'Extracts from Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf, Oman and Central Arabia by J G Lorimer CIE, Indian Civil Service' [‎41r] (86/180)

71
It was ascertained in 1906 that, during the last ten years, the Sultan of 'Oman 1906.
had been paying a cash subsidy of $3,000 per annum to the Shaikh of Abu Dhabi
on condition of his restraining the Bedouin tribes of Baraimi and Dhahirah from
incursions into the Batinah district; and reason was found for believing that, as
far eastwards as 'Ibri in Dhahirah and perhaps also in parts of Ruus-al-Jibal, though
all of these belonged to the Sultanate, the influence wielded by Shaikh Zaid-bin-
Khallfah far outweighed that of Saiyid Faisal-bin-Turki.
Other foreign relations of Trucial 'Oman, 1892-1907.
The Perpetual Treaty of Peace of 1853 had been communicated to the Porte
in 1891; and in 1893 the Turkish Government were informed by Her Majesty's
Government of the Exclusive Agreement of 1892 between the Trucial Shaikhs
and Great Britain.
In 1895 a Turkish subject, while proceeding down the creek at 'Ajman to
embark on a vessel outside, was shot dead from the bank by a watchman who had
challenged him and his companions without obtaining a reply. The matter was
adjusted by the Resident with the Turkish authorities through the British Assistant
Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. at Basrah and the Turkish Vice-Consul at Bushehr, the relations
of the deceased in the end waiving their claims, which an 'Ajman Shara' court
had held to lie against the watchman personally and not against the Shaikh of the
principality.
In later years, in consequence of the pacification of the country and the
development of trade, the attention of foreigners, sometimes of undesirable
character, was attracted more frequently than before to Trucial 'Oman. One of
these, calling himself Dr. Ibrahim Effendi, settled as a vaccinator at Sharjah during
a smallpox epidemic in 1900, fled to Baraimi in 1904 on the appearance of plague
in the Gulf, and on his return to the coast made his head-quarters at Abu Dhabi.
This individual, who was originally a Jew and afterwards became in succession a
Christian, a Shi'ah Muhammadan and a Wahhabi, was for some time assisted in
his business by 'Abdur Rahman, a proselyte from Hinduism to Islam. In 1904
Ibrahim Elfendi visited Bombay and there volunteered on terms which were not
accepted, to expose the intrigues of a foreign power in Trucial "Oman. About the
same time he also memorialised the Sultan of Turkey to grant him an allowance
for what he described as his charitable work in Trucial 'Oman.
In 1902-03, as explained in the history of Qatar, a move was made by the
Porte to establish a Turkish Mudirate at 'Odaid in the Abu Dhabi Shaikhdom;
but it was checkmated by the action of the British Government.
In 1904, Herr Toeppen, a German adventurer and pervert to Muhammadanism,
informed the British Government that one of the Trucial Shaikhs was trying to
obtain German protection; he also offered his services in the matter, as those
of a person well acquainted with the country, but they were declined. The lease
of the export duty on mother-of-pearl shells at Dibai, already mentioned as having
given rise in 1902 or 1903 to a commercial question, was found to have been
granted to an employe of the German firm of Wonckhaus; and the Shaikh was
accordingly advised not to grant such concessions in future without first consulting
the Resident.
The Turkish
Government
informed of
the relations
between
Britain and
Trucial
'Oman 1893.
Turkish case,
1895.
Ibrahim
Eflfendi.
Turkish
subject,
1900-1907.
Turkish claim
to 'Odaid,
1902-03.
German
subjects.
Internal affairs of Trucial 'Oman, 1892-1907.
We come at length to the internal history of the country during fifteen years Friction
a period during which, be the cause what it may, actual fighting by land has been bcuveen
much less common than formerly, while political combinations have shown more
than ordinary stability.
To the troubles which befell in 1891 between the Shaikhs of Dibai and Sharjah
there succeeded a truce which, having been shaken in September 1892 by the
despatch of an armed boat from Dibai to the assistance of 'Ajman against Sharjah,
was again solemnly renewed at Dibai in the same month in the presence of Sultan-
bin-Muhammad, a leading Shaikh of the Na'im.