"دليل الخليج. مجلد I. القسم التاريخي. الأجزاء Iأ و Iب. ج.ج. لوريمر ١٩١٥" [‎١‎٩‎٠] (١٧٨٢/٣٣٣)

190
under their eyes, or even by the expulsion of their own garrison by
a British and 'Omani force from the port of Shinas ; which they
had lately seized. Their attitude towards the Saiyid of 'Oman was
menacing in the extreme.
In 1811 Muhammad J Ali, Pasha of Egypt, began his operations
for the recovery of the Turkish Red Sea districts usurped by the
Wahhabis ; and the effect of his movements was felt at once even on
the opposite side of Arabia, their hold upon which the Wahhabis found
themselves obliged partially to relax. Before the end of the year
Qatar and Bahrain, attacked by the Saiyid of 'Oman, were evacuated
by their garrisons ; but Mutlaq, their able and energetic commander at
Baraimi, was nevertheless able to invade the 'Oman Sultanate and to
capture the fort of Samail in the heart of that country. In 1811 or 1812
a symptom of anxiety, or at least of a willingness to abandon hie policy
of haughty isolation, was shown by the Wahhabi Amir in despatching
an envoy to the Persian Government of Fars; but the mission had no
visible results. In 1812, after one serious disaster, the Egyptians
succeeded in expelling the Wahhabis from Madinah ; and in the following
year they recovered Makkah, J iddah and Taif; but an expedition which
they made against Turabah ended in failure. The Hajj or public
pilgrimage to Makkah and Madinah, closed by the Wahhabis since
1802, was now thrown open once more to the Muhammadan world.
Notwithstanding the reverses sustained by the Wahhabis and some
military assistance lent by Persia to the Sultan of Oman, the Wahhabi
commander at Baraimi was again able, in 1812-1818, to invade the
Sultanate with success, to overrun the districts of Masqat, Eastern
Ilajar and Ja'alan with fire and sword, and to attach permanently to
the W alihabi interest, by their conversion to Wahhabi principles, two of
the leading tribes in the eastern part of the country. Towards the end
of 1813, however, after a profitable inroad into the Batinah district,
Mutlaq was killed in operations against a tribe in the interior
of Oman ; and the weakened position of the Wahhabis in Eastern
Arabia could then no longer be disguised. In 1814 the Wahhabi
state suffered a still greater loss in the death of the Amir Sa'ud, a
chief of diplomatic and administrative ability; and after this their
affairs, partly for want of his intelligent guidance, and partly on account
of the obstinate perseverance of the Egyptians in their attacks from
the west, went steadily from bad to worse. In September 1814 the
^ Vahhabjs, under a local leader achieved a victory over the Egyptians
111 Zabr a n i but this was their last triumph. In January 1815 the