British treaty with Ibn Saud

On 26 December 1915 at Darin on Tarut (PL) island, off the coast of the Persian Gulf near Qatif, a treaty was signed between the British government and Abdulaziz ibn Abdul Rahman Al Saud, ruler of Najd, known as Ibn Saud. The document was signed on behalf of Britain by Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Percy Cox, the British Resident in the Persian Gulf and, since the beginning of the war, chief political officer with Indian Expeditionary Force D in Mesopotamia. The text was dated 18 Safar 1334 by the Muslim calendar, corresponding to 26 December 1915. Historians call this agreement the Treaty of Darin. It was the first treaty in which a foreign power recognised the Saudi state.

A ruler in search of a protector

At the beginning of 1902 Ibn Saud, returning from exile in Kuwait, recaptured Riyadh, the old capital of his house, with a handful of men, and in the following years took central Arabia from his rivals of the Rashidi dynasty, which ruled in Jabal Shammar. In 1913 he drove the Turks out of the coastal province of al-Hasa, with its capital in the oasis of al-Ahsa. The British, who guarded their influence in the Gulf and their protectorates on its coast, were for a long time unwilling to bind themselves to him, so as not to provoke Turkey. According to some accounts, in May 1914 Ibn Saud even concluded a secret agreement with the Turks, who recognised him as their governor in Najd.

The war with the Ottoman Empire changed everything. The authorities of British India sent Captain William Shakespear, a former political agent in Kuwait who had known him for years, to Ibn Saud. Shakespear reached the emir’s camp, but on 24 January 1915 he was killed at the Battle of Jarrab, in which the Saudis clashed with the Rashidis, who were allied with the Turks. According to some accounts the defeat was decided by the departure from the battlefield of the allied Ajman tribe, which Ibn Saud then had to fight for many months. The negotiations were taken over by Cox, who in December sailed to meet the emir on Tarut island.

What the treaty provided

The agreement had seven articles. Britain recognised Najd, al-Hasa, Qatif and Jubail, together with their dependent territories and ports, as the countries of Ibn Saud and his forefathers, and himself as their independent ruler. The right to rule was also granted to his sons and descendants, on condition that the successor should not be hostile to Britain. The boundaries were to be settled later. In the event of aggression by a foreign power, the British promised Ibn Saud help to such an extent and in such a manner as they themselves considered effective.

In return the emir undertook not to correspond or conclude agreements with any foreign state and to inform the British of any attempt at outside interference. Without London’s consent he was not to cede, sell or lease any part of his territory or to grant concessions to foreigners. He also promised to keep open the roads to the holy places and to protect pilgrims, and not to attack Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and the sheikhdoms of the Trucial Coast, which were under British protection. In practice this meant that Saudi foreign policy was placed under British control.

An ally with no duty to fight

Unlike the agreement with al-Idrisi, concluded in the spring on the western coast of Arabia, the Treaty of Darin did not oblige Ibn Saud to make war on the Turks. It was enough for the British that he would not take the Turkish side, would not threaten the protectorates on the Gulf and would keep the Rashidis in check. At the same time the British High Commissioner in Cairo was negotiating with the Sharif of Mecca, Hussein, with whom Ibn Saud was competing for influence in Arabia. British policy in the Arabian Peninsula thus had two centres: Cairo backed the Sharif, while the Indian authorities and Cox backed Ibn Saud.

The treaty was ratified by the Viceroy of India, Lord Chelmsford, at Simla on 18 July 1916. According to some accounts, in 1916 Ibn Saud received a loan and a consignment of arms from the British, and from 1917 a monthly subsidy of £5,000. The Darin agreement remained in force until 1927, when it was replaced by the Treaty of Jeddah, in which Britain recognised the full independence of Ibn Saud’s state.