IOR/R/15/4/17

The file contains correspondence relating to the affairs of Ra's al-Khaymah. The correspondence is mostly between the British Agency at Sharjah, the Political Agency at Bahrain, the Political Residency in the Persian Gulf at Bahrain, the Shaikh of Ra's al-Khaymah (Sulṭān bin Sālim Āl Qasimī, later Saqr bin Muḥammad Āl Qasimī) and his brother (Muḥammad bin Sālim Āl Qasimī), and the Foreign Office.

The papers cover numerous matters, including:

• the limits of the Shaikh's territory;
• the restoration of the British government's support to Ra's al-Khaymah (it had been withdrawn following Shaikh Sultan's lack of cooperation over a concession agreement with Petroleum Concessions Limited in 1938);
• Shaikh Sultan's claim over Tamb Island and the British government's desire for his flag to be permanently flown there;
• the 1946 conflict and subsequent stand-off between Shaikh Sultan and his brother, Muḥammad bin Sālim, which eventually resulted in the coup carried out by Muḥammad's son, Saqr, in early 1948;
• the recognition by the British of Saqr bin Muḥammad Āl Qasimī as the Shaikh of Ra's al-Khaymah;
• a complaint by Muhammad bin Ahmad bin Sulaiman, Shaikh of Bakha, of aggression by the people of Sha'am.

Folio 121 is a genealogical chart of the Jowasim [Qawāsim] lineage.