Page 204 - The Origins of the United Arab Emirates_Neat

170 The Origins of the United Arab Emirates

side ol the creek of Ras al-Khaimah, where he usually spent the
summer months. A woman went there for refuge in November
1929, and the same night four armed men tried to take her;
a scuffle ensued during which an attempt was made on the life
of ‘Isa’s eldest son, ‘Abd al-Rahman. The next day, the Residency
Agent reported the incident to Sultan and asked him to arrest
the men responsible. Sultan refused, but he agreed to slop any
further attempt to have the woman abducted.
This was the story that ‘Isa reported to the Senior Naval Officer,
who then diverted the HMS Crocus to Ras al-Khaimah. The Naval
Officer did not regard the incident as very important, but wanted
to impress on Sultan that the Residency Agent and his household
should be treated with nothing but respect; ‘Isa was a British
official, and, until it could be proved that he was in the wrong,
had to be upheld—especially as Sultan had made no attempt to
deny any part of the Agent’s report. Impressed by the arrival
of the Crocus, whose commander reprimanded him and reminded
him of his responsibility to maintain order, Sultan ordered the
arrest of the men who had stormed ‘Isa’s house, and had them
flogged.19 It was not until later that the Senior Naval Officer
heard from two different sources that the woman in question had
been abducted by ‘Isa’s eldest son, and that, to defend the family
honour, her brother had followed her to ‘Abd al-Rahman’s house—
not that of his father. The Senior Naval Officer privately agreed
that ‘Abd al-Rahman, whose mother was a slave, had a bad repu­
tation. “Isa himself would gladly put political colour on the matter
and obtain our support for his family.’20 Aware of the truth of
the situation and angry that he had been forced to punish men
who had acted as honour demanded, Sultan bin Salim ordered
‘Abd al-Rahman and his brother out of Ras al-Khaimah. This
expulsion served to placate the people of Ras al-Khaimah, who,
unhappy that innocent men had been flogged, had been ready
to vent their anger on the Residency Agent and his sons. Sultan,
for his part, was only too aware that he had been humiliated
by the incident, and this deepened his resentment of ‘Isa. This
showed when he assumed an entrenched position regarding the
placement of a petrol barge in his harbour; when it was forced
on him, he threatened the life of the Residency Agent and cut
off the water supply to his house, so that ‘Isa was forced to
leave Ras al-Khaimah for a while.
In Sharjah, where he lived throughout the winter, little of impor-
tance occurred in which he did not become involved in some
way. In 1920 he was called in to mediate when ‘Abd al-Rahman
bin Muhammad of the Al-bu-Shamis laid claim to Ajman, and
successful in persuading him to drop his claim. Three
he was