'Selections from the Records of the Bombay Government' [‎430] (472/733)

430
WAHABEES.
12. The Wahabee troops again appeared near Oman, having com-
^ ^ 1809 pelled the wild Arabs in the vicinity to join them.
They had at this period reduced to nominal sub
mission the whole coast from Bussora river to Deba, which is the boun
dary between the Muskat and Joasmee territories, and, if allowed to
strengthen themselves in their acquisitions, they would, it was appre
hended, commence the same depredations by sea as they were prose
cuting on shore. A conviction of this danger had united the mercantile
powers in the Gulf against the sect.
13. The measures which the Wahabee Chief was actively prosecut
ing for the extension of his power and possessions, and the propagation
of his doctrines, derived considerable support from the success of an
expedition against Kerbelah, which he attacked on the 21st of April,
pillaged the whole of it (the Mehallah or division of Abbas alone
excepted), and plundered the Tomb of Hossein, slaying in the course
of the day, with circumstances of peculiar cruelty, above five thousand
of the inhabitants. This event, which made a deep impression on the
minds of the Turks, Arabs, and Persians, was attributed to the guilty
negligence of the Turkish Government, in failing to keep the Tomb of
Hossein in a proper state of defence.
14. Unable to check their progress, the Imaum in 1803 acceded to
a truce of three years, with the Wahabee, who
had succeeded in converting, or rendering tribu
tary to his power, the Arabs who inhabited the Arabian shore of the
Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. .
15. This truce left the Wahabee Chief at liberty to prosecute his
ambitious views of aggrandisement, which were next directed to the
reduction of Medina and Mecca. The latter he soon reduced, having
however previously attacked and taken Taif, which he converted from
a fertile region to an absolute desert. He next invested Jedda, which
having reduced to great distress, the Imaum succeeded in purchasing
a truce for the sum of one lakh One lakh is equal to one hundred thousand rupees and forty thousand dollars. On the
fall of Mecca and Yamboo, the extensive adjoining country submitted
to the Wahabee, who was now in possession of nearly the whole sea
coast on the western frontier of Arabia.
16. Returning from his victorious career in that quarter of Arabia,
Abdool Azeez prepared, notwithstanding the three years' truce he had
entered into with the Imaum, for the invasion of Oman by land and
sea,—a detachment of his troops had already entered the province,
and advanced within two days' journey of Burka, the summer residence
of the Imaum of Muskat. Captain Seton observed on this occasion, that
if the Wahabee reduced Oman, all Arabia must submit to his power,
and the whole coast would become a nest of pirates, who would extend
a. d . 1803.