File 1707/1924 ‘Arabia:- Jeddah Situation Reports. (1924-1930)’ [‎403v] (811/898)

constantly addressed their victims as “kuffar ” (infidels) and “ mushrikin ’’(thosewho
join others with God, i.e., polytheists), and made many re P e at the Wahabi formula
It appears that instead of “ There is no God but A1 ah, and Mahomet is the prophet
of Allah,” the Wahabis say, “There is no God but Allah akT 16 ’ ae has no
companion.” To this they sometimes add : ” and Mahomet is his slave and his
prophet” They consider that the reverence shown by the bunni for Mahomet
savours of idolatry. It is alleged that the Wahabis demolished the tomb of
Abdullah-bin-Abbas, cousin of the Prophet, but this, though widely believed and
quite probable, is not well authenticated. , j a . -u a
It is believed now that most of the invaders belong to the Bukum and Ataibah
tribes. The military success and the enormous booty won by these fairly recent
converts are likely to win other tribes to the Wahabi tenets. . .
11. The local estimate of non-combatants killed by the Wahabis is from 500
to 800. It is probable that some 200 were killed. The casualties among the British
Indians who happened to be in Taif are these :—
(1.) Muhammad Sadik, son of Muhammad Nadim : held to ransom.
(2.) Muhammad Ismail, son of Abdullah : held to ransom.
(3.) Mian Jamal (Baroda) : missing, believed killed.
(4.) Mian Ahmad (Baroda) : missing, believed killed.
Nos. (1), (3) and (4) were registered at this agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. . No. (2) was registered
until 1914.
The three persons mentioned below, viz. :—
(5.) Mirza Abdul Rahman, killed;
(6.) Ahmad, son of No. (5), killed;
(7.) Amna, daughter of No. (5), killed;
were at first believed to be British Indians, but none was registered. Nos. (6) and (7)
were certainly born in Mecca, and it is probable that not even the father, No. (5),
was born in India.
It is said that there were also some Sindhis in Taif, and there is a story that
the bodies of some of them were seen by the men who were made to bury the dead;
but I can get no certain evidence of this.
The total number of Indians in Taif who were certainly or very probably
entitled to be considered as British subjects was about twenty.
A certain Ali Johar-bin-Hasan Johar, who was killed, was a well-known
Calcutta merchant, but I am not sure about his nationality. He is said to have
been born in the Hedjaz.
12. A Syrian general who was with the Hashimite forces in Taif states that
the Amir Ali decided to evacuate the town before he had lost a single man. There
may be some jealousy in this, but it is certain that the Hashimite army did not
make a very desperate resistance. At the moment of writing, the Amir Ali is
advancing on Taif in the hope of retaking it, and one of the factors against him
must be the ease with which he was driven out a fortnight ago. His force consists
of perhaps 500 men which he brought from Medina, of whom most are West
Africans; perhaps as many men of the Mecca troops, consisting of Yemenis of the
worst kind (the lowlanders) “ Hedjazis ” (notorious for deserting with their rifles,
even in peace time) from the agricultural country towards Taif; and Takrunis,
who are nearly all unwilling recruits. The Mecca people were at first unwilling
to furnish any recruits, but the higher rates of pay which the Amir Ali seems to
have compelled his father to promise, or the realisation of the truth of the news of
pillage and massacre, or some other cause, has secured a few hundred recruits from
the two best fighting elements in Mecca : the men of Hadhramaut origin and the
men of the Havas quarter. But everything depends upon the tribes, and so far
no considerable body of tribal support seems to" have been even promised. That
the tribes are on bad terms with King Hussein must be very well known to the
Wahabis; indeed, it is reasonable to suppose that Taif would hardly have been
attacked if resistance from the tribes as well as from the Hashimite army had been
anticipated. News received at the last moment before the typing of this despatch
states that the Amir Ali has now with him about 2.000 tribesmen. These are,
however, not from the bigger tribes, e.g., Harb. but Bani Sufyan (a sub-tribe of the
Bani Thakif living near Taif), and odds and ends scraped together by the shereefs,
who fear that the family will be wiped out if the W T ahabis take Mecca, from their
personal following among the small local tribes, e.g., Bishah and Hudhail.