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File 2182/1913 Pt 9 'Arabia Policy towards Bin Saud' [‎158v] (314/406)

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The record is made up of 1 item (203 folios). It was created in 27 Dec 1918-2 Jun 1919. 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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46
18 i
mos tly in Kuwait territory and the Ataibah and Harb come for the greater
^ art After*^ Captain ^bakespear’s ^"bt^ S ^n g
that another officer should b e accredit^ t^ Abdul Latif Handily No
tions should continue tbr01 jj= , . -f^ n g all(i was advised to sign a preliminary
suitable officer was availa > Shakespear’s draft and leave all details to
agreement on the lines o P , d t ] ie new draft which had been sent
be settled later He signed an( ^ re * U difi tions concerning which it seemed
to him but with some important modifications co chief p olitlca l
better to postpone further discussm^n ^ ^ the CO nclusion of the
Officer could be arranged. 1 .^ 0 . whollv eno-a^ed with internal affairs,
treaty was suspended, Ibn Sand being H is reputation
His position at home at this epoch wa * against Ibn
among the tribes ! iad h su ^ r d e ^ n f c ^ ed h muc h loss in material and equipments,
Eashid during which he had incurred d with a dangerous rising
and during the greater part of 1915 he wg^engagea ^ the ?t
in the Hasa an «f Ibi Eashid, but it is doubtful whether his
was instigated by l^U anq l convinced that there was no
s.r.rsS* a M £;|4-‘., <"
WaS opiniofis^ial borne out that ^troubles t"wS""!
Sr ^ s;
wbLb irtgbeadquar^
impose a poll tax upo w hieh thev had been accustomed to exact
mThe^lays°of^the^Turks. The discontent of the Ajman was fanned by mem-
1 nf Thn Sand’s familv who had long been at enmity with him, the Ara ,
SBawsf^fr., ,r r *. stss'ivsar's.
the Araif refused his mediation and sought the protection of the Shaikh of
Abu Dhabi from whom they received some countenance when hostilities were
renewed with Ibn Sand in 1915. The rebellion now assumed ^ous propor
tions Ibn Saud sent for more troops from Eiyadh and asked help from
Kuwait but before the arrival of either reinforcement he attacked the A;man
bv night near Hofuf and met with a reverse, due partly to the cowardice of
the Hofuf town levies. His brother Saud was killed and he himself wounded.
For a time his fortunes were at a very low ebb. He was m want of money
and arms, and for all practical purposes was besieged m Hofuf. Ibn Ixaslnd,
oblivious of the agreement recently signed seized the opportunity to Ae
Qasim, but his advance was easily stopped, and the arrival of a force from
Kuwait under the Shaikh’s son, Salim, turned the balance m the Hasa. T
\iman were routed in September, harried on their retreat northwards by the
Bani Khalid and forced to take refuge in Kuwait territory where they re
mained until Shaikh Mubarak’s death in December Fahad Ibn Sand was
killed in the retreat: Salman made his peace with Ibn Saud at the end of
the year. During the struggle we had facilitated the despatch of ammunition
to Ibn Saud from Bahrain and done what we could to restrain Abu Dhabi. in
October we presented Ibn Saud with 1,000 rifles and gave him a loan of
£20 000. The Turks had not yet abandoned all hope of vanning him over,
and in July, previous to Ibn Eashid’s raid, a Turkish emissary, Salih al Sharif
al Hasni, communicated with him and proposed a meeting; but his request
was refused, and on December 26th Ibn Saud met Sir Percy Cox at Qatif and
the long-delayed treaty was completed and signed. Subject to certain safe
guards it provided Ibn Saud with a dynastic guarantee in the dominions now
in his possession and promised him the support of Great Britain in case of
unprovoked aggression from foreign Powers. On his side Ibn Saud engaged
to hold no correspondence with any foreign Power and to grant no concessions
to foreigners, to keep open the roads to the Holy Places and to commit no
aggressive act on other Shaikhs under our protection.
Ibn Saud was unaware of the exceedingly confidential correspondence
which we had been carrying on with the Sharif during the vintei of 1915-
1916, but the results to which it led could not leave him indifferent. _ Dela
tions between the Hijaz and Najd had been dictated by conflicting sentiments.
The Sharif had even more reason than Ibn Saud to fear the Turks, but he
was jealous of Ibn Sand’s position as an Arab Chief, and the feeling was.
reciprocated in Eiyadh. The fluctuating allegiance of the tribes is a rich
source of discord in Arabia, and the absence of any defined frontiers enhances
the uncertainty of claims and obligations. In 1910 the Sharif Abdullah,
asserting that he acted on behalf of the Ottoman Government, marched to the
borders of the Qasim for the purpose of reasserting an authority which was
probably a thing of the past and must at the best have been shadowy. The
tangible results of the raid do not seem to have been more than a reinsistence
on the Sharif’s suzerainty over the distant sections of the Ataibah, a tribe

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Part 9 primarily concerns the dispute between Bin Saud [‘Abd al-‘Azīz bin ‘Abd al-Raḥmān bin Fayṣal Āl Sa‘ūd] and King Hussein of Hejaz [Ḥusayn bin ‘Alī al-Hāshimī, King of Hejaz], and British policy towards both. The item includes the following:

  • a note by the 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. 's Political Department, entitled 'Arabia: The Nejd-Hejaz Feud', which laments the fact that relations between Bin Saud and King Hussein have to some extent been reflected in the views of the two administrations with which they have respectively been brought into contact (i.e. the sphere of Mesopotamia and the Government of India in Bin Saud's case, and the Cairo administration in King Hussein's case);
  • reports on the presence of Akhwan [Ikhwan] forces in Khurma and debate as to which ruler has the stronger claim to it;
  • attempts by the British to ascertain whether or not a treaty exists between King Hussein and Bin Saud;
  • a copy of a report by Harry St John Bridger Philby entitled 'Report on Najd Mission 1917-1918', which includes as appendices a précis of British relations with Bin Saud and a copy of the 1915 treaty between Bin Saud and the British government;
  • reports of alleged correspondence between Bin Saud and Fakhri Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. , Commander of the Turkish [Ottoman] forces at Medina;
  • reports of the surrender of Medina by Ottoman forces;
  • discussion as to whether Britain should intervene further in the dispute between Bin Saud and King Hussein;
  • details of the proposals discussed at an inter-departmental conference on Middle Eastern affairs, which was held at Cairo in February 1919;
  • reports that King Hussein's son Abdulla [ʿAbdullāh bin al-Ḥusayn] and his forces have been attacked at Tarabah [Turabah] by Akhwan forces and driven out.

The principal correspondents are the following:

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1 item (203 folios)
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English in Latin script
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File 2182/1913 Pt 9 'Arabia Policy towards Bin Saud' [‎158v] (314/406), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/10/390/1, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100036528095.0x00007a> [accessed 28 March 2024]

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