"تاريخ أئمة وأسياد عُمان بقلم سليل ابن رزيق، من ٦٦١-١٨٥٦ م، مترجم من الأصل العربي، ومُحرّر بملاحظات وملاحق ومقدمة تواصل التاريخ حتى سنة ١٨٧٠، بقلم جورج بيرسي بادجر، عضو في الجمعية الجغرافية الملكية والقس الراحل في رئاسة بومباي." [‎٢‎٤‎٧] (٦١٢/٤٠٨)

SALIM-BIN-SULTAN.
247
their profession of faith, 'There is no god but God, and
He has no companion/ does not profit them. If such
is their way, it is the way of Nafi'-bin-el-Azrak, 1 and they
have been taught it by their sheikh, Muhammad-ibn-
'Abdu-'l-Wahhab, the author of the book which he entitled
the Solution of Difficulties. It begins, as we have ourselves
seen, in this style : f In the name of God, the merciful, the
compassionate ! This is the book of the Solution of Diffi
culties, written by the sheikh Muhammad-bin-^Abdu-'l-
Wahhab; may God grant him the highest reward, and
admit him into heaven without bringing him to account.'
I understand that you were obliged to leave your own
country of el-Hasa and take refuge at Maskat, owing- to the
ill-treatment which you received at their hands. Here you
enjoy comfort and security; continue to dwell here, and
may future happiness cause you to forget your past mis
fortunes."
The sheikh Muhammad-ez-Zuwany replied: The career
of ^Abdu-'PAziz and his sect is most wonderful. When his
army increased and his banners waved over them, he selected
a number of unlearned men, who made great pretensions to
learning, whom he styled Mutdwa'ah," in consideration of
1 This remark seems to suggest that Muhammad-ibn-'Abdu-'l-Wah-
hab was not the first to inculcate his peculiar doctrines. I have searched
in vain for any further information respecting the Nafi'-bin-el-Azrak
here mentioned.
2 Mutdwa'ah, plural of Mutdwwa\ a volunteer, follower, or coadjutor.
Mr. Palgrave writes the word Metowwad' and MetovfwacC, and renders
it " minister—clergyman, if you will," adding, " the literal meaning of
the Arabic word is ' one who enforces obedience,' to God, understood,"
thereby givirtg the participial noun an active transitive signification, in
which case, however, the English should have been written MutdmoV,
or, according to his style of expressing Arabic words in the Roman
alphabet, MotowwV with a kdsrah to the final syllable. I have adopted
the active intransitive signification, which equally admits Mr. Palgrave's
"minister." The original word, in the equivalent plural form of Mutdw-
toatin, is used by our author at p. 203, in a part of his narrative wholly