"دليل الخليج. مجلد I. القسم التاريخي. الأجزاء Iأ و Iب. ج.ج. لوريمر ١٩١٥" [‎١‎٠‎٦‎٨] (١٧٨٢/١٢٢٣)

f ' :
General
position on
the Western
Coast of
Arabia,
1804-08.
Treatment of
the Hajj by
the WahhS-
bis, 1802-10.
1068
severity on account of the favourable disposition of the inhabitants towards
the Turks; thus, while private property was respected, the town was not
exempted, like Makkah, from payment of tribute to the Amir. The
Turkish representative was expelled from the place ; a Shaikh of the
Harb tribe was installed as governor; the treasures of the tomb of
Muhammad—or such as had not been divided among themselves by the
people ol Madinah before the surrender—were appropriated by the
Wahhabis; and an attempt was made to destroy the dome of the building
itself * The desecration of the tomb of the prophet was a shortsighted
and impolitic act ; it filled the whole Aluhammadan world with horror
•iiid it finall\ alienated all Sunnis from the Wahhabi cause in no less
a degree than the desecration of the Karbala shrine had already alienated
all Shi'ahs.
In the same year Abu Nuqtah, the principal Shaikh of ; Asir, overran
the coast of Yaman from Qunfidah to Bait-al-Faqih, in the'name of
the Wahhabis, plundering the ports of Lahiyah and Hodaidah ; and during
the next three or four years he frequently repeated his incursions into the
same tract. No attempt, however, was made to capture San'ah,—chiefly,
it was believed, because the Wahhabi Amir was anxious to defer the taking
of that place until he could himself be present and secure a main share in
the plunder.
Under Wahhabi rale tranquillity prevailed in the conquered districts
of the lied Sea coast, and, as communication with Najd was free and
intercourse uith Kgypt unimpeded, provisions were abundant and prices
low ; but general trade, in consequence of the check to pilgrimages and to
the resulting influx of foreign merchants, was stagnant. The local
influence of Ghalib, Sharif of Makkah, which was an obstacle to the free
exercise of authority by the Wahhabis, had begun to decline ; but every
where it was considerable, and at Jiddah as yet almost unimpaired; and the
adroitness of the Sharif was such that the Amir could find no pretext for
aking measures against him. By persuading Sa'ud to forbid public
prayers being made in the mosques on Fridays for the Sultan of Turkey
'hahb succeeded in bringing about a yet more irreconcileable difference
than already existed between the Porte and the Wahhabis.
The Wahhabis had always regarded with disfavour the great organ
ised annual pilgrimages to Makkah and Madinah which were made under
r is arrang ements from Damascus and Cairo and also, by
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