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• J • 1 f 'A STUDY OF QA~ARÏ-BRITISH RELAT.IONS 1914 - 1945 , 1 1 " " By .CD Yousof Ibrahim ll-Abdul.1a r A Thesis Presented to the Faculty of Graduate Studies , , and Research. McGill University, Montreal, in partial fulfilment of the require ments for the ,degree of Master of Arts , 1 Institute of Islamic Studies McGill University Montreal , Oct., 1981 ;J - • ..w..... '......, _ ~ ___ .......... ___ ...... __.. __ - ~ __ ...... -~-~, 1 .:!;. 'c , ' ABSTRACT ,. ilE '. Ibrah~m A'., Author Yousof Al-Abdulla i Title of 1ihesis A Study of Qa"t;arI-Brltish Relations, i.":. ..,~ 1914-1945 Department Institute of IslanlÏc Studies'" \v~ if McGill University, Montreal Degree 1 Master of Arts This thesis is an' attempt to study Qa~arI-British ,< relations from 1914 until 1945. Although British relations t9 .. ê\. lf wi th Qa~ar started eariier, the outbreak of World War l in ;; f: 1914 gave the British an opportuni ty to eliminate the -Ottoman presence in eastern Arabia, so tnat Qa~ar came undêr direct British protection. This British objective was J achieved through aolong process of negotiations and treaties. The B~itish played an important role in the disputes between the Al KhalIfah of Ba1}rain and the Al ThanI of Qa"t;ar, whi-ch involved al-Zubarah and the ~awar islands, as weIl as in the " disputes over the Qa"t;arI-Su'üdI bord~r. The British oil policy was sucpessful in obtaining an oil concession and in r: keeping American oil oompanies away from Qa~ar. \ ;, ,, ,1 ,, ii Cl f. 1> ~- t,~, .j.<, (1 .. __ 1 - .' .. 1 Auteur 1 . Yousof Ibrahim Al-Abdulla Ti tre de la th3se 1 Étude sur 1e8 relation~ qa~arI britanniques, 1914,-194.5, D6partement Institut des,études islamiques. '\ Universit~ McGi11,. Montreal Degr& Maîtrise ès Arts ct Cette thèse veut une étude des re~ations qakarI- ~ l:J:citanniques de 1914 à 1945. Quoique les relations brJ,tanniques avec le Qa~ar aient commencé plus tat, la p~riod de la première guerre mondiale de 1914 a fourni aux bri~anniques l'occasion d·éliminer~la présence ottomane dans l'est de l'Arabie, et c'est ains~ que le Qatar est devenu directe- ment sous la protection britanniqùe. Cet objectif britannique 'fut accompli après un long processus de négotiations et de trait&s. Les britanniques ont jou~ un r~le important dans les querelles entre les familles Al, Khallfah du BàQrain et "" .. 1 Al ThinI de Qa~ar à propos des iles al-Zubarah et ijawar ainsi que de la frontière QatarI-Su,udI. La politique bri tannique ;du pétJr01e au Qakar a, réussi il obtenir une con ~ssion de pétrOle et à ga~er les comp~~nies de pétrOle .. il,. americaines 10in du Qa~ar. iii ------~~--------, -------- -> .. , . ... ',' t CO NrENTS ACKNOWLEIlGEMENTS •••••••••••••• * •••••••••••••••••••••• vii NOTE ON TRANSLITERATION •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• viii ~ \, ABBREVIATIONS •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• ix ~ ç' w i1 Chapter ~" .. ~., $ INT RO DUCT 10 N 1 t;. .................................. ~ ~ ~ A. General Survey •••••••••••••••••••••••••• ',' 1 ~ " 1. International and National Situa- l l 1 tians in the Gulf ..................... 2. Al Thini. the Rulers of Qa1ïar ....... B. Qa~ar's Relations with Its Neighbours tft' ~, during the Second Half of the Nine- .. ( ,. teenth Century •••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 11 1. Qa~ar's Relations with B~rain •••••••• 11 ~ 2. Qa~ar·s Relations with the Ottomans ••• 16 J. Qa~ar's Relations with Kuwait ••••••••• 19 4. .Qa~ar·s Relations with Abù ~abI ••••••• 20 , 5. Qat;ar's Relations with Su'üdI Arabia •• 23 Notes .......................................... 29 II. THE 1916 TREATY BETWEEN QAr.cAR AND GREAT BRITAIN ..•..•..••....•.......•.•...•..•••••••. JJ A,' Circumstances Which Led to the Conclu sion of the 1916 Treaty ••••••••••••••••••• JJ B. The 1916 Treatyl Critical Analysie of the Text •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• J7 iv la_ Io..___ -....;..---~----~- ~-- ~-- - -~- li ~ / ) jl) / \\ ~ / \\ / • v • 1 \ C. The Developmeri~ of Qa~arI-Bri tish Rela Il tions after the Conclusion of the \ 1916 Treaty •• ~......................... 45 1. InternaI Political Conditions of Qa~ar •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 45 2. The Problem of Renewal of Protection 54 Notes •• 1 ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 67 III. TERRITORIAL DISPUTES WITH BaTH SU'UDÏ ARABIA AND BA1j:RAIN, AND THE BRIT ISH ATTITUDES TOWARDS THESE CONFLICTS •••••••••• 72 A. Qa~arI-su 'üdI Relations in Regard to the Border Sep~~ting the Two Countries •••• 72 B. Qa~arI-BaQrainI Relations in Regard to al-Zubarah and ~awar Islands ••••••••••• 81 1. Al-Zubarah 1 •••••••••••••••••••, 0 •••• 82 . - 2. ~war Islands •••••••••••••••••••••• 86 Notes ••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 0 •••••••••• 92 IV. GREAT BRITAIN AND ITS aIL POLICY IN QAtAR •• 102 A. Struggle for Oil Concessions ••••••••••• 102 B. The 1932 Agreement between Qatar and Anglo-Persian Oil Company •••••••••••••• 106 C. Bri tish Oil Po1icy in Qatar ••• Il • ••• • •• 109 D. Qa~ar ail Concession ••••••••••••••••••• . 116 Notes •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 122 • (l' "''''' ... ---,.-~ vi 1 1 1 S~Y AND CONCLUSIONS ........... ...............~ , .'/ 126 APPENDIX 1 • •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 1 1 •• l~ l)J APPENDIX 2 • ••••••••••••• 1 ••••• 1 •••••••••••••••••••• J 1)8 APPENDIX ) 140 • • • • • • • • 1 • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • j' APPENDIX 4 • • • • • • • • • • • • • , • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • f • 149 1 APPENDIX 5 • •• 1 ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• ";' 1 150 APPENDIX 6 ·. .. .. .. .. .. .. f .. 151 APPENDIX 7 ·........................................ .152 APPENDIX 8 • .J ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 1 •••• 153 BIBLIDGRAPHY ••••• 1 • 1 ••••••••••••••• 1 ......... 154 , (J / 1 " , liw, ~ :;. v " , .. ," ! i" ~' ~ ~ ~ 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1· 1 / 1ACKNOWLEDGEMENT l would 1i*e te express my sincere gratitude to/the i Government of Qa~ar for providing a scho1arship to atudy at - 1 McGi1l university,1 l am specia11y grateful to His Exce11ecy Mt'. 'is' Ghànim al-kawari, Minister of Information, and to 1 [) 1) Mr. al-~ayyib ~a1ib, the previous Director of the sarne min- istry, for ~heir ~ncouragement. o." l shou1d ~ecord on this occasion the valuable help 1 1 offered ta me by fhe Director and staff of the Islamic Studies. / ~of..} A.M. Abu-HQ~imaT graciously and patiently supervised / this werk. l wish to express my thanks to my two colleaguesl • . ' Mrs. Pat Dubuisson for editing the English and proof-reading of this thesis, and to Mr. M.A. 'Abd al-~arnad .for various sug gestions and the final typing of the manuscript. Last but net least, l would like to express my thanks to the staff of the Institute's Libraryand especially Miss ù-', Salwa Ferahian, for their unfai1ing help whenever it was requested and ta extend similar thanks' to the staff of the India Office Library and Records, London, England', .\ / Montreal, October, 1981 '. vii \ .) 1 NOTE ON TRANSLITERATION The system of transliteration of Arabie ls that used by the Instit~te of Islamic Studies, McGill University. wlth the following exceptions. the place names Kuwait, Baqrain, and Do4a have been rendered in their commonly accepted Anglici~ed forms. This system ie as fOl+owss A. Consonants 1 / 7 initiall unexpressed.. 5' medial and final. ' 4.--> b ...) z • •• '~ s uq ~ th ~ sh éJk &P Q JI '01' 4 , m .lot On \~ . -IP .; ~h ) dh t' ~ w ..J r [gh (jY B. Vowele. Diphtongs. etc. s short. L a; - il L u. / longs \ al <.S Il ~ ü. / alif mag ~ürah 1 (5 â J diphtongs 1 U ay 1 -' " aw. T ~ ,. ~ - long wi th tashd~d 1 ~H," ~yal ""f uwa. ta' marbütah 1 ~ ah; in i4afah., at viii j, ,~, ,'":.: ...... ,.r.'""I~.,.~~ ,,,,~4"",· ...... ~~~~'lf1,f;ro..~~ , . '1 , ' ABBREVIATIONS ' APOC Anglo~PerBian Oil Company ,Bapco Bahrain Petroleum Company CAB Cabihet Conclusions CID Commi ttee of Imperial Defence' FO Foreign Office IOR India ~ffice Library and Records IPC Iraq Petroleum Company L/P&S Political and Secret Department Library PCL Petroleum Concessions (Qatar) Company Ltd. PRO Public Records Office R/151t Political Residency Bushire 1763-1947 R/15/2 Political Agency Babrain 1900-1947 RAF Royal Air Force ! Socal California Standard Oil Company / Il , 1 ix (; .' ( , 1 ' .. o 1 CHAPl'ER l INTRODUCTION A. ,General Survey Qa~ar is l~\cated in the middle of' the western coast of the Arabian Gulf 'and is surrounded by sea in t;te north, e.aat and west, while in the south i t shares i ts border wi th • 1 the Kingdom of Su tüdI Arabia and the Emirate of Abu ~abi.· ria area is about 11,400 km2 with 160 kril long' from north to South and 80 km wide :from east to west. 1 Qa"t;ar has a flat surface with interval sand dunes, ( hills covered with stones, and craggy rocks. 'Its s;ummer is very hot and long, starting from the beginning of' April till the end of September. Its winter is short and warm; the temperature decreases to a mild level, while rain is 2 scarce. Wells are scattered in many places throughout the country. Agriculture is very sparse. Since certain Qa1ïarI townS and villages are :frequently \ mentioned in the present narrative, i t seems best to give a brief' annotation of such names, like 1 al-Bid t, Dôl}a (al-DawlJ,ah), \ al-Wakrah, al-Fuwayri"t;, al-Ruways, Abu ~ulüf, Khawr ijassan \ (al-Khuwayr), al-Zubarah, and al-Jjuwaylah. Befora the found l ation of Dol}a, al-Bid t was a prosperous town built by members '. ,- . of the Südan tribe which had migrated from Abü ~abI. This town (~ " \ « 2 F was desCfibed by travellers who visited Qatar in the second ;' half of the 19th century as a flourishing town with a pop- ulation of 6,000 people.) DoQa was founded later by the Al Bü 'Aynayn-tribe who migrated to al-Wakrah from BaQrain. .'" Its population in the beginning of the 20th century was 12,000, although an Ottoman source put it at 10,000.4 DoQa, divided into 9 quarters, was inhabited by the tribes of Al ~a'a~Id, Al SÜdan, Al Bu Kuwarah, Al bin 'AlI, Al 'Amamirali. Al Dawasir, Al Baqaqilah: Al Silitah, and Al Bü 'Aynayn. There were also groups of Al BaQarinah, âl Hawalah and Al Najjadah tribes as weIl as 400 Turks.