Theodore Bent and his wife followed in the same track a few months later with a well-equipped party including a surveyor, Imam Sharif, lent by the Indian government, who made a very valuable survey of the country passed through.
He deposed and exiled the sharif of Mecca, and after the death of the Wahhabi leader Saud II.
Until the Egyptian invasion in 1814 the Sharifs of Mecca were the recognized rulers of Hejaz, and though the Turks have attempted to suppress their importance, the Sharif still executes justice according to the Mahommedan law in the holy cities, though, nominally, as a Turkish official.
In the early years of the 20th century the sharif Raisuli terrorized the district round Tangier and made captive several Europeans.
Omar Sharif found the story so enchanting that he chose this film to make his return to the screen.