'Extracts from Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf, Oman and Central Arabia by J G Lorimer CIE, Indian Civil Service' [‎46r] (96/180)

Muhammad sought refuge at Dohah in Qatar under the protection of the Shaikh
of Bahrain, while Tahnun became Shaikh of Abu Dhabi, but for a time associated
his father with himself in the administration and employed him on important
missions, particularly on that of negotiating a peace with the commander of the
British expedition against Ras-al-Khaimah in 1819-20. The accession of Tahnun
to power under the auspices of Masqat was the beginning of a permanent breach
between 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. and the Bani Yas, who, if tradition may be believed, had
hitherto lived as close friends and allies.
In 1821 or 1822, some time after the accession of Shaikh Tahnun, an Movements
individual named Suwaidan-bin-Za'al, who appears to have been head of the of Su waidan-
Maharibah section of the Bani Yas, absconded from Abu Dhabi in order to avoid ^2-23 '
payment of his debts, and adopted a roving and predatory life. Action was at
once taken against him by Shaikh Tahnun, who succeeded in capturing some of
his boats; but these proceedings were viewed by the British authorities of the day
with disapproval, as endangering the tranquility of the seas; and the Shaikh was
even required, on pain of a British war vessel being sent against his port, to desist
from them and to give up the vessels which he had seized. At the end of the
year Suwaidan paid a visit to Masqat, where he received a present from Saiyid
Sa'ld, and in January 1823 he was reported to have settled down quietly on the
island of Yas. A different view ol Suwaidan's character now apparently presented
itself to the local British officers, for we find the Resident advising him to make
his submission to Shaikh Tahnun and even encouraging the latter, on certain
conditions, to reduce him by force. Eventually Suwaidan was reconciled to his
chief and returned to Abu Dhabi in 1828.
Late in the year 1823 the ex-Shaikh Muhammad, whose headquarters were Attack on
now at Dohah in Qatar, appeared before Abu Dhabi at the head of "a number of Abu ^ habi
Manasir Bedouins and attacked and plundered the town; but he was driven out ex^Shaikh
with a loss of 35 men by his brother Tahnun, who hastened to the spot with a large Muhammad,
force from the interior. Retreating northwards he took refuge in Sharjah, whither 1823.
Tahnun followed by land and demanded his surrender; but, before matters came
to a crisis between the Shaikhs of Abu Dhabi and Sharjah, the Muhammad relieved
the latter of his presence by returning to Qatar.
Shaikh Tahnun had long distrusted his brothers Khallfah and Sultan and Assassination
had kept them at a distance from Abu Dhabi; but he was at length persuaded by ^ Shaikh
his father, Shakhbut, to allow them to return. Soon afterwards they were found April'7833
to have entered with some of the principal residents of Abu Dhabi into a plot for
the removal of Tahnun,—an act of treason with which the Shaikh prepared to
deal by throwing some of their confederates into prison. This precaution, however,
was not sufficient. On the contrary it precipitated the action of the conspirators;
and in April 1833 Shaikh Tahnun fell a victim to the pistol of his brother Khalifah
and the dagger of his brother Sultan.
Shaikh Khalifah-bin-Shakhbut, 1833-45.
Khalifah and Sultan at first ruled in partnership; but gradually the Accession of
predominance of Khalifah declared itself, and Sultan descended to a subordinate
place. A tender of allegiance and Zakat on the part of the usurpers was readily 1 a
accepted by the Wahhabi Amir, who at once took them under his protection and
forbade the Qasimi Shaikh of Sharjah to meddle in their affairs.
In the course of the following summer a conspiracy was formed by some Plot against
malcontents at Abu Dhabi to murder Shaikh KhalTfah and replace him by one of Shaikh Kha-
his first cousins; but the cousin whom it was intended to benefit himself divulged llfah ' 1833 *
the plot to the Shaikh, who, retiring into his fort, seized three of the ringleaders
and put them to death. He was also about to execute two influential merchants;
but popular indignation and the opposition of his brother Sultan diverted him
from his purpose and obliged him to be satisfied instead with the expulsion of one
of the merchants named Bin-Tyan, whom, after beating and despoiling of his
property, he sent in a Baqarah to Lingeh.
This violence on the part of Shaikh Khalifah was highly prejudicial to his Secession of
own interests, for it led to the secession from Abu Dhabi to Dibai, during the pearl the Al Bn
fishery, of a large number of Bani Yas of the Al Bu Falasah section. Dibai, of ^baf^S^
which the date of foundation cannot be fixed but may have been later than that
of Abu Dhabi, seems to have been readily surrendered by the individual who then
governed it on behalf of Shaikh Khalifah to the seceders; and they, in the following