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The article examines the Jewish Arabic dialects of Gabes and Djerba, two geographically proximate yet linguistically distinct varieties spoken in southern Tunisia. The study highlights significant phonological differences, such as the vowel inventory and the realisation of sibilants, with Jewish Gabes featuring three phonemic vowels and retroflex sibilants, while Jewish Djerba exhibits a reduced vowel system and fronted palatal sibilants. Syntactically, the dialects differ in their future tense markers; Jewish Gabes employs both the particle bāš and the grammaticalised participle ḥabb, while Jewish Djerba uses ḥa, possibly derived from ḥabb. Both dialects also display topicalisation strategies, including left dislocation and non-resumptive topicalisation akin to the ‘Chinese-style topic construction’. The study combines linguistic analysis with field recordings and offers insights into the diachronic and sociolinguistic aspects of these dialects, reflecting the cultural and historical dynamics of Jewish communities in North Africa.

Studies on post-slavery in East Africa often concentrate on the aftermath of slavery for the formerly enslaved. By contrast, former owners’ experiences after abolition and during emancipation are rarely explored. This article examines the trajectories of Omani Arabs in western Tanzania during and after the end of slavery, ca. 1910 to the late twentieth century. Having settled and built slavelabour plantations along the central caravan route in the nineteenth century, they relocated to rural areas between the 1920s and 1930s following the legal abolition of slavery and great economic depression. To tell their story in postslavery Tanzania, we drew examples from primary sources deposited in the archives of Tanzania and the United Kingdom, and oral interviews collected from the many villages in rural western Tanzania where the Omanis’ descendants now live. We show that the history of the Omani Arabs and their identity in twentieth-century western Tanzania was shaped by economic dispossession and uncertainty about citizenship, but also by evolving cultural identities and sustained social networking.

Rahmah bin Jabir (c. 1760-1826) is one of the most frequently mentioned persons in British sources from the Gulf in the first decades of the nineteenth century. He is also found throughout important Arabic-language chronicles. Despite his prominence in the sources, however, scholars have paid him relatively little attention, in either English or in Arabic. Though often cast as a pirate, this article argues that Rahmah bin Jabir was a political entrepreneur critical to shaping the international order of the Gulf in the first half of the nineteenth century. Reading against the grain of the colonial archive and synthesizing British sources with Arab chronicles, this article brings to life a textured political imaginary of the Gulf in the global age of revolutions, using Rahmah to weave overlapping political agendas between different emerging states, including the Omanis, the Saudi-Wahhabis, the Bahrainis, the Qataris, and the British. I suggest that Rahmah stands as one figure through whom historians can continue piecing together an age of revolutions in the Gulf that is more than Europe’s emergence into modernity, one that highlights a complex and vibrant history of negotiation, endurance, and resiliency.

من اللغات التي تتميّز بنظام تركيبيٍّ نحويٍّ، وصرفيٍّ، وصوتيٍّ -فريدٍ- هي اللغة العربية، فإنها أجزل لغات العالم لفظاً، وأمكنِها مقدرةً على استيعاب المفردات، ولكلماتها وألفاظها دلالاتٌ مختلفات، ومعلومٌ أنّ اللغة فنٌّ لا يولد مع الإنسان إلا بعد المخالطة، والدراسة، وطول النظر، والعكوف على مصادرها - بحثاً وتقصّياً- للوقوف على بدائعها وأسرارها، وممن لَمَعَ نجمه، وبَانَ أُفقُه -امتداداً على طول الزمن- عالمٌ عاش في القرن الخامس الهجري عرف بـ "العوتبيّ" و"الصحاري"، إذ ترك لنا كتاباً في أربعة أجزاء أسماه: "الإبانة"، في بيان كثير من معاني اللغة، ومضمّناً إياه كثيراً من مسائل النحو والصرف والبلاغة والمعاني، جاء هذا البحث متناولاً بيانَ مكانة هذا العالم الكبير الذي غفلت عنه الدراسات، ثم بعضاً من أهم المسائل النحوية والصرفية الواردة في كتابه "الإبانة"، واستخراج هذا الكنز المتناثر بين طيّاته، وتناولها بالشرح والتفصيل ليستفيد منها الباحثون، على الرغم من ان هذا الكتاب مُعجَميٌّ؛ إلا أنّ هذه المسائل قد أخذت نصيبها منه عنده في الكتاب، جاء البحث في مبحثين: الأول تعريف بالعوتبيِّ وشيء من ترجمته، ثم تعريفاً بكتابه "الإبانة"، مع بيان محتواه وموضوعه، وأبرز ملامح منهجه فيه ، وجاء المبحث الثاني: باحثاً بعضاً من أهم المسائل النحوية والصرفية الواردة فيه، فأصحبت المسائل: أربعة نحويّات، وثلاثةٍ صرفيات، ثم خاتمة، مع أبرز النتائج.

ملخص البحث ‫يمكن القول بأن الأمثال الشحرية تشكّل جزءًا أساسيًا من الذاكرة الثقافية التواصلية ومن الخزان الثقافي الخاص في هذه الديار عبر التاريخ والتي تعكس بلا شك علاقة الإنسان بالأرض واستمراريته في أرض ظفار. يتناول البحث عددًا من الأمثال المنطوقة التي تعبر عن ثقافة مجتمعية تعتمد على الذاكرة في التواصل واكتساب المعرفة وتداول الثقافة. تكشف الأمثال عن المصادر الأولية في الثقافة الشعبية ومدى ارتباطها بالمعتقد الديني أو العرف الاجتماعي. وتتناول جزءا من ثقافة المجتمع تجاه المرأة فتقدر المرأة وتثمن دورها الاجتماعي، وتوضح الأمثال الشحرية عن نمط اقتصادي رعوي يشارك فيه الرجال والنساء معًا.‬

Abstract First reported in 2014, a fortified site atop a small mountain adjacent to the village of al-Nejd shows another facet of the settlements of the little-known Samad Late Iron Age (SLIA). Until recently, few settlements of the Early Iron Age and late pre-Islamic period are recorded and published in the land between the Oman Peninsula (U.A.E.) and Oman’s southern province, Dhofar. While analyzing graves with skeletons and finds of the latter period yields information about their owners, settlements lag far behind. With this background, al-Nejd offers new insight into the settlement, in addition to the first coin to be found in Oman. The authors attempt graphic documentation to contextualize the architecture and answer two questions. First, is there a typical kind of SLIA fortification separate from other periods? Second, how closely is the SLIA related to its neighbors and the preceding period in terms of material culture and architecture?

Abstract The Nafūn rock art complex, located in al-Wusṭā Governorate in south-central Oman, was discovered in 2020 and has emerged as one of the most extensive rock art sites in southeast Arabia. The site features 59 flat limestone rock surfaces with over 200 South Arabian inscriptions and over 500 engraved figures. These figures include maritime animal depictions such as sea turtles, sperm whales, squid, jellyfish, ray fish, and mola mola, along with more common depictions of camels (sometimes ridden) and horsemen hunting oryx or wild canids. The rock art tradition in the Nafūn area is estimated to reach from the 5th millennium BCE to the 2nd millennium CE, offering a unique window into a way of life that endured for over 6,000 years.

Retour sur une affaire où politique, culture et favoritisme se mêlent dans une impunité totale..

Originally published in English in 1928, this volume deals mainly with Anglo-German relations at the end of the 19th Century. Chancellor Otto von Bismarck’s voice can be heard clearly in the documents which give an extensive picture of the alternating phases of relations between Great Britain and Germany, as influenced by their respective obligations and interests in the international issues which united or divided the Powers over a period of twenty years. The strongest impression which these documents leave is the revelation of how greatly the mentality of the western world changed since they were drafted, and especially during the decade which came after World War I. The shaping of policy, as exhibited in these despatches and memoranda, is governed almost exclusively by the ultimate idea of war as the deciding factor. The menace of war and the prospects of success or failure in aggression or defence appear to be the essential motives of policy.

Oman's leadership transition from Qaboos bin Sa‘id to Haitham bin Tariq validated Al Sa‘id authority in more ways than one. While the 15th Al Sa‘id sultan has only been in power for slightly more than four years, his initial governance preferences indicate that he will manage with poise. Haitham has developed a new doctrine that emphasizes wealth creation, acceleration of education levels, ensuring norms of social security, improving civil rights, and promoting closer ties with the sultanate's neighbors. In key speeches, he has promised to address core challenges and, over the course of four years, has ushered in laws that translate his pledges into actions. This preliminary assessment of Haitham evaluates his early decisions, appraises his declared priorities, and identifies his major preferences. It further highlights some of the internal as well as foreign challenges that confront Omanis. Given his measured and contemplative personality, Haitham has adopted pragmatic policies to preserve and defend Omani interests—not only to continue on his predecessor's path but to further validate long-term Al Sa‘id aspirations.

During the 3rd millennium BC, a series of oases located along the western foothills of the al-Hajar Mountains saw the establishment of intensive human occupation, associated with the construction of large buildings (the so-called “towers”) and residential structures. These settlements were supported by the onset of agriculture and their development was often associated with and made possible by the introduction of substantial water management systems, including simple wells and complex, large ditches. The oasis of Salūt, near Bisya in the central Sultanate of Oman, is one such Early Bronze Age (EBA) centre. There, extensive investigation of ancient hydraulic structures provided an opportunity to study contexts preserving significant information on ancient climate change and water availability, from the late 3rd to the second half of the 1st millennium BC. A geoarchaeological investigation targeted the huge ditch surrounding the EBA stone tower of Salūt-ST1. Its complete layout was revealed and large portions were fully excavated, allowing the documentation of its infillings and the geological substratum. At the same time, wells excavated at the bottom of the ditch witness the attempt to cope with the lowering water table at the turn of the 3rd millennium BC. Exploration of Iron Age (IA) wells, paired with the geoarchaeological study of sediments from the plain, further extended the chronological scope of the research, while a survey of the area identified ancient and more recent underground and open-air channels, including the exceptional radiometric dating for the introduction of the aflaj (the local term – plural – for the underground water tunnels) network serving the oasis in the late Holocene. This contribution presents the first synthesis including fresh data on how water was harvested and managed in the area of Salūt over almost two millennia, with a diachronic approach that finds little parallels in the region.

This article examines conflicting notions of political home or homeland (waṭan) in the early twentieth-century Western Indian Ocean. In a period of colonial consolidation and shifts in trans-oceanic mobility, determining political belonging took on urgency for both British officials and Omani intellectuals and migrants. This article examines how, in contrast to both anti-colonial nationalists and British colonial officials, homeland in Omani religious scholarship was neither bounded territorially nor articulated through origins or subjecthood. Yet, it was spatial, affective, and hierarchically determined. And, it was manifest, embodied, and performed in the daily requirements of prayer. Spatial but not territorial, necessary but personally, hierarchically, and affectively decided, this pious notion of homeland has for the most part been replaced by the nation-state form. Yet, legacies of attachment to waṭan outside the bounded territorial model occasionally surface, operating as a simultaneous, but not synonymous, expression of political and personal belonging.

Background This work emerged from a need to better understand the “lived experience” of early marriage for girls and how it should impact on contemporary attitudes in the Muslim community and encourage it to support the international movement with the aim of a minimum common age of 18 years for marriage of young people. Objective To identify from contemporary published literature, including autobiographies and religious texts dealing specifically with early marriage, the effects of early marriage on individuals and to set this as a background to the extensive literature on its medical, psychological and social impact. Participants and setting: The setting is the published words of two women and a man who were involved in early marriages and a commentary on the topic by an Ibadi theologian. Methods The documents were identified through searching a range of databases using various search engines. Texts were then analysed for key terms describing the impact of early marriage and these were then grouped into themes. Findings The extracts raise questions linked to the issue of consent and the role of adult coercion, including physical force and threat of harm. In practice girls are given in marriage by their guardians against their wishes and international conventions on the rights and care of children, as well as that outlined in Qur’an 4 v6. Conclusion Modern Muslim states face a real challenge in implementing 18 as the minimum age for marriage, especially in how to manage opposition to appropriate new legislation from some traditionalist groups.

<p id="p1">Three species of sea turtles occur in Tunisia; the loggerhead is the most common. Tunisian coasts are important for this species in the Mediterranean Sea; the Gulf of Gabes is considered a wintering and foraging area. Among many threats, the bycatch is the most impacting. Many studies were carried out on these species and many measures and mitigations were the monitoring of the nesting sites, the ssuch asundertaken tranding events and the development of ..centerssea turtle rescue Although sea turtles are legally protected in Tunisia, more effort to mitigate bycatch is needed. In this chapter, we focus on the compilation of main data on sea turtles and their analysis, in addition to our own new observations, to propose some recommendations for conservation.</p>