Line #8 UsefulNotes/Oman


1	[[quoteright:328:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/oman-cia_wfb_map_9115.png]]
2	Oman ('''Arabic:''' ''عمان‎ ʻUmān''), also known as Sultanate of Oman ('''Arabic:''' '' سلطنة عُمان‎ Salṭanat ʻUmān'') is a West Asian country in the eastern end of the Arabian peninsula, bordered by UsefulNotes/SaudiArabia in the west, the UsefulNotes/UnitedArabEmirates in the northwest, the Indian Ocean in the east, and UsefulNotes/{{Yemen}} in the southwest. It has a population of 4.5 million as of 2021. The country is an absolute monarchy, with Haitham bin Tariq al Said ruling as sultan. He is the only remaining Arab ruler to use the title of Sultan. He ascended to the throne in 2020, succeeding his cousin, Qaboos, who ruled for nearly 50 years. The present Al Said dynasty came into power in 1744, having deposed the Ibadi Imam and the Afsharid Persian army he summoned to quell their ascent.
3
4	Oman's location at the eastern end of the peninsula, separated from civilization to the west by the extremely arid and inhospitable Rub' al Khali desert, made access to the land difficult until the modern era. Most Omanis had better contact with people across the sea than they did with their fellow Arabs. Other than the desert, the Al Hajar Mountains allow the coastal plain respite from the hot interior. It is on this plain that the capital Muscat was built. In the past and even today, Oman is divided into two regions: Muscat and its surroundings, and the interior desert or "Oman proper". Before unification in 1820, these regions were separate in politics and culture, only united under the common goal of distancing themselves from central authority by becoming the bastion of Ibadism. [[MyFriendsAndZoidberg There is also]] Dhofar in the south, which was inherited by Oman from its predecessor, Muscat Sultanate, which annexed it in the 18th century. Unlike the other two, Dhofar's culture is greatly influenced by Yemen, it being a part of the ancient Kingdom of Hadhramaut, one of the core parts of Greater Yemen.
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6	The majority of Omanis practice a unique denomination of Islam called Ibadism. It is different from Sunni and Shia Islam and in fact predates the two, tracing its root to the Kharijite sect that arose during the First Fitna about 20 years after [[UsefulNotes/TheProphetMuhammad Muhammad]]'s death. Unlike Sunnism and Shiism, Ibadism's main doctrine states that a caliph need not to be from the Quraysh tribe or even an Arab; however, he is held accountable for his actions and people have a right to depose him if they feel that he isn't doing his job. What separates Ibadism from the Kharijites, however, is that they reject violence as a way to settle things; on top of multiple bloody rebellions against the Caliphate, the Kharijites also freely and recklessly indulged in the practice of takfir, i.e. branding people who did not accept their viewpoint as "infidels", making them closer to modern-day Wahhabism than anything else.
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8	Pre-Islamic Oman's society is largely undocumented. From the 6th to 4th century BCE, the Achaemenids occupied the Strait of Hormuz and the Musandam peninsula as part of the Maka satrapy. The primary Arab tribe in the area is the Azd, which the current royal family is a part of. After integration to the Caliphate in 630 CE, the Arab tribes of Oman followed Jabir ibn Zayd, who was born in Nizwa and established the longstanding Ibadi imamate in Oman proper. He and his successors, while not going to the extent of the Kharijites' insurrection, were nevertheless opposed to the rule of the Umayyad Caliphate. The caliphs subsequently limited their sphere of influence to Oman only, although they still managed to preach beyond nevertheless; UsefulNotes/{{Tunisia}}'s Djerba island, where Ibadi teachings still thrive, shows the extent of their expansion.
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10	While Oman proper was controlled by the Ibadi imamate, coastal Oman continued to be claimed by foreign powers as it had been since the time of the Achaemenids. It was not until 1154 that native control was achieved with the Nabhani dynasty, who drove the Seljuk Turks out of the Arabian peninsula. Oman was noted to be the main producer of frankincense and other incense products during this time. The Nabhani ruled until the Portuguese invasion of Muscat in 1515. They colonized the town in one way or another, repelling numerous native, Persian, and Ottoman attacks, until the Yaruba dynasty expelled them in 1650. The Yaruba dynasty wasn't satisfied with retaking Muscat, though; they followed the Portuguese to UsefulNotes/{{Tanzania}}'s Zanzibar where they shelled them until it fell in 1698. An offshoot of Oman's dynasty was established in Zanzibar, which endured until the 20th century. From then on, Oman gained the reputation as a maritime power, frequently raiding European colonies in the Indian subcontinent and Africa and participating in the highly profitable slave trade.
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12	The Yaruba fell to civil war and Afsharid intervention in 1742. Control over Oman passed over to Ahmad ibn Said al Busaidi, who established the present Al Said family, taking the more secular title of sultan rather than imam upon coronation, a position still held by his descendants. Under Sultan ibn Ahmad, Oman's overseas colonies grew to include Gwadar in present-day UsefulNotes/{{Pakistan}}, which was sold to the latter only in 1958. His successor, Said ibn Sultan, consolidated Muscat and Oman proper under one banner. However, the decline of the slave trade combined with inter-fighting and European pressure led to the slow fracture of the empire. The Persian Gulf territories were claimed by the British as part of the Trucial States (later renaming themselves to the United Arab Emirates upon independence), while Zanzibar broke away, although it was still required to pay tribute to Muscat. On top of that, the more cosmopolitan society of Muscat clashed starkly with the conservative imamate despite their alleged unity. In 1892, Faisal ibn Turki closed a deal with the British to turn Oman into a British protectorate, in exchange for military assistance to combat the imamate. Muscat and Oman then became a protectorate of the British Empire until 1971.
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14	The discovery of oil in the early 20th century greatly changed the Omani society. However, it also confronted the sultan with the imamate, as a large part of the oilfields were located within Oman proper. The last major rebellion of the imam started in 1954, with the imamate being covertly supported by Saudi Arabia, though Oman with British help defeated and extinguished the imamate completely. Another conflict came in the 1960s with the communist rebellion of Dhofar. Although it was once again won by the sultanate, it was certain that the country, then ruled by the highly isolationist Said ibn Timur, needed change. Said was deposed by his reform-minded son, Qaboos (who was briefly a [[UsefulNotes/BritsWithBattleships British Army officer]] before returning home to Oman), in a bloodless coup supported by the British. Qaboos also simplified the nation's name from the Sultanate of Muscat and Oman to simply the Sultanate of Oman.
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16	Oman has since become a relatively modern and pro-West Arab country. While it is a member of the Arab League and Gulf Cooperation Council, Oman distances itself from the rather frivolous endeavors that fellow members tend to pursue by following a policy of strict neutrality; it has largely stayed out of the way of the numerous [[UsefulNotes/ArabIsraeliConflict Arab-Israeli Conflicts]], UsefulNotes/TheGulfWar, UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror, and the 2014 GCC intervention of Yemen, in spite of bordering the country in question. The UsefulNotes/ArabSpring, while not impacting the country seriously, brought questions about the country's over-dependence on foreign expatriates (as of 2014, 40% of Oman's population consist of immigrants, most of whom do not have citizenship). During this period, Sultan Qaboos promised to remedy the chronic unemployment problem by trying to recruit native Omani personnel to do jobs that foreign workers usually do.
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18	Qaboos died childless in 2020[[note]]This is ''highly'' unusual among Arab royals, and made him the subject of rampant speculation about his sexuality among the Omani elites.[[/note]], and had no brothers, so his cousin and long-time advisor Haitham bin Tariq succeeded him as Sultan. While Qaboos had kept his chosen successor secret until a sealed letter was opened upon his death, Haitham quickly established a fixed order of succession based on [[HeirClubForMen male primogeniture]].
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20	A quirky thing about Oman's geography is its enclaves and exclaves. The Musandam peninsula is Omani territory, but it's separated from the mainland by the Fujairah and Sharjah emirates of the UAE. The second, an enclave called Madha, is located entirely within the Fujairah emirate. And Madha itself entirely surrounds the Nahwa enclave of the UAE. It isn't a huge problem, though, since Oman and the UAE are members of the GCC, which underscores free access between the members' territories (think of the European Union's Schengen Area).
21	----
22	!!Famous Omanis or people born in Oman:
23	* Australian actress Creator/IslaFisher was born in Muscat and spent six years there.
24	----
25	!! Notable Works:
26	* Myth/ArabMythology
27	----
28
29	[[AC:The Omani flag]]
30	https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/oman_flag_9982.png
31	->The flag's white, red and green stripes symbolize peace and prosperity, battles against foreign invasions, and the Green Mountains and fertility, respectively. At the hoist side is a red column, recalling the country's former all-red flag before 1970. At the canton is the national emblem, which is also the family badge of the House of Al Said, Oman's current royal family, showing a pair of sheathed swords over a ''khanjar'', a local dagger.
32	----
33	[[AC:The Omani national anthem]]
34
35	->يا ربنا احفظ لنا جلالة السلطان
36	->والشعب في الأوطان
37	->بالعز و الأمان
38	->وليدم مؤيدا
39	->عاهلا ممجدا
40	->بالنفوس يفتدى
41	->وليدم مؤيدا
42	->عاهلا ممجدا
43	->بالنفوس يفتدى
44
45	->يا عمان نحن من عهد النبي
46	->أوفياء من كرام العربي
47	->فارتقي هام السماء
48	->واملئي الكون الضياء
49	->واسعدي وانعمي بالرخاء
50	[[note]]
51	->Yâ rabbanâ eħfeẓ lanâ jalâlat as-Solṭân
52	->Wa-š-šaʿba fi-l-ʾawṭân
53	->Be-l-ʿazze wa-l-ʾamân
54	->Wa-l-yadom moʾayadâ,
55	->ʿÂhelân momajadâ;
56	->Be-n-nofuse yoftadâ.
57	->Wa-l-yadom moʾayadâ,
58	->ʿÂhelân momajadâ;
59	->Be-n-nofuse yoftadâ.
60
61	->Yâ ʿOmân, naħno men ʿahd en-Nabi
62	->ʾAwfiyâʾ men kerâme l-ʿArabi.
63	->Fârtaqi hâm as-samâʾ
64	->Wa-emlaʾi l-kun ḍ-ḍiyâʾ
65	->Wa-s-saʿdi wa-n-naʿmi be-r-raxâʾ.
66	[[/note]]
67
68	--
69
70	->O Almighty, save His Majesty the Sultan
71	->and His people in their homelands
72	->with pride and peace
73	->May He live long and triumphant
74	->a glorified leader
75	->for whom we shall lay down our lives
76	->May He live long and triumphant
77	->a glorified leader
78	->for whom we shall lay down our lives
79
80	->O Oman, we have been from the time of the Prophet
81	->of the most loyal and noble Arabs
82	->So ascend to the apex of the heavens
83	->illuminate the cosmos
84	->rejoice and relish in prosperity
85	----
86	[[AC:Government]]
87	* Unitary absolute monarchy
88	** Sultan: Haitham bin Tariq Al Said
89	----
90	[[AC:Miscellaneous]]
91	* '''Capital and largest city:''' Muscat ('''Arabic:''' ''مَسْقَط, Masqaṭ'')
92	* '''Population:''' 4,829,473
93	* '''Area:''' 309,500 km
94	(119,500 sq mi) (70th)
95	* '''Currency''': Omani rial (ر.ع.) (OMR)
96	* '''ISO-3166-1 Code:''' OM
97	* '''Country calling code:''' 968
98	* '''Highest point:''' Jabal Shams (3009 m/9,872 ft) (60th)

Context UsefulNotes / Oman