'Extracts from Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf, Oman and Central Arabia by J G Lorimer CIE, Indian Civil Service' [‎42r] (88/180)

73
Shamaillyah and Baraimi. It may be added than in March 1905 Major Cox the
Political Resident A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency. , made a personal inspection of Zora and came to the conclusion
that the proposed settlement should not be authorised, unless with the unanimous
assent of all the Xrucial Shaikhs, which it was unlikely would ever be a iven
In 1900, on the death of Hamaid-bin-'Abdullah of Ras-al-Khaimah that place
and its dependencies were re-incorporated with the principality of Sh'ariah from
which they had been separated since 1869. The number of the Trucial Shaikhs was
thus reduced from six to five, the latter being their original number.
The troubles which arose in 1902 between the Shaikh of Sharjah and his
vassal the headman of Fujairah in Shamiliyah are fully narrated in an Appendix
to this chapter, and at present we are concerned only with their elfects upon the
relations of the Trucial Shaikhs with one another. 'The cause of the rebellious
headman, who had appealed to the Sultan of Masqat and to the Shaikh of Dibai,
was espoused in Trucial 'Oman by the Shaikhs of Dibai and 'Ajman, with whom
the Shaikh of Umm-al-Qaiwain, on account of neglected claims by his subjects
against Sharjah, afterwards associated himself; but the influence of the Shaikh
of Abu Dhabi, who, with a view to propitiating the Shaikh of Sharjah in the Zora
case, had recently formed a close alliance with him, was thrown at first in the
opposite scale. No actual hostilities, however, took place among the Trucial
Shaikhs in connection with the ShamailTyah dispute. In 1903, on "the return of
the Sharjah Shaikh from an expedition to Shamaiiiyah, the Shaikh of 'Ajman,
without prejudice to an offensive and defensive alliance that existed between
himself and Dibai, entered into a similar arrangement with Sharjah; and thereafter
there was close friendship between them, while the alliance between Sharjah and
Abu Dhabi was also maintained. In 1905 Shaikh Saqar-bin-Khalid appeared to
have relinquished all idea of coercing the refractory Fujairah headman.
A curious difficulty, destined to produce unforeseen and somewhat far-
reaching consequences, now occurred in connection with two villages in the upper
part of Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. Hatta in Western Hajar, a valley through which runs a route from
Dibai in Trucial 'Oman to the town of Shinas in Batinah. These villages, Hajarain
and Masfut, both inhabited by Biduwat, seem to have belonged originally—as the
lower part of the Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. Hatta does still—to the Sultanate of 'Oman; but about
1870, in the reign of Saiyid 'Azzan-bin-Qais, on an irreconcilable quarrel taking
place between the two, the people of Masfut placed themselves under the protection
of Bani Ka'ab and the Na'im of Baraimi; and at a later period, in the reign of
Saiyid Turki, the Sultan of 'Oman in view of his own inability to defend Hajarain
against the Na'im of Baraimi, acquiesced in its virtual transfer to the Shaikh of
Dibai. Such was the position, when, in 1905, the Bani Qitab, actuated by emnity
towards the Na'Tm of Baraimi, occupied the hills at the head of Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. Hatta, built
a fort (called Hauz) to command the road at a spot known as Jabail, and proceeded
to annoy passing caravans. In these acts they were countenanced by the people
of Masfut, who in so doing apparently took the opposite side from the Na'im
protectors, and by Rashid-bm-Ahmad, a new and vigorous Shaikh of Umm-al-
Qaiwain, who was said to have supplied funds for the building of the fort; but
the Na'im of Baraimi and the Shaikh of Dibai entertained strong objections to
the fort and called in the Shaikh of Abu Dhabi, whose opinion coincided with their
own. In September 1905 the five Trucial Shaikhs held a meeting at Dibai. the
venerable Zaid-bin-Khalifah in effect presiding: and it was apparently decided
that the Jabail fort should be destroyed, and that the Bani Qitab should restore
Masfut, which village had fallen completely under their influence, to the Shaikhs
of Baraimi. Shaikh Zaid on this occasion urged Shaikh Rashid to abstain from
encouraging the Bani Qitab, and he even obtained from him a promise to comply
with this advice; but the young chief of Umm-al-Qaiwain had in reality not the
slightest intention of deferring to the venerable doyen of the Trucial Coast A name used by Britain from the nineteenth century to 1971 to refer to the present-day United Arab Emirates. , and
only a few weeks later he conducted the two leading Shaikhs of the Bedouin Bani
Qitab to 'Ajman and Sharjah, where, obviously with the aim of stultifying the
policy of the Shaikh of Abu Dhabi, he reconciled them to the ruling chiefs.
Meanwhile, in July or August 1905, a quarrel had arisen in the Dhahirah
district of the 'Oman Sultanate between a Baluch colony at Aflaj Bani Qitab and
their overlords, the sedentary Bani Qitab of the same place; and attempts were
shortly made by the latter to capture the Baluch fort in the hamlet of Mazim. The
Baluch thereupon appealed to the Shaikh of Abu Dhabi for help, and he accord
ingly tried to prevent the nomad Bani Qitab from joining their kinsmen in the
assault upon Mazim, but without success; the garrison of Mazim, however.
Disappear
ance of Ras-
al-Khaimah
as a separate
Shaikhdom,
1900.
The Shamai
llyah case,
1902-05.
Dispute in
Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. Hatta,
1905.
Further
difficulties
arising from
Bani Qitab
affairs,
1905-06.