Religion and Politics in Contemporary Omani Ibadism

This paper aims at exploring the dynamic between religion and politics/power focusing on the works by Nūr al-Dīn al-Sālimī (1869-1914). In particular, I’ll take into consideration some of his fatwas and his commentary to the Musnad of al-Rabī‘ b. Ḥabīb. Nūr al-Dīn al-Sālimī played a crucial role in the recent Omani history and today he is a source of national pride. His writings disseminated his ideas far and wide, cultivating a following for his views in Oman as well as among the educated Ibāḍis in Maghrib and Zanzibar. The pivotal role of his writings in spreading the revivalist interpretation of Ibāḍī Islam placed his arguments at the center of Ibāḍī intellectual and political debate. In intellectual and ideological terms, he propagated the idea of the necessity of a “reign of virtue” – an Islamic order – where power was related to the ideal of the past and to the reality of the Ibāḍī reform movement.