Coll 6/19 'Arabia: (Saudi Arabia) Hejaz-Nejd Annual Report.' [‎237v] (475/540)

2
III.—Internal affairs —
Page
(1) General situation
33
(2) Administration .
34
IV.—Financial, economic
and commercial
situation
35
V.—Military organisation
39
VI.—Aviation
40
VII.—Legislation ..
44
VIII.—Press ..
44
IX.—Education
45
X.—The pilgrimage . .
45
Page
XI. —Slavery and the slave trade .. .. 50
XII. —British naval position.. .. .. 55
XIII. —Miscellaneous matters affecting
British interests—
(1) Capitulations and general position of -
British subjects .. .. .. . • 56
(2) Law on nationality .. .. .. 58
(3) Protection .. . .. .. 58
(4) British claims .. .. .. .. 59
(5) European cemetery . .. .. 59
(6) Jedda Club .. .. .. ..60
Appendix I.—I bn Saud’s treaties .. .. 61
Appendix II.—Reforms, Ac., effected by
the Hejazi Government, 1929-30 .. 62
I.—Introduction.
AS this is the first annual report on the Hejaz-Nejd, it may be well at the
outset to glance very briefly at the sequence of events which have made
King Abdul-Aziz ibn Abdurrahman A1 Feisal Aal Saud (commonly known as
Ibn Saud) the greatest personage in Arabia, and one of the most considerable in
the Moslem world. He is descended from that small chieftain of Daraiya, in
Nejd, who, towards the middle of the 18th century, embraced the doctrines of
the puritan reformer, Muhammad Ibn Adbul-Wahhab, and married the
reformer s daughter. This lady, according to one authority, became the
ancestress of the Saudian dynasty. The rise and conquests of successive members
of the family brought on them the wrath of the Turks, whose main instruments
in the early struggles were Mehmed Ali Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. of Egypt and his sons. The Turks
later promoted the growth of the llashidite power at Hail to serve as a counter
weight to that of the Sauds. Daraiya had been razed in 1818, and its place taken
later by a new capital, Riadh. Eventually, the Sauds were driven out of their
principality by the Rashidites. Their fortunes, which had throughout been
variable, were at their lowest ebb during the last years of the 19th century.
Abdurrahman, the father of Abdul-Aziz, became an exile with his family at the
Court of Kowait during the reign of Mubarak as-Sabah. The tide changed
when, in 1901, Abdul-Aziz, starting from Kowait, delivered a surprise attack
on Riadh and ousted the Rashidite authorities. His father, Abdurrahman,
though he long survived, had made way for this enterprising son, and Ibn Sand
began to build up his position.
2. Four capital events mark the stages in the growth of Ibn Saud since
his coup Riadh. Early in 1914 he sw^ooped on the coastal province of Hasa
and, having chosen his moment, took it without effort out of the weak grasp of
the I urks, but he w as prudent enough to make a composition with them whereby
he theoretically recognised their sovereignty and himself retained all authority
m his new dominion. The Great War brought grist to his mill (including a fat
subsidy from Great Britain, which continued until March 1924) and havino- at
earlier dates stripped the Rashidites of provinces, he in the end disnossessed
them completely. They could no longer rely on Turkey, and their ruin was
consummated by the fall of Hail towards the end of 192l' He and his had been
at loggerheads with the Sherifs of Mecca, and the Wahhabis had held the
Holy Cities for nine years or so early in the 19th century. Kino- Hussein of
the Hejaz had worked with the Rashidites and used them Ihn Saud after
destroying that influence, was free to liquidate his old feud with Hussein He
set about this new task after an abortive effort by Great Britain to preserve the
balance m Arabia. His forces entered Mecca in October 1924. A year later
Medina fell to him after a siege. A fortnight after that event, Ali' who had
succeeded his father, Hussein, in the Kingship of the Hejaz and’had been
holding Jedda, was forced to abdicate. The Wahhabi conquest of the Heiaz was
complete by the end of the year. Finally, in 1930, Ibn Saud established a
complete hold, amounting to practical sovereignty, over the reduced principalitv
of Asir, whose sovereign, the Tdrisi, had accepted his suzerainty in 1926.