"ملف 61/11 IV (D 77) مسائل متنوعة خاصة بالحجاز ونجد" [و‎‎٦‎٥] (٣٦٦/١٣٩)

End. 2 to S. No. (85).
H. M. C harge d'affaires, 1
During my last visit to Mecca I noticed a great change among the people
there. Since the abolition of the Religious Committee, they enjoyed
personal freedom to a great extsnt. The tyranny of the infernal Nejdi
soldiers was gradually becoming a dream in the public life and passing into
dark oblivion. The only discontent prevailing among them was the general
grievance bound up with the life of a public body. The effect of the world
wide depression told heavily upon them and it was further magnified by the
imposition of heavier taxes upon the pilgrims and the consequent decrease
in their number, which ultimately affected the market and deprived the
people of their income, inasmuch as every one in Mecca directly or indirectly
has to depend upon the pilgrims for their means of subsistence. The people
placed in such financial difficulties could not but resent the exploitation of
the Hejaz money in Nejd. This menacing economic problem confronted
the people with an ordeal which absorbed all their attention. At this
critical stage in the life of the nation, King Ibn Sa'ud instead of sympathis
ing with his subjects and devising means for the amelioration of their v condi-
tion, wantonly injured their feelingsvby ordering the revival of the defunct
Religious Committee.
2. This Committee has re-appeared with greater powers for evil. In
the past, the offenders were given a chance to appear before a body of not
ables, among whom there were one or two citizens who had the natural in
clination to be lenient and sympathetic towards their fellow-citizens in
crime; the well-to-do persons were also treated properly and tried in camera.
But now the Committee is different from that in the past. It has been given
summary powers and it has brought in its train considerably large numbers
of Nejdi soldiers employed in its service. There are 20 Nejdi soldiers on
behalf of the Religious Committee in each Hara (quarter), thus their total
number within the municipal jurisdiction of Mecca is 260, which is even
greater than the military force kept at the Jedda Garrison. The cruelty
and avarice of the Nejdi soldiers are well-known and need no recapitulation.
The presence of such a large number of the inhuman .and unsympathetic
element m each Hara of Mecca has naturally created a terror in the heart's
of the public. These brutes being let loose are perpetrating all sorts cf
cruelties and harassing the people simply to satisfy their brutal nature.
There is no law to restrain them. They move like tyrants of folk-lore and as
sume the air of an autocrat who is above law and order. Especially on the
occasion of the five-times-a-day prayer, these incarnations of the civil wildly
run through the public thorough-fares and enter the lanes and bye-lanes
in pursuit of the defaulters who might have taken shelter there, and on dis
covery fall upon them with all their might and beat them mercilessly.
There is no distinction between good or bad, rich or poor, young or old, and
even school boys of minor age are not spared. They lay them down on the
public road and flog them indiscriminately. Any one having a spark of
humanity in him cannot bear the scene of such inhuman perpetrations on the
helpless citizens. If any unfortunate has the audacity to advance argu
ments or oppose, his days may be numbered or he may be required to go to
the hospital to dress his wounds sustained at the hands of these brutes of
religion.
3. I happened to see the condition once with my own eyes. Just before
prayer, I drove in a car to the remoter quarter of the city and found these
hungry dogs more active there than in the adjoining quarters of the Holy
Harem, in the pursuit of their infernal perpetrations; and I was able to
realise the truth of the general complaints of the people.
4. Tobacco, on which the Wahhabi Government impose heavy customs
duty, is the cause of another trouble, from which both the shop-keepers and
their customers suffer considerably. Whenever they are detected in carrying on
transactions on this "Forbidden" article, they fall a victim to the Nejdi
wrath and indignity. It is difficult to fathom the Wahhabi logic and
l632(c) FiPD 0 5:.