Page 82 - Su'udi Relations with Eastern Arabi & Uman (1800-1870)

whom they had obviously to a great extent relied, Bashir b. Rahmah and his
dependents were forced to leave Tarut for Masqat.605 The shaykh of al-
Bahrayn afterwards contacted the ruler of Masqat to make sure of the latter’s
neutrality before venturing a complete rupture with the Su‘udis. Said b.
Sultan of Masqat, eager to see both parties weakened by mutual hostility and
division, pledged to the shaykh that he would not interfere in the quarrel.606
The shaykh of al-Bahrayn thereupon incited the ‘Ama’ir section of Banu
Khiilid to harass the Su‘udls in al-Hasa and himself renounced his allegiance to
Turk!.607 With the cooperation of al-Bahrayn, the ‘Ama’ir established
themselves at al-Dammam, blockaded al-Qatlf, and began to prey upon its
commerce.
These troubles coincided with the war in the interior of Arabia between the
major Bedouin tribes, ‘Anazah and Mutayr, which had been raging for more
than a month.608 Although Amir Turk! took no part in this tribal war which
had no effect on his administration, it delayed his preparations to deal with the
situation on the Hasa coast, a delay that gave the shaykh of al-Bahrayn a chance
to pursue his design against the Su‘udls. ‘Abd Allah b. Ahmad took the
offensive, and while the ‘Ama’ir were besieging al-Qatlf and its Su‘udl
governor, the Bahraynis blockaded the town from the sea. 609
They further seized the island of Tarut and besieged Sayhat and al-‘Uqayr.
When the tribal war ended, Turk! dispatched a force under the command of
his son Faysal to repel the threat in al-Qatlf and Sayhat.610 Faysal attacked the
‘Ama’ir and relieved the town of al-Qatlf. He later moved towards Sayhat, but
was unable to proceed beyond Murayqib, about a mile west of Sayhat.611 After
setting up camp there, he started an almost daily contest with the Bahraynl
forces, but without significant gain for either side. The Bahraynis, who had
mastery of the sea, showed their capacity to hold out indefinitely.612 The
people of Sayhat, troubled by the siege imposed by the forces of al-Bahrayn
and perhaps leaning towards the stronger party, decided to surrender to Al
Khallfah and thereby sided with them. Faysal, however, continued his
campaign to regain the place until the sudden death of his father in 1834
compelled him abruptly to end the struggle and withdraw with his forces to
al-Hufuf.613 Profiting from such developments, the shaykh of al-Bahrayn
made an immediate and peaceful rapprochement with the inhabitants of Tarut
and obtained the possession of their island.

Turki b. ‘Abd Allah and al-Kuwayt

Unlike its neighbouring principalities, al-Kuwayt remained more or less
outside the sphere of developments which swept central, eastern, and
southeastern Arabia during the first part of the nineteenth century, bringing
about considerable changes in political life. The connections of the settled
people and Bedouin tribes of al-Kuwayt with those of al-‘Iraq (through actual
kinship, as well as by commercial ties and the ruler’s association with the
Ottoman authorities in al-Traq) might have been major factors in diverting this
principality away from the conflict on the Gulf and the repercussions which
followed afterwards. Al-Kuwayt had preserved its independence despite the
Su‘udl attempts to bring it under their domination. As the Su‘udls’ power in
eastern Arabia declined, they gave up such attempts which disappeared shortly

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