The story of a 19th-century Iranian Shaikh who lost his Shaikhdom […] |Louis Allday

Shaikh Khaz’al bin Jābir bin Mirdāw al-Ka‘bī was loyal to the British hoping they would help him – but they didn’t.

Originally Published in British Library’s Untold Lives blog. / Scrool.in

by Louis Allday

73268-wrelwnafjm-1510145391 — Lieutenant-General H.H Shaikh Khaz’al bin Jabir bin Merdaw al-Ka’bi in military uniform wearing his medals | Wikimedia Commons [Licensed under CC BY 4.0]

The Qatar Digital Library has digitised a number of sources concerning the life and times of Shaikh Khaz’al bin Jābir bin Mirdāw al-Ka‘bī (1861-1936), the Emir of Mohammerah [Khorramshahr] and chief of the Banu Ka’b tribe.

kuedqasyub-1510144752 — Detail from a 1908 War Office map of Persia and Afghanistan that shows Mohammerah [Khorramshahr]. Image credit: British Library, India Office Records, IOR/L/PS/10/332, f 77.

Mohammerah now named Khorramshahr, is a city located at the confluence of the Karun and Shatt al-Arab Rivers in the Khuzestan region of Iran […]. This area was nominally a part of the Persian Qajar Empire, but for much of the 19th and early 20th centuries it was ruled as a “semi-independent” Shaikhdom by the Arab al-Ka‘bī family.

dxmhdhuuyg-1510144761 — Shaikh Khaz’al bin Jābir bin Mirdāw al-Ka‘bī wearing military uniform and “honours” bestowed on him by both the British and Persian Governments. Image credit: Wikimedia Commons [Licensed under CC BY 4.0]

Throughout Khaz’al’s reign (1897-1925), he was one of the most important political figures in the Persian Gulf and a prominent supporter of Britain’s presence in the region. Although never formally a part of the British Empire, the [Persian] Gulf had been effectively incorporated into the British imperial system since the early 19th century. The conclusion of treaties and agreements with the region’s various tribal rulers was one of the central means by which Britain enforced its hegemonic presence, and Khaz’al was no exception to this trend.

emnvqhmvdy-1510144766 — Shaikh Khaz’al’s palace, Qasr al-Failiyah in Mohammerah [Khorramshahr], 1921. Image credit: Wikimedia Commons [Licensed under CC BY 4.0]

Indeed, Khaz’al actively fostered close relations with Britain in an attempt to gain their assurance that in the event of the Qajar Empire collapsing or being overthrown, Mohammerah would be formally recognised by Britain as an independent state with him as its ruler.

بارگیری (1) — Mohammerah [Khorramshahr], May 1917 from Album of tour of the Persian Gulf (Photographer: Rev. Edwin Aubrey Storrs-Fox) which contains several images of the city in 1917-18.

After oil was discovered by the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (the forerunner of BP) in Khuzestan in 1908, Britain strengthened its ties to Khaz’al further. In 1910 he was made a Knight Commander of the Indian Empire. Khaz’al sought to prove his loyalty to Britain in return and he acted as a key ally throughout the First World War during which – with British military assistance – he suppressed a pro-Ottoman tribal uprising in his domains.

rtlgrdvncc-1510144781 (1) — Sheikh Khaz’al’s yacht docked behind Qasr al-Failiyah, 1925. Image credit: Wikimedia Commons [Licensed under CC BY 4.0]

However, Khaz’al’s efforts to gain formal British recognition of his suzerainty over Mohammerah and achieve “independence” failed. Unlike the ruling families of the other Shaikhdoms in the [Persian] Gulf – who remain in power today – ultimately Britain did not guarantee his rule. After the rise to power of Reza Khan (Shah from December 1925 onwards) and the fall of the Qajar dynasty, Khaz’al came under increasing pressure. The centralising and modernising programme of the new government in Tehran could not tolerate Mohammerah’s relative “independence”.After leading an unsuccessful uprising, Khaz’al was taken to Tehran by force and detained by Reza Khan in April 1925. He remained in the capital under house arrest until his death in May 1936. After his fall from power, many of Khaz’al’s family members, including his son Abdullah, fled to Kuwait – where the Shaikh owned property – and many of his descendants remain living there until the present day.