Page 276 - Arabia the Gulf and the West

‘Araby the Blest’ 273

financial pruning could well provoke serious unrest.
Finally, there is a potential if deep-lying source of political instability in the
resentment that persists in some parts of the kingdom at the predominance of
the Al Saud. The feeling runs most deeply in the Hijaz, and more particularly
among the descendants of its former rulers, the ashraf, the several dozen
families of the tribe of Quraish claiming descent from the Prophet in the house
of Hashim, the best known of which were the sharifian families of Mecca. As
we have seen, after the conquest of the Hijaz by Ibn Saud and its absorption
into Saudi Arabia the ashraf were treated with contumely, to the distress of
many Muslims, both within Arabia and outside. The ashraf, although out­
wardly resigned to Saudi rule, have never ceased to regard the Al Saud as other
than interlopers, upstarts of undistinguished lineage and uncivilized ways who
have usurped the guardianship of the haramain, the holy places, which right­
fully belongs to the house of Hashim, and have deprived its members of their
patrimony, the Hijaz itself. That the spirit of Hijazi separation exists there can

be no doubt; whether it has a firmer basis than the grievances of the ashraf is
unascertainable. Much the same kind of animosity towards the Al Saud,
arising from comparable historical causes, exists in the Asir, in Jabal Sham-
mar, and in Hasa. Hence, it is far from improbable that, in the event of some
upheaval occurring at the centre of government (whether brought on by a
contest for the succession among the Al Saud, by a revolutionary attempt upon
the regime or by some external crisis), these regional discontents might assert
themselves, precipitating a civil war and threatening the disintegration of the
kingdom. What role the United States might be required to play in such an
eventuality, as a consequence of her growing commitment to Saudi Arabia, is
an interesting matter for speculation. Speculation, unfortunately, is what one
is all too often driven to when considering the contemporary condition of Saudi
Arabia. So little information is available about the country’s internal affairs, or
even its external relations, that it is pointless even to attempt to form a
judgement about the likely course of events there in the years ahead.