Following the 1941 coup in Iraq that ousted Abdul Illah, Regent of Iraq, Emir Abdullah I dispatched the Mechanised Brigade of the Arab Legion to guide British troops across the desert to Iraq. Haditha instructed his men from Bani Sakhr serving in the Arab Legion to abstain from suppressing the Rashid Ali Gaylani revolt in Baghdad and resign from the Arab Legion rather than to fight other Arabs. Haditha's defiance of Emir Abdullah I and the British forced him to go into self-imposed exile in Saudi Arabia. The Khraisha family had enjoyed strong relations with the tribes of the Arabian Peninsula for centuries, particularly the Shammar Tribe of Ibn Rashid, traditional rivals of the House of Saud. The Al-Khraisha family's ties with the House of Rashid went back to the time of Sheikh Haditha's father, Ali. The origin of Ali Al-Khraisha's relationship with Abdullah ibn Rashid, the founder of the Emirate of Jabal Shammar, is related in John Bagot Glubb 1978 book Arabian Adventures. Early in the nineteenth century, the formidable Shammar Tribe of Nejd underwent an internal struggle for dominance. The two rival sheikhs were Ibn Ali and Ibn Rashid and at the end of the affair Ibn Ali won the struggle for precedence and Ibn Rashid and his brother, Obeid, were driven out of the tribe they had hoped to lead. Eventually the brothers reached Jordan with only one camel between them and landed at the tent of Sheikh Ali Al-Khraisha, the Sheikh of Bani Sakhr. The Sheikh was away but the family and servants took care of the guests. During the night their camel died and so they were forced to continue their journey on foot. A short distance from the camp, they met a Bedouin on camelback. The man stopped them and asked them their news and what camp they had just come from. After hearing their story, the man asked them if their host had supplied them with a fresh mount. The brothers replied that their host was away. The rider then dismounted, obliged them to mount and his camel, revealed that he was Sheikh Ali Al-Khraisha and swore that no guest of his would reach his tent riding and leave on foot. Years later, Abdullah Ibn Rashid returned to Shammar, drove out his rival, and became Emir of Northern Nejd. Abdullah and his descendants ruled for fifty years until they were driven out by Ibn Saud in 1920. For as long as they ruled, the House of Rashid treated the Khraisha family as friends and allies in memory of the camel given by Ali Al-Khraisha to Abdullah ibn Rashid in his destitution generations before.