Oman
POPULATION 2,497,000
IBADI ISLAM 75 percent
OTHER (SUNNI AND SHIA ISLAM; HINDU) 25 percent
Country Overview
Introduction
Historically, politically, and geographically, Oman is the most isolated part of Arabia. Bordering to the west are the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen. The desert of the Empty Quarter serves as a land barrier to the north, but a 1,700-kilometer coastline along the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean enabled Oman to develop into a major maritime power until the nineteenth century. The mountainous interior, a stronghold of Ibadi Islam, is distinct from the more cosmopolitan culture of the coast. The southwestern region of Dhofar is culturally linked with the Hadramawt desert valley of southeastern Yemen and follows the Shafii legal school of Sunni Islam.
The Azd tribe of Oman voluntarily embraced Islam in 627 during the lifetime of the Prophet Mohammad. Azdis from Oman participated in the early Islamic conquests and settled in large numbers in the southern Iraqi garrison city of Basra, where they were prominent opponents of the Umayyad dynasty (661–750). One by-product of this opposition was the founding of the Ibadi sect, which spread rapidly through Oman. A main focus of Ibadism is the establishment of a government headed by a just "imam," a political and military leader and religious authority, selected by the leading men of the community for his piety.
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