Page 79 - The Origins of the United Arab Emirates_Neat

4 Maintenance of Power:
Political and Social Fabric

The often violent and disruptive process by which one ruler succeeded
another in the Trucial shaykhdoms had a considerable impact on
the fragile economy and power structure of the entire region. The
ruler of a shaykhdom operated in an environment where tribal
loyalties, political and economic considerations were deeply entangled.
In this chapter, a number of major events will be reviewed in
order to illustrate the complexity of the ruler’s task and the precarious-
ness of his position.
A ruler’s principal concern was to survive, both politically and
economically. In view of this, one of his first tasks upon assuming
power was to find suitable positions for members of his immediate
family and to make them allowances, in order to safeguard against
conspiracies. The ruler had to rely entirely on himself, since by
and large his relatives were not to be trusted. Despite enormous
efforts in this direction, individuals such as ‘Abd al-Rahman bin
Muhammad of the Al-bu-Shamis remained an indefatigable source
of unrest in the region. Furthermore, the weakening power of the
Qawasim resulted in the emergence of two power centres, Kalba
and Fujairah, that throughout the 1920s and 1930s struggled for
recognition as independent shaykhdoms. The inordinately long ges­
tation period preceding their birth was dominated by conflicts
between them that frequently involved other shaykhdoms, the Shihuh
tribe and Muscat.
Because the pearl industry was the mainstay of the region’s
economy, and in view of the fact that this activity involved almost
the entire male labour force, any conflict during the pearling season

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