Coll 30/23 'Persian Gulf. Koweit: Status. Position vis a vis Iraq and Ibn Saud. Boundaries of Koweit' [‎302v] (605/695)

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Hamad al-Khalid is a dour, butkindly, old man
of old-fashioned views. During the War he
started to lead the Pro-Turk party—until Shaikh
Mubarak made it clear that there was to be no
Pro-Turk Party in Kuwait. There is now nothing
anti-British about him.
Shaikh Yusuf bin ’Isa is a schoolma-ter and
intriguer who is mixed up with every underhand
plot in Kuwait.
There are of course many others who are in
a position to influence the Shaikh but the above
are the most important. Two other men, not
Kuwait subjects, whose characters are wonh
considering am 'Abdullah an-Nafisi and Shaikh
Hafidh W ah bah.
’Abdullah an-Nafisi is Ibn Sa'ud’s Agent in
Kuwait. He is a pleasant and tactful man, who
is liked by everyone in the place. Though Agent
to the Wahhabi King, he is one of the heaviest
smokers I have seen.
Shaikh [or Mull a) Hafidh W ahbah is an
Egyptian who has been in Ibn Sa'ud's service for
the last few years. He has the reputation of
being rabidly anti-British, and is said to have
been deported from 'Iraq during the War—though
I do not remember his case myself—and was
deported from Bahrain in 19*22.* Personally I
think that his reputation is largely, if not entirely,
unearned; and that he was really much more
anti-Daly than anti-British—he certainly did
dislike Major Daly, and probably said so in
Bahrain. I was naturally very suspicious of him
when he came here, and watched him carefully,
but have never heard of him saying or doing
anything in the slightest degree anti-British.
He is a 'well educated man but does not give
the impression of being in any way brilliant.
Ibn Sa'ud is not w’ell off for educated men, and,
with the exception of Dr. 'Abdullah Effendi
Damluji, I think Shaikh Hafidh is about the best
I have met.
The Town of Kuwait now measures about three
miles along the shore, having extended consider
ably in recent years towards the east. Its greatest
depth, about one mile, is near the centie of the
town, where the long suburb called Murqab has
grown out from it towards the south-east. The
streets are irregular and winding, and the town
is not laid out on any general plan. Most of
the houses have only a ground floor, but appear
higher, owing to a parapet-wall enclosing the roof.
There are over forty mosques, of which nine are
Friday congregational mosques. None of them
have any architectural merit. In the year 1920
the existing Town Wall was built by the late
Shaikh Salim. It is a little over four miles in
length, and has three gates. In addition to the
gates, which are protected by towers, there is a
tow’er about every two hundered yards throughout
the length of the w r all.
The Inhabitants are for the most part Arabs
of the'Utub,'Awazim, Rashaidah, Bani Khalid,
Dawasir, 'Ajman, 'Anizah and Dhafir tribes,
besides Arabs from Hasa, etc. There are also a
large number of Persians (mostly engaged in
menial pursuits) and many negroes. The Jewish
community numbers about 160 souls, and the
Christians only a few families. Indians have
* F. No. 480-X—23.
never 'made good’ in Kuwait, and are much
despised. There are only three or four in the
tow r n.
The Population is believed to be somewhere in
tie neighbour of 50,000.
Education .—There are a great number of^ N
schools of a sort in Kuwait. The Arabs conduct N
at lea-t fifty two ; the Persians have eleven, and
the Jews and Christians one each, making a total
of at least sixty five. Of the Arab schools
twenty seven are for boys and twenty five for
girls. These schools are not under any control
by the local Government. Most of the boys’
schools and all the girls' schools teach nothing
but the reading of the Quran ; and up to the end
of 1911 no higher form of education was available
in the town.
At present The American Mission School gives
by far the best education in Kuwait, particularly as
reeards English, but it only has twenty boys—
which is about all it can accommodate.
Ihe hlubarakiyah School was established in
J 912, about the same time as the Mission School
A sum of Rs. 85,000 was collected by public
subscription, of which Ks. 40,000 w^as used tc
build a school, with many large class-rooms and
verandahs round a courtyard, and the balance
kept as an endowment fund. It has a Board of
Trustees in charge of its affairs. Its income is
derived from the endow'ment and the fees for
pupils, who pay Rs. 2 a month each. There is a
headmaster and six assistant masters *rd about
220 boys, who are graded in classes. The curri
culum includes the Quran, Traditions, canon law T ,
ethics, Arabic reading, composition and grammar,
arithmetic, geography, history and English. It
is thus far advanced from the usual mulla school,
but even so it does not pretend to give more than
a primary educat.on.
The Ahmadiyah School was founded in the
autumn of 1921 under the auspices of the Muslim
Benevolent Association, wi h the ass stance of
the present Ruler, after whom it was named. It
has its own Board of Trustees. Its income is
derived from the fees of siudente-, supplemented
by annual contributions from benevolent residents,
and it is therefore not on a very secure basis It
has seven masters and 165 boys, and is
carriculum is jhe same as that of the Mubatakiyah
School, but it is planned to make it into a
secondary school when—or if—they can get
qualified masters at the salaries which they can
afford to poy.
The Orphanage School for orphans and other
poor boys is supported entirely by one family of
wealthy pe^l merchants. It has six masters and
about 130 boys, and teaches the usual Quranic
branches, with history and arithmetic in addition.
There are eight other schools for Arab boys which
teach a little arithmetic, in addition to the
reading of the Quran.
Persian Schools which teach writing and
arithmetic, in addition to the reading of the
Quran, are three in number ; while there are
eight others which teach the last subject onlv.
Agriculture .—In Kuwait and its environs is
practically nil. There are no date plantations of
any value, hardly any fields and not many kitchen
gardens. The villages to the south-east of