IOR/R/15/2/619

The file begins with a few letters and memoranda exchanged between the Political Agent at Bahrain and the Residency Agent at Sharjah about imposing a temporary restriction on the importation of arms and ammunition by the Trucial Coast shaikhs, especially from Japan.

There follows two memoranda from the Residency Agent at Sharjah to the Political Agent at Bahrain reporting on the failure of the Ruler of Sharjah to fulfil his agreement with the Ruler of Dubai by compelling Shaikh ‘Abdur Rahman bin Muhammad [‘Abd al-Raḥmān bin Muḥammad] of Hira [Hayrah, Ash Shariqah, United Arab Emirates] to expel from his territory the Dubai refugees known as the Aulad [Awlād, meaning ‘children of’] of Bati [Buṭṭī] and Rashid [Rāshid] and their families. With these memoranda is both an Arabic transcript and an English translation of an agreement, dated the 15th Rabi’ ath-Thani [Rabī‘ II] 1359 (23 May 1940), between Ruler of Dubai Shaikh Sa’id bin Maktum [Shaikh Sa‘īd bin Maktūm Āl Maktūm], and Ruler of Sharjah Shaikh Sultan bin Saqr [Shaikh Sulṭān II bin Ṣaqr al-Qāsimī].

The rest of the file consists mainly of Arabic transcripts and English translations of numerous letters of complaint, dated 1945-47, from Shaikh Rashid bin Buti bin Rashid al-Maktoom [Shaikh Rāshid bin Buṭṭī bin Rāshid Āl Maktūm], an ex-member of the Dubai ruling family living in exile in Sharjah, to the Political Agent, Bahrain. The letters contain allegations of widespread corruption and oppression in Dubai committed by the Ruler, his officials and British native agents, over the importation and distribution of foodstuffs, the trading of enslaved persons, and other matters. In his later submissions, the complainant makes similar allegations about other Trucial Coast rulers. With these complaint letters is a small amount of correspondence between the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf, Bushire [Bushehr], the Political Agent, Bahrain, and the Residency Agent, Sharjah, commenting on some of the more specific allegations of corruption made by Shaikh Rashid bin Buti bin Rashid al-Maktoom.