Imamate of Oman

The Imamate of Oman was an elected Islamic state in the Hajar Mountains of central Oman, traditionally founded in 751 when the Ibadi community chose its first imam. Its ruler, the imam, was chosen for his learning and piety rather than inherited his office, and the capital alternated between Nizwa and Rustaq. The Imamate controlled the interior, while the coastal sultanate of Muscat and Oman, often backed by the British, controlled the ports. The two polities coexisted uneasily for centuries. In the twentieth century the imamate revived as a regional power after 1913 under Imam Salim al-Kharusi, and a period of conflict with the sultanate followed. Authority rested on Ibadi law and the choice of the community, and its imams were drawn from the leading families of the interior. The last imam, Ghalib al-Hinai, was defeated in 1954 and the Imamate was finally absorbed into the Sultanate of Oman, although its Ibadi legal and religious traditions remain influential.