'File 8/62 IV PRINCIPAL SHAIKHS & TRIBES OF OMAN.' [‎80r] (159/282)

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86/5C
The Tribes of !uscat and Oman
Any attempt to ascertain the territorial limits of the
Sultan’s sovereignty or suzerainty on the basis of tribal
allegiance - which appears to be the only possible one in
which actual conditions will be depicted - meets considerable
difficulties. The main ones are those of separating those
tribes whose allegiance to the Sultan is undoubted from
those which, while apparently friendly towards the Sultan,
are under Irnamic influence, and, even if this puzzle is
satisfactorily resolved, df defining the limits of the terri
tory occupied by each of the four groups into which all the
tribes may be divided: Sultan’s, imam’s, doubtful and
independent.
2. Whatever may have been the frontiers of the Sultanate
in the distant past (and no precise definition of them is
available) it is an undoubted fact that, since the latter
part of the 18th Century the Sultan has been unable to exer
cise authority over all the territory which was his before
tnat period; that, for a number of years, elected imams
have dominated the mountainous districts in the centre; but
that the Sultan has never relinquished his claim to be the
rightful ruler of all the country whether actually under
his control or not. In the Treaty of Sib concluded between
the Sultan and the Imam in 1S2C (copy attached) this claim
is implied in the provision that^he will not ’'interfere in
their internal affairs M (dakhaliafeathum) a formula which was
deemed by the Sultan to maintain his rights of sovereignty,
including the conduct of external affairs,while granting no
more than the internal autonomy of the districts under the
Imam. Since, in practice, the Imam and his followers eschew
relations with the outside world it may be assumed that the
significance of the phrase escaped them or was regarded as
of no practical Importance, in spite of the fact that the
Sultan had tried to insert some direct acknowledgement of
his suzerainty in the terms of the Treaty.
3. As will be seen this particular aspect of the problem
does not directly affect the question of the validity or
otherwise of Sa’udi claims to the allegiance of tribes on
the west of the Sultanate, though the Sultan’s lack of
authority, past or present, in those regions adds very much
to the difficulty of contesting them.
4. Broadly it nay be said that the tribes of Dhofar and
the majority of the tribes of Sharqiyah and the coastal belt
as far north as about 25°K acknowledge the Sultan, although
his authority progressively diminishes towards the north
and the tribes in Ru’us al Jibal are virtually Independent.
The central block from the Eani Bu Ali in Ja’alan on either
side (E. and W. Ilajar) of a north-westerly line stretching
to the Jau and Kahadhah tracts (about 23°6N 56°E) is under
the Imam’s rule though there is a considerable number of
tribes which appear to owe doubtful or dual allegiance.
With the Imam are closely associated the heads of the Hinawi
and Ghafiri factions, Salih Bin Isa al harthi and Sulaiman
Bin liamyar, both of whom, however, visited the Sultan in
1948, were lavishly entertained and received presents.