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The aim of the study is to identify the weaknesses in the current judicial system in Oman and propose reforms to strengthen them. In order to achieve this, the constitutional principal of the ‘Rule of Law’ is used as the main area of focus. Reforms to enhance the adherence to the rule of law may lead to a more effective judicial reforms to enhance the performance and efficiency of the judiciary. The study aims to look at the history of the justice system in Oman and try to fuse traditional conceptions of justice with modern western conceptions, to reach an indigenous justice system for Oman. The Imamate system is 1250 years old and has an extensive judicial experience. The institutions of the Imamate and its functions are compared to the modern institutions of the state today and to western judicial thought. The Imamate state was influenced by the Ibadi sect of Islam and the research aims at bridging different religious thoughts of justice to that found in Oman. It is argued that the values of justice worldwide are the same and are derived from religion. The study analyses the four main universal pillars of the rule of law, namely: Government bound by the law, Equality before the law, Accessibility, Impartiality and Judicial Independence and the Protection of Fundamental Rights. A survey has been conducted to measure the level of adherence to the rule of law, and to identify the key weaknesses through a numerical indicator. Based on the literature and the survey findings, proposals for reform in the different sectors of the judiciary are identified and proposed.

The Sultanate of Oman is one of the few "good news" stories to have emerged from the Middle East in recent memory. This book traces the narrative of a little-known and relatively stable Arab country whose history of independence, legacy of interaction with diverse cultures, and enlightened modern leadership have transformed it in less than fifty years from an isolated medieval-style potentate to a stable, dynamic, and largely optimistic country.At the heart of this fascinating story is Oman’s sultan, Qaboos bin Sa’id, friend to both East and West, whose unique leadership style has resulted in both domestic and foreign policy achievements during more than four decades in office.Exploring Oman from a historical perspective, Funsch examines how the country’s unique blend of tradition and modernization has enabled it to succeed while others in the region have failed. Accounts of the author’s own experiences with Oman’s transformation add rich layers of depth, texture, and personality to the narrative.

The last fifty years mark a period of great change in the role of religious leadership and education in the Sultanate of Oman. The country moved from bifurcated leadership between an Imam and a Sultan to a single political authority. These decades also witnessed the modernisation of the state. These factors combined to reshape the place of religion and religious education in society. Whereas previously religious leaders had relative autonomy and more direct political influence, now they were brought under the auspices of the government with their focus circumscribed to religious matters. The structures and foci of religious education were then reshaped so that tradition provided a platform for progress and the more zealous ideologies emerging in the region could be held at bay. This has permitted Oman to modernise and engage with a global society in an amicable, non-sectarian, manner.

First published in 1872, this two-volume memoir by explorer, ethnographer and diplomat Sir Richard Burton (1821–90) was written while Burton and John Hanning Speke were making preparations for their expedition to solve one of the major geographical mysteries of the nineteenth century - the location of the source of the Nile. The pair arrived in Zanzibar in December 1856, and Burton made detailed notes on his surroundings which were developed into Volume 1, which focuses on 'The City and the Island', including Burton's journey preparations and arrival. He discusses the significance of the 'Nile question' as well as recording geographical, botanical, meteorological and ethnographic observations. The manuscript on which the book is based, entrusted to an East India Company official for dispatch to the Royal Geographical Society, was initially misplaced, thus delaying publication by twelve years, but enabling Burton to add a chapter on Speke's achievement and untimely death.

First published in 1872, this two-volume memoir by explorer, ethnographer and diplomat Sir Richard Burton (1821–90) was written while Burton and John Hanning Speke were making preparations for their expedition to solve one of the major geographical mysteries of the nineteenth century - the location of the source of the Nile. Volume 2 concerns the two journeys to the interior of West Africa, a 'tentative expedition' in early 1857, and the nineteen-month exploration, which began in June 1857, into the East African highlands. Burton was in poor health, and Speke travelled further north without him; he discovered Lake Victoria, and (rightly) concluded that it was the source of the Nile. This led to the notorious dispute between the two explorers, and in his final chapter, written after Speke's tragic death, Burton gives the history of the argument, and vehemently denies any jealousy or personal enmity on his part.

It is 1964, a month after independence celebrations in the spice islands of Zanzibar, off the east coast of Africa. A brutal uprising takes place apparently led by a shadowy figure, John Okello. In the capital, Stone Town, a British official, Mark Hamilton, struggles to help the Sultan's government survive while protecting his young family. In the countryside, Ahmed al-Ibrahim, a Zanzibari Arab father, faces annihilation and a terrible decision. Fatima is his twelve-year-old daughter, and her life is changed forever by the violence that now sweeps across the islands. Fatima's survival through this chaos and the thirty years of rule by despotic Presidents takes all her courage and the kindness of other families. Elizabeth, Mark Hamilton's young daughter, also remembers the day of the Revolution and their escape across the seas. Her story too is touched by tragedy. Fatima and Elizabeth are connected in a way that takes almost fifty years to be revealed. Elizabeth will return to Zanzibar to fulfil her father's final request. The life journeys of the two women are different. The common link is the day of the Revolution and the act of a desperate man.

The Threat of Liberation returns to the tumultuous years of the Cold War, when, in a striking parallel with today, imperialist powers were seeking to institute ‘regime change’ and install pliant governments.Using iconic photographs, declassified US and British documents, and in-depth interviews, Amrit Wilson examines the role of the Umma Party of Zanzibar and its leader, the visionary Marxist revolutionary, Abdulrahman Mohamed Babu. Drawing parallels between US paranoia about Chinese Communist influence in the 1960s with contemporary fears about Chinese influence, it looks at the new race for Africa’s resources, the creation of AFRICOM and how East African politicians have bolstered US control. The book also draws on US cables released by Wikileaks showing Zanzibar's role in the ‘War on Terror’ in Eastern Africa today.The Threat of Liberation reflects on the history of a party which confronted imperialism and built unity across ethnic divisions, and considers the contemporary relevance of such strategies.

The Sultan's Spymaster tells the story of Peera Dewjee, an Ismaili merchant who crossed from India to Zanzibar as a boy. Later he became Sultan Barghash's barber and valet, where he became a confidant to the Sultan and a trusted advisor. Peera Dewjee acted behind the scenes during momentous events in the history of Zanzibar and East Africa - the closing of the slave markets and imperial expansion by Germany and Great Britain. The Sultan's Spymaster displays 16 pages of rare photographs from Zanzibar as well as numerous old line drawings in the text of the book itself.

The Kharijites were an early movement of anti-government activists, self-proclaimed pious rebels who began their protests in the seventh century of the common era. Their initial complaint was against ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān (d. 656 CE), the third Caliph, for what they perceived as abuses of power and improper execution of Divine Law. Throughout Islamic history, many groups have appeared to protest deeply corrupt systems and injustices. Many women participated vigorously in anti-government protests, many going so far as to take up arms. Even today, any group engaged in governmental protest or anti-government activities might easily be dubbed Kharijites and thus dismissed as “extremist.” This paper focuses on women in Kharijite movements of late antiquity. The sources for this inquiry are early writers including Jāḥiẓ (d. 869 CE), Mubarrad (d. 900 CE), and Ṭabarī (d. 923 CE), with reference to the modern-era biographical compendium of ʿUmar Riḍā al-Kaḥḥāla. The three women discussed span three generations of Kharijite activity. Each of the three has a story with the ruler of the time. For Qaṭām, it is a story of revenge against the Caliph ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib (d. 660 CE). For Baljāʾ, it is one of political protest against the Caliph Muʿāwiya (d. 680 CE), directed against his governors Ziyād ibn Abīhi (d. 673 CE) and his son ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Ziyād (d. 686 CE). And for Ghazāla, it is a story of a year of battle and bloodshed during the rule of the Umayyad Caliph ʿAbd al-Mālik ibn Marwān's (d. 705 CE) tyrannical governor, al-Ḥajjāj ibn Yūsuf (d. 714 CE). The ways these deeply opinionated and activist women are depicted provide telling insight into how Muslim historiography has grappled with women revolutionaries.

Based on dissertation research in the port city of Sur, historically significant both for trans-oceanic seafaring and trade, and more specifically for its connection to the east coast of Africa, this article analyzes the African-derived performance genres that dominate Sur's music scene within an ever-elusive concept of Africa. The sacred healing rituals zār, mikwarā, and ṭambūra; and the secular genres, mdema, and fann is-ṣawt have been renamed funūn taqlīdīya or traditional arts, national nomenclature that collects the myriad traditions of the country while marginalizing differential identities. Rhetorically, Suri musicians not only adopt, they also emphasize their national Omani identity, while expressing their African identity as of the "other." Musically, however, their approach to performance, including the use of Swahili texts, the predominance of body movement, and multi-layered musical textures produced by a variety of instruments from East Africa, reveals, I argue, the musicians' African identity as a "self." The seemingly binary "self" identities articulated by Suri musicians through two differing modes of expression (rhetoric and performance) illustrate not only the problematic nature of the concept of Africa in Oman, but also highlights how simplistically the African presence in Oman has been treated in the music scholarship of this country.

This article unpacks ethnographic research conducted in 2010–2011 and in 2012 among cultural activists and reformers who are using music as a generative force toward the development of collective identities in a geopolitical space. I analyze three domains of cultural production and consider how the Sultan's initiatives have resulted in the embodiment of artistic consumption and connoisseurship that are required for musical life in the public sphere: first are the Sultan's privately controlled military bands, Arab music ensembles, and symphony orchestra; second are public arts festivals that nurture and celebrate traditional music and dance; third is the domain of Omani popular music facilitated by Arab regional interculturalism and media flows that depend significantly on practitioners from Egypt, Iraq, and other Gulf states. I show how these domains of music and dance work to enable the imagination of a cultural space and time for Oman and its historical and contemporary relationships with the Arab world, Africa, Asia, and "the West." The ethnographic focus on the Salalah Festival in the Dhofar province, provides a close-up shot of the workings of the state at the local level in a context that is both far from the control of the capitol city, Muscat, but that also reproduces many of the relations of dominance and resistance that is an inevitable artifact of political power and cultural policy.

This article situates the musical traditions of Oman in the broader context of the Arabian Peninsula and Indian Ocean. Trade, slavery, and pilgrimage prompted the creation of networks that extended across the Indian Ocean for hundreds of years and facilitated deep and lasting cultural exchanges. Oman has played an important role in these networks and this is deeply reflected in many of the local musical traditions. Since about the middle of the 20th century, countries in the Arabian Gulf (sometimes referred to as the GCC, Gulf Cooperation Council, plus Yemen) have made strides toward establishing independent nationalism in the contemporary race for unique identities; however, their histories, peoples, and musical traditions, particularly those of nomadic Bedouins and coastal seafaring populations, have overlapped for many centuries. I attempt to sketch out some comparisons, particularly in terms of performance practice, between Oman and the rest of the Gulf States with a focus on maritime music, the music that occurred "on the decks of dhows," the traditional sailing vessel of the Arabian Gulf. My theoretical grounding for this article engages with frameworks for cultural transmission and explores their relevance to the Gulf. By looking at historical accounts and previous scholarship, alongside ethnographic research, I describe some of the conduits for sharing musical influence with the broader Indian Ocean cultural space. Lastly, I critically examine some of the historiographies that have been created around these exchanges and their valence to the political economy of cultural heritage in the region.