"ملف 8/15 سلسلة الجزيرة العربية - ١٩٣٣-١٩٣٩" [ظ‎‎١‎٨‎٢] (٤٣٤/٣٦٤)

55
. .u- l-nce a* which the Italian rifles were offered had now been reduced to 10#,
go d, but he had said that as the rifles he already had were of other makes he
did not wish to buy Italian rifles as that would be confusing for his army
(huad told m e on another occasion that the excuse was not strictly true, as
they already had in fact a small number of Italian rifles.) Ibn Saud said
that if he took anything from the Italians they would want something in
J’w'h- m ° r ‘ e " % ehcit his 0 P ini °ns I played devil’s advocate. I said
that His Majesty s Government were offering a stock of arms at a low price ;
'^f 0 ^ H hey A "’m 6 so “ et >nng in exchange ? No, said Ibn Saud ; the interests
of Saudi Arabia and Great Britain were identical. And would not the
Italians allege that their interests were identical with his? Ibn Saud in-
ti ^'li * h i’u dnin t care what the Italians said. When all was said,
the wt Br * tlsh ''•erethe best people. They were better than
Italians, better than the Turks—better than the Arabs. He would
even have preferred, from a purely Saudi point of view, that His Majesty’s
Government should retain the mandate over Iraq. With the British as his
neighbours he felt safe As an Arab and a Moslem he must sympathise with
the adi ance towards Arab independence, but the independence of Iraq had
created a situation which he viewed with grave anxiety. And now the
British were going to give up their responsibility for Transjordan !
(42)
Enclosure in Foreign Office covering letter No. P. Z. 5580/37, dated the <>3rd
August 1937. “ ■
Received on 11th September 1937 with Political Secretary’s letter No. 34 dated
the 26th August 1937.
Letter from British Legation, Jedda, to India Office, No. 115 (E. 3720/
1022/-.O), DATED THE 15TH JUNE 1937, RECEIVED 6TH JULY 1937.
I have the honour to report the promulgation by the authorities of two
measures which appear to be part of the “ Back to Religion ” campaign about
wh.ch I reported in my despatch No. 91 dated the 8th May.
,, J ke first is an order which was issued by town crier, forbidding all
Moslems to shave their beards. The penalty for infringement of this refula
1011 is a fine of 7 nyals. Any barber who shaves the beard of a Moslem is
also liable to a fine. It was understood from the beginning that the em
ployees of foreign missions in Jedda would not be interfered with in this
respect, but a messenger attached to the California Arabian Standard Oil
Company has been fined for a breach of the regulation. It is understood
that a considerable sum in fines has been collected in Mecca, but that on at
e j? st £ ne 0( -‘ cas ion the authorities were disappointed by a Javanese who
after be]n g kept m prison and under observation for several days, was still
without the rudiments of a beard and had to be discharged unpunished.
,i 3 * Most 1 J ava nese, in fact, sometimes through natural inability, but
often fiom choice, do not wear beards, and the Netherlands Charge d’Affaires
vho is himself a Javanese, recently visited Mecca to investigate this question*
Ke was assured by the authorities that if any foreigners had been punished
M^Wirltni T 1 ' r f gU ^io? J was thr °ngh a misunderstanding, and that if
• Widjojoatmojo heard of the application of the regulation to a Nether-
rectlLri lbj TE-^ ° n 7 t0 inform the authorities to have the mistake
c titled. Jins decision is more generous than the regulation itself, which
certainly applied to all Moslems, though as it has never been put in writing
that cannotTbe proved. I may say that no case has been heard of where any
litish subject has been called upon to comply with the regulation.
4. The regulation on beards is not new, but is merely the re-enactment
°L a . measure which has been allowed to fall into disuse. The renewal of
official hostility to shaving is said to be due to Ibn Baud’s annoyance at the
oisern ery of a Saudi youth movement and to his determination^ to teach its
adherents not to be modernising toads. I learn from a good source that
there is at least one fact behind the story of the youth movement viz the
the y ai i di i Gove ™ me nt that one of the Hejazi students’in Egypt
\as in touch with Salama Musa with a view to the ventilation of Hejazi
4