal areas, and to what
extent they are maintained only by the knowledge that Ibn Sand is on the watch,
it would be difficult to say with any certainty. That Ibn Baud relies upon the
Nejdis, and especially upon his own family, to maintain order is shown by an
interesting list of the amirs of the principal centres in Saudi Arabia, which was
compiled in February by the Officer Commanding Desert Patrol in Transjordan Used in three contexts: the geographical region to the east of the River Jordan (literally ‘across the River Jordan’); a British protectorate (1921-46); an independent political entity (1946-49) now known as Jordan .
He gave a list of over twenty centres, and showed that the most important
amirates were occupied by members of the Saud family, or by Sudairis, of the
family of Ibn Saud’s mother, and that all the rest were filled by other Nejdis.
Nejdis also occupy nearly all the posts in the frontier control.
183. Ibn Saud told His Majesty’s Minister at Riyadh that the air force
which he desired to form was wanted to help in the maintenance of internal
order.
184. What appeared to be a storm in a teacup was mentioned in the
Saut-al-Hejaz, which reported with bitter comments the publication in an
Egyptian newspaper called Misr of an article by a Copt, Salama Musa, stating
that a society called “ The Friends of the Hejaz ” had been formed, having for
its objects to publish complaints from Hejazis and to strive for the independence
of the Hejaz. His Majesty’s Minister could not believe that any Hejazis resident
in the Hejaz would venture to join such a society, though he admitted the existence
of a Hejazi grievance, viz., that except in the matter of public security the Hejaz
is worse off than ever before, owing to the fact that the income from the
pilgrimage, which for centuries had been the perquisite of the Hejaz, now had
to support the whole of Saudi Arabia. His Majesty’s Ambassador at Cairo
reported that the Society of the Friends of the Hejaz need not be taken seriously,
and that it appeared to be run by a certain Sheikh Yusuf-al-Zawawi, a fanatical
Hejazi inspired with a hatred of Wahabi rule who obtained Dutch nationality
in Java and hoped to use it to protect him from trouble either with the Egyptian
or Saudi authorities. A Hejazi student who had just returned from Egypt was
reported to have been discovered writing to Salama Musa, but it appears that
Ibn Saud was eventually convinced that there was little in the “ Friends of the
Hejaz ” movement. He is said, however, to have given a severe warning to the
members of the Legislative Assembly and other Hejazi notables before he left
for Riyadh after the pilgrimage, that any disloyalty would meet with the severest
punishment.
185. The religious policy of Ibn Saud calls for special attention this year.
It is perhaps legitimate to attribute this activity at least in part to his desire
to accentuate the sacred character of the Hejaz and particularly of Mecca and its
unsuitability as a centre for political propaganda—an excuse which he says
he gave when the Italians wanted to elicit from him a statement approving of
their pro-Moslem policy and when the Arab Nationalists wished to hold a congress
in Mecca. He made a declaration of orthodoxy at a banquet which he gave to a
large number of distinguished Indian pilgrims after the pilgrimage. After
speaking in his usual manner about Allah and the Prophet and the Koran he
said :—
“ As to the prescriptions of the sects, we are not against them in any
thing. They are all our sects, whether Hanafi, or Shafai, or Maliki, or
Hanbali. Our sect is based on proof wherever it may be found (i.e., in the
Koran or the traditions of the Prophet), and if proof is lacking and there
is nothing to follow but ‘ ijtihad ’ (deduction or interpretation by"a person of
learning), then we follow the ‘ ijtihad ’ of Ahmad-bin-Hanbal.”
A similar statement was made by Ibn Saud in the course of a private interview
which he gave to his Highness the Khan of Kelat. According to the Indian vice-