ʿAbd-ar-Raḥmān Ibn-Sulaimān as- Sālimī Books

This bi-lingual lexicon of Arabic maritime terminology reflects the Arab’s linguistic relationship with the sea. It gives in-depth definitions in Arabic and English of nautical Arabic technology in the western Indian Ocean, with a particular emphasis on the eastern and southern coasts of the Arabian peninsula, and is thematically organized in five sections. Part One examines the variety of vessel types and other general terms found in Arabic literature during the Islamic period to present. Part Two explores the different terms used for constructing boats and ships in the region. Part Three looks at the rich terminology used for sailing these vessels across the seas. Part Four delves in depth into the terms used in the Arabic navigational literature, with a particular emphasis on the works of Ibn Majid and Sulayman al-Mahri. Part Five looks at the terminology used for fishing and pearling, two vital and historic industries in the Arabian Peninsula. Although this lexicon relies heavily on historical sources and classical Arabic lexicons, it also applies an interdisciplinary approach, integrating oral and archaeological evidence whenever possible to supplement our understandings of these terms. Collectively, it records the linguistic wealth found in the Arabic language.

This interdisciplinary work emphasizes the maritime dimensions of Oman’s past, as both archaeologists and historians delve into a variety of sources to unearth its rich history. It explores Oman’s long and enduring relationship with the sea, which has had a profound impact on its history. The inhabitants of Oman who sailed to Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley in the Bronze Age helped initiate the beginnings of long-distance maritime commerce. The frankincense trade that flourished in the Iron Age connected Oman with the larger western Indian Ocean and Greco-Roman worlds. With the coming of Islam, Oman became part of a much larger series of Islamic maritime networks that extended from East Africa to China, sailing across the seas carrying peoples, goods, and ideas. European maritime incursions such as the Portuguese invasions eventually fostered maritime trade with Europe, and the establishment of the Ya’rubid and Al Bu Sa’id maritime empires increased interaction with East Africa and later the Atlantic world. In the modern period, Oman has made the transition from a traditional dhow economy to a modern maritime system. In addition, the work addresses the diverse forms of watercraft and navigational practices utilized by Omanis to venture out into the sea. Collectively, it shows that the sea is intimately tied to Oman’s history.

This work focuses on Oman’s urban connections with the sea, examining the ports in Oman in order to emphasize their function as centres of commerce and interaction. The importance of the port in the maritime economy is discussed, as well as the deep links that these ports had with the interior of Oman, connecting the culture and economy of its people to the rest of the world. Specific ports from each of the main regions – such as Sumhuram, Qalhat, Sur, Muscat, Mutrah, and Sohar – are examined in depth in order to collectively relate them within an interconnected web of trade and human movement. In addition, ports beyond Oman’s current borders that were at one time politically or economically connected to Oman – such as Gwadar, Julfar, Hormuz, and Zanzibar – are also addressed in order to capture these larger connections. Methodologically, it takes an interdisciplinary approach in regards to the material, integrating archaeological, textual, and in some cases ethnographic evidence in order to provide a more complete picture of the specific port and its connections with the larger Islamic world.

Modernity, strictly speaking, is a most ambiguous term, all the more as concepts of modernity for decades were, and still are, widely discussed in academia and beyond, in particular since the breakdown of communism. The more recently felt appearences of so-called ‘Islamic fundamentalism’ and ‘Islamic terrorism’ added further fuel to these debates, also in the public asking once again and a bit shortsighted the question about the compatibility of Islam with modernity. The purpose of the present book primarily is not to add to theory debates, rather than providing insights into the more practical question of how the impact and challenges of a more and more rapidly changing world were and are met—a world perceived, whether positively or negatively, as modern in the colloquial sense of ‘new’, ‘up-to-date’, and associated with progress affecting the own way of life, scale of values, and sociopolitical organisation. Following this pragmatic approach in the case of Ibadism and Oman, their specific features concerning two periods of intensified discourse about renewal are dealt with here. On the one hand, the emergence of Muslim modernism in the second half of the 19th century as a response to the calamities of colonialism, when a number of Muslim intellectuals saw in (a revitalized) Islam the potential to overcome backwardness and meet at eye level with the superior European powers. And on the other hand, the contemporary endeavours to preserve and shape one’s own meaningful and effective societal or state identity, not only within the current world order, still widely perceived as being unilaterally dominated by Western powers, their values and technological achievements, but also as an active participant in its present and future organization.