File 345/1908 Pt 2 'Mohammerah: situation. Sheikh's dispute with the Vali of Basra. decoration for Sheikh. renewed assurances to Sheikh.' [‎23r] (50/566)

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the tribes together. The only point in his favour is that he has reached man’s
estate but as he would need a Regent as much as a younger brother and would
be more difficult to control, the fact does not count for much.
1 he government of Mohammerah has been carried on for the past sixteen
years by the Shaikh and Haji Rais in consultation. It is purely a two-horse
show.
The only other man capable of any assistances Shaikh Hanzal, the Shaikh’s
Commander-in-chief when occasion demands, and the son of his eldest brother
Shaikh Muhammad who died at Mecca. Owing partly no doubt to the fact
that he had a Persian mother Shaikh Muhammad did not succeed on the death
of Shaikh Jabir, a younger brother Shaikh Mizal, the predecessor of the present
Shaikh replacing him.
Of other local notables Agha Abdi, the Deputy Governor, is a man of
ability and some force of character but quite uneducated being unable to read
or write. It is becuming increasingly difficult for him to keep pace with the
modern development of Mohammerah and its resultant requirements.
Haji Rais has a son, Haji Mushir, who is, during Haji Rais’s absence on
It ave, carrying on for the Shaikh such of the duties usually performed by his
father as he can cope with. Though clever he has not the character nor the
desire to step into his father’s shoes and is as yet but 26 years of age.
Agha Abdi’s sons are traders pure and simple. They have no place in
the Government nor are they capable of assuming such a position.
It will be seen then that with the death of the Shaikh and Haji Rais—
and the latter is an old man while the former suffers from diabetes though he
is not in any immediate danger—the situation would need some watching.
The only man capable of action would be Shaikh Hanzal. It is on meeting
a situation like/one realises the value, in troubled time even the necessity, of
the tribal custom so frequently met with in the east by which succession goes,
not to the eldest son but to the eldest living member of a family.
The alternative to the succession of Chasib is that of one of his brothers, f
These are all some years younger than Chasib, the next lot coming in a group
of four with but little between them in point of age. The eldest of these is
Abdul Hamid. They are all together at Mr. van Ess's American Mission school
at Basrah and of Abdul Hamid I hear very good reports. ^
In accepting the possibility of the question of succession arising it is neces
sary for us to realise that it might occur at any time though there is no reason
to hope anything but that the Shaikh will live for many years to come. Should
then Abdul Hamid be declared the heir, failing Haji Rais, there is no one but
Shaikh Hanzal who could possibly act as Regent.
Hanzal was, as you are aware, for many years Governor of Ahwaz till 1909,
his removal being caused by the report of a plot to assassinate the present
Shaikh with a view of putting Hanzal in his place. It is more than doubtful
whether the latter had anything to do with the plot, the idea being that advant
age was taken of the opportunity to place Chasib in charge of the Government at
Ahwaz.
In any case the Shaikh has always had a certain amount of jealousy of
Hanzal and has not desired to see him too much to the fore in tribal matters.
In this he may have had a certain amount of right for I .think it highly probable
that were the condition of affairs the same as they were some few years ago and
had the question arisen Hanzai would be selected by the tribes in preference to
Chasib. With the further settlement of the place, with the increase of Europeans
in the district and the consequent British interests which have arisen and more
especially with the assurances which we have given him,^ the Shaikh s fear of
Hanzal has somewhat diminished and he has employed him more than once as
his Commander-in-Chief in his recent difficulties with the Bakhtiaris and at
Shushtar. Shaikh Hanzal himself is a very decent man, not unlike the Shaikh
in appearance and somewhat resembling him in character. He would have no
ambitions regarding succession knowing that without our support they would be
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