Saif bin Sultan () was the fourth of the

Yaruba dynasty The Yarubid dynasty () (also the Yaruba or Ya'arubi) were rulers of Oman between 1624 and 1742, holding the title of Imam. They expelled the Portuguese from coastal strongholds in Muscat and united the country. They improved agriculture, expan ...

Imams of

Oman Oman ( ; ar, عُمَان ' ), officially the Sultanate of Oman ( ar, سلْطنةُ عُمان ), is an Arabian country located in southwestern Asia. It is situated on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and spans the mouth of ...

, a member of the

Ibadi The Ibadi movement or Ibadism ( ar, الإباضية, al-Ibāḍiyyah) is a school of Islam. The followers of Ibadism are known as the Ibadis. Ibadism emerged around 60 years after the Islamic prophet Muhammad's death in 632 AD as a moderate sc ...

sect. He ruled from 1692 to 1711. Where Omani presence became firmly established on the coast.

Early years

Saif bin Sultan was the son of the second Yaruba Imam, Sultan bin Saif. On his father's death his brother Bil'arab bin Sultan became Imam in 1679. Later Saif bin Sultan fell out with his brother, built up his forces and besieged Bil'arab in Jabrin. After Bil'arab died there in 1692/93 Saif bin Sultan became Imam.

Imam

Saif bin Sultan invested in improving agriculture, building

aflaj A qanat or kārīz is a system for transporting water from an aquifer or water well to the surface, through an underground aqueduct; the system originated approximately 3,000 BC in what is now Iran. The function is essentially the same across ...

in many parts of the interior to provide water, and planting date palms in the

Al Batinah Region Al-Bāţinah ( ar, ٱلْبَاطِنَة) was one of the regions ''( Mintaqat)'' of Oman. On 28 October 2011, Al-Batinah Region was split into Al Batinah North Governorate and Al Batinah South Governorate. The region occupied an important loca ...

to encourage Arabs to move from the interior and settle along the coast. He built new schools. He made the castle of

Rustaq Rustaq ( ar, ٱلرُّسْتَاق, Ar-Rustāq) is a town and ''Wilayah'' (District) in Al Batinah Region of northern Oman. The wilayah is in the Western Hajar Mountains, in the south of the Batinah. Rustaq was once the capital of Oman, during ...

his residence, adding the Burj al Riah wind tower. Saif bin Sultan continued the struggle against the Portuguese on the East African coast. In 1696 his forces attacked Mombasa, besieging 2,500 people who had taken refuge in

Fort Jesus Fort Jesus (Portuguese: ''Forte Jesus de Mombaça, Spanish: Fuerte de Jesús'') is a fort located on Mombasa Island. Designed by Italian Giovanni Battista Cairati, it was built between 1593 and 1596 by order of King Felipe II of Castille, ...

. The Siege of Fort Jesus ended after 33 months when the thirteen survivors of famine and smallpox surrendered. Soon after the Omanis took

Pemba Island Pemba Island ( ar, الجزيرة الخضراء ''al-Jazīra al-khadrā'', literally "The Green Island"; sw, Pemba kisiwa) is a Tanzanian island forming part of the Zanzibar Archipelago, lying within the Swahili Coast in the Indian Ocean. Geo ...

, Kilwa and

Zanzibar Zanzibar (; ; ) is an insular semi-autonomous province which united with Tanganyika in 1964 to form the United Republic of Tanzania. It is an archipelago in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of the mainland, and consists of many small islan ...

. They now became the dominant power on the coast. The expansion of Omani power included the first large-scale settlement of Zanzibar by Omani migrants. Saif bin Sultan appointed Arab governors to the city states of the coast before he returned to Oman. Later, many of these were to come under the control of Muhammed bin Uthman al-Mazrui, governor of Mombasa, and his descendants, the

Mazrui The Mazrui or Mazar'i () were an Omani Arab clan that reigned over some areas of East Africa, especially Kenya, from the 18th to the 20th century. In the 18th century they governed Mombasa and other coastal places and opposed the Omani Al Bu Sa ...

, who made only nominal acknowledgement of the suzerainty of Oman. Saif bin Sultan also encouraged piracy against the merchant trade of India, Persia and even of Europe.

Death and legacy

Saif bin Sultan died on 4 October 1711. He was buried in the castle of Rustaq in a handsome tomb, later destroyed by a

Wahhabi Wahhabism ( ar, ٱلْوَهَّابِيَةُ, translit=al-Wahhābiyyah) is a Sunni Islamic revivalist and fundamentalist movement associated with the reformist doctrines of the 18th-century Arabian Islamic scholar, theologian, preacher, an ...

general. At his death he had great wealth, said to include 28 ships, 700 male slaves and one third of Oman's date trees. He was succeeded by his son Sultan bin Saif II. Saif bin Sultan earned the title "the Earth's bond" or "the chain of the Earth" for the benefits he had brought to the people of Oman. According to Samuel Barrett Miles,

References

Citations Sources * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Saif Bin Sultan Omani monarchy Omani imams Omani Ibadi Muslims 1711 deaths Yaruba dynasty People from Al-Rustaq Year of birth unknown 17th-century Arabs 18th-century Arabs 17th-century Omani people 18th-century Omani people