Page 102 - Arabian Studies (V)

92 Arabian Studies V
can be formed from the verses exchanged with the notable
KhawlanI chief NajI b. ‘All al-Ghadir at the time of the unrest in
Khawlan when NajI was parleying with the most outstanding of the
Protectorate chiefs, Sharif Husayn of Bayhan—this Ahmad
suspected of being aimed against himself. Alluding to the execu­
tions of political rebels, NajI says:3
Say I—Tzra’Il stops in your days, to forego
Dealing out life and death; for him you have outdone.
Extravagently I speak, you say. Tis not so!
By other swords than yours has there died then anyone?

To which Ahmad makes riposte:
He who’s off to Bayhan no honour has, to trust.
How were [the Sharif’s] terms when qat you chewed, apart?
Bahut, the Terrible, confronts you, judging, just!
From the rebellious he plucks out lungs and heart!
Some prominent Sayyid houses, notably those that had provided
Imams in earlier times, would enter into intrigues with tribes and
chiefs against the Hamid al-DIn, so the dynasty has to be on its
guard against the possibility of troubles from this quarter also.
The north, especially the Mashriq, required an outlet for the
surplus population of a hard country. So to provide a livelihood for
their northern Zaydi tribes whose support was essential to them,
the Imams would despatch tribal contingents to the Shafi‘I districts
where they acted as a sort of gendarmerie in support of the Imam’s
administrative officials. Officials were drawn from the Sayyid and
QadI classes. It is alleged that the Qadls felt a sense of grievance
against the Sayyids4—about this I am dubious, and it may be that
political theorists have imposed this facile concept of class rivalry,
without adequate justification, on the relationship between the two
groups.
Broadly speaking, the tribal Zaydi north was governed by
- j indirect rule with subsidies provided for the chiefs. The Shafi‘I
south was less fortunate in being under direct rule by government
officials working in concert with local headmen.
Economically the Yemen was largely self-sufficient in the
twenties and possibly the early thirties. The expanding population
of the Shafi‘1 districts found good employment in Aden—with a
notable rise in wages commencing from the building of the B.P.
refinery onwards. In pursuit of higher wages a great exodus of
labour to Aden and other countries followed. Propagandists
blamed this movement on the Imams, but a parallel movement had
taken place earlier, from Hadramawt to Sa‘udl Arabia, to take