'Report on Najd Mission 1917-1918' [‎7v] (14/60)

S. Relations between Najd and Kuwait.
As I have already remarked Lieut.-Col. E. E. A. Hamilton, Political
Agent at Kuwait, had been at Riyadh for some three weeks prior to the arrival
of the Mission. He had left Kuwait about the beginning of October in pur
suit of a large Shammar caravan, which had obtained supplies and set out for
Hail during his temporary absence at Baghdad. The caravan escaped and
Colonel Hamilton passed on into the Qasim, where Ibn Saud's eldest son,
Turki, a lad of about 19, was commanding the Najd forces, threatening Jabal
Shammar, and thence travelled to Riyadh.
On the arrival of the Mission at Riyadh, Colonel Hamilton and I had
many opportunities of discussing all questions, which formed a bone of con
tention between Ibn Sand and Shaikh Salim of Kuwait, and, at my request,
he remained at Riyadh to give the Mission the benefit of his experience and
advice until a definite settlement of the outstanding difficulties between the
two rulers was arrived at, namely, till December 5th, when he returned to
Kuwait.
It was indeed clear from the first that one of these questions—the Ajman
problem—was of primary importance and that, both on military and on poli
tical grounds, the Mission could scarcely hope for success in its main task of
inducing Ibn Sand to undertake serious military operations against Ibn Rashid
and Jabal Shammar, unless and until this problem was satisfactorily disposed
of. At the same time it was satisfactory to note in the course of our constant
and lengthy interviews wih Ibn Saud that he was disposed to come more than
half way to meet us in the settlement df the minor questions,—namely the
establishment of an effectual blockade of Hail and the right of taxing the
Awazim tribe,—if we could settle the major problem to his satisfaction. This
was the easier for us inasmuch as—assuming the hostility of the Ajman
tribe towards Ibn Saud to be as virulent and uncompromising as his towards
them—military considerations alone rendered it imperative to remove the tribe
from any position, from which they might be able to threaten his flank or
communications in the event of his mobilising for hostilities against Hail.
Before proceeding to a discussion of these various problems it will not be
out of place to attempt a brief sketch of the relations existing between the
houses of Ibn Saud and Ibn Subah up to this point.
During the last two decades of the 19th Century, when the Wahhabi
dominions bowed to the rule of Ibn Rashid, the scattered remnants of the
Saud dynasty sojourned in exile in the various ports of the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran.
Coast. Abdul Rahman, the youngest son of the great Faisal Ibn Saud, after
an abortive attempt to re-establish himself in the land of his fathers, sought
and was readily granted refuge and hospitality in the town of Kuwait, where
he and bis family of growing sons lived under the protection, first of Muham
mad and then of Mubarak Ibn Subah, awaiting the turn of fortune, which
would surely come. Mubarak, ascending the throne of Kuwait by the murder
of his brother, soon came to be recognised as a power to be reckoned with in
Aio.'.ia. An astute politician and diplomat, he was the equal of the great
Sad mi and less powerful only than Muhammad Ibn Rashid. then ruler of the
whole of Central Arabia. The rivalry of these three resulted naturally in
constant fighting, and Mubarak's wise statesmanship saw in ^he exiled family
•of Saud a prospective source of strength in his contests with his rivals and
especially with Ibn Rashid.
At the beginning of the present Century, i.e., in the Spring of 1901,
Mubarak, having entered into alliance with Sadun and accompanied by a Najdi
force under the Imam Abdul Rahman Ibn Saud, went forth to fight out the
issue with Abdul Aziz ibn Rashid, who had but recently ascended the throne
Jeft vacant by the death of the great Muhammad. Simultaneously Abdul
Aziz Ibn Saud ; the present ruler of Najd, marched with a force of 1,500 men
to lay siege to Riyadh.
Mubarak and his allies encamped at Tarafiya, while the Shammar lay at
Sarif. The battle of Sarif, so-called though fought at Tarafiya, was one of
the decisive battles of Badawin history. Mubarak, defeated after a bloody
struggle, fled with the remnants of his force and Abdul Aziz, hastily raising
the siege of Riyadh, hastened back to Kuwait, but Abdul Aziz Ibn Rashid
sealed his own fate by the use he made of his victory, which he followed up
by fei-ocious visitations on the towns and villages of Sudair and other parts
of Najd.
The following year Abdul Aziz Ibn Saud, with a following of only 15
men, recovered Riyadh by a characteristically daring coup de main and, in a
few years, the old frontiers of the Wahhabi dominions in Central Arabia were
restored. Abdul Aziz ibn Rashid met his end in battle with Ibn Saud at
Raudhat al Muhanna in 1908 and the positions of Ibn Rashid and Ibn Saud
m Central Arabia were reversed.
1 his sudden reversal of fortune and the vigorous and rapid establishment
of a stable government in Najd by its young ruler could not have been alto-
^ethei palatable to Mubarak, who doubtless hoped to increase his own power