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played a crucial part in the British campaign in the First World War, espe-
cially in the Gallipoli and Palestine campaigns. Due to imperial interests,
the British had a few missions that Nehru inherited. For example, a resi-
dent mission in Jeddah was functioning for the welfare of the Indian haj
pilgrims.
At the same time, India was not inclined to capitalize on the British
interests in the region. Driven by his anti-colonial and anti-imperialist
worldview, Nehru detested the British possessions and spheres of influence
and sought a policy that was different from and even opposed to the Raj.
At the time of independence, India had resident missions in Cairo, Tehran
and Istanbul (India, MEA 1949 , 1–2) in addition to the Vice Consul in
the British Embassy in Jeddah for haj. In short, the only Indian mission in
the entire Arab world was located in the Egyptian capital. Budgetary con-
sideration and shortage of personnel inhibited New Delhi from immedi-
ately opening new missions in other parts of the region (ibid.).
This was despite India’s prolonged contacts with Islam, the predomi-
nant religion of the Middle East. The Arab merchants were trading with
India even before the birth of the new faith. Islam came to the Indian
shores shortly after the death of Prophet Mohammed. For centuries Indian
pilgrims made up a large number of hajis and their traders were active in
Jeddah, a major port city en route to Mecca. Rulers of princely states and
wealthy business communities were engaged in various philanthropic activ-
ities and contributed to the upkeep of the Grand Mosque of Mecca which
houses Ka’aba (Khalidi 2009 , 55; Azaryahu and Reiter 2015 , 33). Indeed,
in the pre-oil era the Saudi state thrived not only on annual British financial
assistance (Leatherdale 1983 ) but also from indirect support through
donations for the upkeep of Ka’aba and the businesses generated by haj-
related activities.
Despite these religious, commercial and colonial legacies, there were
little contacts between the Indian nationalists and the leaders of the nascent
Saudi state which began with the conquest of Riyadh in 1902. The politi-
cal, economic and military support from the British facilitated the Saudi
conquest of the Hejaz region, including Mecca and Medina, from the
Hashemites in the 1920s. This dependency upon the British partly resulted
in al-Saud not looking at the Indian nationalists as their natural allies.
As happened to the Zionists around the same time, any overt support for
the Indian nationalists and their struggle for freedom would have alien-
ated the al-Saud from the British and undermined their state-building
P. R. KUMARASWAMY AND MD. M. QUAMAR