Page 218 - The Origins of the United Arab Emirates_Neat

i «4 The Origins of the United Arab Emirates
A weak man who needed powerful figures around him to create
an illusion of strength, Sultan was incapable of restoring his declining
position. Between 1924 and 1939, the last vestiges of the former
Qasimi might crumbled. No fewer than six towns belonging to
Sharjah attempted secession,13 although only one, Kalba, succeeded
in obtaining British recognition as an independent shaykhdom. The
Bani Qitab lost all respect for their traditional ally, and in 1938
Sultan was obliged to swallow his pride and pay Khalid bin Ahmad
1300 rupees to arrange matters for him with the Bani Qitab.11
He became so desperate to renew his tics of friendship with Muham­
mad bin ‘Ali that in 1939, together with the ruler of Ras al-Khaimah,
he tried to persuade the other rulers of the Trucial Coast to enter
into an alliance against those inland tribes that refused to recognise
the authority of their traditional overlords.15 None of the rulers
was willing to antagonise the fearless Bani Qitab, and that same
year Shavkh Sa‘id of Dubai and Shaykh Rashid of Ajman both
took the opposite course of action and entered into an alliance
with the tribe.16 There is some indication that Muhammad bin
‘Ali tried to strengthen his position even further by appealing to
Ibn Sa‘ud for support: ‘Abdallah bin Faris, Sultan bin Saqr’s
secretary, intercepted a letter written to Muhammad in August
1939 by Ibn Sa‘ud, who in it expressed his reluctance to commit
himself in writing.17 The evasiveness of the message prompted the
Residency Agent, to whom ‘Abdallah bin Faris gave the letter,
to suggest that the shaykh of the Bani Qitab had applied for
help against the ruler of Sharjah.18 Sultan continued to attempt
to buy the friendship of his erstwhile allies: one report had it
that he offered Muhammad up to 80,000 rupees to visit Sharjah.19
It was not until 1944, and then largely owing to the efforts of
the Residency Agent, that the leader of the Bani Qitab consented
to enter Sharjah town once again, after an absence of ten years. 20
In Ras al-Khaimah, Sultan bin Salim learned the trials of indepen­
dence the hard way. His relationship with the British officials was
by far the stormiest and most turbulent part of his career. There
was little love lost on either side, and a glance at the Bushire
and Bahrain records will reveal a number of derogatory terms
that seem almost to be reserved for him: pusillanimous, obstreperous,
arrogant, stubborn, recalcitrant and even mentally deficient. The
relations of Shaykh Shakhbut of Abu Dhabi with Britain were
also far from cordial, but in the case of Sultan the outrage of
the British officers was made particularly bitter by his unpredictable
and slightly mercurial behaviour; furthermore, Shakhbut ruled over
a larger and more powerful shaykhdom. Sultan was aware of his
defencelessness in the face of British power, and as a last measure,
when desperate, would flaunt his claim to owe allegiance to Ibn