'File 8/62 IV PRINCIPAL SHAIKHS & TRIBES OF OMAN.' [‎100r] (202/282)

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The tribe is divided into baits (houses) each
with its Shaikhs and details have been supplied by one
of the Shaikhs as under
Place
Population
Rifles Bait
Shaikh
sk
*
Salalah
1 2,500
500
Rawwas
Omar bin
Mansur and
Abdul Aziz
bin Ahmed,
(Tamimah
of the
whole
tribe)
El Hafah
500
80
Shanafirah
Ahmed bin Bakhit
Dhaharij
200
-
Hadhar
Saif bin Jahnoon
Salalah
300
50
El Marhun
Said bin Salim
Naqd
1,500
500
Kathir
Salim Tamtain.
They all
belong
to the Hinawi political
faction
but are too distant to enter into Oman politics•
The Sultan seems to get on well with them, and
their attitude is friendly to the British, though shy and
cautious on first arpproach.
BENI KHARUS.
The Beni Kharus is a peaceful and comparatively
civilised tribe in the centre of Oman proper, settled
mainly at Rostak, Nakhl and Awabi, the capital. The
tribe supplied the present Imam f s predecessor, and, on
his assassination in 1920, his three sons Yahya, Abdulla
and Yakub, then aged about ten, eight and six, were taken
charge of and have been brought up by the present Imam
ever since. Yahya, who is Tamimah of the Beni Kharus has
been appointed Wali of Samail by the Imam, and his brother,Abdulla
Wall of Nakhl, It is reported from many quarters that,
in 1948 when he was undergoing a very severe attack of
dysentery, the Imam summoned a majlis of all the Omani
Shaikhs and nominated Abdulla as his successor, and got
them all to sign a document that they would vote for him
on his demise. It is believed in these quarters that
the majority of the tribes are still of the same mind,
and that the Sultan has little hope of being elected.
Apart from anything else the Omani tribes are exceedingly
independent minded, and the treaty of Sib in 1920
established in their view their complete independence of
the Sultan, and it seems unlikely that they will readily
forego this by voting him in as their Imam, or by agreeing
to any measure which will restore the Sultan’s
jurisdiction.
In 1948 when many other Shaikhs visited the
Sultan, one old Shaikh of this tribe, Khalfan bin Othman,
another close friend of Ahmed bin ibrahim, the Minister
for Interior, came to Muscat, but Yahya did not come, and
neither he nor his brothers have ever visited Muscat or
met the Sultan,
The tribe as a whole is not numerous and its
members are employed mostly in tending camels and in
cultivation.
EL NA'IM