Page 272 - The Arabian Gulf States_Neat

210 THE LEGAL STATUS OF THE ARABIAN GULF STATES
dispatched front Najd.1 According to I bn Ruzaiq, the Wahhabi
Amir'Abd al-rAziz ‘succeeded in reducing most of the northern tribes
of the eastern coast of Arabia’. Buraimi, he continues, ‘was made head­
quarters for the Wahhabis’.2
2. The Wahhabis continued their control over Buraimi and the
surrounding areas of Oman until 1818.3 In that year the Wahhabis
were dislodged from Najd by the Turkish forces of Ibrahim Pasha of
Egypt. But in 1824, the Wahhabis, under the leadership of AmirTurki
ibn rAbd Allah, regained their position in Arabia and in the year 1828,
they appointed a representative in Buraimi by the name of 'Umar
ibn 'Ufaisan.4 During 1824-30, Lieutenant S. Hennal reported that
Amir Turki established his control over the whole eastern region of
Arabia and that he was governing ‘with great prudence and modera­
tion’. And in 1831, Lieutenant A. B. Kemball reported that ‘the whole
of the Arabian coast from Ras-ool-Hud [Ras-al-Hadd] to Koweit,
with the exception of Aboothabee [Abu Dhabi], became tributary
to the Wahabees’.5
3. During this period, the Wahhabis continued to govern the
Buraimi region through an appointed agent until the beginning of the
year 1838.6 However, at the end of this year the Wahhabis were again
attacked by the Egyptian forces of Muhammad fAli. Consequently,
f the Buraimi region became subject to the influence of the Egyptians
until May 1840,7 when they were finally driven away from Najd and
the eastern province of Arabia. British records confirm that Buraimi
remained independent during the time when the Wahhabis were not
holding it. According to Captain Atkins Hamerton, who wrote to the
British Government in 1840, about Buraimi:
. . . Brymee has been generally held by the Wahabis to the date of the fall
of their power and influence, when the Naeem tribes assumed possession
in independence . . .8
4. In 1843, a new Wahhabi Amir, Faisal ibn Turki, came to power.
He immediately communicated with the Buraimi tribes. In 1844, Amir
Faisal dispatched Sard ibn Mutlaq al-Mutairi to Buraimi as his
representative, accompanied by Nasir al-fUraini as Qadhi. British
1 Bombay Selections, pp. 152-3; Lorimer, p. 1053.
2 Badger, G. P., History of Imams and Seyyids (English translation) by Humaid
ibn Ruzaiq’(l871), p. 230, Introduction, p.lviii.
3 Ibid., pp. 230, 298. And sec Bombay Selections, p. 153, where A. B. Kemball
states in a report that in 1808 ‘the preponderance of the Wahhabis [wasj com­
pletely established in Oman’.
4 Bombay Selections, pp. 435-7; and see Saudi Memorial, I, p. 158.
6 Bombay Selections, pp. 153-4,437-9. ...
0 Ibid PP. 154-5, 440-4. According to A. B. Kemball, ‘the zakah or tribute
of 5 per cent began to be exacted and his influence, [Turki] was completely estab­
lished over the inhabitants of the coast .
» Bombay Selections, p. 449. Ibld- PP' 116^18'