"التمرد ضد سلطان مسقط، مايو ١٩١٣ - يوليو ١٩١٦." [و‎‎١] (١٤/١)

The Rebellion against the Sultan of I-'uscat.
May 1913 - July 1916,
(Received from Chief Political Officer. Basra, under
Sir P.Cox'a letter of 18th August 1916 Mo # 3).
— hTft/a
The rebellion against the Sultan of Ibscat is due
partly ifo old and deepaeated matters of disagreement and
partly to the reflex action of modern European politics in
the Grulf on the internal affairs of f 0man. Chief amang the
former causes of unrest is the curious and interesting
survival in 'Oman of the very ancient rivalry between the
Ahl Qibli and the Ahl al Shirnal, the southern tribes of
Yaman origin and the northern tribes descended from Nizar ibn
Ma^dd, represented respectively in 'Oman by the TT inawi
and Grhafiri groups. Though tbese two factions which are
almost identical with the older divisions, did not spting
into existence as actively hostile elements until the Civil
wars, which rent 'Oman in the 18th century, they revived
an enmity which £pes back to the days before the Prophet,
Roughly speaking the G-hafiri or NizaritiQ3 are not present
with the Sultan, while the Hinawi, or Yamanites are with
the Imam. A second and very fertile source of division
between the Sultan and his subjects in the interior was
the transference of the capital in 1784 from Rustaq in the
Wadi Fara to ~ usqat. This was done by Hamad, son of the
Imam Said ibn Ahmad, Said, son of the founder of the Al
Bu Saidi dynasty, was the last elected Imam of Oman to hold
sovereign power, and when he was forced to abdicate in
favour of his more capable son, he was left to vegetate at
Rustaq while the seat of Government was moved to the coast.
Thereby the rulers of Oman were assured of an easily
collected customs revenue enabling them to preserve a
serrfclance of authority by bribery alone, they were absolved
from