Page 143 - UAE Truncal States

Chapter Throe

preparation of their cases for arbitration consisted to a large extent
of the collection of evidence that taxes or zakah had been paid by
certain groups or individuals to either of the two powers. Although it
is some manifestation of sovereignly if a Ruler can collect lax from
nomadic and settled tribal groups, this does not necessarily always
mean that his authority is therefore any more acceptable to them. As
many of the cases collated in the UK Memorial and the Saudi
Memorial, both digested in J.B. Kelly’s book Eastern Arabian
Frontiers, show, taxes were paid when it was difficult to refuse, or as
Bertram Thomas puts it: “It is an insurance premium, and by no
means signifies a voluntary or lasting acknowledgement of sov­
ereignly.”05 Particularly in respect of people such as the beduin
Manasir or the semi-settled groups of the Bani Yas in Dhafrah, the A1
Bu Falah Ruler’s authority was manifest not so much in the latter
having the power to collect taxes as in the tribes turning to him for
protection, subsidies, jurisdiction and the feeling of identity.

Customs duties
Within the confinement of a community, such as the coastal
settlements, it is not difficult for a Ruler to exert authority over
groups and individuals, even over those who are reluctant to fall in
line. There he could enforce unpopular rules and regulations with the
help of a few armed guards Caskar or fidawi), and he could for
example prohibit the construction of a house on a particular site, he
could control the rent of shops in the sue/ and interfere in many
aspects of the daily life of the people.
The imposition of customs at the major ports has always been a
Ruler’s undisputed right. On trade overland, however, no customs
dues were collected, such as on the transport of earthenware pots or
camel-saddles from 'Ibri to the Buraimi villages. Nor was the market
atDaid subject to customs duties forgoods from Oman. In theTrucial
States dues varied between \\ per cent recorded earlier this century
for Sharjah and 2\ per cent current in Abu Dhabi during the 1950s.
There were customs collectors at Sharjah as well as Ra's al Khaimah
even before the complete separation into two shaikhdoms. The
Rulers of Abu Dhabi maintained a customs collector in Abu Dhabi
and on Dalma.06 A duty of 2\ per cent of the value of imports except
for pearls was levied in both places.07
On first sight it seems that there was a lot of room for argument
over the value of cargoes on local craft carrying firewood from Iran or

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