'Extracts from Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf, Oman and Central Arabia by J G Lorimer CIE, Indian Civil Service' [‎57v] (119/180)

104
Relations of the Wahhabis with 'Oman and 1 rucial 'Oman, 1865 71
[pp. 1126-8]
Destruction The destruction by a British war-vessel of a tower erected in Zora by the Shaikh
by a British of Sh . lr j ah5 who at this tim e was hand in glove with the Wahhabis, has been
tower at Zora mentioned above in connection with the operations of 1866; and by this measure
January ' the peace of the Trucial Coast A name used by Britain from the nineteenth century to 1971 to refer to the present-day United Arab Emirates. , which the tower had endangered, was re-established.
1866.
Death by Qn the 7th of April 1869 the Sadairi representative of the Wahhabi Amir in
t V h 0l wfhhL Baraimi, having proceeded to Sharjah and involved himself there in the internal
agent in intrigues and dissensions of the ruling Qasimi family, was shot dead in a broil which
Baraimi, 7th arose in the town, and a number of his followers perished with him.
April 1869.
Capture of This event was short i y followed by the disappearance of the Wahhabis from
the Wahhlibis Buraimi, which they had occupied, almost continuously, for nearly 70 years,
by the Sultan Probably before the death of the Wahhabi agent at Sharjah a peremptory demand
of 'Oman. for payment of tribute had been addressed to Saiyid 'Azzan-bin-Qais. who had
18th June, recently usurped the Sultanate of 'Oman, and a raid had been made by the
1869 - Wahhabis on Sohar; consequently, when the Na'lm of Baraimi, after the mishap
to the agent, invited Saiyid 'Azzan to join them in expelling the Wahhabis from the
Oasis, he complied—being a man of bold and decided character—without
hesitation. On or about the 18th of June the Wahhabi garrison of Baraimi
surrendered, after a trifling resistance, to "Azzan's force of about 1,500 men; and
the Saiyid, after installing a garrison and forming an alliance with the Shaikh of
Abu Dhabi, returned in triumph to Masqat.
Abortive pre- 'Abdullah-bin-Faisal was not inclined to submit tamely to the loss of Baraimi
fhTwXhabi and ' with it ' of his whole position in Trucial 'Oman and 'Oman; but various
Amir for the circumstances incapacitated him for effective action for its recovery. Early in 1870
recovery of 'Abdullah came down to Hasa, where he proceeded to collect a force; it was
Baraimi. believed that large numbers of boats were being collected by his order along the
1869-70. coasts of Hasa and Qatar for an expedition to Trucial 'Oman and thence against
Baraimi; and subsequently the Amir himself was reported to have reached 'Oqair.
He was reminded, however, of his promise, given in 1866, not to commit aggressions
upon Arab states having friendly relations with the British Government, and the
overthrow by a British naval force of some usurping chiefs who had seized Bahrain
served as a timely illustration of the dangers of a conflict with Britain, besides which
he was aware that the invasion of Bahrain, committed as it had been from the coast
of Hasa, might be laid to his charge by the British Government. A combination
formed by the Shaikh of 'Abu Dhabi, the Amir's rebellious brother Sa'ud and
Saiyid 'Azzan of Masqat greatly increased the difficulty of his task in 'Oman; and
the dryness of the season had made water scarce upon the routes by land from Hasa
to Baraimi. In April 1866, dispirited by these obstacles, 'Abdullah seems to have
returned to his capital, where the intrigues of his own relations had become a source
of danger. The loss of Baraimi illustrated the truth, exemplified on a larger scale
by the Egyptian occupations of Najd in 1818-19, and 1838-40, and by the Turkish
occupation of Qasim in 1905-07, that political paramountcy depends even in Arabia
on the possession of sufficient material force at the place to be dominated, and that
in the absence of such force it cannot long continue.