Page 788 - PERSIAN 8 1912_1920_Neat

ADMINISTRATION REPORT OF THE
51
dates and to 60$ in the case of pomegranates. It is on the export of their
famous dates and pomegranates that the Omanis exist.
Tho Sultan had several years before raised the sakat to 10 per cent as a
punishment on tho Omanis. Unfortunately tin's notion had been taken in the mid­
dle of the date season, prices were upset and British merchants sulTerod consider­
able loss. The Sultan was therefore obliged at our instance to rescind his
orders. Our aquicsccnco in this matter on this occasion was an unexpected
and a severe blow to the Omanis. This acquiescence was rendered possible
by the fact that ample warning was given three months before the
commencement of tho date season, and merchants were able to calculate the
price thoy would pay for the produce on the basis.of the new tax.
Meanwhile in Oman itself tho Gods had fought against the Imam by
removing Sheikh Hamyar bin Nasir al Nabhani, the paramount chief of the
Ghafiri confederation, and ono of the triumvirate composed of the Imam, Sheikh
Isa and himself who had ruled Oman since the rebellion. Hamyar had boen
the sword arm while Isa had been tho brains of the Omani rule. His successor
was a boy of fourteen.
The Omanis refused to believe for some time that the penal sakat would
be brought into force. Realising after what had happened that it would
be useless to approach the Political Agent, they tried tho British merchants;
to be mot to their intense surprise by the information that as far as the mer­
chants knew tho penal zakat would certainly be enforced.
Discontent in Oman grew. There seemed no sloution except the return
of the confiscated gardens. The zakat notices had ex plicitly given the con­
fiscation of the gardt-ns as the reason for the imposition of the tax. The
Imam was approached. Dominated by his brother Nasir bin Rash:d ai
Kharusi, his Wali in Rustaq, he refused to yield. He and his brother in whose
hands all power really was, began to lose ground, and a definite reaction
against the puritannical fanaticism of the Imainaud the exactions of his brothers
6et in.
At the end of May a significant incident occurred. One Ahmed bin
Ibrahim, the ruler of Hazm in the Sultan’s territories close to llustaq, over a
question of escaped slaves provoked attack from Nasir bin Rashid of ltu6taq.
The latter besieged Hazm, and the Imam called on the tribes to punish Ahmed.
The Imam was met by refusal or excuse in every case, while Nasir bin Rashid’s
men fled ignominiously at tho approach of a very small relief force organised
by the local government. Such a result, for in Arab warfare all depends on
prestige, would have been unthinkable six months before.
June saw the ferment rising in Oman; abortive meeting followed abortive
meeting in the interior, suggestions compromises, intrigues, all to get rid of
the strangling penal zakat, of which the actual pinch Mas beginning to be felt,
succeeded each other. Finally on the 29th June Sheikh Isa, swallowing his
pride addressed the Political Agent by letter asking what our position was in
the matter. He received at once a clear reply that we were behind the Sultan,
and that having been refused once we were not prepared to exercise our good
offices on their behalf again until they had rectified the manifest injustice of
the confiscated property.
This letter dispelled any remaining doubts the Omanis may have had#
Realising that the attitude of the Imam and of his brothers, who had seized;
the gardens, alon* stood between them and a settlement, tired of strife and
openly discontented with their present rule, they murdered the Imam Salim bin
Rashid al Kharusi at Khadra on the 23rd July.
Wild confusion now prevailed. The Oman tribes seemed to have lost
their cohesion. The Sultan’s government — fortunately tho British adviser
was in India and therefore we were in no way involved — made a determined
effort to regain their hold over the interior, while Sheikh Isa endeavoured to
rally the tribes and to secure the election of an Imam, which action alone
could save him from extinction.
He managed, the history of how would be worth writing, to secure, by
what we should call a packed house, the election of his father-in-law