Page 119 - UAE Truncal States
P. 119

Chapter Three

                withhold allegiance as well as tribute, and from 1866 control  over
                Fujairah gradually slipped from the Qawasim’s hands.
                   In 1901 Shaikh Hamad bin ’Abdullah, the headman of the
                 Sharqiyln in Fujairah, declared his independence, and this time this
                 move was recognised as an irreversible fact by everyone concerned
                 with the exception of the British Government.351
                   Other leaders of tribes in the ShamailTyah also played important
                roles in local politics. The support of the shaikh of the Naqbiyln was
                 an essential factor in the protracted process of settling the succes­
                sion in Kalba in 1937. By that time the position of the wali in Kalba had
                 become that of an independent Ruler recognised also by the British
                Government, but the extent of the territory had been diminished
                 because Hamad bin 'Abdullah now ruled all the surrounding
                Sharqiyfn territory and was in possession of Bithnah in the Wadi
                Ham. which commanded the direct route between Sharjah and the      i
                east coast. While asserting their independence, successive leaders of
                 the Sharqiyln in Fujairah antagonised each of the Qawasim Rulers in
                 turn,40 but relations with Kalba were particularly bad because the
                Rulers in Kalba resented their loss of sovereignty over the Sharqiyfn,
                while the shaikhs of Fujairah still felt that they needed to consolidate
                their positions particularly vigorously so near home. Thus, despite
                 the intermarriage during the first decade of this century between the
                shaikhly families of Fujairah and Kalba,41 there was constant tension
                 between the populations, which often erupted into acts of violence,
                accusations, half-hearted agreements and reconciliation, followed by
                another round of disputes. In the British Government’s records of
                incidents involving the subjects of these two Rulers during the
                present century, Fujairah frequently appears to have taken every
                opportunity to provoke its neighbour. This may be partly due to the
                fact that the single-minded Ruler of Fujairah repeatedly alienated the
                British Government, which in turn may have been influenced in its
                reporting of the incidents. However, Fujairah had in fact become
                powerful enough to deny Kalba, the seal of the rightful wali of all
                ShamailTyah, any right to the territory adjacent to the town of
                Kalba.42
                  The formal recognition of the Ruler of Fujairah (then Muhammad,
                the son of the forceful Hamad bin ’Abdullah) by the British
                Government in 1952 almost coincided with the extinction of Kalba as
                an independent shaikhdom. Like Dibah, the towns of Kalba and
                Khaur Fakkan have remained dependencies of Sharjah until today.

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