Chapter XVII: Act 1737: , and the Apportionment Act 1834, and is now allowed generally (8)

_The Omayyads._--The early years of the Omayyads were years of constant strife in Arabia. The Kharijites who had opposed 'Ali on the ground that he had no right to allow the appeal to arbitration, were defeated at Nahrawan or Nahrwan (658), but those who escaped became fierce propagandists against the Koreish, some claiming that the caliph should be chosen by the Faithful from any tribe of the Arabs, some that there should be no caliph at all, that God alone was their ruler and that the government should be carried on by a council. They broke up into many sects, and were long a disturbing political force in Arabia as elsewhere. On the death of 'Ali his house was represented by his two sons Hasan and Hosain (Husain). Hasan soon made peace with Moawiya. On the accession of Yazid, Hosain refused homage and raised an army, but was slain at Kerbela (680). 'Abdallah ibn Zobair (of the house of Hashim) immediately stepped forward in Mecca as the avenger of 'Ali's family and the champion of religion. The two sacred cities supported him. Medina was besieged and sacked by the troops of Yazid (682) and Mecca was besieged the following year. The siege was raised in the third month on the news of the death of Yazid, but not before the Ka'ba had been destroyed. 'Abdallah remained in Mecca recognized as caliph in Arabia, and soon after in Egypt and even a part of Syria. He defeated the troops of Merwan I., but could not win the support of the Kharijites. In 691 Abdalmalik ('Abdul-Malik) determined to crush his rival and sent his general Hajjaj against Mecca. The siege was begun in March 692, and in October the city was taken and 'Abdallah slain. Abdalmalik was now supreme in Arabia and throughout the Moslem world. During the remaining years of the Omayyad dynasty (i.e. until 750) little is heard of Arabia in history. The conquests of Islam in Spain on the one side and India on the other had little or no effect on it. It was merely a province.

_The 'Abbasids._--The accession of Abul 'Abbas (of the house of Hashim) and the transference of the capital of the caliphate from Damascus to Kufa, then Anbar and soon after (in 760) to Bagdad meant still further degradation to Arabia and Arabs. From the beginning the 'Abbasids depended for help on Persians and Turks, and the chief offices of state were frequently filled with foreigners. In one thing only the Arabs conquered to the end; that was in their language. The study of Arabic was taken up by lexicographers, grammarians and poets (mostly of foreign origin) with a zeal rarely shown elsewhere. The old Arabian war spirit was dying. Although the Arabians, as a rule, were in favour of the Omayyad family, they could not affect the succession of the 'Abbasids. They returned more and more to their old inter-tribal disputes. They formed now not only a mere branch of the empire of the caliphate, but a branch deriving little life from and giving less to the main stock. In 762 there was a rebellion in favour of a descendant of 'Ali, but it was put down with great severity by the army of the caliph Mansur. A more local 'Alyite revolt in Mecca and Medina was crushed in 785. In the contest between the two sons of Harun al Rashid all Arabia sided with Mamun (812). In 845-846 the lawless raids of Bedouin tribes compelled the caliph Wathiq to send his Turkish general Bogha, who was more successful in the north than in the centre and south of Arabia in restoring peace.

_The Carmathians._--Towards the close of the 9th century Arabia was disturbed by the rise of a new movement which during the next hundred years dominated the peninsula, and at its close left it shattered never to be united again. In the year 880 Yemen was listening to the propaganda of the new sect of the Carmathians (q.v.) or followers of Hamdan Qarmat. Four years later these had become a public force. In 900 'Abu Sa'id al-Jannabi, who had been sent to Bahrein by Hamdan, had secured a large part of this province and had won the city of Katif (Ketif) which contained many Jews and Persians. The Arabs who lived more inland were mostly Bedouin who found the obligations of Islam irksome, and do not seem to have made a very vigorous opposition to the Carmathians who took Hajar the capital of Bahrein in 903. From this they made successful attacks on Yemama (Yamama), and attempts only partially successful at first at Oman. In 906 the court at Bagdad learned that these sectaries had gained almost all Yemen and were threatening Mecca and Medina. Abu Sa'id was assassinated (913) in his palace at Lahsa (which in 926 was fortified and became the Carmathian capital of Bahrein). His son Sa'id succeeded him, but proved too weak and was deposed and succeeded by his brother Abu Tahir. His success was constant and the caliphate was brought very low by him. In Arabia he subjugated Oman, and swooping down on the west in 929 he horrified the Moslem world by capturing Mecca and carrying off the sacred black stone to Bahrein. The Fatimite caliph 'Obaidallah (see FATIMITES), to whom Abu Tahir professed allegiance, publicly wrote to him to restore the stone, but there is some reason to believe that he secretly encouraged him to retain it. In 939, however, the stone was restored and pilgrimages to the holy cities were allowed to pass unmolested on payment of a tax. So long as Abu Tahir lived the Carmathians controlled Arabia. After his death, however, they quarrelled with the Fatimite rulers of Egypt (969) and began to lose their influence. In 985 they were completely defeated in Irak, and soon after lost control of the pilgrimages. Oman recovered its independence. Three years later Katif, at that time their chief city, was besieged and taken by a Bedouin sheik, and subsequently their political power in Arabia came to an end. It was significant that their power fell into the hands of Bedouins. Arabia was now completely disorganized, and was only nominally subject to the caliphate. The attempt of Mahomet to unify Arabia had failed. The country was once more split up into small governments, more or less independent, and groups of wandering tribes carrying on their petty feuds. Of the history of these during the next few centuries little is known, except in the case of the Hejaz. Here the presence of the sacred cities led writers to record their annals (cf. F. Wustenfeld's _Die Chroniken der Stadt Mekka_, 4 vols., Leipzig, 1857-1861). The two cities were governed by Arabian nobles (_sherifs_), often at feud with one another, recognizing formally the overlordship of the caliph at Bagdad or the caliph of Egypt. Thus in 966 the name of the caliph Moti was banished from the prayers at Mecca, and an 'Alyite took possession of the government of the city and recognized the Egyptian caliph as his master. About a century later (1075-1094) the 'Abbasid caliph was again recognized as spiritual head owing to the success in arms of his protector, the Seljuk Malik-Shah. With the fall of the Bagdad caliphate all attempts at control from that quarter came to an end. After the visit of the Sultaft Bibars (1269) Mecca was governed by an amir dependent on Egypt. Outside the two cities anarchy prevailed, and the pilgrimage was frequently unsafe owing to marauding Bedouins. In 1517 the Osmanli Turkish sultan Selim conquered Egypt, and having received the right of succession to the caliphate was solemnly presented by the sherif of Mecca with the keys of the city, and recognized as the spiritual head of Islam and ruler of the Hejaz. At the same time Yemen, which since the 9th century had been in the power of a number of small dynasties ruling in Zubed, San'a, Sa'da and Aden, passed into the hands of the Turk.

For the history of Yemen during this period cf. H.C. Kay, _Omarah's
History of Yaman_ (London, 1892), and S. Lane-Poole, _The Mahommedan
Dynasties_, pp. 87-103 (Westminster, 1894). Little more than a century
later (1630), a Yemen noble Khasim succeeded in expelling the Turk and
establishing a native imamate, which lasted until 1871. For
descriptions of it in the 18th century cf. C. Niebuhr's accounts of
his travels in Arabia in 1761.

_Oman._--Since the separation from the caliphate (before 1000 A.D.) Oman had remained independent. For more than a century it was governed by five elected imams, who were chosen from the tribe of al-Azd and generally lived at Nizwa. After them the Bani Nebhan gained the upper hand and established a succession of kings (_maliks_) who governed from 1154 to 1406. During this time the country was twice invaded by Persians. The "kings of Hormuz" claimed authority over the coast land until the beginning of the 16th century. In 1435 the people rose against the tyranny of the Bani Nebhan and restored the imamate of the tribe al-Azd. In 1508 the Portuguese under Albuquerque seized most of the east coast of Oman. In 1624 a new dynasty arose in the interior, when Nasir ibn Murshid of the Yariba (Ya'aruba) tribe (originally from Yemen) was elected imam and established his capital at Rustak. He was able to subdue the petty princes of the country, and the Portuguese were compelled to give up several towns and pay tribute for their residence at Muscat. About 1651 the Portuguese were finally expelled from this city, and about 1698 from the Omanite settlements on the east coast of Africa.

For the history of Oman from 661 to 1856 cf. G.P. Badger, _History of
the Imams and Seyyids of Oman by Salil-ibn-Razik_ (London, Hakluyt
Society, 1871). (G. W. T.)

_Wahhabi Movement._--Modern Arabian history begins with that of the Wahhabi movement in the middle of the 18th century. Its originator, Mahommed Ibn Abdul Wahhab, was born (1691) at Ayana in Nejd, and after studying in Basra and Damascus, and making the pilgrimage to Mecca returned to his native country and settled down at Huremala near Deraiya. The abuses and corruptions which had overgrown the practice of orthodox Islam had deeply impressed him, and he set to work to combat them, and to inculcate on all good Moslems a return to the pure simplicity of their original faith. In 1742 Mahommed Ibn Saud, sheik of Deraiya, accepted his doctrines, and enforced them by his sword with such effect that before his death in 1765 the whole of eastern Nejd and El Hasa was converted to the faith of Abdul Wahhab, and accepted the political supremacy of Ibn Saud. His son and successor, Abdul Aziz, in a rapid series of successful campaigns, extended his dominion and that of the reformed faith far beyond the limits of Nejd. His attacks on the pilgrim caravans, begun in 1783 and constantly repeated, startled the Mahommedan world,[2] and compelled the attention of the sultan, as the nominal protector of the faithful. In 1798 a Turkish force was sent from Bagdad into El Hasa, but was compelled to retreat without accomplishing anything, and its discomfiture added much to the renown of the Wahhabi power. In 1801 Saud, son of the amir Abdul Aziz, led an expedition to the Euphrates, and on the festival of Bairam, the 20th of April, stormed Kerbela, put the defenders to the sword, destroyed the sacred tomb, scattered the sacred relics and returned laden with the treasures, accumulated during centuries in the sanctuary of the Shia faith. Mecca itself was taken; plundering was forbidden, but the tombs of the saints and all objects of veneration were ruthlessly destroyed, and all ceremonies which seemed in the eye of the stern puritan conqueror to suggest the taint of idolatry were forbidden.

On the 14th of October 1802 the amir Abdul Aziz, at the age of eighty-two years, was murdered by a Shia fanatic when at prayers in the mosque of Deraiya, and Saud, who had for many years led the Wahhabi armies, became the reigning amir. In 1804 Medina was taken and with its fall all resistance ceased. The Wahhabi empire had now attained its zenith, a settled government was established able to enforce law and order in the desert and in the towns, and a spirit of Arabian nationality had grown up which bade fair to extend the Wahhabi dominion over all the Arab race. It already, however, bore within it the germ of decay; the accumulation of treasure in the capital had led to a corruption of the simple manners of the earlier times; the exhaustion of the tribes through the heavy blood tax had roused discontent among them; the plundering of the holy places, the attacks on the pilgrim caravans under the escort of Turkish soldiers, and finally, in 1810, the desecration of the tomb of Mahomet and the removal of its costly treasures, raised a cry of dismay throughout the Mahommedan world, and made it clear even to the Turkish sultan that unless the Wahhabi power were crushed his claims to the caliphate were at an end.

But Turkey was herself fully occupied by affairs in Europe, and to Mehemet Ali, then pasha of Egypt, was deputed the task of bringing the Wahhabis into subjection. In October 1811 an expedition consisting of 10,000 men under Tusun Pasha, the pasha's son, a youth of sixteen, landed in Hejaz without opposition. Saud with his main forces had started northwards to attack Bagdad, but returning at once he met and defeated Tusun with great loss and compelled him to retire. Medina and subsequently Mecca were eventually taken by the Egyptians, but in spite of continual reinforcements they could do little more than hold their own in Hejaz. In 1813 Mehemet Ali was compelled to take the field himself with fresh troops, but was unable to achieve any decisive success, and in 1814 Tusun was again defeated beyond Taif. In May 1814 Saud died, and his son, Abdallah, attempted to negotiate, but Mehemet Ali refused all overtures, and in January 1815 advanced into Nejd, defeated the Wahhabi army and occupied Ras, then the chief town in Kasim. Terms of peace were made, but on the retirement of the Egyptians Abdallah refused to carry out the conditions agreed on, which included the return of the jewels plundered by his father, and another campaign had to be fought before his submission was obtained. Ibrahim Pasha replaced Tusun in command, and on reaching Arabia in September 1816 his first aim was to gain over the great Bedouin tribes holding the roads between Hejaz and his objective in Nejd; having thus secured his line of advance he pushed on boldly and defeated Abdallah at Wiya, where he put to death all prisoners taken; thence rapidly advancing, with contingents of the friendly Harb and Muter tribes in support of his regular troops, he laid siege to Ras; this place, however, held out and after a four months' siege he was compelled to give up the attack. Leaving it on one side he pushed on eastwards, took Aneza after six days' bombardment and occupied Bureda. Here he waited two months for reinforcements, and with his Bedouin contingent, strengthened by the adhesion of the Ateba and Bani Khalid tribes, advanced on Shakra in Wushm, which fell in January 1818 after a regular siege. After destroying Huremala and massacring its inhabitants, he arrived before Deraiya on the 14th of April 1818. For six months the siege went on with varying fortune, but at last the courage and determination of Ibrahim triumphed, and on the 9th of September, after a heroic resistance, Abdallah, with a remnant of four hundred men, was compelled to surrender. The Wahhabi leader was soon after sent to Constantinople, where, in spite of Mehemet Ali's intercession, he and the companions who had followed him in his captivity were condemned to death, and after being paraded through the city with ignominy for three days were finally beheaded.

Deraiya was razed to the ground and the principal towns of Nejd were compelled to admit Egyptian garrisons; but though the Arabs saw themselves powerless to stand before disciplined troops, the Egyptians, on the other hand, had to confess that without useless sacrifices they could not retain their hold on the interior.

In 1824 Turki, son of the unfortunate Abdallah, headed a rising which resulted in the re-establishment of the Wahhabi state with Riad as its new capital; and during the next ten years he consolidated his power, paying tribute to and under the nominal suzerainty of Egypt till his murder in 1834. His son, Fesal, succeeded him, but in 1836 on his refusal to pay tribute an Egyptian force was sent to depose him and he was taken prisoner and sent to Cairo, while a rival claimant, Khalid, was established as amir in Riad. Mehemet Ali and his son Ibrahim Pasha were, however, now committed to their conflict with Turkey for Syria and Asia Minor, and had no troops to spare for the thankless task of holding the Arabian deserts; the garrisons were gradually withdrawn, and in 1842 Fesal, who had escaped from his prison at Cairo reappeared and was everywhere recognized as amir. The few remaining Egyptian troops were ejected from Riad, and with them all semblance of Egyptian or Turkish rule disappeared from central Arabia.

For a time it looked as if the supremacy of the Wahhabi empire was to be renewed; El Hasa, Harik, Kasim and Asir returned to their allegiance, but over Oman and Yemen Fesal never re-established his dominion, and the Bahrein sheiks with British support kept their independence.

Ibn Rashid.

A rival state had, however, arisen, under Abdallah Ibn Rashid in Jebel Shammar. Driven into exile owing to a feud between his family and the Ibn Ali, the leading family of the Shammar, Abdallah came to Riad in 1830, and was favourably received by the amir Turki. In 1834 he was with Fesal on an expedition against El Hasa when news came of the amir's murder by his cousin Masharah. By Abdallah's advice the expedition was abandoned; Fesal hastened back with all his forces to Riad, and invested the citadel where Masharah had taken refuge, but failed to gain possession of it, until Abdallah with two companions found his way into the palace, killed Masharah, and placed Fesal on the throne of his father. As a reward for his services Abdallah was appointed governor of Jebel Shammar, and had already established himself in Hail when the Egyptian expedition of 1836 removed Fesal temporarily from Nejd. During the exile of the latter he steadily consolidated his power, extending his influence more especially over the desert tribes, till on Fesal's return in 1842 he had created a state subject only in name to that of which Riad was the capital.

On the death of Abdallah in 1843, his son Talal succeeded. He set himself to work to establish law and order throughout the state, to arrange its finances, and to encourage the settlement in Hail of artificers and merchants from abroad; the building of the citadel and palace commenced by Mehemet Ali, and continued by Abdallah Ibn Rashid, was completed by Talal. The town walls were strengthened, new wells dug, gardens planted, mosques and schools built. His uncle Obed, to whom equally with Abdallah is due the foundation of the Ibn Rashid dynasty, laboured to extend the Shammar boundaries. Khaibar, Tema and Jauf became tributary to Hail.

Though tolerant in religion Talal was careful to avoid the suspicion of lukewarmness towards the Wahhabi formulas. Luxury in clothing and the use of tobacco were prohibited; attendance at the mosque was enforced: any doubt as to his orthodoxy was silenced by the amount and regularity of the tribute sent by him to Riad. Equally guarded was his attitude to the Turkish authorities; it is not improbable that Talal had also entered into relations with the viceroy of Egypt to ensure his position in case of a collision with the Porte. During his twenty years' reign Jebel Shammar became a model state, where justice and security ruled in a manner before unheard of. Fesal may well have watched with jealous anxiety the growing strength of his neighbour's state as compared with his own, where all progress was arrested by the deadening tyranny of religious fanaticism.

The amir Mahommed.

On the 11th of March 1868 Talal, smitten with an incurable malady, fell by his own hand and was succeeded by his brother Matab; after a brief reign he was murdered by his nephews, the elder of whom, Bandar, became amir. Mahommed, the third son of the amir Abdallah, was at the time absent; with a view of getting his uncle into his power, Bandar invited him to return to Hail, and on his arrival went out to meet him accompanied by Hamud, son of Obed, and a small following. Warned by a hurried sign by Hamud that his life was in danger, Mahommed at once attacked Bandar, stabbed him and took possession of the citadel; a general massacre of all members of the house of Ibn Rashid followed, and next day Mahommed appeared with his cousin Hamud in the market-place of Hail, and announced his assumption of the amirship. A strong and capable ruler, he soon established his authority over all northern and western Nejd, and in 1872 the opportunity arrived for his intervention in the east. In that year Abdallah, who had succeeded Fesal in Riad in 1867, was deposed, but with the assistance of Mahommed was reinstated; two years later, however, he was again deposed and forced to seek refuge at Hail, from which place he appealed for assistance to the Turkish authorities at Bagdad. Midhat Pasha, then governor-general, seized the occasion of asserting Turkish dominion on the Persian Gulf coast, and in 1875, in spite of British protests, occupied El Hasa and established a new province under the title of Nejd, with its headquarters at Hofuf, of which Abdallah was appointed governor. This was an event of some importance, as it constituted the first Turkish claim to the sovereignty over Nejd abandoned by Egypt thirty-three years earlier. The Turks did not support their client by advancing into Nejd itself, and he and his rivals were left to fight out their battles among themselves. Turkey was indeed too much occupied by the war with Russia to pay much attention to Arab affairs, though a few years later she attempted to occupy Bahrein by a _coup de main_, which was only frustrated by the action of a British gunboat.

Owing to the dissensions among the ruling family of Riad, the towns of eastern Nejd gradually reverted to their former condition of independence, but menaced in turn by the growing power of Hail, they formed a coalition under the leadership of Zamil, sheik of Aneza, and in the spring of 1891, Aneza, Bureda, Shakra, Ras and Riad assembled their contingents to contest with Ibn Rashid the supremacy in Nejd. The latter had besides 20,000 of his own south Shammar tribesmen, the whole strength of the Harb Bedouins, some 10,000 men, and an additional support of 1000 mounted men from his kinsmen, the northern Shammar from the Euphrates, while the Muter and Ateba tribes took part with the allies. The total strength of each side amounted to about 30,000 men. Zamil's forces held a strong position between Aneza and Bureda, and for over a month desultory fighting went on; finally an attack was made against the defenders' centre, covered by 20,000 camel riders; the men of Aneza broke and the whole allied forces fled in disorder; Zamil and his eldest son were killed, as were also two of the Ibn Saud family, while the remainder were taken prisoners. Aneza and Bureda surrendered the same day, and shortly after Ras, Shakra and Riad tendered their submission.

This victory placed the whole of northern and central Arabia under the supremacy of Mahommed Ibn Rashid, which he held undisputed during the rest of his life.

Recent history.

On his death in 1897 his nephew Abdul-Aziz, son of the murdered amir Matab, succeeded; during his reign a new element has been introduced into Nejd politics by the rising importance of Kuwet (Koweit) and the attempts of Turkey to obtain possession of its important harbour. In 1901 a quarrel arose between Sheik Mubarak of Kuwet and the amir of Hail whose cause was supported by Turkey. A force was equipped at Basra under Ahmad Feizi Pasha with the intention of occupying Kuwet; Mubarak thereupon appealed to Great Britain and action was taken which prevented the Turkish designs from being carried out. Kuwet was not formally placed under British protection, but it was officially announced by the government on the 5th of May 1903 "that the establishment of a naval base or fortified port in the Persian Gulf by any other power would be regarded as a very grave menace to British interests which would certainly be resisted with all the means at its disposal."

In the meantime Sheik Mubarak had found useful allies in the Muntafik Arabs from the lower Euphrates, and the Wahhabis of Riad; the latter under the amir Ibn Saud marched against Ibn Rashid, who at the instigation of the Porte had again threatened Kuwet (Koweit), compelled him to retire to his own territory and took possession of the towns of Bureda and Aneza. Sheik Mubarak and his allies continued their advance, defeated Ibn Rashid in two engagements on the 22nd of July and the 26th of September 1904, and drove him back on his capital, Hail. The Porte now made another effort to assist its protege; two columns were despatched from Medina and Basra respectively, to relieve Hail, and drive out the Wahhabis. Ahmad Feizi Pasha, in command of the Basra column, 4200 strong, crossed the desert and reached the wells of Lina, 200 m. from Hail, on the 5th of March 1905; here, however, he received orders to halt and negotiate before proceeding farther. The Turkish government realized by this time the strength of the hostile combination, and in view of the serious state of affairs in Yemen, hesitated to undertake another campaign in the deserts of Nejd. Arrangements were accordingly made with the Wahhabis, and on the 10th of April Ahmad Feizi Pasha left Lina, ostensibly with the object of protecting the pilgrim road, and joined the Medina column by the end of the month. Bureda and Aneza were occupied without opposition, the rebellious sheiks amnestied by the sultan and loaded with gifts, and formal peace was made between the rival factions.

History of European influence.

British intervention in Oman.

European influence was not felt in Arabia until the arrival of the Portuguese in the eastern seas, following on the discovery of the Cape route. In 1506 Hormuz was taken by Albuquerque, and Muscat and the coast of Oman (q.v.) were occupied by the Portuguese till 1650. In 1516 their fleets appeared in the Red Sea and an unsuccessful attempt was made against Jidda; but the effective occupation of Yemen by the Turks in the next few years frustrated any designs the Portuguese may have had in S.W. Arabia. Even in Oman their hold on the country was limited to Muscat and the adjacent ports, while the interior was ruled by the old Yariba (Ya-'aruba) dynasty from their capital at Rustak. The Persian occupation, which followed that of the Portuguese, came to an end in the middle of the 18th century, when Ahmad Ibn Said expelled the invaders and in 1759 established the Ghafari dynasty which still reigns in Oman. He was succeeded by his son, who in 1798 made a treaty with the East India Company with the object of excluding the French from Oman, and the connexion with Great Britain was further strengthened during the long reign of his grandson Sultan Said, 1804-1856. During the earlier years of his reign he was constantly at war with the Wahhabi empire, to which Oman became for a time tributary. The piracies committed by the Jawasimi Arabs in the gulf compelled the intervention of England, and in 1810 their strongholds were destroyed by a British-Indian expedition. The overthrow of the Wahhabis in 1817 restored Sultan Said to independence; he equipped and armed on Western models a fleet built in Indian ports, and took possession of Sokotra and Zanzibar, as well as the Persian coast north of the straits of Hormuz as far east as Gwadur, while by his liberal policy at home Sohar, Barka and Muscat became prosperous commercial ports.

On his death in 1856 the kingdom was divided, Majid, a younger son, taking Zanzibar, while the two elder sons contested the succession to Oman. The eldest, Thuweni, with British support, finally obtained the throne, and in 1862 an engagement was entered into by the French and English governments respecting the independence of the sultans of Oman. He was assassinated in 1866, and his successor, Seyyid Turki, reigned till 1888. On his death several claimants disputed the succession; ultimately his son Fesal was recognized by the British government, and was granted a subsidy from British-Indian revenues, in consideration of which he engaged not to cede any of his territory without the consent of the British government; similar engagements have been entered into by the tribes who occupy the south coast from the borders of Oman westward to the straits of Bab-el-Mandeb.

British sphere of influence.

The opening of the overland route to India again brought the west coast of Arabia into importance. Aden was occupied by the British in 1839. The Hejaz coast and some of the Yemen ports were still held by Mehemet Ali, as viceroy of Egypt, but on his final withdrawal from Arabia in 1845, Hejaz came under direct Turkish rule, and the conquest of Yemen in 1872 placed the whole Red Sea littoral (with the exception of the Midian coast, ceded by Egypt on the accession of Abbas Hilmi Pasha) under Ottoman administration. The island of Perim at the southern entrance of the Red Sea has been a British possession since 1857, while the promontory of Shekh Said on the Arabian side of the strait is in Turkish occupation. In order to define the limits between Turkish territory and that of the independent Arab tribes in political relations with Great Britain, a joint commission of British and Turkish officers in 1902-1905 laid down a boundary line from Shekh Said to a point on the river Bana, 12 m. north-east of the small town of Kataba, from which it is continued in a north-easterly direction up to the great desert. This delimitation places the whole of southern Arabia, east of this line, within the British sphere of influence, which thus includes the district surrounding Aden (q.v.), the Hadramut and Oman with its dependencies.

Turkish rule.

The provinces of Hejaz and Yemen are each administered by a Turkish governor-general, with headquarters at Taif and Sana respectively; the country is nominally divided up into divisions and districts under minor officials, but Turkish rule has never been acquiesced in by the inhabitants, and beyond the larger towns, all of which are held by strong garrisons, Turkish authority hardly exists. The powerful Bedouin tribes of Hejaz have always asserted their independence, and are only kept quiet by the large money payments made them by the sultan on the occasion of the annual pilgrimage to the holy cities. A large part of Asir and northern Yemen has never been visited by Turkish troops, and such revenues as are collected, mainly from vexatious customs and transit duties, are quite insufficient to meet the salaries of the officials, while the troops, ill-fed and their pay indefinitely in arrears, live on the country as best they can.

Yemen revolt.

A serious revolt broke out in Yemen in 1892. A Turkish detachment collecting taxes in the Bani Merwan lands north of Hodeda was destroyed by a body of Arabs. This reverse set all Yemen aflame; under the leadership of the imam, who had, since the Turkish occupation, lived in retirement at Sada, 120 m. north of the capital, the powerful tribes between Asir and Sana advanced southwards, occupied the principal towns and besieged the few Turkish fortified posts that still held out. In many cases the garrisons, Arab troops from Syria, went over to the insurgents. Meanwhile, reinforcements under General Ahmad Feizi Pasha reached Hodeda, Manakha was retaken, Sana relieved, and by the end of January 1893 the country with the exception of the northern mountainous districts was reconquered.

A state of intermittent rebellion, however, continued, and in 1904 a general revolt took place with which the normal garrison of Yemen, the 7th army corps, was quite unable to cope. The military posts were everywhere besieged, and Sana, the capital, was cut off from all communication with the coast. During February 1905 reinforcements were sent up which raised the garrison of Sana to a strength of eight battalions, and in March a further reinforcement of about the same strength arrived, and fought its way into the capital with the loss of almost all its guns and train. The position was then desperate, wholesale desertion and starvation had decimated the garrison, and three weeks later Ali Riza Pasha, the Turkish commander, was compelled to surrender. The fall of Sana made a deep impression at Constantinople, every effort was made to hasten out reinforcements, the veteran Ahmad Feizi Pasha was nominated to the supreme command, and Anatolian troops in place of the unreliable Syrian element were detailed. The scale of the operations may be judged from the fact that the total number of troops mobilized up to the beginning of July 1905 amounted to 126 battalions, 8 squadrons and 15 batteries; the rebel leader Mahommed Yahiya had at this time a following of 50,000.

By the end of June, Ahmad Feizi Pasha was in a position to advance on Manakha, where he organized an efficient transport, rallied the scattered remnants of Ali Riza's army, and with the newly arrived troops had by the middle of July a force of some 40 battalions available for the advance on Sana. He left Manakha on the 17th of July, and after almost daily fighting reached Sana on the 30th of August; on the 31st he entered the city without serious opposition, the insurgents having retreated northward.

AUTHORITIES.--D.G. Hogarth, _Penetration of Arabia_ (London, 1904); C.
Niebuhr, _Travels and Description of Arabia_ (Amsterdam, 1774); A.
Zehme, _Arabien und die Araber seit Hundert Jahren_ (Halle, 1875);
J.L. Burckhardt, _Travels in Arabia_ (London, 1829); R.F. Burton,
_Pilgrimage to El Medinah and Meccah_ (London, 1855), _Midian
revisited_ (1879); W.G. Palgrave, _Central and Eastern Arabia_
(London, 1865); C. Doughty, _Arabia Deserta_ (Cambridge, 1888), and an
abridgment, containing mainly the personal narrative, under the title
of _Wanderings in Arabia_ (London, 1908); L. van den Berg, _Le
Hadramut et les colonies arabes_, &c. (Batavia, 1885); C. Huber,
_Journal d'un voyage en Arabie_ (Paris, 1891); J. Euting, _Reise in
inner Arabien_ (Leiden, 1896); E. Nolde, _Reise nach inner Arabien_
(Brunswick, 1895); L. Hirsch, _Reise in Sud Arabien_ (Leiden, 1897);
J.T. Bent, _Southern Arabia_ (1895); R. Manzoni, _Il Yemen_ (Rome,
1884); A. Deflers, _Voyage en Yemen_ (Paris, 1889); J. Halevy,
_Journal Asiatique_ (1872); Lady Anne Blunt, _Pilgrimage to Nejd_
(London, 1881); E. Glaser, _Petermann's Mitt._ (1886, 1888 and 1889);
W.B. Harris, _Journey through Yemen_ (Edinburgh, 1893); J.R. Wellsted,
_Travels in Arabia_ (London, 1838); Capt. F.M. Hunter, _Aden_ (London,
1877). Consult also _Proc. R.G.S._ and _Geogr. Journal_. For geology
see H.J. Carter, "Memoir on the Geology of the South-East Coast of
Arabia," _Journ. Bombay Branch Roy. Asiat. Soc._ vol. iv. pp. 21-96
(1852); Doughty's _Arabia Deserta_; W.F. Hume, _The Rift Valleys and
Geology of Eastern Sinai_ (London, 1901). For ancient geography of
Arabia:--A. Sprenger, _Alte Geographie Arabiens_ (Berne, 1875); E.H.
Bunbury, _History of Ancient Geography_ (London, 1883); D.H. Muller,
_Hamdani's Geographie_ (Leiden, 1884); E. Glaser, _Geschichte und
Geographie Arabiens_ (Berlin, 1890). (R. A. W.)

LITERATURE

The literature of Arabia has its origin in the songs, improvisations, recitations and stories of the pre-Mahommedan Arabs. Of written literature in those days there was, so far as we know, none. But where books failed memory was strong and the power of retaining things heard was not confined to a professional class. At every festive meeting many could contribute a poem or a story, many could even improvise the one or the other. When members of different tribes met in peace (as at the fair of 'Ukaz) the most skilful reciters strove to maintain the honour of their own people, and a ready improviser was held in high esteem. The smartest epigrams, the fairest similes, the keenest satires, spoken or sung on such occasions, were treasured in the memory of the hearers and carried by them to their homes. But the experience of all peoples in that memory requires to be helped by form. Sentences became balanced and were made clear by some sort of definite ending. The simplest form of this in Arabian literature is the _saj'_ or rhymed prose, in which the sentences are usually (though not always) short and end in a rhyme or assonance. Mahomet used this form in many parts of the Koran (e.g. _Sura_, 81). The next step was the introduction of metre into the body of the sentence and the restriction of the passages to a definite length. This in its simplest form gave rise to the _rajaz_ verses, where each half-line ends in the same rhyme and consists of three feet of the measure /u - u -. Other metres were introduced later until sixteen altogether were recognized. In all forms the rhyme is the same throughout the poem, and is confined to the second half of the line except in the first line where the two halves rhyme. While, however, these measures were in early use, they were not systematically analysed or their rules enunciated until the time of Khalil ibn Ahmad in the 8th century. Two other features of Arabian poetry are probably connected with the necessity for aiding the memory. The first of these is the requirement that each line should have a complete sense in itself; this produces a certain jerkiness, and often led among the Arabs to displacement in the order of the lines in a long poem. The other feature, peculiar to the long poem (_qasida_, elegy), is that, whatever its real object, whatever its metre, it has a regular scheme in the arrangement of its material. It begins with a description of the old camping-ground, before which the poet calls on his companion to stop, while he bewails the traces of those who have left for other places. Then he tells of his love and how he had suffered from it, how he had journeyed through the desert (this part often contains some of the most famous descriptions and praises of animals) until his beast became thin and worn-out. Then at last comes the real subject of the poem, usually the panegyric of some man of influence or wealth to whom the poet has come in hope of reward and before whom he recites the poem.

_Poetry._--The influence of the poet in pre-Mahommedan days was very great. As his name, _ash-Sha'ir_, "the knowing man," indicates, he was supposed to have more than natural knowledge and power. Panegyric and satire (_hija'_) were his chief instruments. The praise of the tribe in well-chosen verses ennobled it throughout the land, a biting satire was enough to destroy its reputation (cf. I. Goldziher's _Abhandlungen zur arabischen Philologie_, i. pp. 1-105). Before Mahomet the ethics of the Arabs were summed up in _muruwwa_ (custom). Hospitality, generosity, personal bravery were the subjects of praise; meanness and cowardice those of satire. The existence of poetry among the northern Arabs was known to the Greeks even in the 4th century (cf. St Nilos in Migne's _Patrologia Graeca_, vol. 79, col. 648, and Sozomen's _Ecclesiastical History_, bk. 6, ch. 38). Women as well as men composed and recited poems before the days of the Prophet (cf. L. Cheikho's _Poetesses of the Jahiliyya_, in Arabic, Beirut, 1897).

The transmission of early Arabic poetry has been very imperfect. Many of the reciters were slain in battle, and it was not till the 8th to the 10th centuries and even later that the earliest collections of these poems were made. Many have to be recovered from grammars, dictionaries, &c., where single lines or groups of lines are quoted to illustrate the proper use of words, phrases or idioms. Moreover, many a reciter was not content to declaim the genuine verses of ancient poets, but interpolated some of his own composition, and the change of religion introduced by Islam led to the mutilation of many verses to suit the doctrines of the new creed.[3]

The language of the poems, as of all the best Arabian literature, was that of the desert Arabs of central Arabia; and to use it aright was the ambition of poets and scholars even in the Abbasid period. For the man of the towns its vocabulary was too copious to be easily understood, and in the age of linguistic studies many commentaries were written to explain words and idioms.

Of the pre-Mahommedan poets the most famous were the six whose poems were collected by Asma'i about the beginning of the 9th century (ed. W. Ahlwardt, _The Diwans of the Six Ancient Arabic Poets_, London, 1870). Single poems of four of these--Amru-ul-Qais, Tarafa, Zuhair and 'Antara--appear in the Mo'allakat (q.v.). The other two were Nabigha (q.v.) and 'Alqama (q.v.). But besides these there were many others whose names were famous; such as Ta'abbata Sharran, a popular hero who recites his own adventures with great gusto; his companion Shanfara, whose fame rests on a fine poem which has been translated into French by de Sacy (in his _Chrestomathie Arabe_) and into English by G. Hughes (London, 1896); Aus ibn Hajar of the Bani Tamin, famous for his descriptions of weapons and hunting scenes (ed. R. Geyer, Vienna, 1892); Hatim Ta'i, renowned for his open-handed generosity as well as for his poetry (ed. F. Schulthess, Leipzig, 1897, with German translation); and 'Urwa ibn ul-Ward of the tribe of 'Abs, rival of Hatim in generosity as well as in poetry (ed. Th. Noldeke, Gottingen, 1863). Among these early poets are found one Jew of repute, Samau'al (Samuel) ibn Adiya (cf. Th. Noldeke's _Beitrage_, pp. 52-86; art. _s.v._ "Samuel ibn Adiya" in _Jewish Encyc._ and authorities there quoted), and some Christians such as 'Adi'ibn Zaid of Hira, who sang alike of the pleasures of drink and of death (ed. by Louis Cheikho in his _Les Poetes arabes chretiens_, pp. 439-474, Beirut, 1890; in this work many Arabian poets are considered to be Christian without sufficient reason). One poet, a younger contemporary of Mahomet, has attracted much attention because his poems were religious and he was a monotheist. This is Umayya ibn Abi-s-Salt, a Meccan who did not accept Islam and died in 630. His poems are discussed by F. Schulthess in the _Orientalische Studien_ dedicated by Th. Noldeke, Giessen, 1906, and his relation to Mahomet by E. Power (in the _Melanges de la faculte orientale de l'universite Saint-Joseph_, Beirut, 1906). Mahomet's relation to the poets generally was one of antagonism because of their influence over the Arabs and their devotion to the old religion and customs. Ka'b ibn Zuhair, however, first condemned to death, then pardoned, later won great favour for himself by writing a panegyric of the Prophet (ed. G. Freytag, Halle, 1823). Another poet, A'sha (q.v.), followed his example. Labid (q.v.) and Hassan ibn Thabit (q.v.) were also contemporary. Among the poetesses of the time Khansa (q.v.) is supreme. In the scarcity of poets at this time two others deserve mention; Abu Mihjan, who made peace with Islam in 630 but was exiled for his love of wine, which he celebrated in his verse (ed. L. Abel, Leiden, 1887; cf. C. Landberg's _Primeurs arabes_, 1, Leiden, 1886), and Jarwal ibn Aus, known as al-Hutai'a, a wandering poet whose keen satires led to his imprisonment by Omar (Poems, ed. by I. Goldziher in the _Journal of the German Oriental Society_, vols. 46 and 47).

Had the simplicity and religious severity of the first four caliphs continued in their successors, the fate of poetry would have been hard. Probably little but religious poetry would have been allowed. But the Omayyads (with one exception) were not religious men and, while preserving the outward forms of Islam, allowed full liberty to the pre-Islamic customs of the Arabs and the beliefs and practices of Christians. At the same time the circumstances of the poet's life were altered. Poetry depended on patronage, and that was to be had now chiefly in the court of the caliph and the residences of his governors. Hence the centre of attraction was now the city with its interests, not the desert. Yet the old forms of poetry were kept. The _qasida_ still required the long introduction (see above), which was entirely occupied with the affairs of the desert. Thus poetry became more and more artificial, until in the Abbasid period poets arose who felt themselves strong enough to give up the worn-out forms and adopt others more suitable. The names of three great poets adorn the Omayyad period: Akhtal, Farazdaq and Jarir were contemporaries (see separate articles). The first was a Christian of the tribe of Taghlib, whose Christianity enabled him to write many verses which would have been impossible to a professing Moslem. Protected by the caliph he employed the old weapons of satire to support them against the "Helpers" and to exalt his own tribe against the Qaisites. Farazdaq of the Bani Tamim, a good Moslem but loose in morals, lived chiefly in Medina and Kufa, and was renowned for his command of language. Jarir of another branch of the Bani Tamim lived in Irak and courted the favour of Hajjaj, its governor. His satires were so effective that he is said to have crushed forty-three rivals. His great efforts were against Farazdaq, who was supported by Akhtal (cf. _The Naka'id of Jarir and al-Farazdaq_, ed. A.A. Bevan, Leiden, 1906 foll.). Among many minor poets one woman is conspicuous. Laila ul-Akhyaliyya (d. 706) was married to a stranger. On the death of her lover in battle, she wrote numerous elegies bewailing him, and so became famous and devoted the rest of her life to the writing of verse. Two poets of the Koreish attained celebrity in Arabia itself at this time. Qais ur-Ruqayyat was the poet of 'Abdallah ibn uz-Zubair (Abdallah ibn Zobair) and helped him until circumstances went against him, when he made his peace with the caliph. His poems are chiefly panegyrics and love songs (ed. N. Rhodonakis, Vienna, 1902). 'Umar ibn Abi Rabi'a (c. 643-719) was a wealthy man, who lived a life of ease in his native town of Mecca, and devoted himself to intrigues and writing love songs (ed. P. Schwarz, Leipzig, 1901-1902). His poems were very popular throughout Arabia. As a dweller in the town he was independent of the old forms of poetry, which controlled all others, but his influence among poets was not great enough to perpetuate the new style. One other short-lived movement of the Omayyad period should be mentioned. The _rajaz_ poems (see above) had been a subordinate class generally used for improvisations in pre-Mahommedan times. In the 7th and 8th centuries, however, a group of poets employed them more seriously. The most celebrated of these were 'Ajjaj and his son Ru'ba of the Bani Tamim (editions by W. Ahlwardt, Berlin, 1903; German trans. of Ru'ba's poems by Ahlwardt, Berlin, 1904).

With the establishment of the Abbasid dynasty, a new epoch in Arabian poetry began. The stereotyped beginning of the _qasida_ had been recognized as antiquated and out of place in city life even in the Omayyad period (cf. Goldziher, _Abhandlungen_, i. 144 ff). This form had been ridiculed but now it lost its hold altogether, and was only employed occasionally by way of direct imitation of the antique. The rise of Persian influence made itself felt in much the same way as the Norman influence in England by bringing a newer refinement into poetry. Tribal feuds are no longer the main incentives to verse. Individual experiences of life and matters of human interest become more usual subjects. Cynicism, often followed by religion in a poet's later life, is common. The tumultuous mixture of interests and passions to be found in a city like Bagdad are the subjects of a poet's verse. One of the earliest of these poets, Muti' ibn Ayas, shows the new depth of personal feeling and refinement of expression. Bashshar ibn Burd (d. 783), a blind poet of Persian descent, shows the ascendancy of Persian influence as he openly rails at the Arabs and makes clear his own leaning to the Persian religion. In the 8th century Abu Nuwas (q.v.) is the greatest poet of his time. His language has the purity of the desert, his morals are those of the city, his universalism is that of the man of the world. Abu-l-'Atahiya (q.v.), his contemporary, is fluent, simple and often didactic. Muslim ibn ul-Walid (ed. de Goeje, Leiden, 1875), also contemporary, is more conservative of old forms and given to panegyric and satire. In the 9th century two of the best-known poets--Abu Tammam (q.v.) and Buhturi (q.v.) --were renowned for their knowledge of old poetry (see HAMASA) and were influenced by it in their own verse. On the other hand Ibn ul-Mo'tazz (son of the caliph) was the writer of brilliant occasional verse, free of all imitation. In the 10th century the centre of interest is in the court of Saif ud-Daula (addaula) at Aleppo. Here in Motanabbi (q.v.) the claims of modern poetry not only to equal but to excel the ancient were put forward and in part at any rate recognized. Abu Firas (932-968) was a member of the family of Saif ud-Daula, a soldier whose poems have all the charm that comes from the fact that the writer has lived through the events he narrates (ed. by R. Dvorak, Leiden, 1895). Many Arabian writers count Motanabbi the last of the great poets. Yet Abu-l-'Ala ul-Ma'arri (q.v.) was original alike in his use of rhymes and in the philosophical nature of his poems. Ibn Farid (q.v.) is the greatest of the mystic poets, and Busiri (q.v.) wrote the most famous poem extant in praise of the Prophet. In the provinces of the caliphate there were many poets, who, however, seldom produced original work. Spain, however, produced Ibn 'Abdun (d. 1126), famous for the grace and finish of his style (ed. with commentary of Ibn Badrun by R.P.A. Dozy, Leiden, 1846). The Sicilian Ibn Hamdis (1048-1132) spent the last fifty years of his life in Spain (_Diwan_, ed. Moacada, Palermo, 1883; _Canzoniere_, ed. Schiaparelli, Rome, 1897). It was also apparently in this country that the strophe form was first used in Arabic poems (cf. M. Hartmann's _Das arabische Strophengedicht_, Weimar, 1897), and Ibn Quzman (12th century), a wandering singer, here first used the language of everyday life in the form of verse known as _Zajal_.

_Anthologies._--As supplemental to the account of poetry may be mentioned here some of the chief collections of ancient verse, sometimes made for the sake of the poems themselves, sometimes to give a _locus classicus_ for usages of grammar or lexicography, sometimes to illustrate ancient manners and customs. The earliest of these is the _Mo'allakat_ (q.v.). In the 8th century Ibn Mofaddal compiled the collection named after him the _Mofaddaliyat_. From the 9th century we have the Hamasas of Abu Tammam and Buhturi, and a collection of poems of the tribe Hudhail (second half ed. in part by J.G.L. Kosegarten, London, 1854; completed by J. Wellhausen in _Skizzen und Vorarbeiten_, i. Berlin, 1884). The numerous quotations of Ibn Qutaiba (q.v.) in the 'Uyun ul-Akhbar (ed. C. Brockelmann, Strassburg, 1900 ff.) and the _Book of Poetry and Poets_ (ed. M.J. de Goeje, Leiden, 1904) bring these works into this class. In the 10th century were compiled the _Jamharat ash'ar al Arab_, containing forty-nine poems (ed. Bulaq, 1890), the work _al-'Iqd ul-Farid_ of Ibn' Abdi-r-Rabbihi (ed. Cairo, various years), and the greatest work of all this class, the _Kitab ul-Aghani_ ("Book of Songs") (cf. ABU-L FARAJ). The 12th century contributes the _Diwan Mukhtarat ush-Shu'ara'i_ with fifty qasidas. The _Khizanai ul-Adab_ of Abdulqadir, written in the 17th century in the form of a commentary on verses cited in a grammar, contains much old verse (ed. 4 vols., Bulaq, 1882).