File 1707/1924 ‘Arabia:- Jeddah Situation Reports. (1924-1930)’ [‎280r] (564/898)

sitting at a coffee shop near the Holy Mosque when a Wahabi, dressed as all Wahabis
are, came along and plucked the cigarette from his mouth and started belaying him
with a stick. The Egyptian resented this treatment, and a bout of fisticuffs ensued, in
which the original aggressor received a black eye and other minor injuries. It was
not till the parties had been separated and quietened that it was discovered that the
^aggressor was the grandson of Abdul Wahab, the founder of the faith. As he is
a particularly holy man, the chauffeur was taken before the Grand Cadi, who ordered
him to be flogged, with the result above stated. Further, four pilgrims, Afghans,
went out to the “ Jebel-el-Nur, ” where Mohammed had once hidden from his
aggressors, and as they prayed they were fired upon by some Akhwan, who slightly
wounded two of them. Several further incidents of a minor nature have occurred,
and unless some action is taken by the Sultan to stop these persecutions it will be
difficult for him to reconcile the above incidents with his assurances of full religious
freedom and safet}^ to pilgrims. In this respect he recently sent to this agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. a
telegram addressed to the authorities at Singapore, stating that he guaranteed the
safety and religious freedom of all who came on the pilgrimage. This action was
taken on receipt of a telegram from the Nemazee shipping people, who stated that
pilgrims were hanging back on account of the dangers of the pilgrimage.
In Jeddah, also, their strictness is becoming manifest. It may not be generally
known that here is the Tomb of Eve, “ the mother of the world.” The grave is some
200 yards long and some 4 yards wide and has in the middle a small mosque, where
formerly, on payment of a few piastres bansheish, the keeper of the edifice would
lift a flagstone from the centre of the floor to allow sceptical Christians and pious
Moslems an opportunity of admiring the lady’s navel. This tomb, until orders were
issued to the contrary, used to be the favourite resort of childless wives and
languishing maidens, but now has been closed under royal irade and anybody
frequenting the place is punished.
17. Owing to the more settled conditions in the Hejaz pilgrims have already
began to arrive, and some 2,000 have come from India, Java and Singapore. On
the arrival of the steamship “ Alavi ” with 360 pilgrims on board, the local
authorities, despite the fact that the ship had passed through the quarantine at
Kamaran and had no illness on board, placed the ship and pilgrims in quarantine
for twenty-four hours. This action on their part was quite unnecessary and
represented but a show of authority. In company with the Dutch consul a protest
was made against this action, but no satisfaction was obtained till I telephoned to
the Sultan direct, who thereupon ordered the ship to be released and later issued
I instructions that no ships passing any recognised quarantine station and proceeding
direct therefrom to Jeddah would undergo quarantine locally unless illness had
manifested itself on board after the ship’s departure from the quarantine station.
Even then if the foreign representative of the nationality of the ship required, the
ship would be sent back to the nearest quarantine station. He also requested to
become a signatory of the International Sanitary Convention, and desires to send a
delegate to the conference to be held in Paris about May next.
Such actions on the part of Ibn Saud show his general disposition towards better
1 relations with foreign Powers and a desire for more modern methods in the Hejaz,
and would appear to deserve seconding as far as is practicable.
18. The condenser question has finally been settled, and the firm of
Messrs. Mirrlees, Watson and Co. have agreed to have it constructed and working
by the 15th May, which will go far towards securing the comfort of the pilgrims on
their return from Mecca about the end of June and whilst awaiting shipment to their
homes.
19. The Hejaz authorities have also placed a contract with the Royal Mint
for the supply of 1 million each of 1 piastre, j piastre and ^ piastre pieces of cupro
nickel, to replace the various small coins at present in circulation in the Hejaz.
This will tend to restrict the thieving methods of local money-changers who, on
account of the multiplicity of currencies employed, have no trouble whatever in
confounding and robbing pilgrims who wish to change their rupees Indian silver coin also widely used in the Persian Gulf. or guilders.
20. During the period under report three slaves have taken refuge at this
agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. and been sent to the Sudan.
21. Enclosure No. 2 to this report is an article published in the “ Umm-aP
Kura” under the heading of security, and details the instructions given to the
sheikhs of the tribes of the Hejaz.
22. Zakaria Khan, the self-styled Afghan consul, left for Bombay en route to
Afghanistan a few days ago.
S. R. JORDAN.