'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.' [‎14] (175/612)

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THE IMAMS OF ^OMAN.
mans tliat the brother of Sakar was with the insurgents.
They charged Sakar with this, but he denied it and stated
that his brother was sick at home. But when God put the
insurgents to flight it was fully proved that Sakar's brother
was among them, and they accordingly charged Sakar with
deceit for having concealed from them his brother's
treachery. Sakar was at that time at Semail, and the Imam
Ghassan sent horsemen after him, and wrote to Wadh-dhah-
bin-'Okbah, his governor over the fort of Semail, to deliver
him up to them. On their arrival the messengers appre
hended him, and the governor, fearing that they might lay
violent hands on him by the way, went with them. The
Imam had moreover sent a second body of horse under Musa-
bin-'Aly to seize and bring him. The two parties met in the
Nejd-es-Sahamah, and as they proceeded on their way some
of the escort fell upon Sakar and killed him, and neither the
governor Abu-'l-Wadh-dhah nor Musa-bin-'Aly was able to
prevent them ^ in fact, it is stated that M ai sa-bin-Aly would
have incurred the same fate had he ventured to interfere.
We have not heard that the Imam Ghassan ever denied who
it was that killed Sakar. In those days the government was
in its prime and strength. Such is the story of Sakar's
death; but God knows the truth.
The following is among the recorded decrees of the Imam
Ghassan: (may God have mercy upon him !)—There were
some out-houses at Semed of Nezwa belonging to the Benu-
Julanda—probably the same as those generally called " the
Dark Arches"—situated by the roadside, where a num
ber of libertines used to station themselves in order to
molest any females who passed that way. 1 This coming to
the knowledge of the Imam, he directed^ the people of that
1 Ibn-Batuta, who visited the coast of 'Oman in the fourteenth
century, writes disparagingly of the morals of the people. " I heir
wives," he says, "are most base; yet, without denying this, the husbands
express nothing like jealousy on the subject." Leo's Translation, p. 62.