Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎788r] (1592/1814)

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lesson of his father’s life, has faithfully observed the terms of tKe
original covenant, and has in consequence been protected against
the ever-recnrrent pretensions of foreign powers. Bahrein, in fact,
supplies, in epitome, a vindication of the wisdom of the policy that
has been pursued by Great Britain in the Gulf; and when its
present condition is contrasted with that of El Katr, the true value
of the Pax Britannic^ can with some accuracy be appraised.
Mention has been so frequently made in the preceding pages
of the Wahabi power of Nejd, that a few paragraphs are neces-
The sary to explain the introduction and significance of that
Wahabis strange phenomenon. 1 It was about 1740-50 that Sheikh
Mohammed, son of Abdul Wahab of Bnsrab, disgusted with the
laxity, the corruption, and the tyranny of Turkish Islam, first
started the puritanical movement which has ever since borne his
fathers name. It would not be to the purpose of the present
narrative to trace the steps by which the Wahabis established a
temporal as well as spiritual authority throughout Arabia, carried
their victorious propaganda far and wide, and in the early years of
this century even captured the sacred citadel of the Mussulman
faith. Here it is more relative to my subject to distinguish the
moment at which they first came into contact with the British
Government as the custodian of the peace of the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. .
From their stronghold in the Nejd, or Tableland, 250 miles inland
from El Katr, and from their capitals Dereiyah and Biadh, situated
on that mountainous plateau, they soon made their conquering
influence felt along the maritime littoral, and have at different
times in this century subjugated or extorted tribute from almost
every Arab tribe from El Katif to Cape Musandim, and from Cape
Musandim to Ras-el-Hadd. Proselytism in the guise of plunder
was the bait which they 7 held out to the natural pirates of the coast
X
1 For accounts of the Wahabi Arabs, and for travels across this part of Arabia
and to Nejd, vide L. A. Corangez, Histoire des Wahabis (ed. S. de Sacy), Paris,
1810 ; Captain G. F. Sadleir, Diary of a Journey across Arabia in 1819, Bombay,
1866; J. L. Burckhardt, Notes on the Bedouins and Wahabys, 1830; Sir II. Brydges,
History of the Wahauby, 1831; C. Ritter, Die Erdhunde von Asien — Arabien, 2 vols.
1846-7 ; Dr. G. A. Wallin, Notes of a Journey in N. Arabia in 1848 ; W. G. Pal-
grave (1862-3), Narrative of a Journey through Central and Eastern Arabia,
2 vols.; C. Guarmani (1864), Bulletin de la Soc. de Geoy., Paris, Septembre 1865,
et seg. ; (Sir) L. Pelly, Report of a Visit to Nejd, 1866 ; Alb. Zehrne, A.rabien und
die Araber sett hundert Jahren, Haile, 1875 ; C. M. Doughty (1876-7), Travels in
Arabia Deserta, 2 vols. ; Lady A. Blunt (1879), A Pilgrimage to Nejd, 2 vols. ;
Ch. Huber (1878-1882), Bulletin de la Soc. de Geog., Paris, 1884-5.
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