Page 77 - UAE Truncal States

Chapter Two

Their lamimah, Sultan bin Muhammad al Hamuda, of the A1 Bu
Kharaiban section, was the Sultan’s wall. But being irrevocably split
into two sections, the Al Bu Kharaiban and the Al Bu Shamis,82 the
NaTm were weakened by constant internal strife. The tamimcih
needed support in asserting his authority over the other elements of
the NaTm in Dhahirah, at the western end of the Wadi Jizi, in the
Wadi Hatta and in the region adjoining al Jau in the direction of
Sharjah and 'Ajman; the latter was being wrested from their hands
by the Bani Kn'ab and the Bani Qilab. Occasional support came from
the Ruler of 'Ajman and the headman of Hamriyah on the coast, both
of whom were members of a Na'im subsection; Sultan bin Muham­
mad al Hamuda became, however, very much dependent on the
assistance and friendship of Shaikh Zayid bin Khalilah, who had
married one of his daughters.
The NaTm of Buraimi were certainly not in a position to make
independent policy decisions within the oasis or outside it during
Zayid bin Khalifah’s rule. On every move they consulted him either
personally or through his Dhawahir representative Ahmad bin
Hilal.03 In 1895, for instance, the 'Awamir declared war against the
NaTm, and Sultan bin Muhammad al Hamuda wrote to Ahmad bin
Hilal: ‘‘We could not do anything against them because our interests
and yours are one. . . . Whatever you decide please let us know
because they [the 'Awamir] are with you.” When in 1905 the Bani
Qitab built a fort in the traditionally NaTmi-controlled Wadi Hatta
and attacked caravans moving through this important pass between
Dubai and the Batinah, and took the village of Masfut, the tamlmah of
the NaTm appealed from his fort in Buraimi village to Zayid for help,
through Ahmad bin Hilal: ‘‘We are relying on God and on him in all
matters ... for as you know we are [in Zayid’s hand] like an article in
the hand of its maker.” At a meeting of the Trucial Shaikhs in Dubai
in April 1905 to settle this dispute, Zayid stood up for the NaTm, and
Masfut was returned to them.84
The meeting in Dubai is an illustration of Zayid’s successful
pursuit of the two closely related aims. First, seven villages in the
Buraimi Oasis paid tax and had become entirely loyal to the Al Bu
Falah. As Captain P.Z. Cox, who travelled to Buraimi in 1902 and
1905, put it: “The real power in the neighbourhood is the Shaikh of
Abu Dhabi, whose material possessions and consequent influence in
the oasis are yearly increasing, ”85 Secondly, he had been able to
increase his influence over both settled and beduin tribes outside the
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