Page 307 - UAE Truncal States

Chapter Eight

their strange language, and their foreign habits all helped to
antagonize the Arab and Persian Muslims of the Gulf. Ships in the
Gulf flying the British flag were usually commanded by captains
born in the British Isles, while most of I he crew were people from the
Indian subcontinent. If these British Indian subjects were Hindus or
Buddhists they were nevertheless rivals or enemies even though they
were protected by the British flag; if they were Muslims, some of the
Arab crews felt justified in giving them the choice of conversion to
Wahhabism or punishment.

The memory of the Portuguese conquests
A factor which has to be taken into consideration when discussing
the acts of piracy committed by tribesmen on the Arab coast against
British shipping, is the longevity of memories among the population.
The first Christian power which came to the area behaved in an
unspeakably cruel fashion towards anyone who opposed it in its bid
to take over the eastern trade. The path of Albuquerque and the
Portuguese commanders who succeeded him is stained with the
blood of many thousands of Arabs. If a coastal settlement did not
hand over the harbour, shipping, and fortifications at once, the entire
population risked being put to death or mutilated.
In contrast to this, traditional Arab warfare was rarely carried to
such extremes; the losing side could admit defeat and a peace was
usually arranged before the victorious side had time to annihilate its
adversaries. In general the Arab’s concept of war was of a contest of
man against man. The civilian population was not considered to be a
target in an honourable war between tribesmen; they suffered only to
the extent that they were considered to be part of the belongings of
the defeated enemy. Thus women and children were as a rule never
harmed in a military encounter, but they were sometimes carried off
together with the domestic animals and household goods as booty.
The memory of the indiscriminate killing of women, children and
the old, and the mutilations inflicted on their prisoners, by the
Portuguese23, became engraved in the minds of Arabs living any­
where between the Red Sea and the Persian coast, and were
remembered as the deeds of Christians. There was usually little
understanding of the differences between one European power and
another, particularly among the people on the Arab coast where
there had not been an established trading post. They could hardly be
expected to be aware of the profound differences in behaviour
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