His principal object was to ascertain what attitude the British Government would maintain in the event of the Kathiri attacking the Qu'aiti with a view to repossessing themselves of the ports of Shihr and Mukalla.

Abdulla bin Salih also visited Zanzibar with intent to intrigue with the ex-Naqib of Mukalla, from whom however, he failed to obtain any material assistance.

[5] The Government of India in March 1884 directed that the Kathiri be warned that an attack upon Shihr and Mukalla would be viewed with grave displeasure, and that, if necessary, a gun-boat would be sent to support the Qu'aiti ruler.

By the end of the Sultanate's existence, its two principal cities of Say'un and Tarim were almost entirely financially dependent on Kathiri holdings in Jakarta and Singapore.

[7] The first prime minister in the history of East Timor, Mar'ī al-Kathīrī, is a third generation descendant of immigrants from Kathiri, part of a significant migration of Hadhramis to Southeast Asia in the 19th and 20th centuries.