FANATICAL TRIBESMEN.

Putaruru Press, Volume VII, Issue 292, 13 June 1929, Page 2

FANATICAL TRIBESMEN.

The Arabian Pen : nsula has a population of 12,000,000 souls, the majority of whom are Bedouins whose flocks must have water and pasture. But three-quarters of the Peninsula is a desert waste, and the pasture is dependent upon the weather, which is not regular in its bounties of rain as it is in other countries of the world. Hence the raids of migrations, or the great movements, from the time of the Prophet down to the present day, which were born among the sand dunes or the barren black mountains, and are destined to spread in every direction until they reach, for better or worse, the green zones in the north. Indeed, water and pasture have always been the magnets of the tribes, as well as the cause of their ancient feuds and wars. Arabia has recently been aroused by the activities of the Wahabis, fanatical tribesmen of whom Abdul Aziz Ibn Saud is King. South of the Hejaz are the mountains of Asir, which receive a little of the bounty of the monsoon rains, and are alive, therefore, with perennial streams and emerald valleys. Most of the tribes of these mountains have become “religious” as the Wahabis say of th Ai-abs who embrace their Unitaria. fath. The Idrise, of Tahamah, or the lowland, was recently at war with th.« Imam Yahya, who conquered’ Hudia dah and three other towns north of it on the Red Sea, threatening the capital, Jaizan. Whereupon Salyed Hasan Idrise appealed to Idn Saud for protection.

This was promised on a certain condition, which the Idrise accepted and wfiiich was embodied in the Treaty of Mecca, concluded in October, 1926, between himself and King Abdul Aziz Ibn Saud. In that Treaty is a striking example of how well an Arab ruler can imitate his friends the British. Protection is pledged to the Idrise on condition that he does not sell or otherwise dispose of any of h’s territory, or enter into treaty relations with a foreign power, or grant syndicate without the consent of Ibn Saud.

Outside the independent Yeman, however , the conquering Wahabis cannot exercise their arms upon any tribe or any territory that is not in a measure, under British influence or protection.

During the world war, Ibu Saud entered into a treaty with the British Government by virtue of which ho was to recognised the British authority in certain places, and to receive yearly a monetary consideration of £60,000. But that treaty, which was discontinued in 1923, together with the yearly stipend, was replaced in 1927 by a teaty of peace and friendship. Upon that friendship now depends the solution of many of the problems that arms in Arabia between the Ibn Saud and the British. Whablsm, which is suited to the temperament of the Bedouins, is too austere for an urban population. The taboos are not confined to. religious dogma and practice. They go beyond them to a social life. Thou shalt not smoke, thou shalt not drink wine, thou shalt never wear silk garments, nature and history prove however, that austerities, ethical and religion lose the’r potency when they were removed from their centre of inception and power. In central Arabia, for instance, the Wahobis neither smoke. 1 nor drink wine, nor wear silk garments. In the Quarim, 200 miles north >i the capital Ar-R’yadh, it is just the opposite.