Page 58 - Personal Column (Charles Belgrave)_Neat

so it was possible, to a certain extent, to curb the immigration of
European houses and in the homes of some of the British Government
foreigners. But many of them entered Bahrain illegally, paying large
officials Arabs were encouraged to drink, although everybody knew the
. sums of money to boat-owners who landed them at night on deserted
Shaikh’s views on the matter. Many people thought that the liquor
stretches of the coast, or on sandbanks at low tide, telling them that they
regulations were unnecessarily harsh and that they were an anachronism, but
were on the Bahrain coast. When the tide rose and the sea covered the
the ban was based on the law of Islam and it was the law of the country.
sandbank many of these unfortunate people were drowned, but the dhow
In the early days much of the liquor which was drunk was arak, dis­
captains, who were usually Qatar Arabs, always sailed away with their
tilled from dates. The police had orders to do all that was possible to
money.. The influx of undesirable aliens increased the amount of crime
prevent its manufacture and sale and for years they waged war against
in Bahrain, especially opium traffic and the manufacture of illicit liquor.
the ‘moonshiners’, who were very clever in hiding their tracks. Often I
The use of liquor was strictly forbidden by the Shaikh on religious
used to go out with the police on liquor raids, searching houses and
grounds and twenty years ago almost all his subjects approved of his
gardens where, according to our information, arak was being distilled. I
attitude, but today the restrictions on liquor arc most bitterly resented by
rather enjoyed these raids. Some of the liquor gangs chose very ingenious
the young men of Bahrain. They do not see why they should be liable to
hiding-places. We found a still in a shed in the lunatic asylum, operated
severe punishments, such as imprisonment, for being caught with a bottle
by one of the watchmen, and one notorious liquor pedlar had a cellar un­
of beer in a car, when in Egypt and Iraq, both Moslem countries, they
derneath one of the main streets, connected by an underground passage to
can buy and drink liquor without any objection. They resent, too, the his house, but the surface of the road caved in and exposed his hiding-place.
fact that Europeans and foreigners who arc not Moslems can buy liquor
Ruined houses in the country were favourite hiding-places and supplies of
for their own consumption, on special permits, from the one firm in
bottled arak were often kept at the bottom of wells or buried in gardens.
Bahrain, a British firm, which is allowed to import liquor. Western
Opium was also prohibited. It was not used by the Bahrainis but by
people might think that a religious prohibition such as this might be left
some of the foreigners, Persians and Baluchis. It was easier to hide and
to the conscience of the individual, but Moslem Governments, unlike most
therefore more difficult to find and for tiffs the police had to depend
Western Governments, are more severe in regulating the religious life of mainly on reports from informers. Opium, which looked like sticks of
their people. At one time, in Saudi Arabia, men who were absent from
brown sealing-wax, was brought to Bahrain from Persia, and most of the
prayers at the mosque on Friday or who did not keep the fast during the
* month of Ramadhanwere liable to punishment by being publicly flogged. dope pedlars were Persians. Once I was searching a house where we
believed there was a stock of opium. We could find nothing and as it was
When I was first in Bahrain it used to be whispered that two or three
getting late I looked at a big clock which hung on the wall. It had stopped.
Arabs were in the habit of drinking. When more Europeans came to live
I made some remark to the Persian who owned the house about keeping
in the place and the Arabs took to travelling abroad, drinking became
a clock which did not work and as I did so I noticed a very curious ex­
more prevalent. Today there are few young men of the upper, monied
pression come over Iffs face, which, gave me an idea. I opened the clock.
class who do not drink, some-in moderation, some immoderately and
The works inside had been removed and it was packed full of opium,
many because it has become the smart thing to flout the law. Bahrain has
worth several hundreds of pounds.
1 a flourishing Black Market in imported spirits; a certain amount is Hauls like this were insignificant compared to the quantities of opium
smuggled into the country but most of it comes from ‘leakages’ from the
which we intercepted in later years. There was a powerful dope ring with
people who hold liquor permits.
connections outside Bahrain and plenty of money to spend on bribery
In Saudi Arabia the position is different. Some years ago the King
banned the import of all liquor; the prohibition applied to the oil com­ which trafficked in opium on a large scale. The opium was brought by
sea from Persia to the Trucial Coast, a name given to the six small shaikh-
pany as well as to all foreign embassies.
doms at the south-east end of the Persian Gulf when they entered into a
When we entertained Arabs in our house they never drank liquor,
although at cocktail parties, to which we always invited both Arabs and general treaty in 1820 with the British Government; previously the area
was known as the Pirate Coast. From here it was carried in Arab dhows
Europeans, both ‘hard’ and ‘soft* drinks were handed round. But in some
to Bahrain, timed to arrive when it could be smuggled on to a ship, which
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