His Rights
The three Arab regions adjacent to foreigners suffered great weakness and inferiority. The people
there were either masters or slaves, rulers or subordinates. Masters, especially the foreigners, had
claim to every advantage; slaves had nothing but responsibilities to shoulder. In other words,
arbitrary autocratic rulership brought about encroachment on the rights of subordinates, ignorance,
oppression, iniquity, injustice and hardship, and turning them into people groping in darkness and
The tribes
living near these regions were fluctuating between Syria and Iraq, whereas those living inside Arabia
were disunited and governed by tribal conflicts and racial and religious disputes.
They had neither a king to sustain their independence nor a supporter to seek advice from, or
depend upon, in hardships.
The rulers of Hijaz, however, were greatly esteemed and respected by the Arabs, and were
considered as rulers and servants of the religious centre. Rulership of Hijaz was, in fact, a mixture of