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'File 61/11 V (D 95) Hejaz - Nejd, Miscellaneous' [214v] (445/530)
The record is made up of 1 volume (261 folios). It was created in 12 May 1932-28 Dec 1933. It was written in English and French. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
520
INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS
[JULY
Students of Arabian history have always been somewhat
mystified by the fact that Ibn Sa'ud did not follow up the victory
of Turabah by an invasion of the Hejaz in 1919; the road to
Ta if and Mecca was open to him, but he declined the oppor
tunity. When he did actually invade the Hejaz in 1925, his
perhaps not unwilling hands were forced and he had no option
in the matter. The storm of hatred that broke out among the
Wahhabis on the assumption of the Caliphate by Husein could
have been controlled by no human force and the Hashimites
disappeared from the Holy Places of Islam, regretted by none,
save the Sharifs.
This somewhat prosaic narrative of history throws into bold
relief the fact that, up to 1926 at any rate, there is no evidence
that Ibn Sa'ud attributed his successes to the divine will of
Allah. In 1929 came the Akhwan rebellion. (I should perhaps
say that the Akhwan are Wahhabi Bedouins who have definitely
settled on the soil and have entirely given up their nomadic
habits.) In 1929 they were completely out of hand. Their
leaders sent an ultimatum to Ibn Sa'ud stating that, inasmuch
as the building of a fort by 'Iraq on the Nejd frontier was con
trary to the terms of the Treaty of Muhammarah and the 'Uqayr
Protocol, they proposed to invade 'Iraq whether their King
agreed to this or not. Ibn Sa'ud was on the horns of a dilemma.
If he sanctioned the invasion he committed himself to a conflict
with Great Britain, in view of the mandate which we had accepted
for 'Iraq; if he did not sanction the invasion, he had no other
course open to him but to chastise his recalcitrant subjects. He
chose the latter and wiser course, but it was a very near thing.
The Akhwan defeated Ibn Sa'ud's troops in at least two battles,
but eventually their forces were scattered or killed. The Akhwan
rebellion presents Ibn Sa'ud in the light of a ruler indelibly
stamped with the hallmark of genius. He was, like Bismarck,
thinking not of the time but of the future. He knew it would
be impossible for him to have a really serious disagreement
with Great Britain, especially at that time.
From the suppression of the Akhwan rebellion in 1929 Ibn
Sa'ud began to dream dreams of a united Kingdom of Arabia
with himself as King and Caliph and all his subjects professing
the Wahhabi creed. But what perhaps is more important is
that, in reviewing his own career and the countless occasions
when he had succeeded in causes apparently lost, he could not
come to any other conclusion but that Allah was guiding his
footsteps. Even a more sophisticated monarch could not
About this item
- Content
The volume consists of letters, telegrams, and memoranda relating to the Hejaz and Najd. Much of the correspondence is from the British Legation in Jeddah, with regular reports on the situation in that region sent to Sir John Simon, the Foreign Secretary in London. The rest of the correspondence is mostly between the Political Residency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, established in the provinces and regions considered part of, or under the influence of, British India. in Bushire, the Political Agencies in Kuwait, Bahrain, and Muscat, the Colonial Office, and the Government of India.
The main subjects of the volume are:
- the change in name from 'The Kingdom of the Hejaz-Nejd and its Dependencies' to 'The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia';
- the announcement of Ibn Sa'ud's eldest son, Prince Sa'ud, as the heir apparent to the throne;
- the territorial dispute between Yemen and Saudi Arabia after the latter's absorption of the 'Asir region into its kingdom.
A copy of the 23 September 1932 issue of the newspaper Umm al-Qura is contained in the volume (folios 57-58). It features the Royal Order proclaiming the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Other miscellaneous subjects covered in the volume include:
- relations between Italy and Saudi Arabia;
- a dispute between Ibn Sa'ud and his agent in Bahrain, al-Quasaibi [‘Abd al-‘Azīz al-Qusaibi], over a debt the former owes the latter;
- a revolt against Ibn Sa'ud by tribes loyal to ex-King Hussein coming from Sinai;
- a request for a loan made by Ibn Sa'ud to the British Government;
- relations between the Soviet Union and Saudi Arabia;
- relations between the USA and Saudi Arabia, including the visit of a Mr Gallant looking for oil concessions;
- concessions for the building of the railway between Mecca and Jeddah;
- the prospect of Saudi Arabia joining the League of Nations;
- the case of two slave girls seeking refuge at the British Legation in Jeddah.
Other documents of note contained in the volume are:
- a copy of a new customs tariff for Saudi Arabia (folios 122-134)
- a 'Who's Who' of Saudi Arabia, produced by the British Legation in Jeddah and covering all those deemed important to know by the British (folios 183-200);
- an envelope containing the torn-out pages of an article in the International Affairs journal (Vol. 12, No. 4, Jul., 1933, pp 518-534) entitled 'Ibn Sa'ud and the Future of Arabia.'
At the back of the volume (folios 245-251) are internal office notes.
- Extent and format
- 1 volume (261 folios)
- Arrangement
The volume is arrranged chronologically.
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: The sequence starts on the first folio and continues to the inside back cover. The numbers are written in pencil, circled and located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio. Note that following f 1 are folios 1A, 1B, 1C, and 1D. The sequence then continues as normal from folio 2. There are two other foliation systems present but both are inconsistent and neither are circled.
- Written in
- English and French in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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Copyright: How to use this content
- Reference
- IOR/R/15/1/568
- Title
- 'File 61/11 V (D 95) Hejaz - Nejd, Miscellaneous'
- Pages
- 213r:221v
- Author
- Lewis, Captain C C
- Usage terms
- Public Domain