Page 227 - UAE Truncal States
P. 227

Chapter Six

                 province, which contributed to making their small community of
                 about 65 very inward-looking. The Hindus were all involved in the
                 export of pearls and were for some time also the chief importers of
                 cloth, rice, coffee and sugar. Since the trade in both directions  was
                 almost exclusively arranged in India, the Hindu merchants had the
                 edge over their Arab colleagues particularly in the wholesale
                 marketing of imports. The resident Hindu merchants usually sold
                 their pearls to Hindus who came only for the pearling season to the
                 Trucial Coast and Bahrain. Their religion, eating habits, customs and
                 dress marked them as aliens. They remained aliens even after several
                 generations had lived in the country, and their men were not allowed
                 to marry a Muslim girl, although marriage of a Muslim man to a
                 Hindu girl was acceptable.
                   The integration of non-tribal Muslims, even if they were Shiites,
                 was much less of a problem because the town population of tribal
                 and non-tribal origin mixed quite freely, although not at all social
                 levels. There were instances of immigrants from Khamlr who did so
                 well in the pearling industry that they owned several boats within a
                 few years of their arrival, and they became not only well accepted but
                 leading citizens; and in due course their families married into the
                 ruling family.
                   Quite apart from the sociological and cultural barriers, the
                 integration of Hindus was practically impossible because their
                 status as aliens was perpetuated by their being British subjects.
                 There were many moments in the history of the Trucial Slates when
                 even the notion that British-protected lives and property might be in
                 danger was sufficient to bring a British man-of-war on to the scene.
                 This status, which must have appeared akin to diplomatic immunity,
                 did not endear the Hindus to the population of their host
                 shaikhdoms.

                 Entrepreneurs in the Abu Dhabi pearling industry
                 As time went by, some entrepreneurs in the pearling industry in Abu
                 Dhabi town became more prosperous and eventually they owned
                 several pearling and trading vessels. One of the most successful of
                 these businessmen was Khalaf Otaibah. The share in the industry of
                 the Llwa-based beduin tribal co-operatives was not affected, because
                 the growth of the industry could absorb the additional boats, and, as
                     pointed out earlier, immigration and the employment of slaves
                 was
                 provided enough people to man  the boats. Eventually the entre-
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