Page 109 - The Origins of the United Arab Emirates_Neat

Saudi Arabia and Iran: Outside Pressures «5

protect themselves from their more powerful neighbouring, tribes
rather than because they were afraid ol a Wahhabi invasion, as
in the nineteenth century. The methods of I bn Sa‘ud and I bn
Jaluwi were radically different from those of their forebears:
Today it is the power of letting loose a strong tribe to raid
a weaker Dhahirah one and carry off its camels without hope
of redress or retaliation that is Ibn Saud’s strength. Thus immedi­
ately before the arrival of Ibn Saud’s zakat collector, one of
the Bani Yas tribes was raided by the al-Murra and lost a
hundred and fifty camels. Payment of zakat to Ibn Saud is
therefore a kind of insurance against the raider. It is the wisdom
and economy of the present Abdul Aziz to bring his insiduous
pressure to bear on a wavering tribe through a strong and loyal
neighbour whose interest it is to be ensured the fruits of victory.
... In reality it is not Ibn Saud himself whom they desire
to propitiate, but his viceroy, Ibn Jaluwi. . . .44
The dispatch of the zakat collector had immediate repercussions.
The forces of the Ibadi imam of Oman, led by ‘Isa bin Salih,
began to mobilise for a march on Dahirat al-Sir, the southern
half of the Dahirah plain, which lies between the mountains of
northern Oman and the desert in the west, in order to resist
any form of Wahhabi aggression in Oman. The Hinawi elements
in the Trucial Coast rallied around ‘Isa bin Salih and quietly
declared their support for him. Late in July 1925, Shaykh Sa‘id
bin Maktum of Dubai secretly sent his cousins Sa‘id bin Butti
and Suhayl bin Butti to ‘Isa, to assure him of his backing and
that of Sultan bin Zayid of Abu Dhabi in the event of Wahhabi
encroachment. Rumours of an invasion had been strengthened by
a statement, attributed to Su‘ayyid, that Ibn Sa‘ud intended to
send an army to Buraimi,45 and wild stories were circulating that
the fort at Buraimi village, originally built by the Wahhabis in
the nineteenth century, was being restored for use by Ibn Sa‘ud.46
Other supporters included the chiefs of the Na‘im, Bani Ka‘b and
Bani Qitab tribes, who negotiated with Shaykh Sultan bin Saqr
of Sharjah for mutual assistance in case of Wahhabi encroachments;
and the ruler of Umm al-Qaiwain.
Sa‘id bin Maktum denied that his cousins had gone to Oman
to sec ‘Isa bin Salih,47 as for obvious reasons he was anxious
to hide the facts of his new alliance from the Wahhabis. The
details were disclosed in the Cairo newspaper Al-Shura48 on 29
October 1925 in an item contributed by Shaykh Sulayman al-Baruni
al-Nafusi,49 which claimed that Sa‘id’s cousins had carried to ‘Isa
bin Salih a letter, signed by the rulers of Dubai and Abu Dhabi,