ملف ١٩٢٦/٣٩٣٩ الجزء ٦ "تنقيح معاهدات أيتشيسون. قسم الخليج الفارسي." [و‎‎٦‎٠‎٩] (٨١٨/٦٥٣)

PERSIAN GULF—NejJ.
\ 3
!A.t the close of 1903 Lord Curzon, then Viceroy of India, made a state
[tour in the Persian Gulf, in the course of which he visited Muscat, Shar-
cah, Bandar Abbaa and the islands adjacent thereto, Lingah, Bahrein,
‘Koweit, Bushire and the British station of Bassidore. This was the first
occasion on which an Indian Viceroy had ever visited the Gulf.
1. The Wahabis and Nejd.
•It was by instigating the Kawasim tribe of Arabs to acts of piracy in
the Persian Gulf that the JVahabis first attracted the attention of the
British Government.
This sect had adopted strict and puritanical doctrines. They denied ,
'divine honours to Muhammad; abhorred and destroyed all holy tombs;
abstained from the use of tobacco; and waged war against all Muham
madans who did not accept their peculiar views.
When in 1809 it became necessary to send a second expedition against
the Kawasim (see Trucial Arab Chiefs of Oman, infra) the ruler ot
Muscat was found to be in considerable danger from the aggressions o
the Wahabis. It was decided, however, not to attempt auy operations
by land, and to show extreme forbearance to the Wahabi Chief I
1811 the Wahabis appeared in the vicinity of Muscat and plundered the
territory of Saivid Said. Application was made by him for the assist-
■ ance of the British Government, but the request was refused on the
cround that the British Government had recently co-operated with hipv
merely for the extirpation of the pirates who interrupted the «.mmerce of
the Persian Gulf, not in prosecution of war against the Wahabis. A
heavy -ly t0 ^ ^ ^ ^ ^
vasion was renewed by Mutlak-ul-Mutain in 1813.
Saivid Said was relieved from this danger by the General s death
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by Ibrahim Pasha and razed to the S 10 . le and there beheaded,
(Said’s successor) was sent pnsoner tQ ^ Jn
and the overthrow of the " , P | t ians was headed by Turki,
Governor wa, compelled to retire, and