Iman
Ahmed bin Said: First Al Bu Saidi ruler Iman Ahmed bin Said Al
Bu Saidi (1744 – 1775) married the daughter of the last Al-Ya’ribah
ruler and had one daughter and seven sons. He was the first in
line of the Al Bu Said dynasty which has ruled Oman and its erstwhile
protectorates for the last 250 years. Historical record provides
the following profile of the Imam:
 There
was in the service of the Yaareba (Ya’ribah) as Wali of Sohar
one Ahmed bin Said binAhmad bin Muhammad bin Khalaf bin Said es
Saidy el Azdy el Omani el Ibady, a man of unblemished though humble
descent – he was born at the small village of Adem near Semed
– who by his action at the crisis proved himself a worthy
founder of a dynasty which was destined to be one of the most
powerful and respected in Arab history. Based at Al Rustaq, Imam
Ahmad acknowledged the importance of both the Interior and the
coastal regions and pursued a policy of progress by peaceful rather
than by military means. Oman in general, and Muscat in
particular, flourished as a result.
In 1775, Parsons gave an insightful discription of Muscat as a
thriving port and remarked on the participation of the Interior
in trade:
The inhabitants have a very large inland trade, they receive caravans
frequently, who bring great
quantities of gums and other drugs of various sorts, ostrich feathers,
hides, sheep and lamb skins, honey, bees-wax, and live cattle
and sheep; they send in return, India piece goods, pepper, ginger,
rice, tobacco, coffee, and sugar, and many other goods, as well
as English cloth, cutlery, toys and many other articles.
Parsons noted further that trade with Mocha was thriving with
20,000 bales of coffee sent to Bazra and onward to Constantinople;
inward trade included Persian carpets and silks and pearls.
The Danish traveller and geographer, Carsten Niebuhr, the only
survivor of a six-person Danish/German expedition to Arabia, Iran
and India, arrived in Muscat in 1765. His most notable achievement
was to produce the first accurate European map of Muscat and its
environs. In order to construct the map, he walked all the routes
and accurately recorded the distances travelled by counting the
number of paces between each landmark.
In 1775 Imam Ahmed bin Said’s son, Sayyid Said bin Ahmad
succeeded his father but his reign was
short-lived and marred by family dissention. Four years later,
he transferred civil power to his son Sayyid Hamed rather than
Imam Hamad. He ruled from Muscat while his father continued to
exercise the religious functions as Imam in Al Rustaq. Thus, the
political and spiritual roles of the Imamate were divided between
the Sayyid based in Muscat who exercised civil power and the Imam
who was solely responsible for spiritual matters. This radically
altered the historical power base that had prevailed for some
nine centuries in which the Imam was vested with both religious
and civil powers. This step was not uniformly welcomed and confusion
reigned for some considerable time thereafter. Furthermore, division
between a strengthening Muscat and the less prosperous Interior
regions resurfaced. After his death, his uncle, Sayyid Sultan
bin Ahmad (the third son of Ahmad bin Said) returned from exile
in Gwadar (in present day Pakistan) to seize power. He ruled until
1804.
Muscat’s position as a commercial maritime power and protector
of all Gulf trade was realised. Towards this end, Muscat was used
principally as a naval base to ensure adequate protection for
both the Omani merchant fleet then operating out of Muttrah as
well as for visiting ships which used Muscat as an entrepot. Maritime
trade flourished as a result. In the 1800s a British East India
report estimated the volume of trade in the Gulf at 16 million
rupees. But there was a price to pay because the coastal regions
and the Interior continued to grow apart thereby creating the
potential for further internal strife and discontent.
 At
this time Oman imported coffee from Al Hudaydah and Mukha and
sugar from Batavia which was then reexported. Arabia, Iran, Iraq,
Armenia, Anatolia, and parts of Syria, Poland, Russia, Germany
and other parts of Europe were supplied with coffee whereas sugar
was shipped to Iran, Kuristan, Iraq, Armenia, Arabia and Anatolia.
Other traded commodities included pearls, salt, sulphur, copper,
arsenic, saffron, incense, dried fruits and herbs. Imported items
included textiles and wood.
Yet again, Oman’s dominant influence over the shipping routes
in the Gulf was a cause for concern among other maritime interests,
especially for the British and French. In response, Sayyid Sultan
bin Ahmad established stronger diplomatic ties with these two
countries. “From his time dates the closer connection with
France and England. He was, as a matter of fact, the first ruler
in Arabia to enter into political relations with England.”
In the event, a treaty was concluded with the British East India
Company in 1798 and refined in 1800, at which time the first British
Residency was established.
An Englishman of respectability on the part of the Honourable
company, shall always reside at the port of Muscat, and be an
Agent through whom all intercourse between the states shall be
conducted…and that friendship of the two states may remain
unshook till the end of time or the sun and moon have ceased their
revolving career. The treaty however was largely ineffectual until
1820 but it did serve as the precursor to the establishment of
British (1890), French (1894) and American (1904) consulates a
century later.
Sayyid Said bin Sultan: spread of influence, trade and prosperity
After Sayyid Sultan’s death in 1804, Sayyid Badr bin Saif
bin Ahmad succeeded his uncle and ruled for three years before
being killed. Sayyid Said bin Sultan then assumed power and set
about consolidating his hold on Oman in the face of hostilities
from neighbouring powers.
On achieving this remarkable progress, Sayyid Said bin Sultan
built upon the initiatives taken earlier by his father to modernise
and expand Oman’s naval and merchant fleets. He also pursued
a policy of trade development and promoted good relations on a
global scale. He consolidated Oman’s possessions in Arabia
and colonised much of the east coast of Africa, favouring a confederation
of merchant states with reasonable local autonomy rather than
formal centralised government. He made Zanzibar the centre for
all East African trade as part of his three-fold strategy to maximise
control of commercial maritime activity, to develop agriculture,
and to exploit the export potential of East Africa. From 1832
onwards he exercised control out of Zanzibar and Muscat, and as
a result, Zanzibar became the joint capital with Muscat of all
territories under Oman’s control. Sayyid Said further consolidated
his Omani Empire by establishing international relations and trade
links with America, Britain, France and Portugal.
At the height of Sayyid Said bin Sultan’s rule, Oman’s
possessions stretched from Dhofar to Ras Musandam in Oman; in
Persia, from Bostanah to Jask and Bandar Abbas, Minab and the
port of Chahbahar; they included islands in the Arabian-Persian
Gulf, Kunk, Quesham, Laraq and Hormuz; in Asia, the coastal district
of Gwadar (later transferred to Pakistan in 1958); in the Red
Sea, the island of Perim (currently owned by Yemen); in Africa,
the islands of Zanzibar and Pemba, the entire East African coast
from Cape Guardafui (in present-day Somalia) to Cape Delgado (in
present-day Mozambique); and in the inland cities of Mogadishu
and Brava (in present-day Somalia), Lamu, Malindi and Mombassa
(in present-day Kenya), and Querimba and Kilwa (in present-day
Tanzania).
Changing Fortunes
Following Sayyid Said’s death, his son Sayyid Thuwayni bin
Said (1856 – 1866) and his immediate successors presided
over an Oman that was in steady decline as a major power.
Despite the overall economic downturn at the end of the nineteenth
century, there were occasional examples of entrepreneurial flair
and initiative. In 1897-1898 Muscat was rapidly emerging as the
centre of arms and ammunition trade, supplying the Gulf area,
Persia and Afghanistan.
By the 1900s the main exports were dates, limes, pomegranates,
dried fish and shark fins for the Chinese market. The main imported
products included rice, sugar, tea, coffee, kerosene, textiles
and kitchen utensils…. India was the most active trading
partner for Oman’s exports.
Overall, during Sultan Faysal bin Turki’s reign and that
of his successor Sultan Taymour bin Faysal, Oman experienced a
relative upturn in the early decades of the twentieth century
despite World War I (1914 – 1918), the global economic depression
in the early 1930s and the persistent unrest in the country prior
to the Seeb Treaty of 1921….. When the Sultan’s heir
apparent, Sayyid Said bin Taymur returned from studying in India
and Iraq he became Chairman of the Council, which was created
in the 1920s under the chairmanship of Sayyid Nader bin Faysal
to assist him in running the country and the nation’s finances
in proper order, prior to his father’s abdication in 1932.
On assuming power, Sultan Said bin Taymur had within a few short
years freed Oman from the debt which he inherited. His many plans
for improvement were widely recognised and appreciated. He built
the first proper school in Oman, the Sa’eediyah School, which
was officially opened by him in 1940 on the same day that he received
word of the birth of his son Qaboos.
On July 23 of 1970, the Sultan’s son, Sayyid Qaboos bin Said
Al Said who graduated from Sandhurst in 1962, replaced his father
and set about regaining control of the country with characteristic
diplomacy, conciliation and the military assistance he received
from friendly nations. Hostilities ended with the defeat of the
communist-backed rebels in the South of the country. ‘It’s
an art’ he said of running a country well.
‘Either you’ve got the touch to do it or you don’t’.
Sultan Qaboos bin Said, Washington Post, 1999.
Excerpted with permission from
OMAN
Ancient Civilization: Modern Nation
Authored by: Vincent McBrierty & Mohammed Al Zubair |
