'History of the imâms and seyyids of 'Omân by Salîl-ibn-Razîk, from A.D. 661-1856; translated from the original Arabic, and edited with notes, appendices, and an introduction, continuing the history down to 1870, by George Percy Badger, F.R.G.S., late chaplain in the Presidency of Bombay.' [‎3] (164/612)

the imams op 'oman.
3
and to summon the tribes of Nizar, 1 their followers and allies,
to unite in retrieving their disasters in 'Oman. El-Hajjaj
manifested the utmost animosity and zeal in carrying out
this project, reporting what measures he was taking to
'Abdu-'l-Malik-bin-Marwan, and calling upon the Azdites
residing at el-Basrah to join in an expedition against Sulei-
man-bin-'Abbad and his adherents. According to the most
authentic accounts the force dispatched under Mujjaah
numbered 40,000 men. One half left by sea and the other
half by land. The latter consisted of horsemen and men
mounted on camels. They were encountered by Suleiman
and his followers of the el-Azd and others near the water
which is five (some say only three) days' journey from el-
Balktlah. The said water is now called el-Balkain. 2 There
a great battle was fought which ended in the rout of el-
Hajjaj's force and their pursuit by Suleiman-bin-'Abbad,
' The Nizar or " Nizariyyah," as they are more frequently styled in
these annals, are, I conceive, the descendants of Nizar, born about a.d . 64,
the son of Mii'add, the son of 'Adnan, the alleged descendant of Ishmael,
and reckoned the nineteenth among the progenitors of Muhammad. Nizar
had a numerous progeny ; the descendants of his son lyad, after residing
for two centuries in the Ilijaz, migrated into the 'Irak Araby ; those of
his son Rabi'ah remained in the Hijaz, but those of 'Abdu-'l-Kais, the
son of Rabi'ah, went into el-Bahrein, from whence, as already men
tioned in the Introduction, they sent a detachment of their tribe to
assist Tkrimah, Abu-Bekr's general, in suppressing a revolt in 'Oman.
These indications confirm the local tradition that the Nizar came origi
nally from the Ilijaz, through Nejd. Communities of them exist in
different parts of 'Oman, where they are further distinguished by the
name of the districts which they severally occupy, as the Nizariyyah of
Semail, of Azka, etc. Their relationship to the el-Kuraish tribe gives
them social importance, and rival parties in the country have always bid
high to secure their alliance.
- I am unable to identify this " water." Perhaps it was the stream
called "el-Falj" by el-Tdrisy, and which he describes as flowing into
the sea near " Julfarah." Niebuhr marks a stream at " es-Sirr," lower
down on the coast, but it is not represented in any of our modern maps.
The 'Omanis appear to have marched westward, through the district
now occupied by the Benu-Yas, to meet the invaders coming from the
opposite direction.