290 



SAYYID SAID. 



become Wahhabis, and were backed by all the 

 influence of Saiid, Lord of Daraiyyah. After 

 vainly attempting to obtain aid from the Pasha 

 of Baghdad, Sultan bin Ahmad was attacked 

 whilst sailing to Bandar Abbas by five ships of 

 the Kawasini, and was shot in the melee on Nov. 

 18, 1804. 



This decease brought to power the late 

 Sayyid Said, 1 the second son born to Sayyid Sul- 

 tan bin Ahmad in a.d. 1790. His maternal 

 uncle, Sayyid Bedr bin Sayf, and the Wahhabi 

 Chief, Saiid, enabled him to defeat Sultan Kays 

 bin Ahmad of Sohar, another uncle who aimed 

 at usurpation ; but the danger was shifted, not 

 destroyed. At length, in a.d. 1806, Sayyid 

 Said's aunt, the Bibi Mauza, daughter of the 

 Imam Ahmad, and popularly known as the Bint 

 el Imam, determined that Sayyid Bedr must be 

 slain at a Darbar. Sayyid Said, a youth of 16, 

 was unwilling, but the strong-minded woman — 

 in every noble Arab family there is at least one 

 — prevailed, and on J uly 31 the dangerous pro- 



their name from a local Wali, or Santon, the Shaykh Kasim. 



1 A detailed account of this Prince's early life is given in 

 the * History of Syed Said, Sultan of Muscat ' . . . trans- 

 lated from the Italian. London, 1819 (written by his physi- 

 cian, Shaykh Mansur, alias Vincenzo). Buckingham, Fraser, 

 and Sir John Malcolm have also supplied notices of his event- 

 ful career. 



