'File 8/62 Muscat State Affairs: Principal Shaikhs and Tribes of Oman' [‎42r] (83/296)

under his Rule, he could see no future for his State. Did the British
Government wish Oman to remain as it was? This he could not believe.
He fully realised that the successful control of the interior would
depend upon him personally and would give him a great deal of added
responsibility. He was confident, however, of his ability to manape
the tribes, who were generally dissatisfied with their isolation* when
the time came he would perhaps transfer his capital to the interior.
The Sultan concluded his statement by a request for an indication of
the degree of support which he might expect from His Majesty^ Govern
ment.
3. In reply, I informed the Sultan that the matter would be referred
to the Political Resident A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency. for instructions, but that in the mean time
he should do nothing which would be likely to upeet the tranquillity of
the State by acting In any way contrary to the agreement reached at Sib
in 1920 on which his present relations with the interior were based.
I added that the present time, with the war against Japan still to be won,
any interference in the internal affairs of Oman which might lead to
disturbances would, I was sure, be particularly unwelcome to His Majesty^
Government. The Sultan assured me that he had no intention of taking
any action, either before the death of the Imam or contrary to the ad
vice given to him by His Majesty 1 s Government and that he fully under
stood the particular importance of internal peace at the present time.
So far as the Sib agreement was concerned, he admitted that so long as
the Imam remained in authority he was bound by its terms, but said that
between the time of Mohammed bin Abdullah al Khalilf s death and the
election of a successor the agreement would be in abeyance, with the
tribes once again in a position of independence and at liberty to enter
into separate agreements with whomsoever they wished. It was because
the success of his venture would depend on his ability to act before
the appointment of a successor that he wished to know the attitude of
the British Government as early as possible.
4* The political affairs of are still mainly influenced by the
division of the tribes into the two great factions, the Hinawi and Ghafiri
which took place in the 18th. century. Territorially there is no di
viding line between the two factions and the fact that throughout Oman
Hinawi and Ghafiri adherents live intermingled has led to the upholding
of the balance of power and to the recognition of the importance of a
modus vivendi . Religiously, the Hinsaris are mostly Ibadhis while the
Ghafiris include a substantial proportion of orthodox Sunnis. Both
factions have their centre of influence and power dominated by a reco
gnised leader. The centre of Hinawi activity has always been the Shar-
qiyah with the principal Shaikh of the Hirth tribes at its head: and
astute leadership of a people more inclined to fanaticism than the in
habitants of the rest of Oman has given the Hinawis a controlling voice
in the councils of Imamate in spite of the numerical superiority of their
oponents. The Ghafiri confederacy is centred in the region of the Jebel
Akhdhar and the Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. Sumail and its leader is the chief Shaikh of the
Beni Riyam who claims descent from an ancient dynasty of Maliks . The
Ghafiri have, in addition, a strong supporter in the person of the Shaikh
of the Beni Bu All, a powerful tribe of the neighbourhood of Sur. Very
generally speaking it can therefore be said that the main current of
events in Oman is controlled by three persons - the principal Shaikh
of the Hirth, Shaikh Isa bin Salih (Hinawi), the Shaikh of the Jebel
Akhdhar region, Shaikh Sulaiman bin Hamyar, (Ghafiri) and the Shaikh
of the Beni Bu Ali, Shaikh All bin Abdulla (Ghafiri). The last of
these Shaikhs is under the effective influence of the Sultan, and his
interest in the Imamate is concerned with purely factional issues. In
securing, through a packed house, the election of a relative as the
present Imam, Shaikh Isa's influence remained paramount for many years.
Now, however, Isa is an old man, incapablebf any great physical exer
tion, while fortunately for the State his sons do not appear to possess