Page 240 - Truncal States to UAE_Neat

Social Aspects of Traditional Economy

creditors could retrieve their money before he went north to Ru’us al
Jibal.31 The Political Resident in Bushire feared that the claims which
“British and foreign subjects have against him . . . will be lost if he
goes to live in the interior”. He therefore requested Humaid bin
’Abdul ’Aziz in October 1920 to allow ’Abdul Rahman to reside
temporarily in Khan,32 in the hope that he could earn enough money
in one pearling season to be able to pay his debts.
In December 1920 'Abdul Rahman returned to Dubai from
Bahrain, where he had unsuccessfully tried to obtain a foothold in
the local pearling business. When he was joined by some of his men
from HIrah and they all returned to his family there, the shaikhs of
’Ajman and Sharjah prepared to attack ’Abdul Rahman and his men.
who barricaded themselves in the fort.33 The Senior Naval Officer, on
board Triad, was ordered to sail to Sharjah and try to effect a truce
because “’Abdul Rahman owes money to British subjects and his
only method of repaying it is by being allowed back to work at
Sharjah."34 On 8 January 1921 a settlement was reached between the
Ruler of Sharjah and ’Abdul Rahman in the presence of the Senior
Naval Officer, in which 'Abdul Rahman agreed to reside in Sharjah
town for one month and then to return to HIrah, promising not to
cause any more trouble; the Ruler of Sharjah pledged to protect the
former offender, who thus formally returned to the status of loyal
subject of Shaikh Khalid.35
The Ruler of ’Ajman ignored the invitation of the Senior Naval
Officer to join the discussions on board Triad and was not a party to
the subsequent agreements. Thus he once again antagonised the
Political Resident and was cautioned in a letter “not to harm Abdor
Rahman. If you do, by the terms of the agreement the Shaikh of
Sharjah and the people of Hira will probably fight you and, if there is
a fight, damage will probably be done to the lives or property of
British subjects, for which I shall hold you strictly responsible."36
The same ’Abdul Rahman was again the cause of a major clash
between the British Government and several of the Rulers of the
Trucial Coast because he was suspected of having attempted to
murder the Residency Agent in October 1925.37
It appeared within the pearling communities that the concern of
the British officials in the Gulf for the British subjects in the Trucial
Coast ports made life somewhat easier for these Hindu and Khojah
merchants. The latter knew that if a debt was not paid back and the
debtor absconded to another shaikhdom, the Residency Agent

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