Jassim the Leader by Mohamed Althani

Author:Mohamed Althani
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Profile Books
Published: 2012-06-18T04:00:00+00:00

The Ottoman arrival

In December 1871, the Ottoman authorities at Hasa finally sent a detachment of 100 troops and a field gun to Bida, under the command of Major Omer Bey. Once again, this was solicited in an invitation from Jassim, who now took over completely all his father’s responsibilities. The 1868 agreement with the British, which had made Muhammad bin Thani a primus inter pares, was now obsolete. Jassim would claim that it had always been obsolete, for it had had no teeth. The British weren’t willing to commit troops; they hadn’t landed an army in the Gulf for over fifty years. The Al Thani cause could not be progressed by ship, it needed armed men and cavalry. Jassim was convinced the Ottoman military could be manipulated into stopping any encroachment by the tribes of north-west Qatar, and possibly even end Bahraini interference once and for all.

Welcoming the Ottomans into Qatar, however, and helping them extend their control from Basra up to the eastern limit of the peninsula, was fraught with risk too. Jassim would have to expect some changes and challenges to his authority, and Midhat Pasha didn’t disappoint. The governor had plans, drawn up long before the invasion of eastern Arabia. The Baghdad governor combined the four kaza, or districts, of Hasa, Qatif, Qatar and Najd into a single organisational structure called the Najd Mutasarrifiyya, or governorate. ‘Once the campaign is over,’ he instructed his administrators,

the title of Qayamaqam [or district head] of Abdullah bin Faisal will be transformed into Mutasarrif [provincial governor]. Abdullah shall appoint Qayamaqams to Qatif, Qatar – and to smaller places, administrators. However, it should be seen to that if such appointments are likely to cause unrest among the Arabs, they must be put off until later. Furthermore, canonical judges from the Hanbali sect shall be appointed to Qatif, Hasa, and Qatar and, if possible, to Riyadh and Qasim … the canonical obligation of collecting zakah may take place but no other measure is to be imposed.

These changes were mildly irritating for Jassim. For starters, his new Qayamaqam title came with no salary. Samuel Goldwyn’s witticism that ‘a verbal contract isn’t worth the paper it’s on’ is most à propos. He resented the fact that the Ottoman representative in town was also Doha’s new judge. Worse, it now seemed Qatar would actually be paying more in zakah to the Ottoman state that it had been paying Bahrain.

Nevertheless, the change was fairly smooth and had not affected his standing among the tribes. Within a couple of years, it must have seemed that Midhat wanted to run Qatar as Britain ran Bahrain. So long as peace and trade were maintained, and occasional visits tolerated, internal affairs could be left to the locals. Jassim’s official appointment as Qayamaqam, instead of Omer Bey (despite some objection in Baghdad), had enhanced his status and prestige. The Ottoman stay was quite short and painless too. Most soldiers were withdrawn by the autumn of 1874. Jassim revelled in having a protector who gave him such a free hand to rule.

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