The battle to save the Arabian leopard from extinction in the wild can be called many things: crucial, worthy, pivotal and righteous. Just don’t call it glamorous.
I’m learning just how unglamorous while sheltering in the shade of a thorn-covered tree in a dusty wadi in the Dhofar mountains of southern Oman, a range that forms the critically endangered species’ last stronghold after decades of retreat from a habitat that once stretched as far as Palestine and Mussandam.
Alongside me are eight enthusiasts who have each paid US$2,100 (Dh6,785) to the non-profit conservation group Biosphere Expeditions to spend their holiday volunteering in a research project. Leading us is Tessa McGregor, a big cat specialist who is doing her best to lower our expectations about what we will encounter over the next two weeks because this is a research project, not a wildlife-spotting tour.
The chance of actually seeing a leopard are about as close to zero as it’s possible to get, and whether or not our contribution will help avert permanent extinction in the wild is uncertain.
Tessa then describes what we’ll be collecting from the wadis and mountains of the western Dhofar mountains through a series of polite euphemisms: “sign”, “scat” and “droppings”.
We will also be monitoring motion-triggered cameras posted in remote locations, doing an analysis of animal tracks, conducting population censuses of prey animals and interviewing local villagers – a process that involves tea and hospitality while asking about recent wildlife sightings – but she wanted us under no illusion about one of the key roles: “You’ll come back with bags and bags of scat.”
We get instructions on what the different species’ scat looks like and even “scat etiquette”, which involves wearing gloves while bagging suspected leopard droppings to avoid contamination.
I remember thinking to myself at this point that this is truly one of the oddest holidays I’ve ever been on. But for all the lack of glamour, everything we are about to do has a purpose.
The leopard scat, for example, will be subjected to DNA analysis to ensure that it is leopard and, if so, how many different animals there are and the degree to which they are related to one another. The gloves are to ensure that we don’t contaminate it with our own DNA.
None of this seems to faze those around me. They run the gamut of demographics ranging from an octogenarian Californian retiree who has done dozens of these kinds of trips to a fresh-faced Australian graphic designer on her first. Their conservation experience ranges from never having been camping before to spending months in the field doing research.
But almost all of them voice a similar message about why they’ve travelled to Salalah to join this expedition: they want to give something back to conservation rather than having a more traditional holiday.
For the last 11 years Biosphere Expeditions has provided the logistics so that volunteers like these could help research teams doing conservation work around the world without the former draining scarce funds from the latter.
In this case, they’re helping the Diwan of the Royal Court, which has taken on the Arabian leopard’s plight as one of its flagship programmes. By providing leaders, transport (Land Rover provided three brand-new LR3s and Shell Oman provides petrol) and a spartan but comfortable base camp (bucket showers and pit toilets but with a talented Bangladeshi cook to provide breakfast and dinner), Biosphere Expeditions provide nearly a dozen helpers to fill in some of the yawning gaps in knowledge.
Thanks to the leopards’ friends in high places in the Omani royal court, their main base in the eastern end of the Dhofar mountains behind Salalah has been turned into the Jebel Samhan Nature Reserve, created specifically to safeguard the leopard’s habitat.
But almost all the information about the leopard is from that area. Our focus is on the western edge of the mountains, closer to the Yemen border, about which very little is known. Here, the terrain varies from barren plateaux featuring camel-ravaged frankincense trees to dry and dusty wadis with occasional waterholes. Closer to the coast, the effect of the seasonal monsoon makes this the most forested part of the Arabian peninsula, and it’s this region which has provided the most promising results about the presence of leopards.
If you go
The package
Biosphere Expeditions’ next Arabian leopard research trips will take place from January 16-28 and January 30-February 11, 2011. The trip costs $2,179 (Dh8,700) per person including all training, accommodation and food, but not international flights. Log on to www.biosphere-expeditions.org/oman or call 0044 870 446 0801.
The flight
Return flights from Abu Dhabi to Salalah, via Muscat, cost from $532 (Dh1,955) including tax, through Oman Air (www.omanair.com)
Tessa, a veteran of big cat research projects ranging from the Sundarban tigers of the Ganges delta to the snow leopards of the Siberian Altai Mountains, explains that this region is crucial to the leopards’ viability.
“Big cats need lots of space. It’s estimated that each one’s territory is 200 square kilometres,” she explains. “Even if you’d protected the whole of Jebel Samhan, it’s too small to have a viable population in the future. They need to be able to go all the way to where we are here.”
The viability of the population is something about which she’s unfortunately already aware through previous research trips. The Arabian leopard is extinct in most of the Hajar mountains that stretch between Musandam and Muscat but a tiny population still clings on in the northernmost section near the UAE-Oman border in Ras al Khaimah and Fujairah.
“In Mussandam, there were some leopards there and we did find some signs of leopard but all the prey animals are gone,” Tessa explains.
“Leopards need ungulates – large prey like ibex and gazelle – but there aren’t any, just feral goats.
“We found some fresh pug (paw) marks and we heard leopard but even if there were two or three, really the population there is finished.
“That makes ungulates so important. Poaching (leopards) isn’t a big big problem but poaching of their prey animals is.”
Tessa does not want to be drawn on total population of the leopards or how many are needed for a sustainable population but other estimates say there are only 200 left in the wild. It’s the second most threatened big cat in the world and is deemed to be critically endangered, one short step away from being deemed extinct in the wild.
In western Dhofar they have very little idea about either the prey animals or indeed the leopards. The project last year found only a few old signs of leopards’ presence, raising the prospect that the population is in steep decline in this part of the range.
Just in case expectations were not already low enough, Tessa raises the prospect of coming back empty-handed from a scat-gathering expedition but insisted that finding nothing is still pivotal information.
“When you’re traipsing around and finding nothing you feel like, ‘What am I doing?’ But it’s very important,” she says.
“Most of the work has still to be done. There’s really no baseline. There are so many unanswered questions.”
It would take a particularly congenial volunteer to enjoy spending their money and holiday proving that the leopards are doomed to functional extinction in the wild, but this year the first group of volunteers found signs only a few days old of several animals resident in a forested area near the Yemen border.
Just how little is known about the Arabian leopard is shown by the belief that they do not scrape trees with their claws to mark their territory, a finding that had to be reversed just two weeks before our trip when the Biosphere volunteers found signs that they did.
The interconnectedness and interdependence of all the animals in the ecosystem are why Tessa spends the first day acquainting us with the tracks and scat of all the animals in the area. Even if we find leopard tracks, the population will be in deep trouble if we find few signs of ibex, hyrax and gazelles. The truth is that tracking is as much an art as a science and it takes time for your eye to adjust to the signs. One of the few similarities of this disparate group is that almost all work in sedentary office jobs and live in cities.
Just how much there was to adjust is demonstrated by Leslie, a previous Biosphere leader who has joined the volunteers as a break before completing her PhD dissertation on reptiles.
Approaching a thorn-laden acacia, she bursts into: “Look! A gecko!” And it takes the rest of us an embarrassing amount of time to even see the thumb-length reptile she’d spotted in seconds, even though we know it’s there and where to look.
And so it is with the leopard sign, where in anything other than ideal conditions, I find myself completely incapable of differentiating between leopard and other pawed creatures like the striped hyena or Arabian wolf. There’s the gnawing concern that the only thing worse than the paucity of information about leopards in this part of the Dhofar is the presence of information which turns out to be untrustworthy.
So far this trip is reinforcing my cynical view about volunteer holidays. Most seemed to involve visits to third-world villages by westerners who do half as much work as the locals and expect twice as much luxury, all the while feeling good about their input while making one-tenth of the contribution they would have achieved by staying at home and donating the money they spent on the tour and their flight.
But after listening longer to Tessa’s explanation of the volunteers’ input, my view softens. Besides creating a new series of ambassadors who will take their message home to Britain, Germany, Australia, Sweden, the US and Oman, there are other effects of our presence. The reality is that the locals begin to look at the issue more seriously if they see a dozen highly paid and qualified westerners in the region putting their time and energy into the local wildlife.
Still my concern about my own tracking ability is such that I’m relieved when we spend the first day visiting a waterhole at the head of our wadi, the location of several of motion-triggered cameras but seemingly too close to the village of Ayuun for there to be much chance of finding signs of the notoriously human-shy leopards.
I’m even more relieved when Tessa is joined by Khalid al Hikmani, who grew up in the mountain villages of the Dhofar and who now works with the leopard protection team as a field officer. Mohammed, a ranger with the Environment Ministry, also joins us.
Khalid is one of two boys who joined the programme through a chance encounter with an Australian who was in the mountains photographing the wildlife, became lost and emerged at their remote village. Both were youths at the time but through him became fascinated by the leopards and, once they’d completed their schooling, joined the Diwan conservation team.
The other youth, Hadi al Hikmani, is away in Britain studying for a BSc in biology, gaining the formal skills to enable him to do his work better.
Khalid’s enthusiasm for his job is demonstrated about 20 minutes into the tour when we reach the site of the first motion-activated camera, sited in a cave perfect for leopards to take shelter from the midday heat while being able to survey their domains.
As we approach, the camera is nowhere to be seen. Previously this camera has captured hunters going past and the fear is they’d stolen it to hide poaching. Khalid and Mohammed’s body language says it all – they seem dejected and downcast until the camera is found lying at the bottom of its mounting post, having been dislodged by an amorous or aggressive porcupine.
It’s taken nine photos since the last visit and the memory card shows the interfering porcupine but also a honey badger, fox and a striped hyena. Corroborating evidence is found in the paw- and hoof-prints in the dust nearby and slowly familiarity allows an increasing confidence in our ability to correctly identify tracks. My concerns about whether we should be here fade.
As we make our way down the wadi bed, every time a twist of the valley provides a new vista Tessa is out with her binoculars scanning the slopes for the presence of ibex and gazelle. As the wadi briefly closes in, Khalid and Mohammed scramble up to precarious ledges to look for leopard paw prints, emerging instead with the skull of a hyrax, a marmot-like animal which is one of the leopard’s prey species. Two more camera sites yield no startling results, and we head back to camp.
Sitting around the fire that evening, reviewing the tally of animals detected is surprising considering the only live mammal we’d seen all day had been a pair of camels. Between the cameras, tracks in the dust, skulls and, of course, scat, we’ve shown the presence of porcupine, striped hyena, Arabian wolf, red fox, Blandford’s fox, Arabian gazelle, Nubian ibex, hyrax, honeybadger and camel.
The finds in the days that follow make those pale by comparison. In an adjoining valley to the wadi in which base camp is located, Tessa finds a ledge bearing an old but clear leopard paw print, the closest sign of leopard to the main wadi. And in that news I begin to understand why volunteering for a conservation campaign can become so compelling.
jhenzell@thenational.ae
Source: The National: Leopard spotting
Showing posts with label Oman. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Oman. Show all posts
Friday, 19 February 2010
Monday, 15 February 2010
Jewel sets sail on a tide of history
MUSCAT // When fishermen stumbled across the wreck of a ninth-century sailing dhow off the coast of an Indonesian island more than a decade ago, archaeologists found it laden with 60,000 pieces of rare Chinese porcelain.
The spectacular discovery threw light on an era when the Arab world’s trade ships fanned out across the world, bringing goods from the far corners of Asia and Africa.
Today, that rich maritime heritage will be brought back to life when a reconstruction of a 1,000-year-old ship will set sail from Oman destined for Singapore.
The Jewel of Muscat, an 18-metre dhow weighing 50 tonnes, will trace a famous ancient trade route in a five-month voyage from Oman to the far east.
The vessel has been painstakingly built by Omani ship builders using traditional techniques from the ninth century. No nails were used and planks were sewed together watertight with coconut fibre. The wood is protected by a layer of goat fat mixed with lime, according to the Jewel’s Omani captain, Saleh Said al Jabri.
“We have to follow the local tradition in building the vessel otherwise the whole voyage will have no meaning. Most of the timber those days was imported by Omani sailors from abroad and brought here for construction,” Capt al Jabri said.
The men in charge of finding the right materials were the archaeologists Luca Belfioretti, from Italy, and Tom Vosmer, from Australia. They made trips to Pune in India in search of wood and also to Ghana for the Afzelia Africana timber. Both woods are known for their ability to withstand a battering by rough seas and bad weather, they said.
“The West African and India connection of timber used for the construction of a boat in Oman those days is based on archaeological evidence,” Mr Belfioretti said.
The vessel will depart from the yard where it was built in Qantab, a fishing village near Muscat that is part of Oman’s rich maritime tradition of seafarers setting off across the world on trade missions.
“The overall distance is roughly about 3,000 nautical miles, depending on the wind direction. The vessel will be on the mercy of the wind and will not sail in a straight line,” Capt al Jabri said.
The voyage, sponsored by Oman’s ministry of foreign affairs, came from an idea proposed by Singapore and is being funded by both countries.
The journey was inspired by the ship that went down in the ninth century off Belitung, an island on the east coast of Sumatra in Indonesia, according to Mr Vosmer. The wreck was accidentally discovered by fishermen in 1998 and the Indonesian government gave a German company permission to excavate the wreck. The rich cargo that it was carrying became known as the Tang Treasures.
The German excavators found 60,000 pieces of rare Chinese porcelain when they lifted the ship. International experts who identified the Tang Treasures said they were produced from kilns in what is now the Chinese province of Hunan.
Indonesian authorities in published reports said that the treasures include rare blue and white porcelain, tricoloured glazed pottery from the Tang dynasty and three early Qinghua plates, the best preserved of their kind ever found.
They also said the Arabic inscriptions found on some of the pieces suggested the pottery was produced and transported in the early ninth century, and carbon dating has confirmed this.
The Arabic inscription is a strong indication that the treasures were being exported to Arab countries. The shipwreck itself also revealed much about Arab shipbuilding and navigation from the period. Well-preserved fragments of the ship showed that stitching was used by Arab craftsmen to bind the timber of the hull, the Indonesian authorities said.
Mr Vosmer, a maritime archaeologist based in Muscat, believes the sunken ship was built in Oman and carried the treasure from China for export destined to one of the Arab countries.
Mr Vosmer hopes the Jewel of Muscat will not only publicise Oman’s former maritime greatness but also shed some light on the sunken ship.
“We are looking to discover more about how the original ship was built, how it handled and how it sailed. As well as this, we are hoping to find out what life on board was like and even perhaps why it sank,” Mr Vosmer said.
The Jewel of Muscat’s crew will employ ninth century navigational methods including a technique called Al Kamal, which determines the latitude of the celestial bodies to calculate the distance to a given destination.
Capt al Jabri will have 17 other people on-board, including nine Omani sailors helped by four trainee crew, a couple of technical support personnel, a journalist from the National Geographic magazine, a video cameramen and a photographer.
Capt al Jabri was born in Haramel in Muscat, in his parents’ house just metres away from the beach. He has 23-years of sailing experience, the majority of it working for the Royal Navy of Oman onboard its tall ship, the Shabab Oman. He holds a position of a training officer on the ship, which has sailed around the world several times for international regattas and historic voyages.
“It is not going to be a smooth sailing to Singapore. We expect very rough weather in the Bay of Bengal. It is the one of the most hostile patches of water in the world. It is a journey of perseverance where everybody on-board will live on minimum and basic surroundings during the course of the journey,” Capt al Jabri said.
The vessel will have only a radio for emergency calls and will have no other ships to escort it. Everybody onboard will sleep on bunks and use the same galley and toilet facilities used by ancient Omani mariners. The diet will be primarily dates, dried fish, rice and plenty of coffee served in traditional cups.
The first port of call from Muscat will be India’s Cochin after a month at sea. The crew will break for two to four weeks to carry out maintenance. The trainee crew of different nationalities will be replaced by a new team.
The ship will then sail on the monsoon wind towards Sri Lanka to dock at the south-western port of Galle for another two-week maintenance break. Depending on the monsoon, the journey will take 10 to 14 days.
“Then we will start our sternest challenge of the journey,” Capt al Jabri said, “across the Bay of Bengal. It is not the easiest route and one of the busiest in the world and notorious for its bad weather.”
If all goes well, Capt al Jabri will guide the vessel to Penang in northern Malaysia. “Depending on south-westerly wind and how rough the sailing will be, we expect to reach Penang in three to four weeks. But we are going to stop for only a few days, mostly a week, because we don’t want to miss the monsoon wind blowing towards our next stop in Malacca,” he explained.
The trip to Malacca is expected to last a week and the crew will rest a few days before embarking for their final destination in Singapore. They expect to arrive there in early July.
“The voyage’s schedule will depend on the weather conditions because the ship has no engine and will entirely rely on the monsoon’s winds,” Chris Beggins, the voyage’s project manager said.
The Jewel of Muscat will be placed in a museum in the city state, its final resting place, in accordance with an agreement between Oman and Singapore.
salshaibany@thenational.ae
Source: The National: Jewel sets sail on a tide of history
The spectacular discovery threw light on an era when the Arab world’s trade ships fanned out across the world, bringing goods from the far corners of Asia and Africa.
Today, that rich maritime heritage will be brought back to life when a reconstruction of a 1,000-year-old ship will set sail from Oman destined for Singapore.
The Jewel of Muscat, an 18-metre dhow weighing 50 tonnes, will trace a famous ancient trade route in a five-month voyage from Oman to the far east.
The vessel has been painstakingly built by Omani ship builders using traditional techniques from the ninth century. No nails were used and planks were sewed together watertight with coconut fibre. The wood is protected by a layer of goat fat mixed with lime, according to the Jewel’s Omani captain, Saleh Said al Jabri.
“We have to follow the local tradition in building the vessel otherwise the whole voyage will have no meaning. Most of the timber those days was imported by Omani sailors from abroad and brought here for construction,” Capt al Jabri said.
The men in charge of finding the right materials were the archaeologists Luca Belfioretti, from Italy, and Tom Vosmer, from Australia. They made trips to Pune in India in search of wood and also to Ghana for the Afzelia Africana timber. Both woods are known for their ability to withstand a battering by rough seas and bad weather, they said.
“The West African and India connection of timber used for the construction of a boat in Oman those days is based on archaeological evidence,” Mr Belfioretti said.
The vessel will depart from the yard where it was built in Qantab, a fishing village near Muscat that is part of Oman’s rich maritime tradition of seafarers setting off across the world on trade missions.
“The overall distance is roughly about 3,000 nautical miles, depending on the wind direction. The vessel will be on the mercy of the wind and will not sail in a straight line,” Capt al Jabri said.
The voyage, sponsored by Oman’s ministry of foreign affairs, came from an idea proposed by Singapore and is being funded by both countries.
The journey was inspired by the ship that went down in the ninth century off Belitung, an island on the east coast of Sumatra in Indonesia, according to Mr Vosmer. The wreck was accidentally discovered by fishermen in 1998 and the Indonesian government gave a German company permission to excavate the wreck. The rich cargo that it was carrying became known as the Tang Treasures.
The German excavators found 60,000 pieces of rare Chinese porcelain when they lifted the ship. International experts who identified the Tang Treasures said they were produced from kilns in what is now the Chinese province of Hunan.
Indonesian authorities in published reports said that the treasures include rare blue and white porcelain, tricoloured glazed pottery from the Tang dynasty and three early Qinghua plates, the best preserved of their kind ever found.
They also said the Arabic inscriptions found on some of the pieces suggested the pottery was produced and transported in the early ninth century, and carbon dating has confirmed this.
The Arabic inscription is a strong indication that the treasures were being exported to Arab countries. The shipwreck itself also revealed much about Arab shipbuilding and navigation from the period. Well-preserved fragments of the ship showed that stitching was used by Arab craftsmen to bind the timber of the hull, the Indonesian authorities said.
Mr Vosmer, a maritime archaeologist based in Muscat, believes the sunken ship was built in Oman and carried the treasure from China for export destined to one of the Arab countries.
Mr Vosmer hopes the Jewel of Muscat will not only publicise Oman’s former maritime greatness but also shed some light on the sunken ship.
“We are looking to discover more about how the original ship was built, how it handled and how it sailed. As well as this, we are hoping to find out what life on board was like and even perhaps why it sank,” Mr Vosmer said.
The Jewel of Muscat’s crew will employ ninth century navigational methods including a technique called Al Kamal, which determines the latitude of the celestial bodies to calculate the distance to a given destination.
Capt al Jabri will have 17 other people on-board, including nine Omani sailors helped by four trainee crew, a couple of technical support personnel, a journalist from the National Geographic magazine, a video cameramen and a photographer.
Capt al Jabri was born in Haramel in Muscat, in his parents’ house just metres away from the beach. He has 23-years of sailing experience, the majority of it working for the Royal Navy of Oman onboard its tall ship, the Shabab Oman. He holds a position of a training officer on the ship, which has sailed around the world several times for international regattas and historic voyages.
“It is not going to be a smooth sailing to Singapore. We expect very rough weather in the Bay of Bengal. It is the one of the most hostile patches of water in the world. It is a journey of perseverance where everybody on-board will live on minimum and basic surroundings during the course of the journey,” Capt al Jabri said.
The vessel will have only a radio for emergency calls and will have no other ships to escort it. Everybody onboard will sleep on bunks and use the same galley and toilet facilities used by ancient Omani mariners. The diet will be primarily dates, dried fish, rice and plenty of coffee served in traditional cups.
The first port of call from Muscat will be India’s Cochin after a month at sea. The crew will break for two to four weeks to carry out maintenance. The trainee crew of different nationalities will be replaced by a new team.
The ship will then sail on the monsoon wind towards Sri Lanka to dock at the south-western port of Galle for another two-week maintenance break. Depending on the monsoon, the journey will take 10 to 14 days.
“Then we will start our sternest challenge of the journey,” Capt al Jabri said, “across the Bay of Bengal. It is not the easiest route and one of the busiest in the world and notorious for its bad weather.”
If all goes well, Capt al Jabri will guide the vessel to Penang in northern Malaysia. “Depending on south-westerly wind and how rough the sailing will be, we expect to reach Penang in three to four weeks. But we are going to stop for only a few days, mostly a week, because we don’t want to miss the monsoon wind blowing towards our next stop in Malacca,” he explained.
The trip to Malacca is expected to last a week and the crew will rest a few days before embarking for their final destination in Singapore. They expect to arrive there in early July.
“The voyage’s schedule will depend on the weather conditions because the ship has no engine and will entirely rely on the monsoon’s winds,” Chris Beggins, the voyage’s project manager said.
The Jewel of Muscat will be placed in a museum in the city state, its final resting place, in accordance with an agreement between Oman and Singapore.
salshaibany@thenational.ae
Source: The National: Jewel sets sail on a tide of history
Thursday, 14 January 2010
THE OTHER FRONTIERS OF ARAB NATIONALISM: IBADIS, BERBERS, AND THE ARABIST-SALAFI PRESS IN THE INTERWAR PERIOD
An article published by the wonderful Dr Amal Ghazal of Dalhousie University, Halifa, Canada will be of interest to Omani scholars and others interested in the history of Oman.
Here is the abstract published in the International Journal of Middle Easter Studies (IJMES): International Journal of Middle East Studies (2010), 42:105-122 Cambridge University Press
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010
doi:10.1017/S0020743809990559
Articles
THE OTHER FRONTIERS OF ARAB NATIONALISM: IBADIS, BERBERS, AND THE ARABIST-SALAFI PRESS IN THE INTERWAR PERIOD
Amal N. Ghazal c1
Article author query
ghazal an Google Scholar
The historiography of Arab nationalism has tended to concentrate on the secular press from the Mashriq, especially the Cairo–Beirut axis, at the expense of the religious nationalist press and the non-Mashriqi one. There is often an assumption that reliance on the secular press from the Mashriq alone can provide a clear picture of Arab intellectual life and that a proper analysis of that thought can be confined to a few intellectual centers in the eastern Arab world. Although there has never been an explicit claim that such a focus is the end of the story, there have not been enough attempts to look beyond the Cairo–Beirut axis and beyond its secular press organs in search of a broader story of the depth and breadth of Arab nationalism. This article addresses this imbalance by examining an Arabist-Salafi press network that operated between Algeria, Tunisia, Zanzibar, and Egypt and involved members of two sectarian communities, Sunnis and Ibadis. This Arabist-Salafi press network created a public sphere of intellectual engagement in which Salafism and nationalism were interwoven, producing a nationalist discourse transgressing post World War I borders of identity and linking the three layers of nationalism—the territorial, the Pan-Arab, and the Pan-Islamic—together. These layers not only intersected but also legitimized one another.
Correspondence:
Amal Ghazal is an Assistant Professor in the Department of History, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada; e-mail: amal.ghazal@dal.ca
Here is the abstract published in the International Journal of Middle Easter Studies (IJMES): International Journal of Middle East Studies (2010), 42:105-122 Cambridge University Press
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010
doi:10.1017/S0020743809990559
Articles
THE OTHER FRONTIERS OF ARAB NATIONALISM: IBADIS, BERBERS, AND THE ARABIST-SALAFI PRESS IN THE INTERWAR PERIOD
Amal N. Ghazal c1
Article author query
ghazal an Google Scholar
The historiography of Arab nationalism has tended to concentrate on the secular press from the Mashriq, especially the Cairo–Beirut axis, at the expense of the religious nationalist press and the non-Mashriqi one. There is often an assumption that reliance on the secular press from the Mashriq alone can provide a clear picture of Arab intellectual life and that a proper analysis of that thought can be confined to a few intellectual centers in the eastern Arab world. Although there has never been an explicit claim that such a focus is the end of the story, there have not been enough attempts to look beyond the Cairo–Beirut axis and beyond its secular press organs in search of a broader story of the depth and breadth of Arab nationalism. This article addresses this imbalance by examining an Arabist-Salafi press network that operated between Algeria, Tunisia, Zanzibar, and Egypt and involved members of two sectarian communities, Sunnis and Ibadis. This Arabist-Salafi press network created a public sphere of intellectual engagement in which Salafism and nationalism were interwoven, producing a nationalist discourse transgressing post World War I borders of identity and linking the three layers of nationalism—the territorial, the Pan-Arab, and the Pan-Islamic—together. These layers not only intersected but also legitimized one another.
Correspondence:
Amal Ghazal is an Assistant Professor in the Department of History, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada; e-mail: amal.ghazal@dal.ca
An uphill struggle for Omani herdswomen
MUSCAT // Herdswomen in rural areas are struggling to keep their traditional livelihoods as the market for meat and livestock in Oman is increasingly dominated by imports.
With the help of her three younger sisters, Zeena Salah, 36, a herdswoman from Mahut in the al Wusta Region, takes her flock of 250 sheep and goats from their pen to graze in the wadi every day, just 2km from her family home.
Ms Salah said she had been a herdswoman since she was 14, a livelihood she inherited from her mother, who died nine years ago.
In Oman’s rural areas, men often work on their farms growing vegetables and fruits while the livestock rearing is left to women because it is seen as less strenuous work. The farm, said Ms Salah, does not fetch enough money to provide for her extended family.
“So the livestock business makes up for the rest, which is much needed. But in the past five years, the business is being squeezed by traders importing cheap animals from abroad they literally flood the market. Our sales now depends only on rich folk who prefer locally bred livestock because we feed our animals with chemical-free feedstock,” Ms Salah said.
Statistics from the animal wealth department show that about 1.45 million livestock are bred in Oman, a country with a population of about three million people. About 25 per cent of the livestock are sheep, 30 per cent goats and the rest cows and camels.
Traders who import livestock argue that the statistics show there are not enough animals bred in the country to satisfy local demand, especially in the festive seasons.
“In the two Eids, the demand soars to more than a million goats and sheep slaughtered for private people and hotels celebrating the religious occasions,” said Khalfan Marhoobi, distribution manager of the Muscat-based Livestock and Meat Supply Company. “Then there is the daily consumption of meat sold at butchers and supermarkets. Locally bred livestock cannot cater for this demand.”
The key difference between the imported and locally bred meat, however, is the price. “A local live sheep or goat costs 60 Omani rials [Dh595]. You can get the same animals imported abroad from Somalia or Iran each for 40 rials. The difference is about a third of the price,” Hussain al Lawati, a 42-year-old customer, said.
This economic reality has created a thriving market for imported meat and livestock, which is dominated by imports from Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan and India, butchers said.
“Butchers in Oman sell only meat imported from abroad because it is cheaper to buy from distributors bringing it from overseas than directly from Omani breeders. I don’t know any distributor supplying meat from local livestock,” Saifullah Khan, a Pakistani butcher in Muscat said.
There are no statistics available to the amount of meat consumed in Oman or total livestock slaughtered, but Mr Khan estimated that only a quarter of locally produced meat finds the market in the country.
“To me, local meat ensures freshness and is free of chemicals usually injected to foreign livestock to make animals fat. Besides, if we buy locally produced meat, we keep alive the tradition started by our ancestors,” Salim al Brashdi, a 36-year-old Omani consumer said.
As for the high price of local livestock, Mr Brashdi suggested the government grant subsidies to herdswomen, the same way farmers and fishermen get free farming and fishing equipment.
“I think something like that to suit herdswomen can be worked out,” Mr al Brashdi said.
Some herdswomen have urged the government to put a cap on the import of livestock or fresh meat from abroad to help them revive their trade but they are yet to approach a government department to file a complaint.
“The government must regulate the meat market and put a levy on imported meat and livestock to protect us. We cannot compete with importers who are dumping the livestock at a cheaper price from abroad,” said Sharifa Farah, 46, a herdswoman in Fanja, a town about 70km from Muscat.
Government officials were not available to comment, but livestock experts blamed local meat distributors for not doing enough to promote locally bred animals.
“Herdswomen rely heavily on selling livestock directly to consumers or they auction the animals in the local souqs in a town’s square. These women are not educated and they only know to sell the way it has always been done for centuries. Distributors need to help by cutting down on imports and promote local meat,” Khamfar Jaalan, 74, a retired ministry of agriculture official, said.
Mr Marhoobi agreed with this assessment but said all meat distributors must be required to sell local meat and livestock.
“What is needed is the compliance of all distributors. After all, the attraction of locally bred animals is that their food is not tampered by chemicals to fatten them up,” Mr Marhoobi said. “Besides, as nationals, we have the obligation to make sure this ancient trade survives.”
salshaibany@thenational.ae
Source: The National: An uphill struggle for Omani herdswomen
With the help of her three younger sisters, Zeena Salah, 36, a herdswoman from Mahut in the al Wusta Region, takes her flock of 250 sheep and goats from their pen to graze in the wadi every day, just 2km from her family home.
Ms Salah said she had been a herdswoman since she was 14, a livelihood she inherited from her mother, who died nine years ago.
In Oman’s rural areas, men often work on their farms growing vegetables and fruits while the livestock rearing is left to women because it is seen as less strenuous work. The farm, said Ms Salah, does not fetch enough money to provide for her extended family.
“So the livestock business makes up for the rest, which is much needed. But in the past five years, the business is being squeezed by traders importing cheap animals from abroad they literally flood the market. Our sales now depends only on rich folk who prefer locally bred livestock because we feed our animals with chemical-free feedstock,” Ms Salah said.
Statistics from the animal wealth department show that about 1.45 million livestock are bred in Oman, a country with a population of about three million people. About 25 per cent of the livestock are sheep, 30 per cent goats and the rest cows and camels.
Traders who import livestock argue that the statistics show there are not enough animals bred in the country to satisfy local demand, especially in the festive seasons.
“In the two Eids, the demand soars to more than a million goats and sheep slaughtered for private people and hotels celebrating the religious occasions,” said Khalfan Marhoobi, distribution manager of the Muscat-based Livestock and Meat Supply Company. “Then there is the daily consumption of meat sold at butchers and supermarkets. Locally bred livestock cannot cater for this demand.”
The key difference between the imported and locally bred meat, however, is the price. “A local live sheep or goat costs 60 Omani rials [Dh595]. You can get the same animals imported abroad from Somalia or Iran each for 40 rials. The difference is about a third of the price,” Hussain al Lawati, a 42-year-old customer, said.
This economic reality has created a thriving market for imported meat and livestock, which is dominated by imports from Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan and India, butchers said.
“Butchers in Oman sell only meat imported from abroad because it is cheaper to buy from distributors bringing it from overseas than directly from Omani breeders. I don’t know any distributor supplying meat from local livestock,” Saifullah Khan, a Pakistani butcher in Muscat said.
There are no statistics available to the amount of meat consumed in Oman or total livestock slaughtered, but Mr Khan estimated that only a quarter of locally produced meat finds the market in the country.
“To me, local meat ensures freshness and is free of chemicals usually injected to foreign livestock to make animals fat. Besides, if we buy locally produced meat, we keep alive the tradition started by our ancestors,” Salim al Brashdi, a 36-year-old Omani consumer said.
As for the high price of local livestock, Mr Brashdi suggested the government grant subsidies to herdswomen, the same way farmers and fishermen get free farming and fishing equipment.
“I think something like that to suit herdswomen can be worked out,” Mr al Brashdi said.
Some herdswomen have urged the government to put a cap on the import of livestock or fresh meat from abroad to help them revive their trade but they are yet to approach a government department to file a complaint.
“The government must regulate the meat market and put a levy on imported meat and livestock to protect us. We cannot compete with importers who are dumping the livestock at a cheaper price from abroad,” said Sharifa Farah, 46, a herdswoman in Fanja, a town about 70km from Muscat.
Government officials were not available to comment, but livestock experts blamed local meat distributors for not doing enough to promote locally bred animals.
“Herdswomen rely heavily on selling livestock directly to consumers or they auction the animals in the local souqs in a town’s square. These women are not educated and they only know to sell the way it has always been done for centuries. Distributors need to help by cutting down on imports and promote local meat,” Khamfar Jaalan, 74, a retired ministry of agriculture official, said.
Mr Marhoobi agreed with this assessment but said all meat distributors must be required to sell local meat and livestock.
“What is needed is the compliance of all distributors. After all, the attraction of locally bred animals is that their food is not tampered by chemicals to fatten them up,” Mr Marhoobi said. “Besides, as nationals, we have the obligation to make sure this ancient trade survives.”
salshaibany@thenational.ae
Source: The National: An uphill struggle for Omani herdswomen
Wednesday, 26 August 2009
Fragrant memories
SINBAD the sailor was here. Or at least the Omanis I meet swear this is
true. The famed teller of tall tales was born in the port of Sohar, or so the story goes. Perhaps he was, but some historians suggest Sinbad hailed from ancient Persia or Mesopotamia. Others cruelly contend he didn't exist and was a composite based on adventurers who took to sailing ships to spread Islam. Omanis ranged far and wide: hunger for prized spices meant the isle of Zanzibar, off Tanzania's coast, was Oman-ruled for almost two centuries until 1856.
Marco Polo visited Oman in 1285, extolling a frankincense port called al-Baleed, where contemporary archeologists now sweat in roped-off surrounds on the outskirts of Salalah, Oman's second city. Even more revered is Ibn Battuta, a renowned 14th-century wanderer who, as a Moroccan, is accurately described as the Arab world's, as well as Africa's, most intrepid traveller. The Arabian Peninsula, I'm frequently reminded, is a bridge between Africa and Asia.
From al-Baleed's brown walls of stone, their remains seldom more than waist-high, I head into the adjoining Museum of the Frankincense Land. It encapsulates Omani history and the pivotal role of frankincense trading as well as showcasing contemporary Oman, the petrochemical industry and the initiatives of head of state Sultan Qaboos bin Said al-Said.
Then there's the queen of Sheba. Many Omanis believe one of her palaces was within another frankincense port, Samhuram, at Khor Rori, a half hour's drive from Salalah; it can take longer if wandering camels linger while crossing the asphalt highway. An ostentatiously wealthy monarch, the queen reputedly showered King Solomon, builder of the first temple in Jerusalem, with lavish gifts of frankincense.
Some authorities pooh-pooh this, insisting the queen of Sheba -- whose kingdom reputedly encompassed parts of Ethiopia, Eritrea and Yemen -- was unfamiliar with Samhuram.
Whatever the truth, there's no disputing this Dhofar governorate oozes colourful stories in a complex intertwining of history and legend. Archeological digs continue at various locations, unearthing the past and exposing the fanciful.
Tourists come increasingly to Salalah, rambling amid ruins and lazing at beach resorts; they are attracted because Salalah is an Omani oddity where monsoonal rains, absent elsewhere in Arabia, allow bananas and other tropical fruits to be cultivated, sometimes surrounded by extreme aridity. Other pursuits include wadi-bashing (in four-wheel-drive vehicles on dry riverbeds), dune-bashing (plunging from dune cliffs in 4WDs, with soft sand slowing downward speed), sea trips to view dolphin pods and trudges along remote beaches where turtles hatch.
A common thread through Oman's past is the frankincense trade. Capitalising on this, Oman terms itself "the frankincense land". It is as much a symbol of the sultanate as distinctive headgear and khanjars (curved daggers). Omanis boast of their history and their preservation of the old, in stark contrast to the neighbouring emirates of Dubai and Abu Dhabi, where the emphasis is firmly on the new.
Dried resin from frankincense trees is still placed in pebble-sized pieces in burners in homes and workplaces, emitting a pleasing aroma, much like musky incense. The smell is in the smoke.
Some of Oman's most eye-catching monuments are shaped like giant frankincense burners. Frankincense is harvested mainly for perfume-making. It's an ingredient, too, at Amouage, an Omani venture supported by Sultan Qaboos that produces expensive fragrances sold at duty-free shops and perfumeries worldwide.
Britain's T.E. Lawrence, or Lawrence of Arabia, suspected that land near an oasis named Shisr in Oman's Empty Quarter -- a forbidding but enticing zone of shifting sands -- concealed the legendary lost city of Ubar. Subsequent archeological research, using space-age sensing equipment, has confirmed this. Researchers believe references to a place called Irem in the Koran relate to Ubar, a hub of the frankincense business. Trade routes led to and from it before the city disappeared under drifting dunes. Digs have so far unearthed a fort, towers, city walls and artefacts.
Shisr is part of a World Heritage-listed frankincense trail but because it is 200km from Salalah it is less visited than easily accessible al-Baleed, Khor Rori and Wadi Dawkah Frankincense Park. Friends in Muscat, Oman's capital, are unanimous: Samhuram at Khor Rori is the most impressive set of ruins. They're right, though al-Baleed, handily at Salalah's edge, better suits the exceedingly time-poor.
Historical daydreams envelop me as, with a driver named Ali, I negotiate hairpin bends on a one-hour climb into the Dhofar Mountains. Ali, though friendly, is less loquacious than most Omanis I meet. Conversations are usually one of the joys of Oman. Fortunately, Ali isn't a frustrated rally driver so I have plenty of time to think on the road to Wadi Dawkah. We sit behind trucks piled high with bananas on their 1000km journey from Salalah to Muscat. They struggle, sometimes slowing to less than walking pace.
When our descent begins, the pace quickens. We turn from highway to dirt track; a sign announces Wadi Dawkah Frankincense Park. Frankincense comes from an arid-zone tree of the same name, not among the world's prettiest. Occasionally emerging from seemingly solid rock where roots penetrate the narrowest of crevices, these trees often grow near wadis supplying access to subterranean moisture.
Ali scoops seeping resin from one of many trunks and holds it beneath my nose. The gorgeous fragrance is unmistakably frankincense. Khor Rori's pathways take me through the ruins of 4th-century Samhuram: residential areas, shops and frankincense storage areas (but no visible remnants as yet of the queen of Sheba's purported palace). The area, about 200m by 50m, offers splendid views of the sea and countryside. I pause at one of several look-outs to gaze across calm sea towards the horizon, imagining sailing ships laden with fragrant cargoes heading to distant destinations. Between me and the sea is the bluest of lagoons, a safe haven for sailing ships. Khors are lagoons with openings to the sea, a common feature of the local landscape. Frankincense, Ali reminds me, was transported to this port on camels' backs along desert trade routes. I turn from the sea. The Dhofar Mountains rise in the distance. From these ranges to the coast is a rocky plain with little vegetation. It reminds me of travelling from Western Australia to South Australia across the Nullarbor Plain. Then, far away, I spot camels, 18 in all and moving in a line across this harsh vista.
Not all the ruins in the Salalah area are frankincense related. At Beit Zarbij, 27km from Salalah, is Job's Tomb, burial place of a prophet featured in the Old Testament and the Koran. A nearby spring called Sharsate is said to have gushed wildly in response to one of Job's prayers; it's another reminder that Oman is a meeting place of history and legend.
Chris Pritchard was a guest of Oman Air.
Checklist
Fly to Oman via Abu Dhabi with Etihad, via Dubai with Emirates or via Bangkok with Thai Airways. Oman Air flies from Muscat to Salalah. Thai Airways has economy-class return fares to Muscat from $1702 and Bangkok stopovers from $9 a person. More: www.thaiairways.com.au; www.omanair.aero.
Creative Tours has an eight-day Classical Oman tour from $2711 a person twin-share that includes Muscat and Salalah; the cost covers return flights from Muscat to Salalah, seven nights in four-star accommodation, some meals, transfers, entrance fees and guided sightseeing with English-speaking driver. More: www.creativeholidays.com.au.
Muscat's top accommodation ranges from the beachside Shangri-la Barr Al Jissah Resort & Spa and the Grand Hyatt Muscat, to the luxury low-rise Chedi Muscat. More: www.shangri-la.com; www.hyatt.com; www.ghmhotels.com.
www.omantourism.gov.om
Source: The Australian
true. The famed teller of tall tales was born in the port of Sohar, or so the story goes. Perhaps he was, but some historians suggest Sinbad hailed from ancient Persia or Mesopotamia. Others cruelly contend he didn't exist and was a composite based on adventurers who took to sailing ships to spread Islam. Omanis ranged far and wide: hunger for prized spices meant the isle of Zanzibar, off Tanzania's coast, was Oman-ruled for almost two centuries until 1856.
Marco Polo visited Oman in 1285, extolling a frankincense port called al-Baleed, where contemporary archeologists now sweat in roped-off surrounds on the outskirts of Salalah, Oman's second city. Even more revered is Ibn Battuta, a renowned 14th-century wanderer who, as a Moroccan, is accurately described as the Arab world's, as well as Africa's, most intrepid traveller. The Arabian Peninsula, I'm frequently reminded, is a bridge between Africa and Asia.
From al-Baleed's brown walls of stone, their remains seldom more than waist-high, I head into the adjoining Museum of the Frankincense Land. It encapsulates Omani history and the pivotal role of frankincense trading as well as showcasing contemporary Oman, the petrochemical industry and the initiatives of head of state Sultan Qaboos bin Said al-Said.
Then there's the queen of Sheba. Many Omanis believe one of her palaces was within another frankincense port, Samhuram, at Khor Rori, a half hour's drive from Salalah; it can take longer if wandering camels linger while crossing the asphalt highway. An ostentatiously wealthy monarch, the queen reputedly showered King Solomon, builder of the first temple in Jerusalem, with lavish gifts of frankincense.
Some authorities pooh-pooh this, insisting the queen of Sheba -- whose kingdom reputedly encompassed parts of Ethiopia, Eritrea and Yemen -- was unfamiliar with Samhuram.
Whatever the truth, there's no disputing this Dhofar governorate oozes colourful stories in a complex intertwining of history and legend. Archeological digs continue at various locations, unearthing the past and exposing the fanciful.
Tourists come increasingly to Salalah, rambling amid ruins and lazing at beach resorts; they are attracted because Salalah is an Omani oddity where monsoonal rains, absent elsewhere in Arabia, allow bananas and other tropical fruits to be cultivated, sometimes surrounded by extreme aridity. Other pursuits include wadi-bashing (in four-wheel-drive vehicles on dry riverbeds), dune-bashing (plunging from dune cliffs in 4WDs, with soft sand slowing downward speed), sea trips to view dolphin pods and trudges along remote beaches where turtles hatch.
A common thread through Oman's past is the frankincense trade. Capitalising on this, Oman terms itself "the frankincense land". It is as much a symbol of the sultanate as distinctive headgear and khanjars (curved daggers). Omanis boast of their history and their preservation of the old, in stark contrast to the neighbouring emirates of Dubai and Abu Dhabi, where the emphasis is firmly on the new.
Dried resin from frankincense trees is still placed in pebble-sized pieces in burners in homes and workplaces, emitting a pleasing aroma, much like musky incense. The smell is in the smoke.
Some of Oman's most eye-catching monuments are shaped like giant frankincense burners. Frankincense is harvested mainly for perfume-making. It's an ingredient, too, at Amouage, an Omani venture supported by Sultan Qaboos that produces expensive fragrances sold at duty-free shops and perfumeries worldwide.
Britain's T.E. Lawrence, or Lawrence of Arabia, suspected that land near an oasis named Shisr in Oman's Empty Quarter -- a forbidding but enticing zone of shifting sands -- concealed the legendary lost city of Ubar. Subsequent archeological research, using space-age sensing equipment, has confirmed this. Researchers believe references to a place called Irem in the Koran relate to Ubar, a hub of the frankincense business. Trade routes led to and from it before the city disappeared under drifting dunes. Digs have so far unearthed a fort, towers, city walls and artefacts.
Shisr is part of a World Heritage-listed frankincense trail but because it is 200km from Salalah it is less visited than easily accessible al-Baleed, Khor Rori and Wadi Dawkah Frankincense Park. Friends in Muscat, Oman's capital, are unanimous: Samhuram at Khor Rori is the most impressive set of ruins. They're right, though al-Baleed, handily at Salalah's edge, better suits the exceedingly time-poor.
Historical daydreams envelop me as, with a driver named Ali, I negotiate hairpin bends on a one-hour climb into the Dhofar Mountains. Ali, though friendly, is less loquacious than most Omanis I meet. Conversations are usually one of the joys of Oman. Fortunately, Ali isn't a frustrated rally driver so I have plenty of time to think on the road to Wadi Dawkah. We sit behind trucks piled high with bananas on their 1000km journey from Salalah to Muscat. They struggle, sometimes slowing to less than walking pace.
When our descent begins, the pace quickens. We turn from highway to dirt track; a sign announces Wadi Dawkah Frankincense Park. Frankincense comes from an arid-zone tree of the same name, not among the world's prettiest. Occasionally emerging from seemingly solid rock where roots penetrate the narrowest of crevices, these trees often grow near wadis supplying access to subterranean moisture.
Ali scoops seeping resin from one of many trunks and holds it beneath my nose. The gorgeous fragrance is unmistakably frankincense. Khor Rori's pathways take me through the ruins of 4th-century Samhuram: residential areas, shops and frankincense storage areas (but no visible remnants as yet of the queen of Sheba's purported palace). The area, about 200m by 50m, offers splendid views of the sea and countryside. I pause at one of several look-outs to gaze across calm sea towards the horizon, imagining sailing ships laden with fragrant cargoes heading to distant destinations. Between me and the sea is the bluest of lagoons, a safe haven for sailing ships. Khors are lagoons with openings to the sea, a common feature of the local landscape. Frankincense, Ali reminds me, was transported to this port on camels' backs along desert trade routes. I turn from the sea. The Dhofar Mountains rise in the distance. From these ranges to the coast is a rocky plain with little vegetation. It reminds me of travelling from Western Australia to South Australia across the Nullarbor Plain. Then, far away, I spot camels, 18 in all and moving in a line across this harsh vista.
Not all the ruins in the Salalah area are frankincense related. At Beit Zarbij, 27km from Salalah, is Job's Tomb, burial place of a prophet featured in the Old Testament and the Koran. A nearby spring called Sharsate is said to have gushed wildly in response to one of Job's prayers; it's another reminder that Oman is a meeting place of history and legend.
Chris Pritchard was a guest of Oman Air.
Checklist
Fly to Oman via Abu Dhabi with Etihad, via Dubai with Emirates or via Bangkok with Thai Airways. Oman Air flies from Muscat to Salalah. Thai Airways has economy-class return fares to Muscat from $1702 and Bangkok stopovers from $9 a person. More: www.thaiairways.com.au; www.omanair.aero.
Creative Tours has an eight-day Classical Oman tour from $2711 a person twin-share that includes Muscat and Salalah; the cost covers return flights from Muscat to Salalah, seven nights in four-star accommodation, some meals, transfers, entrance fees and guided sightseeing with English-speaking driver. More: www.creativeholidays.com.au.
Muscat's top accommodation ranges from the beachside Shangri-la Barr Al Jissah Resort & Spa and the Grand Hyatt Muscat, to the luxury low-rise Chedi Muscat. More: www.shangri-la.com; www.hyatt.com; www.ghmhotels.com.
www.omantourism.gov.om
Source: The Australian
Tuesday, 16 June 2009
On the Road: Traditional Omani Food
One aspect of travelling I particularly enjoy is the opportunity to try a plethora of new foods, especially of local cuisines and traditional foods. Oman being a very diverse nation-state offers the traveller many different cultural foods from Arab to Indian to East African and beyond. I have located some literature on Omani food which is pasted below. Much of it seems enticing and sounds delicious, especially the Maqboos and Laban. Yallah!!!
The Omani people are well known for their hospitality and offers of refreshment. To be invited into someone's home will mean coffee (kahwa), a strong, bitter drink flavoured with cardamom, and dates or halwa, a sticky sweet gelatinous substance which is made from brown sugar, eggs, honey and spices. It can be flavoured with many different ingredients, such as nuts, rosewater or even chocolate. Lokhemat is another accompaniment to coffee, which are balls of flour and yeast flavoured with cardamom and deep fried until golden then served with a sweet lime and cardamom syrup. The sweetness of this dish often counteracts the bitterness of the kahwa.
The Omani people are well known for their hospitality and offers of refreshment. To be invited into someone's home will mean coffee (kahwa), a strong, bitter drink flavoured with cardamom, and dates or halwa, a sticky sweet gelatinous substance which is made from brown sugar, eggs, honey and spices. It can be flavoured with many different ingredients, such as nuts, rosewater or even chocolate. Lokhemat is another accompaniment to coffee, which are balls of flour and yeast flavoured with cardamom and deep fried until golden then served with a sweet lime and cardamom syrup. The sweetness of this dish often counteracts the bitterness of the kahwa.
It is fairly simple, but by using various marinades and impregnating meat with spices, the result is a mouth-watering concoction which stimulates the tastebuds. Chicken, fish and mutton are regularly used in dishes. A favourite drink is laban, a salty buttermilk. Yoghurt drinks, flavoured with cardamom and pistachio nuts are also very popular.
Although spices, herbs, onion, garlic and lime are liberally used in traditional Omani cuisine, unlike similar Asian food, it is not hot. Omani cuisine is also distinct from the indigenous foods of other Gulf states and even varies within the Sultanate's different regions. The differences between some of the dishes prepared in Salalah, in the south, and those prepared in Muscat, in the north, are so market that it is difficult to find anything common between them. However, one delight that remains a symbol of Omani hospitality throughout the country are the ubiquitous dates, served with khawa, or Omani coffee. Khawa is prepared from freshly roasted ground coffee mixed with cardamom powder.
Special dishes are prepared for festive occasions. The Islamic world celebrates two main religious festivals - Eid Al Fitr and Eid Al Adha. Eid Al Fitr is celebrated following the Holy Month of Ramadan when people complete their obligatory fasting for 30 days. Eid Al Adha is celebrated on completing the Haj, or pilgrimage, to Mecca, commemorating the sacrifice of Abraham. Dishes prepared during Ramadan are very seldom cooked on other occasions.
Food cooked on important occasions, such as Eid, is of an infinite variety. Omanis across the country serve an array of dishes. In Dhofar and Wusta, the festivities start with ruz al mudhroub, a dish made of cooked rice and served with fried fish, and maqdeed, special dried meat. In Muscat, Al Batinah, Dahira and Sharqiya regions, muqalab, a dish of tripe and pluck cooked with crushed or ground spices (cinnamon, cardamom, clove, back pepper, ginger, garlic and nutmeg), dominates the menu. Other dishes served during Eid festivities include arsia, a dish of lamb meat cooked with rice, and mishkak, skewered meat grilled on charcoal.
Lunch on the first day of Eid is usually harees, which is made from wheat mixed with meat. Lunch on the second day is mishkak, while on the third and last day, shuwa forms the whole day's meal.
However, it is during Ramadan that one can experience Omani food at its best and two of the most popular traditional dishes served at Iftar, the breaking of the fast include sakhana, a thick, sweet soup made of wheat, date, molasses and milk and fatta, a meat and vegetable dish, mixed with khubz rakhal, thin Omani bread, made out of unleavened dough.
Shuwa is a typically Omani delicacy prepared only on very special occasions. Whole villages participate in the cooking of the dish which consists of a whole cow or goat roasted for up to two days in an special oven prepared in a pit dug in the ground.
The method of preparing shuwa is elaborate. The meat is marinated with red pepper, turmeric, coriander, cumin, cardamom, garlic and vinegar and then wrapped in sacks made of dry banana or palm leaves. These sacks are then thrown into the smoldering oven, which is covered with a lid and sealed so that no smoke escapes. In some villages, the meat is cooked for 24 hours while in others it is believed that meat tastes better after 48 hours.
Everyday Omani cuisine includes a wide variety of soups - vegetable, lentil, lamb and chicken. Salads are also popular and are usually based around fresh vegetables, smoked eggplant, tuna fish, dried fish or watercress. Main course dishes are extensive and range from marak, a vegetable curry, to assorted kebabs, barbecued, grilled and curried meat, chicken and fish dishes.
Rice is used widely and is served in a variety of ways, from steamed to elaborate concoctions bursting with meat and vegetables. Breads rage from the plain to those flavoured with dates, sesame, thyme and garlic. For desert, Omani halwa, or sweatmeat, is a traditional favourite.
Source: www.omanet.om
The Omani people are well known for their hospitality and offers of refreshment. To be invited into someone's home will mean coffee (kahwa), a strong, bitter drink flavoured with cardamom, and dates or halwa, a sticky sweet gelatinous substance which is made from brown sugar, eggs, honey and spices. It can be flavoured with many different ingredients, such as nuts, rosewater or even chocolate. Lokhemat is another accompaniment to coffee, which are balls of flour and yeast flavoured with cardamom and deep fried until golden then served with a sweet lime and cardamom syrup. The sweetness of this dish often counteracts the bitterness of the kahwa.
The Omani people are well known for their hospitality and offers of refreshment. To be invited into someone's home will mean coffee (kahwa), a strong, bitter drink flavoured with cardamom, and dates or halwa, a sticky sweet gelatinous substance which is made from brown sugar, eggs, honey and spices. It can be flavoured with many different ingredients, such as nuts, rosewater or even chocolate. Lokhemat is another accompaniment to coffee, which are balls of flour and yeast flavoured with cardamom and deep fried until golden then served with a sweet lime and cardamom syrup. The sweetness of this dish often counteracts the bitterness of the kahwa.
It is fairly simple, but by using various marinades and impregnating meat with spices, the result is a mouth-watering concoction which stimulates the tastebuds. Chicken, fish and mutton are regularly used in dishes. A favourite drink is laban, a salty buttermilk. Yoghurt drinks, flavoured with cardamom and pistachio nuts are also very popular.
Although spices, herbs, onion, garlic and lime are liberally used in traditional Omani cuisine, unlike similar Asian food, it is not hot. Omani cuisine is also distinct from the indigenous foods of other Gulf states and even varies within the Sultanate's different regions. The differences between some of the dishes prepared in Salalah, in the south, and those prepared in Muscat, in the north, are so market that it is difficult to find anything common between them. However, one delight that remains a symbol of Omani hospitality throughout the country are the ubiquitous dates, served with khawa, or Omani coffee. Khawa is prepared from freshly roasted ground coffee mixed with cardamom powder.
Special dishes are prepared for festive occasions. The Islamic world celebrates two main religious festivals - Eid Al Fitr and Eid Al Adha. Eid Al Fitr is celebrated following the Holy Month of Ramadan when people complete their obligatory fasting for 30 days. Eid Al Adha is celebrated on completing the Haj, or pilgrimage, to Mecca, commemorating the sacrifice of Abraham. Dishes prepared during Ramadan are very seldom cooked on other occasions.
Food cooked on important occasions, such as Eid, is of an infinite variety. Omanis across the country serve an array of dishes. In Dhofar and Wusta, the festivities start with ruz al mudhroub, a dish made of cooked rice and served with fried fish, and maqdeed, special dried meat. In Muscat, Al Batinah, Dahira and Sharqiya regions, muqalab, a dish of tripe and pluck cooked with crushed or ground spices (cinnamon, cardamom, clove, back pepper, ginger, garlic and nutmeg), dominates the menu. Other dishes served during Eid festivities include arsia, a dish of lamb meat cooked with rice, and mishkak, skewered meat grilled on charcoal.
Lunch on the first day of Eid is usually harees, which is made from wheat mixed with meat. Lunch on the second day is mishkak, while on the third and last day, shuwa forms the whole day's meal.
However, it is during Ramadan that one can experience Omani food at its best and two of the most popular traditional dishes served at Iftar, the breaking of the fast include sakhana, a thick, sweet soup made of wheat, date, molasses and milk and fatta, a meat and vegetable dish, mixed with khubz rakhal, thin Omani bread, made out of unleavened dough.
Shuwa is a typically Omani delicacy prepared only on very special occasions. Whole villages participate in the cooking of the dish which consists of a whole cow or goat roasted for up to two days in an special oven prepared in a pit dug in the ground.
The method of preparing shuwa is elaborate. The meat is marinated with red pepper, turmeric, coriander, cumin, cardamom, garlic and vinegar and then wrapped in sacks made of dry banana or palm leaves. These sacks are then thrown into the smoldering oven, which is covered with a lid and sealed so that no smoke escapes. In some villages, the meat is cooked for 24 hours while in others it is believed that meat tastes better after 48 hours.
Everyday Omani cuisine includes a wide variety of soups - vegetable, lentil, lamb and chicken. Salads are also popular and are usually based around fresh vegetables, smoked eggplant, tuna fish, dried fish or watercress. Main course dishes are extensive and range from marak, a vegetable curry, to assorted kebabs, barbecued, grilled and curried meat, chicken and fish dishes.
Rice is used widely and is served in a variety of ways, from steamed to elaborate concoctions bursting with meat and vegetables. Breads rage from the plain to those flavoured with dates, sesame, thyme and garlic. For desert, Omani halwa, or sweatmeat, is a traditional favourite.
Source: www.omanet.om
Monday, 15 June 2009
This is the tavern...Ali Mehdi
I received an email with a beautiful poem by a late Omani poet, Ali Mehdi. He was a well known poet and a prolific blogger under the pen name of Sleepless in Muscat. The poem below I translated with additional clarification provided by a dear friend. The poem is six stanzas in length, although I only translated the first. The remaining five stanzas, and the poem in its entirety may be read at Diwan al Arab.
حانة
هذه الحانة ُ والليلُ وأصنافُ الهموم
رحلة ٌ تفتحُ لي بابا ً..
لكي أغفو على خدّ النجوم
طائرا ً ما بين أرض ٍ و سماءِ
وليكن تحت حذائي
كلّ ما كانَ ..
فلا شىء مع الوقت يدوم
أيّها النادلُ كأسا ً ..
وليكن للثلج فيها ما يكون
قطعة ٌ تكفي .. أو اجعلها اثنتين ِ
الآنَ ناولني الثريّا
واتركِ الأرضَ لمن يسكنها منذ قرون ..
إنّني أسكنُ وحدي الآنَ أضواءَ (النيون) .
Tavern: Ali Mehdi, Oman
This is the tavern, and the night, and the kinds of concerns;
A journey that opens for me a door…
So that I fall asleep on the cheek of the stars,
Flying between the land and sky.
Let be under my shoe
All that was!...
Nothing lasts with time…
Waiter, a glass!
How many pieces of ice? Doesn’t matter…
A piece it’s enough or make it two!
Now give me the Pleiades,
And leave the Earth to those who have been dwelling on it for centuries…
I now am the one who inhabits alone the light of the stars…
حانة
هذه الحانة ُ والليلُ وأصنافُ الهموم
رحلة ٌ تفتحُ لي بابا ً..
لكي أغفو على خدّ النجوم
طائرا ً ما بين أرض ٍ و سماءِ
وليكن تحت حذائي
كلّ ما كانَ ..
فلا شىء مع الوقت يدوم
أيّها النادلُ كأسا ً ..
وليكن للثلج فيها ما يكون
قطعة ٌ تكفي .. أو اجعلها اثنتين ِ
الآنَ ناولني الثريّا
واتركِ الأرضَ لمن يسكنها منذ قرون ..
إنّني أسكنُ وحدي الآنَ أضواءَ (النيون) .
Tavern: Ali Mehdi, Oman
This is the tavern, and the night, and the kinds of concerns;
A journey that opens for me a door…
So that I fall asleep on the cheek of the stars,
Flying between the land and sky.
Let be under my shoe
All that was!...
Nothing lasts with time…
Waiter, a glass!
How many pieces of ice? Doesn’t matter…
A piece it’s enough or make it two!
Now give me the Pleiades,
And leave the Earth to those who have been dwelling on it for centuries…
I now am the one who inhabits alone the light of the stars…
Tuesday, 9 June 2009
Oman: overview
Generally speaking the small Gulf nation-state of Oman (عمان) has received very little scholarly or related attention. In fact, a quick search on this nation-state using Google, Bing or other search engine will guide the researcher to small amounts of information, some of which is useful. However, in relation to its neighbours such the UAE or Qatar, Oman receives little to not attention especially by the press. This seems an unfortunate circumstance for, what I have read to date (which is not significant) Oman strikes me as a fascinating nation-state. It would not suffice to review the diverse culture living within its borders, however a brief mention would permit an interesting comparison to the perception most of have of Oman: the Gulf nation consists of Baluchis (predominantly from Pakistan, although some are of Iranian heritage), Persians, Zadjalis (predominantly from Pakistan, around the Sind area), Hindus (predominantly from India, the Sind and Gujarat), Lawatiyya or Khojas (from India and of Shiite practice) and Zanzibaris (from Zanzibar in modern day Tanzania), to name but a few. The diversity, it seems, although having some ramifications in terms of communal integration and acceptance, co-exists in a manner perhaps comparable to Syria or even Morrocco. While a civil war did take place in the 1970s that from many account was gruesome at times, the current climate of Oman is one of a blossoming civil society. Oman is predominantly (roughly 75-80%)Ibadhi (الاباضية) Muslim which is a sect of Sunni Islam. Some scholars believe it to have developed from Kharajites (خوارج), a strict sect of Islam adherent to the belief that an able leader should guide the Muslim community (ummah) as opposed, generally speaking to the Shi'ite doctrine that the Ummah should be guided by a member of the Prophet Muhammad's family. However, I still need to do further research into this practice of Islam before I can elaborate further. Suffice to say the rest of Omani culture practice other forms of Islam such Shi'ism (Twelver Shi'ism, which is the dominant religion of Iran; and Jafari Shi'ism) while a very small minority of Hindu worshipers, Christians, Zoroastrians and even Bahai's also dwell in Oman.
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