Page 35 - Su'udi Relations with Eastern Arabi & Uman (1800-1870)

CHAPTER IV

RELATIONS OF THE FIRST SU‘UDI
STATE (1800-1818) WITH
EASTERN ARABIA AND ‘UMAN

Through the impact of events related to neighbouring countries, eastern
Arabia and ‘Uman underwent some political and territorial changes prior to the
Su‘udl appearance in the areas. The major powers associated with one part or
another of eastern and southeastern Arabia were the Ottomans in
Mesopotamia and the Persians, who gradually lost their nominal influence in
the area due to their own domestic crises and local upheavals.
The Ottomans came closer to eastern Arabia when Baghdad and al-Basrah
were brought under their authority early in the sixteenth century. It was at that
time that the Arab chiefs of al-Qatif and al-Bahrayn offered submission to the
new government in al-‘Iraq.161 Although the Ottomans came to exercise a
certain degree of control over the region by appointing successive military
governors in al-Hufuf, they did not extend their influence over ‘Uman or any
other part of the Gulf shore. Furthermore, their control over al-Hasa was
weakening due to frequent confrontations with certain European powers in the
west and with the Persians in the east, leading to the deterioration of the
Ottoman state and the decline of its central government.162 The weakness of
the central government resulted in the creation of semi-independent Pashalics
in Egypt, Syria, and al-‘Iraq.163 The walls of Baghdad were left to take care of
the interests of the Ottoman state and look after the pacification of the Arab
tribes in the vicinity of al-Basrah and al-Hasa. Possessing neither the power nor
the willingness to expend their efforts and resources in subduing the trouble­
making tribes, the walls were virtually helpless.164 In more than one instance,
the authority of Baghdad’s pashas was challenged by tribes in the very cities of
al-‘Iraq.165 The province of al-Hasa, which had known nominal Ottoman
authority, was finally lost to the Banu Khalid Arabs in 1081/1670. In that year,
Barrak b. Ghurayr, chief of the Al Humayd clan of the Banu Khalid, slew
Rashid b. Mughamis Al Shabib, the Muntafiq chief in al-Hasa who appears to
have been exercising his authority with the support of ‘Umar Pasha, the
Turkish military governor there.166 Barrak then turned to the Turkish
garrison and drove them from the town of al-Hufuf, thus ending the first
Turkish occupation of al-Hasa.167
Once confronted by the danger of the newly-rising Su‘udl power, the waits
of Baghdad lost no time in trying to make their own influence slightly and
indirectly felt in that region, both by helping the Su‘udl opposition among the

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