Page 203 - The Origins of the United Arab Emirates_Neat

The Exercise of Power: British Representatives 169

he assisted in the collection of debts, he received io per cent,15
and that lie made vast profits from slavery and kidnapping.16 The
places where he was most active and where his personal influence
was most greatly fell were Dubai, Sharjah and Ras al-Khaimah—a
further indication of his desire to extend his private fortunes: Dubai
was the commercial centre of the Coast and as such had great
financial potential, and in the other two shaykhdoms he had vested
interests in commercial property.
‘Isa’s role in the affairs of Dubai is difficult to assess accurately.
That he was on close terms with Shaykh Sa‘id is clear, for he
often acted as the shaykh’s adviser. Unsubstantiated rumour had
it that he had engineered the troubles of 1929 in Dubai, in order
to secure his own ends. His particular interest in Dubai was founded
on its commercial prominence, and, although the extent of his
involvement in the numerous attempts to undermine the authority
of Shaykh Sa‘id is unknown, there can be little doubt that he
was so involved. The Indian merchants of Dubai were afraid of
him and complained that he encouraged Sa‘id to restrict their
movements—refusing, for example, to allow' boatmen to row the
Indians out to warships in the harbour.17 Despite the fact that
Colonel Dickson, whose task it had been to complete the negotiations
for the airport at Sharjah, suspected ‘Isa of having convinced Sa‘id
not to allow' air facilities in Dubai, little was done to curb the
Residency Agent’s great prcdeliction for such intrigue.18
Of all the rulers on the Coast, it was Sultan bin Salim of
Ras al-Khaimah with whom ‘Isa’s personal relations were stormiest.
This was to a large extent owing to Sultan’s animosity towards
the British; Sultan concentrated his resentment on the nearest and
most available British representative, and ‘Isa encouraged this hatred
in order to strengthen his own position. The first serious confrontation
between the two men occurred in 1926, w'hcn ‘Abd al-Rahman
bin Muhammad of the Al-bu-Shamis, the suspected murderer of
‘Isa’s cousin, was deported from Sharjah to Ras al-Khaimah. He
was placed in the custody of Sultan, who later refused to give
him up to the Senior Naval Officer for deportation to Aden. The
agitation that followed once Sultan had surrendered ‘Abd al-Rahman
was so acute that ‘Isa was afraid for his life, and he reported
that it had all been instigated by Sultan. The die was cast. Sultan
received a strongly-worded admonishment and a warning that if
any harm befell ‘Isa he would be the first suspect; thereafter,
the enmity between the two began to manifest itself at almost
regular intervals.
In 1929 ‘Isa deliberately misconstrued events, using Sultan’s
marked animosity to the air-route as a cover for his own son’s
misbehaviour. He had a house in Bayt Mu‘ayridh, on the eastern