[3] For his long service Mubarak received the title istabl-i amire payesi, "(Rank of) The Grand Equerry of his Imperial Majesty", in August 1879 for a campaign into Qatif and southern Iraq.

Jill Crystal posits that Mubarak, with his sons Jabir and Salim, along with loyal supporters, assassinated his half-brothers in secret during the night.

[3][7][9] The most plausible theory is that Mubarak felt he did not receive his rightful share of the family wealth and property, causing contention and a strong desire to seize it.

Slot, who is not even convinced that Mubarak was the assassin, asserts that "the widely divergent stories and interpretations… make it impossible to reach a firm conclusion about what happened in Kuwait in 1896.

[11] Mubarak acted to bribe the Ottoman bureaucracy through lavish gift-giving in order to gain support for his appointment as kaymakam [sub governor] of Kuwait like his previous brothers.

Because of the tension and instability of the situation the Ottoman Council decided that naming Mubarak kaymakam would be a better alternative to potentially bloody military action.

Finally, the Ottomans also had growing anxiety over possible encroachment by the Great Powers, most notably Britain and Russia into the region due to the construction of the Baghdad Railway.

On 18 January 1899, Mubarak signed a secret agreement with Major M.J. Meade, British political resident in Bushire, that guarded Kuwait against any outside foreign aggression.

"[19] Mubarak's British protection made him free to secure and strengthen his own power without fear of any outside interference from the Ottomans, surrounding tribes, or the Russians.

[20] Mubarak, comforted by British protection felt free to pursue his own policies and mounted an invasion into Najd (Central Arabia) with an army of Kuwaiti townspeople.

The objective was to claim the southern portion of the Rashidi dominions in hopes that Mubarak's dream of becoming the new, undisputed Arabian leader would be realized.

However, neither the post office nor the flag would happen until World War I. Mubarak as well, in October 1907 sold the rights for any terminus railroad sites to the British, compromising the German-Ottoman plan to extend the Berlin-Baghdad Railway to the port, which would have given them access to trade on the Indian subcontinent.

[33] This change in attitude, which included other pressures and troubles for the Ottoman Empire including the British lobbying on Kuwait's behalf, led to the Anglo-Ottoman Convention of 1913, which recognized Kuwait as an autonomous kaza of the Ottoman Empire within the Green zone outlined in the map as well as an independent entity within the red zone outlined in the map.

[citation needed] By the time World War I began Mubarak closely sided with the British against the Ottomans, and the 1913 Convention was rendered null.

[35] Mubarak's participation and previous exploits in obstructing the completion of the Baghdad railway helped the British safeguard the Persian Gulf from providing Ottoman and German reinforcements.