Page 278 - UAE Truncal States
P. 278

A City Slate - Example Dubai

         among the wealthier social groupings as well. These changes were
         not so radical, because they affected only the economic status but left
         the original Arab tribal social order intact. The ‘‘aristocrats" of the
         City State had been the members of the A1 Bu Falasah clan and of
         other Bani Yus subtribes, among whom a fair number had become
         relatively wealthy from trading in pearls and running pearling boats.
         Many of them were far wealthier than the Ruler, who did not
         participate personally in the industry but could use the tax revenue
         at his discretion either privately or for public purposes. After the
         decline of the pearling industry many of the pearl merchants, who
         were habitually reluctant to deal in foodstuffs and textiles—a type of
         trading they had always left to the Persian traders—found them­
         selves overtaken in personal and family fortunes by the Persian
         immigrant merchants on the one side and the Ruler himself on the
         other. But Shaikh Sa'Td bin Maktum understood, as did the other
         Rulers on the coast, that the guaranteed annual rents which were
         paid by Petroleum Concessions Ltd. and the British Government for
         exploration and landing facilities were his personal income.24 By the
         end of the 1930s, he was financially much better off than the rest of
         his family. This was a source of much friction between him and some
         of his cousins, which, as can be seen at a later date, led to their
         repeated attempts at armed rebellion and eventually to their success
         in combining the many pockets of discontent and resistance against
         his rule in Dubai into an organised opposition.

         The roots of discontent
         As has been shown above, the decline of the pearling industry hit the
         merchants in Dubai particularly hard because, as times grew worse,
         most of their boats went to sea loaded down with a complex chain of
         debts. Returns had been phenomenal for some lucky individuals.
         Therefore the number of people who borrowed money, fitted out a
         boat and tried their luck grew out of all proportion, while the debts
         which people were willing to risk also grew every year. When the
         decline started, a rising premium was demanded for the risk: up to 36
         per cent annual interest was taken in 1929. During that same year, 60
         boats from Dubai failed to put to sea owing to financial difficulties.25
         Among the merchants who suffered were Muhammad bin Ahmad bin
         Dalmuk, the cousins of the Ruler, Mani' and Hashar the sons of
         Rashid bin Maktum, and SaTd and Suhail whose father Buti had
         been the previous Ruler.

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