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132 The Origins of the United Arab Emirates

unable lo enter Buraimi, despite the letters they carried from the
Political Resident to the ruler of Abu Dhabi and to the headmen
of the Bani Ka‘b and the Na‘im. The brothers Muhammad and
Saqr bin Sultan al-Hammudah of the Na‘im21 obstructed the expedi­
tion’s progress, and Saqr wrote lo Thomas explaining that the
area belonged to the al-Hammudah and after them to Ibn Sa‘ud.25
Although Thomas put this statement down to a basic fear of the
Wahhabis, rather than to any true admiration for or loyalty to
them, he mentioned that Shaykh Rashid bin Hamad of the Al-bu-
Shamis had been on a visit to Ibn Sa‘ud at the time of the
expedition, and that in 1927 the Na‘im had reversed their earlier
policy of hostility towards the growth of Wahhabi influence in
the Buraimi area. They did not, however, ignore the sultan of
Muscat, for they obviously were afraid of backing the wrong horse:
in 1928 Thomas reported that Muhammad bin Sultan had visited
Muscat, where the sultan had made peace between him and Hamad
bin Faysal, the wali of Sohar (with whom Muhammad had been
on bad terms) and had granted him an allowance of 50 rupees
per month.26 In 1929 the Na‘im were referred to as being pro-Saudi.27
In 1930, Thomas, on a visit to Shimayliyyah, reported that Su‘ayyid
(an agent of Ibn Jaluwi) was collecting zakat in Buraimi from
the Na‘im, ‘Awamir, Duru‘, and part of the Bani Qitab.*8 The
Na‘im did not seem to have any particular policy other than
that of supplanting the power of the Dawahir in Buraimi, in which
they were helped immeasurably by the weakness of Abu Dhabi.
The declining power of Abu Dhabi was confirmed in 1934 when
‘Isa bin ‘Abd al-Latif, as Residency Agent, compiled his report
on zakat collections by the Saudis in Dafrah and Buraimi. He
found that the first payment in Buraimi had been in 1922, while
in Dafrah the Manasir and the Bani Yas had been paying zakat
for nine years, beginning in the year 1343 ah (August 1924-July
1925), when Sultan bin Zayid had been ruler of Abu Dhabi.29
‘Isa’s report also corroborated a statement by the Resident that
in March 1926 Su‘avyid, together with Muhammad bin Mansur
of the Al-Murrah tribe, had been sent to collect zakat from Buraimi
and Dafrah.30
Later that year, in July 1926, Sultan was murdered and his
brother Saqr came to power. Principally because of his overriding
fear of the vengeance of Sultan’s sons, he tried hard to win the
favour of the governor of the Saudi province of Hasa, Ibn Jaluwi,
sending him annual presents and helping the zakat collectors in
Buraimi and Dafrah.31 In 1927 zakat collectors were in Oman
when Bertram Thomas made the journey referred to earlier. By
the time Saqr had been murdered and Shakhbut had come to
power, the prestige of the Al-bu-Falah in Buraimi and Dafrah