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Starting from a consideration of Tomé Pires’ 1515 Suma Oriental, this article considers the feasibility, nature, and relevance of a summa orientalis in the form of a Portuguese Early Maritime Corpus. When this corpus is compared with Arabic nautical literature, primarily Ibn Mājid and Sulaymān al-Mahrī, and especially with attention to the technical aspects of their writings, then the desirability of an Indian Ocean Maritime Corpus is envisaged. The centrality and the mediating role of Arab pilots and Arabic nautical literature indicate that the first step is the delimitation of an Arabic Early Maritime Corpus.

The aim of this paper is to analyse the dynamics related to the pottery production in Sumhuram, the easternmost port of call between the Red Sea and the Indian continent along the southern coast of Arabia (second century BC–fifth century AD). Being a rich hub of international trade, receiving and redistributing local products and goods from many different areas, Sumhuram was able to provide for its needs through its own agriculture and a number of local activities, as attested by the presence of kilns and furnaces. Previous studies on the topic have suggested a possible connection between local pottery manufacturing in Sumhuram, and the Hadrami tradition, although kilns have not been found until recently. In 2015 archaeological investigations unveiled the first evidence of such a connection with the discovery of a pottery kiln and some production waste inside the city wall, along with the identification of pottery sherds in the area of the kiln. In order to identify their mineralogical and petrographic composition, thin-section analyses were made on a number of selected sherds. The preliminary results demonstrate that the raw materials used are compatible with a local production. This allows us to describe the different phases of the pottery cycle in Sumhuram as well as the structure of the pottery kiln, which represents an uncommon find in the pre-Islamic archaeology of southern Arabia.

Aḥmad b. Mājid is the most renowned author of Arabic navigational literature. Although he is reported to have come from the southern Gulf port of Julfar, the vast majority of his work focuses on navigating the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea, and his compositions contain few details relating to Gulf navigation. The one exception is a short, undated poem describing sailing routes in the Gulf. This paper analyses this unique poem and compares the navigational practices it describes with those in his other navigational works in order better to understand the specific characteristics of Gulf and Indian Ocean navigation in the fifteenth century.

Extensive trade networks in the Indian Ocean generated contact among cultures and spheres of maritime technology across a huge geographical area. Inevitably, these networks resulted not only in exchange of foodstuffs, raw materials, luxury goods, spices, and manufactured goods, but also in cultural and religious concepts and technological knowledge and practices. With the intensity of maritime trade these exchanges engendered the borrowing of shipbuilding designs, materials, and methodologies and generated a certain hybridization of technology, design, and the ways in which ships were conceived. This hybridization is particularly evident in the Belitung and Phanom-Surin ships discovered in Indonesia and Thailand respectively (Flecker 2001; 2008; Jumpron 2019; Wongnai, Jumpron & Premjai 2016). While echoing shipbuilding practices from outside South-East Asia, they also incorporated materials and concepts from South-East Asia, and yet remain distinct from the dominant lashed-lug construction of the region. Using archaeological material from Oman and South-East Asia as well as ethnographic data from the western Indian Ocean, East Africa, India, Oman, Iran, and South-East Asia, this paper explores current archaeological and ethnographic shipbuilding information and raises some questions about the place of Belitung and Phanom-Surin in first-millennium shipbuilding practice.

The Sultanate of Oman has been consistently able to maintain its stability of security and stay away from the claws of terrorism, increasing the efficiency of its national counterterrorism strategy. This article explores local and international reports that measure Oman’s current terrorism’s status, and the reasons behind Oman’s ability to stay terrorism-free, particularly in light of the ever-increasing number of terrorist attacks and incidents in the Arabian Gulf region and the appearance of terrorist groups in nearby states. This research endeavors to analyze the existing knowledge to clearly understand the Omani approach and strategy in counterterrorism. The data collected for this research are extracted from semi-structured interviews and from policy analyses achieved through observing procedures, reviewing related legislation, and a detailed review of all previously associated policies. This research is exploring how the Sultanate of Oman defines terrorism, examining the elements of the Omani national counterterrorism strategy, and understanding the different phases of the Omani counterterrorism strategy. It recommends that the Sultanate of Oman should maintain a defensive approach to its national counterterrorism strategy to face terrorism and ensure its stability of security.

In 1852, Centaur, a British ship laden with indigo from Bengal, wrecked at Al Khobar off the coast of Muscat in the Persian Gulf. The essay offers the micro-history of the shipwreck to understand the working of law in the Persian Gulf. The many different experiences of individuals impacted by the same mishap but located in different geographical, social and political contexts offers a thick connectedness of things on scales both small and large. The essay brings this more textured optic of micro-history in conversation with the embracive and flexible frame of analysis of Indian Ocean studies to understand the Gulf’s flexible legal terrain and its political implications.

This article aims to study whether the increase of agricultural settlements in the Sultanate of Oman during the Late Islamic period (c. 1500-1950) was related to pre-oil globalization, as attested in the wider Gulf region. This is done by analysing the archaeological dataset of the agricultural village of Sahlat, with a focus on the ceramic material, located in the Suhar region. The assemblages collected by the Wadi al-Jizzi Archaeological Project, point to its occupation from c. 1750 to 1930. During this time period, the coastal towns of southeastern Arabia were heavily influenced by globalization processes, but the effects and reach of trade on rural communities remains poorly known. In this paper, Sahlat is compared to two contemporary sites connected to the same falaj system, and two other sites in the Gulf region. The results indicate that pre-oil globalization did not only impact coastal towns, but that rural settlements such as Sahlat experienced similar transformations. It is suggested that pre-oil globalization was not only linked to the pearling trade, but that the export of dates should also be taken into consideration when studying this topic.

The article deals with the two legends from the main traditional work on the history of Oman (18 c.). The first of the two legends relates the story of appearance of idolatry among human beings, while the second one is dedicated to the adoption of Islam by the people of Oman. The first legend is strongly bound to the written tradition, while the second one is obviously related to the Omanian folklore. The textual fragments that contain the legends are combined by passages belonging to different genres. Among them are to be noticed the remarks made by the Author of the work, which is the evidence of the transformation of the essential tradition, carried out by the Author.

Pour les Zunûj d’Arabie orientale, le rite de possession ramsat-al-leiwah est une pratique à caractère thérapeutique. Il est supposé guérir les individus des maladies et des tourments infligés par des esprits nommés as-sawâḥili. Ainsi, il n’est pas rare, au cours de ses réalisations, que des actes agressifs soient perpétrés entre esprits de possession, entre participants humains, voire entre esprits et êtres humains. Dans ces situations, les Zunûj utilisent l’expression arabe rabsha pour qualifier ces actes répréhensibles. Ce terme renvoie simultanément à deux significations : la nuisance et le chaos. Or, de leur point de vue, il est essentiel que tous – humains et esprits – observent entre eux une attitude respectueuse et sans hostilité. Cela s’accorde avec le caractère festif recherché pour le bon déroulement du rite, d’autant plus que, pour être considéré comme réussi, il doit s’achever dans la bonne entente et l’harmonie entre tous les participants humains et les esprits. C’est à partir d’un exemple extrait d’une réalisation de ce rite datant de 2009 au Sultanat d’Oman que cet article propose d’explorer les expressions de l’agressivité en contexte rituel en se fondant sur une micro-analyse de l’engagement des différents acteurs et de leurs interactions.

This paper discusses a record of expenses of an early sixteenth-century Portuguese vessel, the Santa Maria do Monte, during its voyage from Goa to Hormuz and back in 1520-1521, stopping in the Omani ports of Qalhāt, Ṭīwī, Qurayyāt, Muscat (Masqat), and Khawr Fakkān along the way. The route sailed during this voyage is examined in light of regional navigational practices, and the composition of the crew is discussed, emphasizing the significant non-Portuguese population on board. The nature of the ship and the specific costs of maintaining this vessel during the voyage are also addressed. Collectively, the cultural intersections involved with the navigation, the crew, and the maintenance regime of this vessel provide specific examples of maritime relationships in the region. In terms of its broader significance, such evidence of a high concentration of regional actors in a Portuguese instrument of maritime power alludes to a more complex and interdependent relationship between the Portuguese and the Arabian Sea maritime spheres. It also highlights a specific segment of the vibrant maritime Indian Ocean mosaic that the Portuguese were compelled to navigate during their imperial endeavours.

This interdisciplinary paper explores the potential of the maritime cultural landscape approach to a recent preliminary study of the island of Masirah in south-eastern Oman. Masirah Island is known for its extended occupation and rich archaeological record and in particular for its intensive use of marine resources from the Neolithic period up to the modern day. The Maritime Footprints project sets out to explore this dynamic maritime cultural landscape through a variety of methodologies. It employs a range of terrestrial and maritime archaeological survey techniques and approaches, mapping selected sites, their geographical context, and associated coastal features; it undertakes maritime ethnographic inquiry, studying the traditional boats, their use and change over time; it records oral traditions and explores memory and practice relating to the sea and maritime activities. Three case studies are identified to explore the changing maritime cultural landscape of the island from prehistory to the modern day in order to reveal a more nuanced appreciation of maritime activity, seafaring, and changing use of the marine resource over time and between the island's two geographically distinct coastlines. Essentially, this project aims to identify the maritime character of Masriah Island noting continuity and change over time and space.

The Jewel of Muscat Project focused on the reconstruction, based on an early ninth-century shipwreck, of a sewn-plank ship excavated in 1998-1999 off Belitung Island, Indonesia. Analysis of the surviving structure indicated that the ship was originally from the western Indian Ocean, and probably the Arabian Peninsula. The project comprehensively documented the research and construction of this vessel in Oman, and the sailing to Singapore. This paper addresses the technical aspects involved with building the 18 m vessel from the inevitably incomplete excavated remains, and compares the archaeological evidence with the modern reconstruction. It examines the methodological issues involved with creating a conceptual bridge between the fields of archaeology and ethnographic boatbuilding. The paper also provides an overview of the navigation and sailing performance of the vessel, documented by modern instruments. The project deepened our understanding of Early Islamic maritime technology and seafaring, while simultaneously documenting the ancient shipbuilding and navigation traditions of the Arabian Peninsula, which are rapidly becoming extinct.

This paper seeks to examine the legacy of the Omani presence in the states of Malaysia, which arguably has made itself apparent in the royal dress of the Kedah Sultanate. This discovery indeed calls for further investigation, especially on how the Omani dress later became a model for Kedah royal dress which is famously known as Baju Muskat. Further analysis is essential to determine to what extent did the Kedah Sultanate adopted the Omani dress of the Muscati style and what aspects of the Kedah royal dress resemble the Omani dress substantially. Preliminary research indicates that there are few similarities that one can find between the Omani dress with that of the Kedah royal dress, which is said to be worn by the latter since the 17th century. Reading through the existing literature in the field also reveals one interesting picture that points to the underrepresentation of Omani individuals, merchants, and scholars in the Malay texts as the former tends to describe them, often as Arab traders, or Persian traders. In short, this paper has attempted to explore and examine the above-mentioned circumstances for a better understanding of the subject matter under study through a method of content analysis. Keywords: Well-being, Happiness, Subsistence, Ethical Principles, Arab-Muslim Thought

Abstract This article treats cliticization of a pronoun to a syntactic host and doubling of the clitic pronoun with a non-pronominal counterpart in Syrian and Omani Arabic. Although the two varieties are closely related and the morphological paradigms they display are very similar, the pronominalization and clitic pronoun doubling patterns they display are quite different. We trace this difference to a basic difference in whether the relevant syntactic processes are sensitive to intervention effects in the two dialects, with the result being that the restrictiveness of pronominalization and clitic pronoun doubling patterns parallel the restrictiveness of basic word order patterns – whether double-object constructions are ‘symmetric’ or ‘asymmetric’ – with Syrian being the more restrictive of the two varieties.

In a world that is increasingly hostile towards religious minorities, this paper tries to set a modern-day, successful example of multi-religious coexistence and interfaith dialogue. The paper examines historical examples derived from Omani history and explores Omani characteristics by surveying Western reports written by missionaries, visitors, and travellers of different religions in Oman. This is meant to demonstrate the hypothesis that the multi-religious coexistence and interfaith dialogue enjoyed today by the nearly fourmillion Omani population is a natural result of a long history of commitment to ‘Omani values’ and principles, practised by Oman’s Ibāḍī population with their fellow nonMuslims. The paper concludes that there is a strong correlation between the ‘Omani values’ recorded by the Western writers and the ongoing deeply rooted Omani experience of peaceful religious coexistence and interfaith dialogue. These ‘Omani values’ include the principles of tolerance, social justice, mutual respect, friendliness, hospitality, and simplicity. Finally, owing to the increasingly rising tensions between adherents of different religions, the paper recommends that such successful Omani experiences should be exported to other countries in the Muslim world and elsewhere.

This article discusses how the Soviet Union perceived and related to Middle Eastern revolutionary movements, using a case study from South Yemen and the War in Dhofar. This specific Soviet encounter will be analysed through selected Soviet material from published and archival sources. The article highlights how Soviet representatives assessed prospects for socialism in Yemen, and how they interacted with their partners on the ground. The article is divided into three parts: the first discusses the theoretical debates in Soviet academia and the press, the second section contrasts these theoretical views with Middle Eastern ‘socialist’ theories during the Cold War and the third shows how a symbiosis developed between Soviet and Yemeni institutions and organisations. The article argues that due to an Orientalist take on South Yemen and Dhofar, the Soviet side could not appreciate the political importance and potential of socialist currents in the region, reducing cooperation to ‘pragmatism’.

Abstract Julfar was a major port town of the Persian Gulf during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries AD. A possession of the Hormuzi empire, it was a lucrative source of taxes and pearls, and a port of trade for northern Oman, tapping into maritime trading networks connecting the Middle East with Africa, India, Southeast Asia and China. The site is found north of modern Ras Al‐Khaimah, UAE. Julfar Al‐Nudud was previously considered to be a late suburb of an urban core, Julfar Al‐Mataf, and is located on a creek opposite the latter. However, excavations in 2010 indicated that Al‐Nudud was part of the original urban core, which had grown up on either side of the creek. Moreover, re‐examination of previous work in Al‐Mataf, where a large mosque and fortification were excavated (by British and French teams), shows that the two areas followed different trajectories. Significant occupation in Al‐Nudud and southern Al‐Mataf (revealed by previous Japanese excavations) ended before the start of the sixteenth century, while use of the mosque and fort in central Al‐Mataf continued into the seventeenth century, albeit discontinuously. A revised concordance of the phases derived from the work of various archaeological teams is therefore proposed.