'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.' [‎380] (541/612)

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APPENDIX A.
eminence, and tacitly confirmed in the civil administration the
candidate who, by any means, fair or foul, succeeded in seizing
and retaining it. The upshot, in fact, may be described as a
separation between Church and State, although in this case the
State retained most of the prerogatives, religious as well as civil,
which had formerly been exercised by the Church,
But as the Imam Sa'id died during the regency of his nephew
the Seyyid Sa'id, (between 1811-1821), the question arises why
the latter did not subsequently lay claim to the title, and why it
has been in abeyance ever since. The people at M<iskat and
Zanzibar, whom I consulted on this point, seemed unable to ac
count for it; the following are my own conjectures on the sub
ject : —The claim must have been submitted to a fresh adjudica
tion ; for although, like his father, the Seyyid Sa'id, after seizing
the regency, obtained a number of votes sufficient, in his own
estimation, to authorize his retention of that office, the Ibadhiyah
theory required that the people of'Oman generally should have
a voice in conferring the Imamate. But with all the Seyyid s
popularity on the coast and his fame abroad, it is by no means
unlikely that a majority of the more fanatical inland tribes—
several of which had become deeply imbued with Wahhabeeism
—would have voted against his promotion to that dignity.
Another drawback was, that his frequent absence at Zanzibar,
where he mainly resided after the death of his uncle, prevented
him from discharging one of the principal functions of Imam—
that of leading in the public prayers of the 'Omanis. Moreover,
political considerations led him to prefer Maskat to er-Rastak as
a place of residence, whenever he visited the mother-country ;
but the mosque at er-Rastak had been the cathedral of the
Imams for ages, and perhaps it had come to be regarded as
indispensable that their successors should be installed and should
officiate there. The Seyyid Sa'id's well known liberal sentiments
on matters of religion and indifference ,to its precepts have been
alleged as one reason why the title of Imam was not conferred
upon him; but, judging from the biography of his predecessors,
theological attainments and personal piety were not regarded