Qu'aiti,[nb 1] or the Qu'aiti Sultanate of Shihr and Mukalla,[nb 2] was a sultanate in the Hadhramaut region of the southern Arabian Peninsula, in what is now Yemen. Its capital was Mukalla, and it was divided into six provinces including Al-Mukalla, Ash-Shihr, Shibam, Du'an, the Western Province and Hajr. Apart from Al-Mukalla, Ash-Shihr and Shibam were the Sultanate's major cities.[2]
The Sultanate spanned the Indian Ocean coast up to the border of Mahra, encompassed Shabwa, the central valleys and oasis settlements of Hadhramaut, and controlled the southern Empty Quarter.
Sons of Umar bin Awadh al Qu'aiti, who became a jemadar in the forces of the Nizam of Hyderabad State (now in India), first took the town of Shibam from the rival Kathiris in 1858 to consolidate their rule over all of Hadhramaut.[citation needed]
In 1866, Sultan Ghalib bin Muhsin, Shaikh of the Kathiri, expelled Ali bin Naji from Shihr and took possession of the fort. At this time the inland town of Shibam was held by the Qu'aiti tribe. Qu'aiti Shaikh, Abdulla, being apprehensive that, the capture of Mukalla would follow that of Shihr, and that his communication with the seaboard would he cut off, applied to his brothers, in the service of the Hyderabad State, for assistance against Sultan Ghalib bin Muhsin. A request was thereupon preferred by the Minister of the Nizam for the armed interference of the British Government on behalf of the rightful Jemadar of Shihr. Government, however, declined to interfere or to allow an armed expedition to be fitted out by Arabs from the Indian coast.[3]
In April 1867, Awadh (Nawaz) bin Umar, better known by his Hyderabad title of Sultan Nawaz Jang, a brother of the Qu'aiti Jemadar Abdulla, after establishing a blockade on the sea-coast, landed near Shihr, attacked and put to flight Sultan Ghalib bin Muhsin, and established the authority of his brother as Jemadar of Shihr. An attempt was made by the Kathiri Shaikh in December of the same year to retake the place, but he was repulsed by the Qu'aiti, who have since remained in unmolested possession of the port and district. Application was made by the Kathiri Shaikh to the British Government for permission to recover Shihr by force, but it was considered undesirable to interfere. At the same time the Nizam’s Minister declared his readiness to prohibit any interference on the part of Hyderabad subjects in the affairs of Hadramaut.[3]