Coll 6/67(1) 'Boundaries of South-Eastern Arabia and Qatar.' [‎281r] (566/794)

47
leikhof
In
'iti tie
e treaty
isr witli
and
limai);
seildis),
Dhabi
elusive
thened
rested
n ucial
•gai-
i
ovem-
tothe
r those
:aph48
i repre-
[esicieiit
i placed
story of
sistently
>se from
laritime
h it was
inM
isifflisoi
tently an
division
Hinawis
and its
jiananil
mall, and
ardingas
appeal
s to havf
onrt
[that tl*
e affa^
0 in size
influence
>wer ffas
d to base
^mediate
uence in
a liB*
(D) Extent of Wahabi control in the area to the east of Nejd from 1800 to 1934.
230. From the historical statement above it will be seen that this has varied
wery greatly, both in degree and in area, and that there are considerable gaps in
its continuity. From 1800 to about 1815 it appears to have been a fairly
substantial control, less marked in the case of Abu Dhabi, extending as far east
as the boundaries of Muscat and largely exercised from Baraimi. The same is
true of the period 1831-33 until 1836, or possibly as late as 1838. From 1845
to 1853 Wahabi influence is again marked over the same area as before. From
1853 to 1869 it underwent a steady decline, and from 1869 until 1923 it is
practically non-existent, though the Sheikhs react quickly to the fortunes of the
ruler of Nejd (cp. paragraphs 134-5, 148, &c.). At that point there are definite
signs of revival, though, even so, the Trucial Sheikhs are divided among
themselves, Abu Dhabi and Dibai being opposed, like Muscat, to any such revival;
Ras al Khaimah and Shargah inclined to sympathise; and the remainder neutral.
In the hinterland of the Trucial Sheikhs Wahabi influence appears to extend
in an informal fashion as far east as the oasis of Baraimi, a minority of the
tribes occupying it having paid zakat ; while Mr. Bertram Thomas and other
travellers report that the Al Murra tribe of the Central Arabian Desert also
defer to it.
231. The main test of the existence of this influence is the payment of zakat
by tribes or rulers. No payments are now made by the Trucial Sheikhs, who, how
ever, exchange presents with the Amir of Hasa. The local political authorities
positively state that this payment is, in fact, a form of danegeld or blackmail,
and does not connote any political subjection.
C£ The position seems to be that the Trucial Chiefs and the tribes fear
aggression from Ibn Sand and try to placate him, the former by presents of
courtesy, and by listening to representations, for example, in cases affecting his
nationals, and the latter by paying zakat to him. But these arrangements are
of recent standing, and merely indicate that for the moment Ibn Saud is
sufficiently powerful to make the payment of blackmail to him an appropriate
insurance.”
(E) History and position of Baraimi.
232. Baraimi was in the past the only important Wahabi settlement in the
Trucial area. The oasis of which it is the centre is well watered, fertile and
strategically of great importance, since it commands the approaches into the
Sultanate of Muscat. It was captured by the Wahabis in 1801, and from that
date to 1869 was the headquarters of their representative in Eastern Arabia,
with intervals during which it passed out of Wahabi control from 1818, or
slightly earlier, to about 1833; from 1838 to 1845; and in 1848-9. In 1869 it
was captured by the Sultan of Muscat, and appears never since to have been
reoccupied by the Wahabis. Its forts are at present held by the Beni Naim,
who appear to be hostile to the Wahabis, though a minority of the tribes who
occupy the oasis were reported in 1924 to have paid zakat to the Wahabi tax
collectors. It will be seen that there is this, no history of continuous Wahabi
occupation, and that the oasis has not been under effective Wahabi control since
1869.
(F) Extent to which the Wahabi Amirs and Ibn Saud have in the past professed
allegiance to Turkey.
233. The Wahabi Amirs were decisively defeated in 1818 by the Egyptians,
and the Wahabi Amir himself executed at Constantinople. On the revival of
the Wahabi power in 1824 and for some years afterwards, the^then Amir Turki
appears to have paid tribute to the Viceroy of Egypt, and to have endeavoured
to represent himself to the Viceroy (though not locally in Arabia) as the Viceroy’s
agent (paragraph 37). They were again decisively defeated by the Egyptians
in 1837-39, and the Wahabi Amir taken prisoner to Cairo. He was released by
the Egyptians and returned to Nejd in 1842. From 1839 to his death in 1865, it
would appear (paragraph 90) that the Wahabi Amir paid tribute to Turkey,
though, at any rate in the latter part of this period, through the Turkish
authorities at Mecca.