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Starting from the polemics of the Ibāḍī mufti of Oman, Aḥmad al-Khalīlī, with Ibn Bāz and other Wahhābī 'ulamā' this paper addresses how representatives of contemporary Islam try to overcome sectarian differences and how they make sense of medieval theological precepts in a radically changed intellectual and political environment. The paper stresses the role of (invented traditions of) resistance against external and internal foes (imperialism and--to a lesser degree--Sufism) as ideological basis for modernist Islamic ecumenism. Remaining sectarian differences are explained by pretending that rival sects are in reality agents of external enemies of Islam. An example of this argumentation is Aḥmad al-Khalīlī's effort to remove the Wahhābīs from the fold of Islam by making Wahhābism a Jewish sect with Islamic trappings. For this purpose Aḥmad al-Khalīlī recycles premodern Ibāḍī polemic against the Sunnis at large. Medieval theologoumena are thereby given a present-day political meaning. Without openly attacking the Sultan, the mufti al-Khalīlī's arguments against the Wahhābīs can at the same time be read as a document of opposition against the Omani regime's policies, in a situation where the Sultanate is confronted by a resurgence of political Ibāḍism.

More than 500 km, from the Mediterranean coast to the Hammada al-Hamra, were surveyed in 2002-'03 along the AGIP-Gas pipeline. Several morphological units were crossed: the Jefara, the Jebel Gharbi and the Hammada al-Hamra. This paper reports the location of more than 60 surface sites, with special attention to Lower and Middle Stone Age assemblages, by far the most represented periods. More than 6,500 lithic artifacts have been collected spanning from Mode 1 to the Late Stone Age. The survey was carried out on foot, along a narrow band of around 50 m width for 80 % of the pipeline, representing an extraordinary sample from the coast to the northern desert and, more extensively, in the Wafa area on the Hammada plateau, where stone quarries, fireplaces and important lithic scatters were documented. On the whole, the assemblages, compared with the main Stone Age sites of Northern Africa, seem older in the very southern sector, well into the Hammada, whereas sites on the Jebel cliff and immediately south are dominated by Middle and Late Stone Age cultural traits. The survey proved to be both a good tool for planning development projects and an important occasion for the study of a relevant region of Northern African prehistory. Plus de 500 km du gazoduc AGIP ont été prospectés en 2002-'03, de la côte méditerranéenne jusqu'à la Hammada al-Hamra, sur plusieurs unités morphologiques: Jefara, Jebel Gharbi, Hammada al-Hamra. Cette prospection a permis de décrire plus de 60 gisements de surface, la plupart attribués au Paléolithique inférieur et moyen (phases culturelles le plus fréquemment rencontrées). Plus de 6500 artefacts lithiques ont ainsi été récoltés, de l'Oldowayen au Late Stone Age. La prospection s'est faite à pied, le long d'une bande étroite de 50 m sur 4/5 du parcours, ce qui représente un échantillon extraordinaire, de la côte jusqu'au désert septentrional, et plus en détail dans la région de Wafa, sur le plateau de l'Hammada, où des ateliers de taille, foyers et autres sites de surface ont été trouvés. Les sites sembleraient plus anciens dans la partie méridionale du secteur, bien à l'intérieur de la Hammada. Sur les abords du Jebel, et immédiatement au Sud, les sites du Pleistocène supérieur dominent, Middle et Late Stone Age. Le potentiel archéologique de cette région est analysé dans le cadre de la préhistoire paléolithique nord-africaine.

Throughout the twelfth century, a number of Arabic-speaking Muslims produced poetry in the court of the Normans of Sicily. This article examines literary figures active under Roger II in the context of their interlocutors, professional colleagues, and other contemporaries around the western Mediterranean and North Africa. It argues that, in this context, most of the Sicilian Arab literary figures were only secondarily poets, their primary role being within a chancery or other administrative milieu, and that they continued to assert an undiminished Islamic identity, although living under Christian rule. This identity is mirrored in the intertextual play on topoi (maʿānī) found in Sicilian Arabic poetry, which was heavily engaged with cultural activity around the Mediterranean.

This paper explores the history of the Chinese porcelain trade in Oman with the aim of gauging the impact of these wares on Oman's religious architecture. The large quantities of porcelain surface finds from the interior and the comparatively unusual reliance on them for the decoration of prayer niches, in the presence of equally valuable wares from Persia and elsewhere, suggest an elevated status for these objects, which is not necessarily a product of their immediate monetary value. Chemical and stylistic analyses were carried out to determine the dates and provenance of the ceramics studied, with the aim of gaining a better understanding of their introduction into the Omani market and their relation to religious design schemes.

Ayant fait le choix de vivre à l'oued M'Zab, les Ibadhites avaient aussi pris conscience que le refus de l'ostentation était une garantie de sauvegarde. Origine VIIe siècle : Mohamed ne s'est pas désigné de successeur. Ali, son cousin et gendre, fut proclamé...

Pionnière de l'archéologie islamique française au Moyen-Orient, Monik Kervran (Cnrs, laboratoire Orient & Méditerranée) s'est illustrée dès le début de sa carrière par ses fouilles à Suse en Iran et la découverte de la statue de Darius en 1972. Elle a dirigé dans les années 70 et 80 la fouille d?importants sites portuaires de la côte arabe du golfe Persique et de la mer d?Oman, à Qal'at al-Bahrain et Sohar. Elle a également mené des recherches en Asie centrale et en Iran oriental, notamment à Nishapour, puis, depuis les années 90, dans le delta de l'Indus où elle a ouvert des fouilles à Sehwan Sharif et Banbhore. 00A travers les dix-neuf contributions internationales présentées dans cet ouvrage, les éditeurs et les contributeurs ont désiré mettre en lumière la diversité des intérêts scientifiques de Monik Kervran. Ils souhaitent ainsi exprimer leur admiration et leur gratitude pour ses apports majeurs aux champs de l'archéologie, de l'histoire, de l'architecture, de l'iconographie et de la culture matérielle du Moyen-Orient et de l'océan Indien occidental aux périodes pré-islamique tardive et islamique

This thesis describes the phonology, morphology, syntax and lexicon of the Arabic variety spoken in the al-ʿAwābī district (northern Oman). This district played an important role in the history of the Ibadism and of Oman in general, especially in the period when Rustāq was capital of the Sultanate (c. 1600 CE). The prominence of the dialect spoken in this area finds evidence in the work Ein arabischer Dialekt gesprochen in ‘Oman und Zanzibar written by Carl Reinhardt in 1894, which constitutes the starting point of this thesis and material for comparison. Reinhardt’s work was presented as a linguistic guide to German soldiers quartered in the Sultanate and in Zanzibar, when part of East Africa was a German colony. This thesis considers the lexical and grammatical core of Reinhardt’s work and aims to reanalyse it considering the vernacular used by present-day inhabitants of al-ʿAwābī town and Wādī Banī Kharūṣ. Chapter 1 offers an overview of the linguistic situation of Oman within the Arabian Peninsula and of the al-ʿAwābī district itself, including remarks on the fieldwork site and the methodology used for this research. Chapter 2 is an account of the phonological characteristics of the dialect spoken in the district, followed by the nominal and verbal morphology (Chapters 3 and 4, respectively), and the syntax (Chapter 5) of the al-ʿAwābī district vernacular. In addition to this core, a prominent part is dedicated in this thesis to the analysis of the rich cultural lexicon used in the district (Chapter 6): foreign borrowings, quadriliteral roots indicating plant and animal names, traditional medicine, clothing, accessories, etc., culminating in the compilation of a lexical glossary organised in roots (Annex 2). Annex 1 presents an overview of the history of the Sultanate, whereas Annex 3 inlcudes a traditional song, and local proverbs.

Spain and Venice felt more and more threatened by the Ottomans and their corsair allies after losing against Barbarossa Hayreddin's Ottoman fleet at the Battle of Preveza in 1538 and the disastrous expedition of Emperor Charles V against Barbarossa in Algiers in 1541.Especially when Piyale Pasha had captured the Balearic Islands and together with Turgut Reis raided the Mediterranean coasts of Spain in 1558. Taking advantage of the piece made between Spain and France ;the initiative came from Maltese Knights who appealed to King Philip II of Spain to organize an expedition to retake Tripoli from Turgut Reis, who had captured the city from the Maltese Knights in August 1551 and had subsequently been made Bey (Governor) of Tripoli by Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent.The naval Battle of Djerba took place in May 1560 near the island of Djerba, Tunisia. It is believed by most reputable historians that the fleet assembled by the allied Christian powers in 1560 consisted of between 50 and 60 galleys and between 40 and 60 smaller craft. For instance , the official historian of the Knights of St John Giacomo Bosio, writes that there were 54 galleys. Fernand Braudel also mentions about 54 warships plus thirty-six supply vessels. Carmel Testa who had access to the archives of the Knights of St. John made more accurate listings. He lists precisely 54 galleys, 7 brigs, 17 frigates, 2 galleons, 28 merchant vessels and 12 small ships. These ships and their supplies were supplied by a coalition that consisted of Genoa, Naples, Sicily, Florence the Papal States, and the Knights of Saint John. Giovanni Andrea Doria, nephew of the Genoese admiral Andrea Doria, took the command of the fleet which assembles in Mesina. The fleet first sailed to Malta, where bad weather conditions and the hard sea forced it to remain for two months. Around 2,000 men were lost there, due to bad conditions and contagious diseases.Finally the fleet set sail for Tripoli on 10 February, 1560. Unfortunately we do not know the exact number of soldiers aboard. Braudel gives 10,000-12,000; Testa 14,000; considering the number of men a sixteenth century galley could carry, old figures like 20.000 are completely exaggerations.The expedition came to shore near to Tripoli but the lost of too many soldiers and the bad condition of the remaining soldiers changed the objectives. They decided to take Djerba first to use it as a command centre for the operation that was to made to Tripoli. Then the expedition returned to Djerba which they overran quickly. The Viceroy of Sicily, Don Juan de la Cerda, Duke of Medina Coeli, ordered the fort in the island to be strengthened.By that time Piyale Pasha was ordered to patrol in the Mediterranean and to sieged a small island of Malta, he learnt a Christian fleet occupied Djerba to occupy later Tripoli. The Turkish fleet changed it?s course and head to Djerba after taking necessary precautions. The fleet arrived at Djerba on 11 May 1560. Since the Christian forces did not expect it to come before July it was a complete surprise for them. With the help of the strong winds, Piyale Pasha had closed the Gap between Istanbul and Djerba in less then a month.The battle was over in a matter of hours, with about half the Christian galleys captured or sunk. Anderson gives the total number of Christian casualties as 18,000 but Guilmartin more conservatively puts the losses at about 9,000 of which about two-thirds would have been oarsmen.Giovanni Andrea Doria the commander of the fleet managed to escape in a small vessel and the remaining forces took refuge in the fort that they had strengthened just days earlier, which was soon attacked by the combined forces of Piyale Pasha and Turgut Reis. The garrison surrendered after a siege of three months and Piyale Pasha took the prisoners back to Istanbul, including the Spanish commander D. Alvaro de Sande, who had taken command of the Christian forces after Doria had escaped. The accounts of the final days of the besieged garrison are irreconcilable.The victory in the Battle of Djerba represented the apex of Ottoman naval domination in the Mediterranean. Soon The Ottomans made an unsuccessful effort on Malta in 1565, the new base of Saint Jean Knights who were expelled from Rodas. Although the Ottomans had captured Cyprus from Venice in 1571 the legend of the invincible Ottoman fleet continued until the Battle of Lepanto in 1571 where the Turkish naval forces were destroyed by the Christian fleet.Shortly after The Ottomans were able to build another large fleet in less than a year after Lepanto, and recaptured Tunis from the Spaniards and their Hafsid vassals in 1574.