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File 3666/1925 'ARABIA: PRINTED CORRESPONDENCE 1924-28' [‎118v] (247/792)

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The record is made up of 1 volume (388 folios). It was created in 27 Dec 1924-28 Oct 1929. It was written in English and French. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .

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112
that the agitation engineered by the mujtehiddin both at Kerbela and in - ersia
itself has recently shown signs of recrudescence. Reports of further desecration of
tombs have been received from the 'Iraq ulema and the Shah has requested the
Persian clergy to consult together and to make recommendations as to how far
Persia can make any effective protest. A proposal that the recent feast of the
twelfth Imam should be observed as a day of national mourning was not carried R
into effect owing to some hesitation on the part of the more sensible of the religious
leaders to accept rumours which had previously been found to be exaggerated and
which in the present instance are still unconfirmed. Such tentative and unofficial
enquiries as have been made of this Legation have been answered in the sense that
in the absence of all confirmation the reports may be exaggerated if not untrue.
Should any more formal queries be addressed to me I shall be governed by the views
expressed in your telegram under reference and shall emphasize our policy of non
intervention in religious matters. My impression is however that the agitation is
engineered by the 'Iraqi and Persian Mujtehiddin in order to advertise their own
importance, and that the interest shown by the Shah and Cabinet is due solely to
their desire to conciliate the Ulema. lam reliably informed also that one of the
main purposes of the present agitation and of the services of protest which are being
held daily in the main mosques, is by this indirect means to organise opposition to the
judicial reforms initiated by Daver the new and enterprising Minister of Justice.
The Ulema see in these reforms an attack upon clerical privilege but do not dare
openly to organise a reactionary agitation, preferring to stimulate discontent under
the cloak of Wahabi atrocities.
2. Copies of this despatch are being sent to the Acting Foreign Secretary to the
Government of India, His Majesty’s High Commissioner at Baghdad and to His
Majesty’s High Commissioner at Cairo.
(126)
Endorsed by His Majesty’s Acting Agent and Consul at Jeddah, No. 184-M./
58, DATED THE 21 ST FEBRUARY 1927.
Reference to previous correspondence.
Jeddah despatch* No. 48-M., dated 19th January 1927.
From His Majesty the King of the Hejaz and Sultan of Nejd, No. 397, dated
2-8-1345 (4th February 1927).
Enclosure to Serial No. (126.)
Translation of a letter from Abdul Aziz Ibn Abudl Rahman al Feisal al
Saud, to His Excellency the Acting British Agent and Consul, Jeddah,
No. 397, dated Riyadh, 2-8-1345 (4th February 1927).
After greetings.
I have received Your Excellency’s lettert No. 47 (58) of 19th January 1927
and noted its contents.
With reference to the question of Haji Abdul Ghani Ibn Osman, the Committee
will reconsider it and satisfactorily settle it.
As to the two women Bibi Khadija and Bibi Amu. although the Committee
refused to hear their last claim because the official delay had elapsed, yet with a
view to the special case of the women Your Excellency indicated, we will, please
God, consider it in a special way when we return to Mecca in answer to Your
Excellency's request.
This is for your information.
With respects.
[Seal of Ibn Saud].
♦Serial No. (112).
•| Enclosure to Serial No. (112).

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Content

This volume mainly relates to British policy in Arabia, and specifically concerns British relations with Ibn Saud [‘Abd al-‘Azīz bin ‘Abd al-Raḥmān bin Fayṣal Āl Sa‘ūd, also referred to in the correspondence as Bin Saud]. The papers cover the Hejaz-Nejd War of 1924-25 and political affairs in Ibn Saud's Kingdom of Hejaz and Sultanate of Nejd [Najd] (or the Kingdom of Hejaz and Nejd, as it became in 1927).

The volume mainly consists of compiled sections of printed correspondence, with each section closing with a report from the British Agent and Consul at Jeddah. The most prominently featured correspondents are as follows: the British Agent and Consul, Jeddah; the Secretary of State for India; the Secretary of State for the Colonies; the Political Resident A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency. , Aden; the High Commissioner, Egypt; the High Commissioner, Iraq; the High Commissioner, Palestine; officials of the Colonial Office, the Foreign Office, the Admiralty, the India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. ; the Government of India's Foreign and Political Department. Also featured as correspondents are Ibn Saud, King Ali [‘Alī bin Ḥusayn al-Hāshimī], and British Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin.

Matters covered in the correspondence include the following:

  • Diplomatic relations between Ibn Saud and Britain, Italy, France, the Netherlands, and Persia [Iran]
  • Information on developments in the Hejaz-Nejd War of 1924-25, mainly in the form of telegrams and letters from the British Agent and Consul at Jeddah, and British policy regarding the conflict
  • British policy in relation to the fate of the ex-King Hussein [Ḥusayn bin ‘Alī al-Hāshimī]
  • Reports of Wahabi forces having damaged or destroyed holy sites in Mecca and Medina
  • The efforts of King Ali [‘Alī bin Ḥusayn al-Hāshimī] to raise money in Jeddah
  • Details of the Hadda Agreement and the Bahra Agreement, concluded between Sir Gilbert Clayton and Ibn Saud in late 1925
  • Details of King Ali's surrender and abdication on 19 December 1925, and arrangements for his passage out of Jeddah
  • Britain's recognition of Ibn Saud as King of the Hejaz in February 1926
  • British concerns regarding the spread of anti-British opinion in the Hejaz
  • Public outrage in the wider Muslim world regarding the desecration of holy sites by the Wahabis, and the British Government's refusal to become involved, owing to its stated policy of non-intervention in Muslim religious affairs
  • British efforts to ensure the Government of Hejaz's participation in the International Sanitary Convention of 1926
  • Arrangements for a private visit to London by Ibn Saud's son Faisal [Fayṣal bin ‘Abd al-‘Azīz Āl Sa‘ūd] in September 1926
  • British concerns regarding Ibn Saud's diplomatic relations with Soviet Russia [Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, or USSR]
  • A change to Ibn Saud's title in 1927, from 'King of Hejaz and Sultan of Nejd' to 'King of Hejaz and Nejd'
  • The conclusion of the Treaty of Jeddah in June 1927
  • Relations between Ibn Saud and the Imam of Yemen [Yaḥyá Muḥammad Ḥamīd al-Dīn], and the former's suspicions that the Italian Government has been supplying the Imam with arms
  • Profiles of prominent figures in the Kingdom of Hejaz and Nejd
  • The number of pilgrims arriving each year for Hajj
  • Tense relations between Ibn Saud and the Iraqi Government, particularly concerning the Uqair Protocol.

Also included with the correspondence are the following: minutes of an interdepartmental conference held at the Colonial Office on 20 May 1926, to discuss matters arising out of Clayton's Mission to Ibn Saud (ff 178-179); a Colonial Office memorandum entitled 'British Interests in Arabia', dated 8 December 1926 (ff 111-113).

The volume includes a small amount of correspondence written in French.

The volume includes a divider which gives the subject number, the year the subject file was opened, the subject heading, and a list of correspondence references by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence (f 1).

Extent and format
1 volume (388 folios)
Arrangement

The papers are arranged in approximate chronological order from the rear to the front of the volume.

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the first folio with 1 and terminates at the last folio with 388; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio. A previous foliation sequence between ff 118-388, which is also circled, has been superseded and therefore crossed out. The foliation sequence does not include the front and back covers, nor does it include the leading and ending flyleaves.

Pagination: each of the various sections of printed correspondence has its own printed pagination sequence.

Written in
English and French in Latin script
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File 3666/1925 'ARABIA: PRINTED CORRESPONDENCE 1924-28' [‎118v] (247/792), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/10/1155, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100145454963.0x000030> [accessed 15 June 2026]

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