ABSTRACT
T R I B E S , P O L I T I C S , A N D R E L I G I O N IN OMAN A N D
T R U C I A L OMAN
Since the early decades of the eighteenth century two forces have shaped and directed Oman’s political life. One is the schism between its Ibadi and Sunni inhabitants, which has divided Oman since the second century a h ; the other is the Hinawi-Ghafiri factionalism among the tribes. How far these factors continue to affect its politics today it is not easy to decide with any certainty; but since they have had such a marked effect upon Omani life up to our day they would seem to merit examination and attention. As the religious question has found its prime expression in the role and function of the Ibadi imamate as the ruling institution of the country, it would seem to be a valid subject for enquiry whether the imamate is to be regarded now simply as an archaic survival which has no constructive role to play in the evolution of Oman as a modern state, or whether it still retains sufficient vitality to make it a force to be reckoned with in the political future of Oman. The alignment of the tribes of Oman into the Hinawi and Ghafiri
factions dates from a series of civil wars in the first half of the eighteenth century, fought over the succession to the Ibadi imamate. Two tribes, the Bani Hina and the Bani Ghafir, were in the forefront of the fighting in its early stages, and as the contest wore on and drew in most of the tribes of Oman, they tended to range themselves on either the Hinawi or the Ghafiri side. To some extent, however, this alignment merely re affirmed a disunity in Omani society which had existed since pre-Islamic times, between the tribes of Yemeni or Qahtani origin and those of Nizari or cAdnani origin; for as a rule the Yemeni tribes embraced the Hinawi cause, and the Nizari, the Ghafiri. It also emphasized the religious par ticularism which divided the population, for most of the Yemeni tribes were Ibadi by profession, and most of the Ghafiri, Sunni. There were, however, important exceptions to both rules, as was indicated by the fact that the Bani Hina and Bani Ghafir were both Ibadi tribes.1
