Page 213 - Records of Bahrain (4) (i)_Neat

Reaction to the reforms, 1923 201

P-
CONFIDENTIAL. j fia'r—Qn r
!
i t: HC ?.4 Jc i i •4.9 7 0 I
■5 Q *) 3 i
No. GG2-S., dftlod Bueli Ire, tho 2*ttb Novombor (received 3rd DcWnbor^Rfel..—-------4
From—Tbo IIon'dlb Libutenant-Coi.onel A. P. Tubvor, C.S.I., C.I.E, Political
llcfiidont in tbo Poreinn Gulf.
I lmvo tho honour to acknowledge) rccoipt of your lottor No. 1105-P. 0.,
•dated 15th Novombor, forwarding a petition from Muhammad bin Abdulla al
' Khalifa complaining about tho present stato of affairs in Bahrain.
Tho writer of this potition is tbo sou of Shaikh Abdulla, tho youngest of
tho threo sons of Shaikh Isa. I had heard that Muhammad bin Abdulla had
been to Kuwait and had sont off petitions from thoro in overy direction, both
in his own namo aud Shaikh Isa’s. As dosoribed in page <L of my letter No.
622-S., dated 10th Novombor 1923, I taxed Shaikh Abdulla with his son's
intrigues and implied that I thought Shaikh Abdulla had a hand in thorn. Ho
dcuiod this, but 1 feel sure Muhammad could not liavo done such a thing
without his fnthor’s approval or at least his connivauco, aud in the ond it was
arranged, as stated in tnc above mentioned letter, that Shaikh Abdulla should
make Muhammad apologiso to Shaikh Hamad aud fine him and that tho tine
should be paid into the Bahrain Government Treasury. I trust this action
will cheek Muhammad’s intrigues.
Muhammad himself is, I bolievo, a rathor foolish but not thoroughly bad
young man. He has recently fallen into bad company aud has boon lod astray
by thoir advico, notably by tho rascally Egyptian Mulla Hafiz who has formed
tho subject of correspondence with the Government of India. It may not bo i
out of place to mention hero that Mulla Hafiz, on tho pretext of collecting
debts, was permitted to return to Bahrain for a limited time. Boforo that
time was up, however, Mulla Hafiz bogan to make himself a nuisance aud tho
Political Agent was thinking of advising him to return to Kuwait, when the
fellow suddenly dashed off to Riyadh to sec Bin Saud with whom ho had been
in communication. Doubtless he will continuo his anti-British propaganda in
Nojd and do us a good deal of harm there.
As for tho statements of Muhammad’s petition tlicyaro merely a rdchauff'de
of all tho lying statements which have been spread abroad by Haji Abdul Nabi
Kazorun of Bahrain and his small following of malcontent Persians. Tho Gov­
ernment of India lmvo heard of nearly all the charges ad nauseam and it is
not necessary for mo to worry them by refuting all these unsubstantiated
allegations.
A potition which was presented to mo by a deputation of representative
Baharuali just beforo I left Bahrain on 7th Novombor is, I think, a sufficient
answer. Wo arc now insisting on reforms to ameliorate tho lot of tho down­
trodden inhabitants of Bahrain, and judging from this petition arc doing it
with some success. Naturally tho oppressors, to wit tho Sunni tribes in
general and theJAl Khalifah family in particular, do not like tho reforms and
aro doing their best to obstruct thorn.

TRANSLATION.
Petition, without dale, presented by a number of representative Paharnah to
the Political Resident at Bahrain on 7th November 1923.
Praise bo to God, tho powerful King, who described himself for justico
and ordored tho slaves and free born mon to do justico and undertook to
cvcrlast tho dominions of thoso who acted acoording to justico and anuihliato
thoso who did not. Then wo thank him for this glorious favour in putting
us undor tho protection of tho statesmen and authorities of tho High British
Government, tho Mnstor of seas and dominions whioli treat tho slaves aud
froo born mou, poor aud morohauts in equal. May God always assist thorn !
I pray God to help our Groat King and Honoured Sultan, Gcorgo V, tho
Emperor of India and oitieo and countrios.