"دليل الخليج. مجلد I. القسم التاريخي. الأجزاء Iأ و Iب. ج.ج. لوريمر ١٩١٥" [‎٧‎٨‎٩] (١٧٨٢/٩٤٤)

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Affairs during the ascendency of Rabmah-bin-Jabir in Qatar,
1783-1816.
The Jalahimah. under the sons of a Shaikh named Jabir, had taken Settlement
. , P n 1 • V ^ Kahmah
their part with the other ^Utub in the conquest ot iialirain \ but ^hor
after the victory, conceiving themselves to have been slighted or insuffi- 1783
ciently rewarded, they appear to have sojourned for a time on Kharag
Island and at Bushehr. Subsequently they returned to Qatar, where they
settled at Khor Hassan ; and at that place a contest for the chief power
in the section took place between 'Abdullah, an elder son, and Rahmah, a
younger son, of Shaikh Jabir, The dispute was eventually decided in
favour of Rahmah j and 'Abdullah at some time before 1810 fled to
Masqat, where he died, to seek the assistance of Saiyid Sa'id against
his brother. The power of Rahmah in Qatar was, however, at no time
universal, and it did not at first extend even to Zubarah, which was in the
immediate vicinity of his own headquarters. In 1805 an 'Atbi Shaikh of
Zubarah, evidently not Rahmah, joined with the ' Atbi Shaikh of Kuwait
in seeking British aid against the Wahhabis.
Zubarah was at this time a larger and more important place than
Qatif ; and in 1790 foreign merchants enjoyed complete protection there,
and there were no customs duties. The share of the Arabs of Qatar in
the pearl fisheries wiis at this time small.
The name of Rahmah-bin-Jabir soon became notorious as that of a Naval depi ,e -
daring and successful freebooter^ by whose depredations the Persians Rahmah,
and the 'Utub other than the Jalahimah were the chief sufferers. In 1783-1809.
1809, shortly before the despatch of the first British expedition against
Ras -al-Khaimah, reprisals against Khor Hassan were attempted by a
Persian fleet from Bushehr ; but Rahmah, reinforced by his sympathisers
the Qawasim, defeated the expedition and even captured some of the
enemy's vessels. Towards the end of 1809 he was reported to have
taken 20 Batils owned by the ' Utub while at sea on their
way from Kuwait to Masqat ; and in this affair a son of ' Abdullah-bin-
Subah, Shaikh of Kuwait, was killed in charge of the convoy. In
revenge for the death of the latter a naval attack on Khor Hassan was
threatened by the 'TJtub of Kuwait, but was not, apparently,
made. The exploits of Rahmah, though in some cases piratical, were
performed as a rule under pretext of lawful warfare ; and towards the
subjects and officials of the British Government, even at a period when