During the last three decades, a number of valuable Ibadite and
Omani texts, which were previously unavailable, have come to light. The
discovery of these texts has changed our view of the course of Omani history.
They provide us with a clearer picture of the intellectual world of Oman and
Ibadism somewhat different to the previous picture, which had been based almost
entirely on hostile sources. From this perspective, the present work has
emerged in order to study the literature of these ‘Omani siyar’. There
have thus far been few and limited studies that have shown interest in this
area, despite the fact that this literature is a reflection of the progress of
both the socio-politics of Omani history, and the style of Omani and Eastern
Ibadite writers.
This work has been written with two types of readers in mind.
Primarily, for general readers with an interest in Islamic and Arabic Classical
literature, and secondly, for my Omani and Ibadite colleagues. The study is
intended to be a contribution to three distinct areas of investigation;
firstly, the identification of the Omani siyar literature, secondly,
analysis of the role of this literature in Omani socio-political history, and
finally the development of a system for examining these texts methodically.
Each is an area regarding about which a certain amount of literature has been
written in recent years, and it is intended that the present work cover the 10
th and 11th centuries of Omani relationship with central Asia.
This work involved a study of documentation and a number of issues that marked
Oman's history. It examines with a different approach manuscripts for both
Omani and Ibadites works through the collection of Omani siyar.
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