| 1922 Dhabyani coup | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Emirate of Abu Dhabi in theUnited Arab Emirates | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Abu Dhabi | Junior Al Nahyan | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Hamdan Al Nahyan † | Sultan Al NahyanHazzan Al NahyanSaqr Al Nahyan | ||||||
| Units involved | |||||||
| Hamdan loyalists | Sultan loyalists | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 4 (including Hamdan) | none | ||||||
 | |||||||
In 1922 SheikhSultanAl Nahyan, with a coalition of his brothersHazza andSaqr staged apalace coup inAbu Dhabi killing their brotherHamdan, the ruling emir at the time, and crowned Sultan in his place.
In 1909 longtime ruler of Abu Dhabi,Zayed Al Nahyan "The Great" died.[1] InIslam there is no stringent monarchical inheritance laws, instead, successors typically are chosen viaShura, although Abu Dhabi's colonial overlord, theBritish Empire, had been pressuring theTrucial States to adoptprimogeniture, this would not be adopted in Abu Dhabi until another palace coup in1966.[1][2] Zayed's eldest sonKhalifa at the urging of his wife who feared for his life if he inherited, declined the throne, with it instead passing to Zayed's second eldest sonTahnoun.[1] However, Tahnoun would die young of illness in 1912 again reopening the issue of succession.[1]Hamdan, Zayed's fifth eldest son would inherit the throne from his brother and become the new emir, passing over several of Zayed's older sons.[2]
Hamdan's rule was far from secure, and wasn't helped by an economic collapse in 1920–1921 within the emirate as the economy was almost entirely reliant onpearling, with the pearl fields running dry due toover fishing.[2] However, economic conditions for a coup where only a pretense, with the real reason for the coup being inter-personal family rivalries.[1] Hamdan, who had no adult sons of his own, had begun grooming his older brotherSultan's sons to succeed him, which would've bypassed Sultan. Additionally, Hamdan had earned the ire of nomadicBedouins due to his insistence that they pay more taxes due to the economic shortfall and for sending tribute toSaudi Arabia. Sultan was able to convince his other, still politically active, brothersHazza andSaqr to stage a coup and instead determine the new emir by Shura.[2]
On Tuesday, August 22, Sultan entered theQasr Al Hosn alongside Saqr and four Bedouin retainers from theBani Yas, as it was just after the middaymajlis Hamdan was resting in the shade of the central courtyard with some of his advisors. Sultan then promptly opened fire on his brotherpoint blank, killing him instantly, as the other members of his party opened fire on Hamdan'scourtiers killing three of them. Sultan then sealed the fort, secured the keys to the treasury, and sent envoys to his brothers and tribal leaders.[2][1]
After the coup about 20 male elders from the Al Nahyan met in the fort to determine who the new emir would be. Largely divided along tribal lines, Sultan saw support from theal‑Qubaisāt family of his mother, as well as theManasir and most of theSuwdān.[3] Hazza, who shared Sultan's mother, received the support of the rest of the Suwdān, and almost all of theBani Yas, but was largely sidelined as he was unable to arrive in Abu Dhabi in time for the meeting.[3] Saqr, who was present during the coup, but had a different mother, saw marginal support from fringe tribal leaders, with the main bulk of his support coming from his mother's family, theAl Bu Falasah ofDubai and merchants that supported inter-emirati relations.[3]
The British also reported that Saqr had promised tax breaks toWahhabists which they viewed as one of the principle reasons he wasn't chosen.[3] Seeking a ruler that could lead both the coastal cities and the tribal hinterland, votes weren't held by head, which would give the Bani Yas a huge advantage, instead votes where held by section or tribe.[3] The British were a non-factor during this council, as thepolitical resident was inBushire at the time, 600 km away from Abu Dhabi and was unable to react until after the coup.[3] Instead Khalifa served as a kingmaker, while not seeking the throne himself, he threatened to stage a counter coup if Saqr was installed, and said that he would "tolerate" the rule of Sultan.[3] Due to these factors Sultan was selected as the new emir.[2]
The coup would destabilize Abu Dhabi for generations.[2] In 1926, after Sultan failed to resolve the economic crisis, and had cut his brother's allowances, there would be anotherpalace coup that would see Sultan dead and Saqr installed as emir without consultation from the family.[2] However, Saqr's rule too would be short lived, as the paranoid Saqr viewed Khalifa as a potential treat and plotted his murder, resulting in Khalifa to coordinate with the council of elders to stage a third coupin 1928.[2]
After this third coup Khalifa and the family council listened to the advice of the British and crowned Sultan's sonShakhbut as the new emir, as he was the eldest son of the last legitimate emir.[2] However, Shakhbut too would fail to fix the economic crisis, especially after oil was discovered.[2]
TheSaudis attempted toback another coup in the 1950s to install Saqr's kids in exchange for thedisputedBuraimi Oasis, but this coup would fail after international arbitration found in favor of Abu Dhabi.[2] Afterwards Shakhbut, seeking to return Abu Dhabi to its traditional roots, outlawed stone buildings and new construction, and as such a fourth coup, this time in1966 crowned his younger brotherZayed, finally ending the political instability.[2]
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