'Extracts from Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf, Oman and Central Arabia by J G Lorimer CIE, Indian Civil Service' [‎30v] (65/180)

50
Relations
with the
Shaikh of
the Ka'ab in
Persian
'Arabistan.
Relations
with
Bahrain.
from sending help to the A1 'All of Charak, his ancestral dependents; and in 1837
the Shaikh of Sharjah was similarly prevented from supporting the people of
Tavuneh against those of Charak.
There was occasional friction between the Ka'ab Shaikh of Persian 'Arabistan
and the Shaikhs of Trucial 'Oman. The seizure of a Ka'ab subject by Qasimi
pirates in 1838, together with the steps taken in connection with it by the British
authorities, has been mentioned in a previous paragraph; but this affair, though
the victim was among the wealthiest and most valued of Shaikh Thamir's
supporters, gave rise to no serious difficulties, for the Ka'ab chief, mollified by
the surrender of the chief criminal, accepted the assurances of the British Resident
that the Shaikhs of Sharjah and Lingeh and their subjects as a whole were innocent.
The Qawasim One of the ruling families of the United Arab Emirates; also used to refer to a confederation of seafaring Arabs led by the Qāsimī tribe from Ras al Khaima. , apparently expecting severe reprisals, had in the meanwhile formed
their Basrah-bound vessels, 22 in all, into a fleet sailing together for mutual
protection.
In December 1844 a case much more difficult of settlement arose through the
seizure at Muhammareh of a Batil belonging to Abu Dhabi; this act was com
mitted under the orders of Shaikh Paris, the Ka'ab chief of the day, who justified
it by reference to an untenable claim of his own, more than 30 years old, against
the Bani Yas tribe. After a protracted controversy, of which the particulars are
described in the history of 'Arabistan, the Batil was returned to the owners through
the British authorities in May 1845.
The intervention of the Trucial Shaikhs in Bahrain affairs was now
discountenanced by the British Government in the same manner as their inter
ference in Persia. In 1843 permission to assist the ex-chief of Bahrain, 'Abdullah-
bin-Ahmad, was positively refused to the Shaikhs of Sharjah and Dibai by whom
it had been sought, and the more prudent Shaikh of Abu Dhabi himself voluntarily
declined to listen to overtures from the other contending faction in Bahrain. In
July 1851, however, the questions pending between the Shaikh of Bahrain and
the Wahhabi Amir were amicably adjusted by the Shaikh of Abu Dhabi, in whose
conduct upon this occasion there was nothing reprehensible.
Leading
motives.
Relations
between
Sharjah, Abu
Dhabi and
Dibai, 1838.
1839.
1840.
Internal affairs of Trucial 'Oman, 1835-53.
The internal history of Frucial 'Oman at this time, relating chiefly to petty
wars among the principalities, is confusing and monotonous; but it is not altogether
without meaning or explanation. The central fact is a contest for the general
paramountcy between the Shaikhs of Sharjah and Abu Dhabi: a contest in
which, after the first, the power of Sharjah appeared relatively to decline, and
one by which the Shaikh of Dibai, who held the balance of power, profited so
largely and so unscrupulously that the principals from time to time forgot their
feud in an endeavour to exterminate him by united action.
Besides hostilities traceable to the antagonism between Sharjah and Abu
Dhabi there was, however, much desultory fighting due to predatory raids and the
reprisals which they provoked; and some incidents of considerable importance
arose out of aggressions by the Shaikh of Sharjah on his smaller neighbours.
About 1840 it was clearly the ambition of the Shaikh of Sharjah to reduce Umm-
al-Qaiwain, 'Ajman, and even Dibai to dependence upon himself.
InJVlay 1838 Shaikh Khallfah of Abu Dhabi, in whose mind the secession
of the A1 Bu Falasah to Dibai still rankled deeply, made a sudden raid upon that
place in the absence of the inhabitants at the pearl banks, captured a tower upon
the sea face, and, alter pladng a garrison of his own in it, withdrew. On receiving
news of the incident the A1 Bu Falasah at once returned from the pearl fishery
and, assisted by Shaikh Sultan-bin-Saqar of Sharjah, dislodged the intruding Bani
Yas after three days' operations; they also destroyed the tower. Bickerings
followed, but in the end a settlement w r as effected, and the boats of Dibai and
Abu Dhabi were enabled to return to the pearl banks before the close of the season.
In 1839 a blood-feud arose between the people of Dibai and those of
Umm-al-Qaiwain; it led to hostilities between the Shaikhs of Sharjah and
Umm-al-Qaiwain and is therefore treated of in a later paragraph.
A year later the hand of Maktum-bin-Buti, Shaikh of Dibai, was shown in
the domestic affairs of the Qasimi principality by Shaikh Saqar-bin-Sultaivs
proclaiming his independence, in the town of Sharjah, of his father, the Qasimi
Shaikh; and on the failure of this coup d'etat, during the continuance of which
the influence ol Shaikh Maktum had dominated Sharjah, the rebellious son was