Page 109 - UAE Truncal States

Chapter Three

Sharjah, which became the more important, was eventually ruled
jointly by the two half-brothers Salim bin Sultan, whose mother was
a slave woman, and Ibrahim bin Sultan, whose mother was from the
MarazTq, a Batinah tribe; the latter had been wali of Ra’s al Khaimah
for a long lime under his father Sultan bin Saqr. Their nephew
Humaid bin'Abdullah, who became the wali of Ra’s al Khaimah after
Ibrahim bin Sultan, proclaimed himself independent of Sharjah in
1869, and in spite of attempts by the Rulers of Sharjah, Humaid
remained in absolute control of the town of Ra’s al Khaimah as well
as some of the hinterland until his death in 1900. One of the reasons
why the Qasimi realm continued to be divided was the preoccupation
of the shaikhs in Sharjah with problems caused by its smaller
dependency, Hamriyah.
In 1883 Shaikh Saqr bin Khalid forcibly took Sharjah from his
uncles Salim and Ibrahim. On the death of Humaid bin 'Abdullah in
1900 Saqr bin Khalid also gained control of Ras al Khaimah and
placed his son Khalid there as wali.0 After the latter’s death in 1908
the Ruler of Sharjah asked the people of Ra’s al Khaimah whom they
wanted as wali. When they chose his uncle Salim bin Sultan whom
he had earlier ousted from Sharjah but to whom he was obliged to
pay an annual subsidy, he anticipated that Salim would proclaim
independence from Sharjah, and, having a lot of popular support,
might succeed. Saqr bin Khalid’s nominee, yet another son of the
deceased Sultan bin Saqr, Nasir, was made wali of Ra’s al Khaimah,
but in 1910 Salim bin Sultan succeeded in assuming the government
there. Considering the varied career of Shaikh Salim—exile on Abu
Musa and minister (wazlr) to his usurping nephew Saqr bin Khalid—
the British authorities assumed that his rule in Ra’s al Khaimah
would be of short duration. This was the reason why, unlike Humaid
bin 'Abdullah, who had also initially been a self-styled independent
Ruler, Salim was never given formal recognition of independence and
never quite achieved the status of a Trucial Shaikh.0 His younger son
Sultan, who succeeded him upon his death in 1919 with the consent
of the people of Ra’s al Khaimah, was fully recognised in 1921 by the
British Government. Since that time Ra’s al Khaimah has remained
an independent shaikhdom.
In Sharjah Saqr bin Khalid died in 1914. He was succeeded by his
cousin Khalid bin Ahmad; but in 1924 Sultan bin Saqr, who had been
a minor at the time of his father’s death, made use of discontent
among the pearling community of Sharjah and took the rule from his

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