Page 51 - PERSIAN 2 1879_1883

RESIDENCY AND MU8KAT POLITICAL AdENCY FOR 1879-80. 89
El-Koot.' The plantations of all others were confiscated, and Sulcim£n-
bin-Mfijid placed as Governor of £1-
[MS.]
Hasfi. Tliis affair contributed much
to the extension and stability of the Wah&bcc power, and offers of sub­
mission came from all sides; the Amir, nevertheless, thought it prudent
to endeavour to conciliate the Turkish Wall, by amicable overtures and
the despatch of valuable preseuts of horses, &c., to Baghdad.
After the settlement of the affair of El-Hasti, Su'ood proceeded on
[Mcngin.] a pilgrimage to Mecca accompanied by
A.D. 1800. some 4,000 armed followers; and in the
year 1800 he repeated the pilgrimage.
During the year 1800, an attack was threatened by the Wahdbeea
on the possession of the Sultan of Muskat, and Scyyid Sultan went to
ltas-cl-Kheymak to concert means of frustrating the intention. The
[Govcrnmeut Selection.] following year a Wahabee force under
[Mcngin.] Salim El-Hark, one of the Amir's
Memlooks, invaded 'Om6n.
In the year 1801 Su'ood-bin-'Abdul 'Azeez marched with 20,000
men to Kerbela, which town he entered
A.D. 1801.
on the 20th of April. The male in­
habitants were put to the sword, the tomb of Iloosein demolished, and
immense booty secured. The slaughter and pillage having lasted for
eight hours, the Wah&bees withdrew from the town the same afternoon.
The 'Uttoobce Shaikhs of Bahrain having been attacked in 1S01 by
[Mcngin.] the Sultau of Muskat, fled to Zobarah
A.D. 1802. on the mainland and soughtthc assist­
[Government Selection.] ance of the Wall a bee Amir which
was accorded, in 1S02, with the result of recovery of the islands by the
Bahrain Chief, who, in return, engaged to pay tribute to the Wah&bce.
At this period the latter dominated the entire coast-line as far as the
Batinah on the Gulf of 'Oman. Several of the 'Oman tribes embraced
the Wahabce faith and became tribu­
A.D. 1803. taries of the Amir, and the conclusion
of a truce alone saved the independence of the Sultan of Muskat.
A quarrel having occurred between the M aliabce Chief ano Ghdlib,
the Shereef of Mecca, in the year 1803 A.D., Su'ood-bin-'Abdul 'Azeez
marched with a force of Wabdbees, and after reducing Tdyif, entered
Mecca at the head of his army on the 1st of May of that year. Though
appearing as declared enemies of the Shereef, the A\ abdbees, however,
did not on this occasion demean themselves as a hostile force, but entered
the town in the guise of pilgrims, and strictly refrained from plunder­
ing, or otherwise molesting the general body of the inhabitants. At the
same time they proceeded, in pursuance of their religious convictions,
to raze to the ground “ all the large tombs in the city which the people
generally worshipped and believed in, bo tbat there did not remain an
idol to be adored in that pure city. Then the taxes and customs we
abolished, all the different kinds of instruments for using tobacco we
[Journal b. A. S. of Boogal for destroyed, next we burned the dwelling
1874.] of those selling hasheesh and living m
open wickedness, &c., &c.*