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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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