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Maintenance of Power: Political and Social babric r>9

that the Shimayliyyah should be regarded as part of Sharjah.41
This policy was echoed by Curzon, who, during his speech at
the Sharjah durbar, in November 1903, referred to the authority
of the ‘Chief of the Jowasims’ in Shimayliyyah.42
Hamad, however, continued to act independently, and became
a source of terror to the people of Kalba and Khawr Fakkan,
who were governed by Sa‘id bin Hamad. He was a Qasimi who
was a cousin of Shaykh Sultan bin Sacp' of Sharjah and father-in-law
of Khalid bin Ahmad, Sultan’s predecessor. The main trouble
between Fujairah and Kalba was territorial, for the Fujairah con­
stantly encroached on Kalba territory. Hamad and Sa‘id were bitterly
antagonistic towards each other, and the situation improved only
slightly when Hamad married SaMd’s daughter.
The ancient enmity between the Sharqiyyin and the Qawasim I
was too strong to lay dormant for long, and in 1926 relations
between the two became so strained that fighting broke out. The
direct causes of the hostilities, which persisted for three years, were
simple enough and followed a familiar pattern. A man who had
enjoyed good standing at Kalba, but who was discontented with
his treatment by Sa‘id bin Hamad, decided to leave and settle
in Fujairah. Hamad, seizing his opportunity, openly favoured the
new resident, who continued to visit Kalba and, because of the
protection of the headman of Fujairah, felt brave enough to vilify
Sa‘id. To begin with, Sa‘id bore these taunts, but finally he felt
compelled to forbid the man to return to Kalba. This in turn
brought on the anger of Hamad, who interpreted the action as
an insult to himself. The old enmity arose to the surface. Both
headmen declared boycotts of the other’s territory, as a result of
which fishing and diving became restricted. In the meantime, Safid
built a warehouse in a garden on the road from Kalba to Fujairah,
and Hamad, deciding that it was camouflage for a fort, destroyed
it, claiming that Sa‘id had no right to erect a building outside
the town limits. The destruction of the warehouse marked the
outbreak of hostilities, and by March 1926 there was open fighting
between the two towns.
Sa‘id bin Hamad soon realised that he was weaker than his
adversary, and secretly solicited the help of Hamad bin Faysal,
wali of Sohar in the sultanate of Muscat and Oman. The wall
sent an emissary to the scene of the fighting and was able to
arrange a limited truce. A few days before the truce was due
to expire, Sultan Sa‘id bin Taymur of Muscat arrived at Sohar,
on the first leg of a tour that had been arranged two months
earlier. His presence prompted the belligerents to sue for peace.
Bertram Thomas, who was accompanying the sultan, primarily to