'File 8/62 III PRINCIPAL SHAIKHS & TRIBES of OMAN.' [‎9r] (17/70)

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NOTES ON TUB TRIBES OP THE SULTANATE OF IiIUSCAT AND OlsIAN.
In writing any account of the Tribes of Muscat and Oman, two
salient factors have to be realised at the outset# The first is that
all the tribes, whatever their religion - Sunni, Ibadhi, Wahabi - have
divided tharaselyes since early times into two great political factions,
and Hinawi* The second is that though the Sultan is recognised
by most of the outside v/orld, and especially the United States of America,
Prance and Britain with whom he has treaties, as an independent mpnarch of
the ./hole tract of land, the districts of which v/ill presently be describ"
ed, he has practically no authority over any of the tribes out of the
immediate vicinity of Muscat, Sur, Dhofar and the Batinah coastal towns#
In fact the tribes of the interior regard themselves, by virtue of&fae
Treaty of Sib (1920), as completely independent of his authority, as,
indeed, a perusal of the terns of that treaty will tend to show, though
the intention no doubt was to provide no more than a measure of home rule.
These tribes have grouped themselves together under a triumvirate oonsist-
mg of the Imam, Mohammad bin Abdulla al Khalili, their elected religious
leader. Shaikh Salih bin Isa al H a rthi, Tamimah of all the Hinawi politic?
faction, and Shaikh Sulairaan bin H a myar, Tamimah of all the G-hafiria.
Though he continues to appoint his own Walis and collects and
administers the revenue and lays down the lav/s, religious and temporal,
in r/hich he ie bigotted and almost fanatically opposed to progress or
penetration from without, the Imam, himself, is getting old and has in
any case probably never wielded any great power except with the support
of his two lieutenants. In fact the whole'edifice of this virtually
independent tribal kingdom depends upon the support of these two Shaikhs,
who appear to have gained and continue to exercise as much influence and*
authority as their fathers. The latter were, without question, the most
influential Omani shaikhs of their day, and similarly formed a triun-
virate with the Imam and his predecessor, who was murdered in the disturbed
times immediately preceding the Treaty of Sib*
The Sultans have almost invariably asked for and received suppor--
both Naval and Military, from the British Government in their struggles
with the tribes of Oman* The most recent occasion was shortly after the
accession of the present Sultan, when three sloop*, including H.M.S.
Shoreham with the Sultan, Political Resident A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency. , Senior Naval Officer,Persiar
G-ulf, and the Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. on board, concentrated at Sur, 7 /hilst a
demonstration by R. A.P, sea planes from a base established at Khor Jaramah
was carried out to bring Shaikh Ali bin ^.bdullah al Hamud of the Beni bu
Ali to order after he had defied the Sultan over the establishment of a
Customs post* A request in 194& for a promise of Royal Air Force asaistanc
in a plan to subjugate the Oman tribes upon the death of the Imam was,
however, refused*
A list of the majority of tribes to be found in the Sul^nate hp-
been compiled from Golonel Miles’ lis^ ^r -* 1 uded in his adm - ’a? miration
report of 1880 and from such meagre and often unreliable information as
is available. Some notes have also been compiled on those tribes which
are more frequently met with or upon which attention is from time to time
focused owing to their depradations or other activities directed against
the Sultan’s authority or one another. Some of the tribes listed by Miles
have been omitted either as too depleted for inclusion, or as having
been found to be sub-sections of another tribe. A few tribes, notably
thnp _ i:he Dhofar district, have been added.
This information
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