Na¯s.ir al-Bahla¯nı¯: “A man in a nation and a nation in a man”

In his commentary on the intellectual career of the poet and scholar Na¯s.ir al-Bahla¯nı¯ (1860-1920), Ah.mad bin H. amad al-Khalı¯lı¯, the Mufti of Oman, described him as “a man in a nation and a nation in a man.”1 It is not clear if al-Khalı¯lı¯ was referring to the Omani, the Ibadi, or the Muslim nation. Whatever definition the mufti intended, al-Bahla¯nı¯ represented them all. The Ibadi umma was at the center of his concerns and he devoted much of his energy to celebrating the Ibadi cause. His Ibadi umma, however, intersected with the larger Muslim umma; each represented the agony as well as the aspirations of the other. Ibadi beliefs, he thought, could be a driving force behind not only an Omani nahd. a but also a general Muslim one aimed at eliminating colonialism. Each was suffering from the same burdens shackling its advancement. The larger Islamic world to which he felt he belonged and to which he wanted his community and his sect to reach out was his ultimate “nation.”