'File 8/63 MUSCAT STATE AFFAIRS: SHIHUH TRIBE.' [‎9r] (17/56)

rage -i 2 i -
Musandam accounts for the merging of the humazara and
interior Shihuh elements: it also explains the adhesion of
the Shihuh tribe as a whole to the Muscat State. The Shihuh
looked to the Imam Saiyid Sa^d bin sultan for protection
from the i^awasim when he waged hie wars against the common
enemy in the early years of the last century, tfrom the time
of Saiyid sa^d son saiyid Thuwaini onwards a tfali appoint
ed from Muscat has throughout, it is believed, resided at
rihasab fort. The presence of this wall was desirable to the
Shihuh standing as it did for the moral support of Muscat,
vis a vis the i^awasim. And the wali functioned vide Miles
Vol. 2 pp.446 in the manner i have indicated.
The last shihuh - ^AwASim trouble occurred in 1922
ostensibly over a territorial question connected with rtAMS
and SHA , AfkJ a local Alsace -Lorraine. One of ri.M. Ship was
employed for the conference. The issue favoured tne fyAWASllh
Several Shihuh sheikhs og whom one was sheikh nasan the
present Malcontent v/ere taken off to Muscat and imprisoned
there. To the unwillingness or inability of Muscat to
maintain its traditional support of shihuh versus ^AV/ASIm
in the day of trouble, may be ascribed a certain cooling of
their loyalty, cause at any rate is not to be found in any
excess of state interference rather the reverse, for the
v*ali‘s authority for some years past has been shadowy:
Revenue taken from the shihuh is of the lightest kind, none
in fact outside the twon of Ahasab where a nominal ‘zakat*
in kind on dates, onions and sheep provides about 600 rupees Indian silver coin also widely used in the Persian Gulf.
annually - a bagatelle, and not sufficient to maintain the
fia.ll and his askaries. Customs imposts are nowhere imposed
on the shihuh as they are elsewhere along the suiAAnate gggy