File 756/1917 Pt 2-3 ‘ARAB BULLETIN Nos 66-114’ [‎59r] (126/834)

The most notable of the “foreign” Arab chiefs who
attended were Mohammed es-Sand and his great-nephew, Abdul
Aziz ibn Turki ; f eisal ibn Fahd er-Rashid (see our No. 15,
1916, p. 165) ; two Qahtan sheikhs, Mitriq ibn Shaghlut and
Jaafar ibn Jemal; Saiyil ibn Ajil of the Abdah Shammar ; three
Ajman sheikhs of the A 1 Manakhir ; Feihan ibn Alush of the
Muteir ; three important Yemen notables, viz. Seyyid Mohammed
ibn Mohammed *el-Kibsi (? ex.-M.P. for Sanaa), Seyyid
Mohammed ibn el-Mutawakkil, and Seyyid Mohammed ibn
Yusuf of Sanaa ; Sheikhs Abu Bakr ibn Ah Askar and Ali ibn
Muhsin of the Mausata (Upper Yafa) ; and two members of the
family of the murdered Naqib Hasan abu Ras (see p. 480).
The incident at Muna, mentioned on page 401, seems to
have followed on an attempt by some Yemenis to march under
a Turkish flag to Arafat.
Mutawwifs and Imams in Hejaz.
The 395 licensed religious guides in Hejaz are all under the
control of Sheikh Ahmed es-Sabahi of Mecca. They are
apportioned thus, according to latest information :—
Mecca . Jiddah . Total.
For Indian pilgrims ... ... ... 70 30 100
For Javanese pilgrims ... ... ... 110 40 150
For Egyptian and Persian pilgrims ... 75 20 95
For Sudanese pilgrims ... ... ... 30 20 50
395
Mecca has 120 Imams to lead prayer in the Haram. The
office is hereditary, but only half the total number are also
Khatibs, licensed to preach the Friday sermon. Of this superior
sixty, thirty-five are for the Hanafi sect, fifteen for the Shafei,
and ten for the Malki. The Hanbali, of whom are the
Wahabites, are thus left unprovided for.
Wahabites at Mecca.
According to reliable information there was no friction with
the Wahabite contingent which accompanied the Emir
Mohammed es-Saud on the recent Pilgrimage ; but so lively was
King Husein’s previous apprehension that he sent a strong force
of tribesmen, under Sherif Hamza el-Feir, to meet the Wahabites
on the way and disarm them if their intent seemed hostile. The
8 i D -ht, however, of 400 women and children in their train
reassured Sherif Hamza. The Wahabites were prevented, as far
as possible, from mixing with the Meccans and the Mutawwifin
were forbidden to have any dealings with them, lest trouble
should arise from clandestine exactions (e.g. the fraud habitually
practised on the simpler pilgrims at a certain place neai the
Kaabah wall, and resulting in the extraction of an extra fee on
the plea that the Archangel Gabriel himself is waiting there to
be tipped !). Strict orders against intermarriage with Wahabites