File 1707/1924 ‘Arabia:- Jeddah Situation Reports. (1924-1930)’ [‎305v] (615/898)

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9. The financial situation during the period under report has been deplorable,
and as far as I can ascertain not more than £ 1,000 has been received by the
Government from outside the Hedjaz during the last month.
10. The King during the first week in September raised a forced loan of £5,000
in the town, but this was rendered possible only by his assuring the population that
it was the last forced loan that would be raised. On the 14th instant things were
so bad that one of the King’s secretaries approached a tradesman in the town
on behalf of His Majesty for the temporary loan of £10 to meet the daily expenses
of the palace.
11 . Rumours as to the floating of a loan in London are gaming ground, being
spread by the Government with a view to keeping the soldiers and people quiet.
These rumours have been further augmented by a telegram supposed to have been
received from King Feisal from London to the effect that he had met representatives
of two large British firms and that they were prepared to loan certain monies and
asking for details of securities for same.
Many telegrams of this nature arrive, and there is little doubt but that many
of them are manufactured locally.
12. No results are yet visible from the efforts of the Hedjaz people in Egypt
to raise money on a mortgage on All’s property, which no doubt is already heavily
encumbered.
13. The Chief Kadi of Egypt, Sheikh Ali Maraghi, arrived in Jeddah
accompanied by an interpreter on the 15th instant. Great preparations were made
for his reception by the local people, and whilst here he was treated as a Royal guest.
Sheikh Ali, who visited this agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. , stated that he had hoped for his visit to be
secret. This, however, was frustrated by Abdul Malik, the Hedjaz representative
in Cairo, who sent a telegram to the local Government some days before his departure
from Egypt. The local Government at once spread the rumour that the Egyptian
Government, at the instigation of the British Government, were going to force
Ibn Saud to end the war. The population of Jeddah were, however, forbidden to
speak to or visit the Grand Kadi whilst here in order to prevent any false [sic]
impressions that might be created thereby, and he was consequently, with the
exception of the Egyptian consul and myself, continually being primed with the
awful atrocities and savagery of Ibn Saud and his followers. Many Korans, recently
printed by the Egyptian press, were distributed locally and the chief kadi eventually
left for Mecca on the 20th instant. I learn from a reliable source that before the
chief kadi left Jeddah, King Ali begged him to make peace at any price and gave
him carte blanche as to conditions to be imposed.
14. The result of Hedjaz propaganda in India and Persia is having a marked
enect and seems to have been swallowed wholly by the more ignorant Mnslem
communities m both those countries. IMany telegrams from various guilds in Persia
and India have been addressed to Ibn feaud at Jeddah in the most scurrilous terms.
These only fall into the hands of the local people who are naturally highly elated!
One such signed by Jamat Ali, Shah of Bombay, president of something" not stated,
reads as follows :— °
“ Mass meeting consisting of nearly 100,000 Moslems held on Friday
August resolved to express its anger, hatred, vehemence and contempt
towards Ibn baud and his wild army and those Indian Moslem devotees of
Najdis who have hitherto, owing to their personal motives, stubbornness and
against public opinion, supported Najdis, and consider them responsible for
the present Moslem discontent and the violation of the sacred objects and
advises those fools to leave imprudent course and save religion,” &c.
Another from Bombay, signed by Sirdar Leader of a tribe or a polity; also refers to a military rank or title given to a commander of an army or division. Suleiman Cassim Mitha, president
also of something not stated, reads :— r
me ? tin g of Bombay Moslems held in Masjidejame on the
25th August. It was resolved to consider Ibn baud's treacherous attacks on
Medina and the bombardment of the Prophet’s and Syedna Hamza’s tombs,
and his wild followers, deserving of the whole Moslem hatred and curses for
irreligious acts,” &c.
Also the Guild of Grocers in Tehran wired to the local Government offering
troops, if ^necessary, to defeat the Wahabi “ dogs.” ^
Medina 1 t j irou j?h this agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. , denied most emphatically having bombarded
Medina or having touched the Kuba over the Prophet’s tomb. In all his