'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.' [‎27] (188/612)

THE IMAMS OP 'OMAN.
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those who disobey are guilty of revolt against God." His
agent with the Sultan was one Yasir of the Benu-Samah.
(The Sultan here referred to is the Sultan of Baghdad.)
They then deposed him and bestowed the Imamate upon
his nephew,
^OMAR-BIN-MUHAMMAD-BIN-MATRAF,
who followed the example of his uncle, for whenever the
Sultan's agent came he submitted to him and resigned the
Imamate, resuming it again with full powers when the agent
left.
Then came the Karamitah, 1 whose increasing numbers in
1 The KarAmitah began to raise disturbances in the Muslim empire
about a.h . 276= a.d . 889. Opinions differ as to the correct origin of
the designation. The followers of this sect bore an inveterate hatred to
Mussulmans generally, pretending that their own founder was a true
prophet, who had given them a new law which abrogated all preceding
revelations, and which allowed them to drink wine and to dispense with
many of the requirements of Islam. They further turned the precepts
of the Kuran into allegory, teaching that prayer was the symbol of obe
dience to their Imam, and fasting that of concealing their doctrines
from strangers. Under several fanatical leaders they caused continued
annoyance to successive Khalifahs, committing great outrages in 'Irak,
Arabia Syria and Mesopotamia, and at length established a formidable
principality, whose power was at its meridian under Abu-Tahir, renowned
for his capture of Mekkah, a.h . 317, and the indignities perpetrated
upon the Ka'abah by his soldiery. The el-Bahrein branch of the sect, to
which Abu-Tahir belonged, and which is specially referred to in the
text, recognized his father, Abu-Sa'id, as its first chief. According to
Nowairy, quoted by De Sacy, " Abu-Sa'id attempted the conquest of
that country, but a detachment of six hundred men whom he sent on
the expedition having been nearly exterminated by the people of 'Oman,
he abandoned the project." Abu-Sa'id was murdered in a bath by one
of his eunuchs, a.h . 301 a.d . 913. He was succeeded by his son
Abu-'l-Kasim Sa'id, who was shortly after displaced by his brother, the
famous Abu-Tahir. The malediction invoked upon the Karamitah by
the author is a conclusive proof that their tenets had nothing in common
with the sect to which he belonged, namely, the Ibadhiyah, with whom
Palgrave associates them. {Central and Eastern Arabia, vol. ii, pp.
262, 264.) For an exhaustive essay on the origin and history of the