'Military Report on the Arabian Shores of the Persian Gulf, Kuwait, Bahrein, Hasa, Qatar, Trucial Oman and Oman' [‎11] (25/226)

CHAP. I. HISTORY—OMAN.
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(c) In 1926 Persia commenced to adopt an active pcilicy
in the Gulf. The result of this has been to bring her into
conflict on certain points with the Trucial Chiefs and their
interests. The Trucial settlements on the South Persian
coast and the Trucial ownership of the islands of Tamb,
Little Tamb, Abu Musa and Sirri, which is claimed by the
Sheikhs of Sharjah, and Ras-al-Khaimah and which is con
tested by Persia, have all afforded grounds of friction.
In 1928 Persia put forward tentative claims to suzer
ainty over the Sheikhs of the Trucial Coast A name used by Britain from the nineteenth century to 1971 to refer to the present-day United Arab Emirates. but these
claims have not since been seriously pressed.
Oman. >
1. General. —The Imamate of Oman owes its origin to
the peculiar tenets of the Ibadhi sect of Islam-—an offshoot
of the Khawarij or " Seceders " who originated in the dis
satisfied soldiers of the forces of the Imam Ali, son-in-law
of the Prophet. Most of the tribes of Oman belong to the
Ibadhi sect.
The Imams were invested both with religious and civil
powers and for a space of nearly 900 years until the acces
sion of the Imam Nasir bin Murshid of the A1 Yaarabah
dynasty in 1625, were elected for their personal merits or
popularity, irrespective of family descent. There was how
ever a preference for the ruling family and for the son,
not necessarily the eldest, of the last Imam over other
members of that family.
In 1650 Nasir bin Murshid was successful in expelling
the Portuguese from Oman, thereby acquiring a prestige
which enabled his descendants gradually to modify the
principle of election which had previously prevailed.
2. The ILinawi and Ohafiri factions.—The Yaarabi
period was disturbed at the beginning of the 18th century,
by a contest for the succession which paralyzed the power
of the Imam abroad and gave birth to the Hmawi and
Ghafiri factions at home, a source of anarchy which none
of the later rulers of Oman have been able to suppress and
very few to control. As the modern history of Oman is
mainly the narrative of the enmity between these two
factions, it is essential to know the origin and causes ot
the feud.