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The Kitāb al-ansāb by al-ʿAwtabı̄

«L’ERMA» di BRETSCHNEIDER

ArAbiA AnticA 13

«L’ERMA»

THE ORIGINS OF THE HISTORY OF OMAN

DAN

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D. AMALDI THE ORIGINS OF THE HISTORY OF OMANISBN 978-88-913-1531-1

The special importance of the Kitāb al-ansāb (The book of genealogies) from al-ʿAwtabī – an Omani historian who lived in the 11th century – is that it is the first historiographic source related to Oman. Therefore, al-ʿAwtabī presents the history of Oman from the descendants of Noah to the fall of the Umayyads (750). At this point, the narration ends abruptly.

But the present study concerns the pages devoted to the age that preceded the diffusion of Islam, particularly the period when Arab tribes began to arrive in Oman. Because of the disaster of the Maʾrib dam the majority of inhabitants are forced to leave the town looking for a new home. Regarding migration, according to Arabian tradition, the Azd tribe seem to have separated into dif-ferent groups of which one, guided by Mālik b. Fahm, arrived in Oman. So, with his actions and words, the brave chief of the Azd determined the first arabization of Oman. The story narrated by al-ʿAwtabī, following a temporal order of facts, is full of suggestions and includes particularly interesting aesthetic and literary points of view. It is mainly a ‘fictional’ reconstruction of the events. This narration suggests that al-ʿAwtabī assembled the written Arabic sources with oral Omani traditions. It is a story whose function was to recount the arrival of the Azd in Oman and to highlight the origins of this territory and its inhabitants.

Daniela amalDi was professor of Arabic language and literature at the University of Pisa from 1977 to 2008. She was an appointed member of the Italian Commission of the UNESCO from 1995 to 2006. She has been a member of the Scientific board of the Istituto per l’Oriente C. A. Nallino since 1998. Her main field of work is Arabic literature.

arabia antica

1 - A. Avanzini (ed.), Khor Rori Report 1, 2002, pp. 388.

2 - A. Avanzini, Corpus of South Arabian Inscriptions I - III. Qatabanic, Marginal Qatabanic, Awsanite Inscriptions, 2004, pp. 606.

3 - A.V. Sedov, Temples of Ancient Ḥaḍramawt, 2005, pp. 328.

4 - D. Mascitelli, L’arabo in epoca preislamica: formazione di una lingua, 2006, pp. 316 + 19 figure fuori testo.

5 - A. Avanzini (ed.), A port in Arabia between Rome and the Indian Ocean (3rd C. BC - 5th C. AD). Khor Rori Report 2, 2008, pp. 742 + 6 tavole fuori testo.

6 - A. Avanzini (ed.), Eastern Arabia in the first millennium BC, 2010, pp. 250.

7 - J.-F. Breton (ed.), Le sanctuaire de ʿAthtar dhû-Riṣâf d’as-Sawdâʾ, 2011, pp. 224.

8 - A. Prioletta, Inscriptions from the southern highlands of Yemen. The epigraphic collections of the museums of Baynūn and Dhamār, 2013, pp. 408.

9 - M. Mouton & J. Schiettecatte, In the desert margins. The settlement process in ancient South and East Arabia, 2014, pp. 336.

10 - A. Avanzini, By land and by sea. A history of South Arabia before Islam recounted from the inscriptions, 2016, pp. 376 + 3 carte fuori testo.

11 - A. Lombardi, South Arabian funerary stelae from the British Museum collection, 2016, pp. 204.

12 - A. Pavan, A cosmopolitan city on the Arabian coast. The imported and local pottery from Khor Rori. Khor Rori Report 3, 2017, pp. 398.

13 - D. Amaldi, The origins of the history of Oman. The Kitāb al-ansāb by al-ʿAwtabı̄ , 2017, pp. 266.

ArAbiA AnticA 13Philological Studies

collana diretta daAlessandra Avanzini

ArAbiA AnticA

1 - A. Avanzini (ed.), Khor Rori Report 1, 2002, pp. 388.

2 - A. Avanzini, Corpus of South Arabian Inscriptions I - III. Qatabanic, Marginal Qatabanic, Awsanite Inscriptions, 2004, pp. 606.

3 - A.V. Sedov, Temples of Ancient Ḥaḍramawt, 2005, pp. 328.

4 - D. Mascitelli, L’arabo in epoca preislamica: formazione di una lingua, 2006, pp. 337.

5 - A. Avanzini (ed.), A port in Arabia between Rome and the Indian Ocean (3rd C. BC – 5th C. AD). Khor Rori Report 2, 2008, pp. 742 + 6 tavole fuori testo.

6 - A. Avanzini (ed.), Eastern Arabia in the First Millennium BC, 2010, pp. 250.

7 - J.-Fr. Breton (ed.), Le sanctuaire de ʿAthtar dhû-Riṣâf d’as-Sawdâʾ, 2011, pp. 224.

8 - A. Prioletta, Inscriptions from the southern highlands of Yemen. The epigraphic collections of the Museums of Baynūn and Dhamār, 2013, pp. 408.

9 - M. Mouton & J. Schiettecatte, In the desert margins. The settlement process in ancient South and East Arabia, 2014, pp. 336.

10 - A. Avanzini, By land and by sea. A history of South Arabia before Islam recounted from inscriptions, 2016, pp. 376 + 3 carte fuori testo.

11 - A. Lombardi, South Arabian funerary stelae from the British Museum collection, 2016, pp. 204.

12 - A. Pavan, A cosmopolitan city on the Arabian coast. The imported and local pottery from Khor Rori. Khor Rori Report 3, 2017, pp. 398.

13 - D. Amaldi, The origin of the history of Oman. The Kitāb al-ansāb by al-ʿAwtabī, 2017, pp. 266.

Daniela Amaldi

The originS oF The hiSTory oF oMAn

The Kitāb al-ansābbyal-ʿAwtabī

«L’erMA» di BreTSchneiDer

DAnielA AmAlDi

The origins of the history of Oman.The Kitābal-ansāb by al-ʿAwtabī

redazione e impaginazione: Alessandra LombardiTraduzione: claudia Alborghetti

revisione lingua inglese: geoffrey Phillips

© copyright 2017 «L’erMA» di BreTSchneiDerVia cassiodoro, 11 – 00193 roma

Tutti i diritti riservati. È vietata la riproduzione di testi e illustrazioni senza il permesso scritto dell’editore

Amaldi Daniela,The origins of the history of oman. The Kitāb al-ansābbyal-ʿAwtabī- roma : «L’erMA» di BreTSchneiDer, 2017. - 266 p.; 22 cm. -(Arabia Antica ; 13) (Philological Studies)

iSBn: 978-88-913-1531-1 (brossura)iSBn: 978-88-913-1534-2 (pdf)

cDD: 953.21.Epigrafia

... mas a história assim o deixou registado como facto incontroverso e documentado, avalizado pelos historiadores econfirmadopeloromancista,aquemhaveráqueperdoarcertas liberdades em nome, não só do seu direito a inventar, mas também da necessidade de preencher os vazios para quenãoviesseaperder-sedetodoasagradacoerênciadorelato.No fundo,háque reconhecerqueahistórianãoéapenas selectiva, é também discriminatória, só colhe da vidaoquelheinteressacomomaterialsocialmentetidoporhistórico e despreza todo o resto, precisamente onde talvez poderia ser encontrada a verdadeira explicação dos factos,

das coisas, da puta realidade.

José Saramago Viagem do elefante,Lisboa, caminho 2008: 226-227

Borneoutbythehistoriansandconfirmedbythenovelist,whomustbeexcusedcertainlibertiesinthenamenotonlyoftherighttoinventbutalsooftheneedtofillthegaps,sothat the all-holy coherence of the tale may not be entirely lost. Ultimately, it must be recognised that history is not only selective but also discriminatory; it picks out from life onlythatwhichinterestsitasmaterialsociallyheldtobe

historical, and despises all the rest.

José Saramago, The Elephant’s Journey

7

Preface 9

Chapter1–al-ʿAwtabīandtheKitāb al-ansāb 11 chapter 2 – early history 31

Chapter3–Maʾribandthedevastatingflood 55

chapter 4 – The journey 81

Chapter5–MālikibnFahmandOman 111

Addendum – Text and translation 137

Classical Arabic sources 225

Bibliography 233

Index 253

SUMMAry

9

in 1995 Alessandra Avanzini organised a journey of ‘exploration’ in oman. This journeybecamethebasis for themission thatbeganthefollowingyear,1 on her initiative and under her direction. over the years this activity hascontributedtoabroadeningofourknowledgeoftherealitiesofpre-islamic oman in its manifold aspects; including facts about various differ-ent regions of the country.2

My involvement in that journey, as in the journeys made in southern Arabia both before3andsince,wasanupshotofa30-year-longstretchofteaching at the University of Pisa. At that time, as far back as 1977, edda Bresciani put me in charge of Arabic Language and Literature. As a con-sequenceIbecameinvolvedinrelationswithAlessandra,whichrapidlybloomedintofriendship.Infact,inwhatwasthentheInstituteforAncienthistory Studies – a rather odd setting for the teaching of Arabic language andlit-erature–IfoundmyselfrubbingshoulderswithcolleagueswhoseinterestsrevolvedaroundperiodsandsubjectssomewhatremotefromthosemysubjectismainlyassociatedwithintheItalianuniversities.Soitwas

Preface

1 The University of Pisa Mission to Dhofar began in February 1996. 2 AlongsidetheKhorRorimission,theyear2004sawafurthermissionintheplanetraversed by the Wadi Bahla and the Wadi Sayfam, dominated by the remains of the set-tlement, the qaṣrofSalūt,whichliesatabouttwokilometresnorthofthecityofBisya.(coordinates: n 22° 46’ 19.58 e 57° 12’ 32.54). 3 Thefirst,in1985,wastoYemen,togetherwithAlessandraAvanziniandStefaniaMazzoni: so many places, so many discussions and exchanges of ideas ranging over variedfieldsofstudy,butalsonolackofgoodhumourandwarmfriendship.

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The origins of the history of Oman

that, also on the strength of the courses held by Francesco gabrieli at the Scuola orientale, i decided to abandon the study of contemporary Arabic literature and turned to pre-islamic and early islamic poetry. i realised that my study interests had begun to take on a different path than i had expected.

ItwasinfactononeofmyjourneystoOmanthatIbecameacquaintedwiththeKitāb al-ansābbySalamab.Muslimal-ʿAwtabīal-Ṣuḥarī(11th century c.),4theearliesttextthathascomedowntousofferinganaccountof oman in its origins.

ItisthankstoAlessandraAvanziniandhersuggestionstogetherwithherconstantencouragementthatIhavecompletedthiswork.Ialsoowethanks to claudio Lo Jacono and Daniele Mascitelli for a stimulating ex-changeofideasonsubjectsweholddear.IhaveadebtofgratitudetoAdaBarbaro, ersilia Francesca, Alessandra Lombardi, raoudha Mediouni, Va-lentinaSagariaRossiandRobertoTottoli,too;throughtheirvariousfieldsofinterest,theyhavehelpedmeonmyway.Finally,mygratitudegoestoElenaCubelliswho,asavolcanologistandindeedafriend,hashelpedmetowardsabetterunderstandingofthevolcanicphenomenainArabia,andinparticularatBarahūt.

4 OnthisoccasionIhadaccesstoacopyintheLibraryofSalala,wheretheextremelyhelpfulstaffphotocopiedformesomechaptersfromthetwovolumesfirstprintedin1967 and indexed no. 969.

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Salamab.Muslimb.Ibrāhīmal-ʿAwtabīal-ṢuḥārīoftheBanūAzd,andinparticulartheBanūṬāḥiyya,receivedthenisbabywhichheisknownfromʿAwtab,1situatedtotheeastofṢuḥar,wherehespentmuchofhislifeandengaged in his activities as scholar and teacher.

The attribution of our Kitāb al-ansābtothisauthorisquitecertain;whatwecannotbecertainabout,however,iswhetherhewasalsotheauthorofthe Ḍiyāʾ fī l-fiqh wa-l-šarʿiyya2andotherminorworks,orwhethertheywerebyanancestorofhis.

The author of the Ḍiyāʾ,acompendiousworksettingoutthebasicprin-ciplesoftheIbadimovement,wasanillustriousfigureintheIbadimaḏhab ofRustāq.3 Born around 440/1048, he must have died at the beginning of the 12thcenturysincehistextcontainsreferencetothesiegeofNizwābytheimāmMuḥammadb.AbūĠassān,which«probablydatestothefirstdecadeof the 6th/12th century».Moreover,heappearstohavebeen«aquasi-con-temporaryofMuḥammadb.Ibrāhīmal-Kindī(d.508/1115)whoseBayān al-ŠarʿquotesboththeḌiyāʾandʿAwtabī’steacher».4

on the other hand, the Kitāb al-ansāb takes an entirely different ap-

chapter 1AL-ʿAwTABīANdThEKiTāB AL-AnSāB

1 KnowninthepastasʿAwtab al-ḫiyām,seeshamela.ws/index.php/author/459(Ilastseenon9September2015)whichhetookupfromKindī (d. 1165) Musannaf. The latter appearstohavebeenadiscipleofal-ʿAwtabī. 2 ʿAwtAbī Ḍiyāʾ. 3 wilKinson 2010: 321. 4 wilKinson 2010: 390.

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The origins of the history of Oman

proach; aswewill see, this historical text is basedon thegenealogicalsystem and contains no reference to ibadi doctrine.

It is precisely this difference between theḌiyāʾ and the Ansāb that promptedthehypothesisthattheauthorofthelatterworkwasanances-tor of the author of the Ḍiyāʾ living in the middle of the 10th century. The ideaoftwodifferentauthorswasfirstairedintheKašf al-ġumma, aworkattributedtoal-Izkawī,5andwassubsequentlytakenupbyvariouswritersincludingNūral-dīnʿAbdAllāhb.Ḥumayyidb.Sullumal-Sālimī(1869-1914),animportantfigureinIbadicultureandauthoroftwenty-twoworkswhoplayedaleadingroleinthehistoryoftheimamsofOman.6 in more recenttimeswefindtheideaproposedanewinʿ Abdal-Raḥmānal-Sālimī,7 and hasan M. al-naboodah,8who,onratherslendergrounds,attributetheKitāb al-ansābtoal-ʿAwtabīAbūal-MunḏirandtheḌiyāʾtoal-ʿAwtabīAbūIbrāhīm,althoughIfindnoevidenceofthekunya in other sources.9 TheideawasrejectedbyMartinhinds10and,morerecently,Isamal-Raw-as,11Sulṭānb.Mubārakal-Šaybānī12andSulaymānb.Ḫalafb.Muḥammadal-Ḫarūṣī,13 as indeed by the omanis in general. These scholars hold al-ʿAwtabītobetheoneauthorofbothworks,andindeedofothers,sincelost.14

5 izKAwī (1650-1737) Kašf 1980, Kašf 1874. For details on this author, and indeed on others cited here, see Custers 2006; custers’ three-volume study is fundamental refer-ence for primary and secondary sources on the ibadis. 6 SālimīdrewextensivelyontheAnṣābinthefirstpartofhisTuḥfa; in particular, the episodeswewillbediscussingaretobefoundinpages19-37,46-47;inhisLumʿa: 78 and 84 he attributes the Ansābtoal-ʿAwtabīAbūal-Munḏir,andtheḌiyāʾtoal-ʿAwtabīAbual-Ibrāhīm.Onal-SālimīseeCusters 2006, i: 360-377 and CoppolA 2014: 67-70. 7 According to Wilkinson (wilKinson2010:391),ʿAbdal-Raḥmānal-Salimī,aschol-ar specialised mainly in siyār, expressed much the same opinion in an article published in the omani journal nizwā, no. 21: 250-253. 8 nAbūdAh/nAboodAh 2006. 9 Informationalsotobefoundinshamela.ws/index.php/author/459. 10 hinds 1991: 1. 11 rAwAs 2000: 7. 12 ŠAybānī 2015, i last seen on 9 September 2015 on the site of the Algerian journal al-Turāṯ www.tourath.org, subsequently posted on http:/www.almajara.com/forums/showthread.php?t=525111. 13 ḪArūsī 2002:27citesAbūl-MunḏirSalamab.Muslimal-ʿAwtabīal-Ṣuḥārīamongthe historians, describing him in a note as the highly learned it author of both the Ansāb and the Ḍiyāʾ,see27and328.Aboutal-ḪarūsīseeCusters 2006, iii: 181. 14 Foralistoftheworksandrelevantbibliography,seeCusters 2006, i: 404-408.

13

Moreover,thedifferenceinthesubjectsdealtwithinthetwotextsdoesnotsufficetodemonstratedifferentauthorship,moreprobablybeingattribut-abletodifferentperiodsinthelifeofal-ʿAwtabī,theKitāb al-ansāb being anearlywork,theḌiyāʾfruitofhismaturity.Inconclusion,wemaysup-pose that both the Ansāb and the ḌiyāʾwerewrittenbySalāmab.Muslimb.Ibrāhīmal-ʿAwtabīal-Ṣuḥārī,takingononeortheotherkunya at different times.Thus,aswilkinsonputitafterawellresearchedexaminationoftheissue, «i remain fairly convinced they are one and the same person, but am not prepared to be categorical. if indeed the Ansāb author is different, then Itoowouldtendtoplacehiminthemid-4th/10th century».15

TheIbadicurrent,whichemergedafterthebattleofṢiffīn(657)andtheclashbetweenʿAlīandMuʿawiya,gainedgroundinOman,whereitsadherents had settled after the failure of the revolt of the ‘southern’ tribes includingtheKindaandtheBanūAzd.drivenawayfromBaṣra,thefol-lowersofIbadileftinsuccessivewavesboundfortheeasterncoastofthePeninsula, and in particular for oman.

AsakeyregionfordominationovertheArabianGulf,however,Omanremainedanobjectofthedesignsofthecaliphalpowers,everintentonmaintaining control over the coastal regions. nevertheless, thanks to the complexorganisationoftheCaliphate,whoseterritorywasinpracticeheldbythelocalsovereigns,asfromtheninthcentury,theIbadiimamswereable to settle in the region to the south-east of oman and could again enjoy acertainpower.duringthe11th century, in the relative security of a region havingacertainautonomyandthankstothepowertheimamswereabletoretain,16 a lively ferment developed at the doctrinal level. The foundations werethuslaidforanew,Ibadischool(maḏhab). Within it, the different positions adopted led to political and spiritual contention amongst the tribes

15 wilKinson 2010: 392. 16 The history of this period is complex, also because it is full of gaps; see wilKinson 2010.Forthisperiodwehaverecordsofthenamesofonlyfiveimamselected,inac-cordancewiththepractice,beforetheBanūNabhāncametoprevailinthemid-12th: Rāšidb.al-walīd(c.939-953),Ḫalilb.Šādzān(c. 1017-1034), during the imamate ofwhichNizwāsawtheformationofafurtherschoolofthoughtthankstoqāḍīAbūʿAlī,thepoetimamRāšidb.Saʿīdal-Yahmadī(1034-1053)andhissonhafsb.Rāšidb.Saʿīd,concludingwithRāšidb.ʿAlī(d.1055).Seeibn ruzAyk 1871: 30-35; Oman 1995: 254-255, 262.

Chapter 1 - al-ʿAwtabī and the ‘Kitāb al-ansāb’

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The origins of the history of Oman

of the central regions of oman and those of the coastal area, to the extent thatamoderateIbadicurrentdevelopedwithNizwāatitscentre,whiletheschoolofRustāqgrewmoreideologicallyrigid.Thiscontrast,togetherwiththe political situation of the region, led to the collapse of the imamate at the end of the 12th century, to re-arise only in the 15th century: «withintheremainingIbadioecumenetheImamatesimplyfragmented,firstscindingbetweentherivalcentreofRustaqandNizwāoneithersideofthemountaincoreoftheJabalal-Akhdar,andthenbetweenrivalImamatesandmuluk(local dynasts)».17

whilethesecenturiessawindepthstudyandinvestigationatthetheo-logical level, the same cannot be said of historiography, for the period has nothingtoofferinthisfieldexceptforsomebiographies,siyār.18 of course, wecannottellwhetheritissimplythatnohistorywaswritten,orwhethersome textswere in fact produced though subsequently lost through theravages of time.

given this historiographical gap, the Kitāb al-ansāb takes on particular importancewithinOmanisocietyasthefirsthistoriographicsourceregard-ing oman; such importance, indeed, as to have become a mine of reference forauthorsdealingdirectlyorindirectlywithOmanfromthe18th century to thepresentday.Thuswefindentirepassagesquoted,albeitwithoutmentionof the source, in the Kašf al-ġummawrittenbyal-Izkawīinthefirsthalfof the 18thcentury,intheIbnRazīqwrittenaround1860,althoughitmayhave been lifted from the Kašf itself, and again in the Tuḥfa al-aʿyān by al-Sālimī.19Thelatter,asaseriousscholar,wasthefirsttomakeapointofcitingal-ʿAwtabiwhenhequotedverbatimsomepagesofhis,establishinghimasafundamentalsourcealsoforsubsequentOmanihistoriography.20 Thus the pages of the Ansāb,thatinterestushere,aredrawnfromAbūhilālal-Siyābī(1908-1993)inhisfour-volumeworkdedicatedtothehistoryofoman21inwhichhealsoaddressestheissueofthearrivalinOmanofaseriesofmigratorywaves,includingtheoneledbyMālikb.Fahm,which

17 wilKinson 1987: 11. 18 Oman 1995: 261-262. 19 izKAwī Kašf 1874; ibn ruzAyk 1871; sālimī Tuḥfa. 20 rAwAs 2000 has some very similar remarks to make on these points. 21 siyābī 2001, i: 68-73. on this scholar, see CoppolA 2014: 74.

15

appearstohavebeenthefirsttoreachthatland.22 The relevance of our Kitāb al-ansābtothehistoryofOmanisalsorecognisedbyMuḥammadIḥsānal-Naṣṣ,aprofessorattheUniversityofdamascus;inhisKitāb al-qabāʾil al-ʿarabiyya ansābi-hā wa-aʿlāmihāhepointsoutthathedrewupontheworkofal-ʿAwtabīfordetailsaboutpersonageswholivedinOman,whoare not to be found in other authors of the Ansāb.23

ThetitleoftheworkplacestheKitāb al-ansābnotsomuchinthefieldof historiography as, in fact, in that of the ansāb,dwellingonindividualandtribalgenealogies–agenrethatcameintoitsownintheearlytimesofIslam.

whilethemessageoftheKoranhadrenderedallbelieversequal,asearlyasthetimesoftheCaliphʿ Umarthegenealogies,andthusthelinkswiththevarioustribes,hadbeenrecordedfor‘pension’purposes.Indeed,wehaveevidenceofagreatmanyworksintheearlydaysofIslam,sincelost,whosetitles included the term nasab/ansāb, the Ǧamhara al-nasabbyhišāmIbnal-Kalbī(737-d.between819and821)beingtheoutstandingexample.

Genealogicalconnectionshavealwaysconstitutedanidentifyingfea-tureoffamily-andtribal-basedsystemswhileatthesametimealsoservingtovindicatetheoriginoftribesthatwerenotassociatedwithaterritorybutwithamemorablepast.Recognitionofacommonlineofdescentwhich,in the course of time, has given rise to various, closely interrelated levels of aggregation – the family, the clan, and so forth – constitutes a strong cohesivebond,akeyelementthankstowhichtheimportanceofthetribeisassertedwhileatthesametimeavoidingoblivionandensuringthatitwillbe remembered.

Thepartlyartificialreconstruction,withnoapparentcorrespondencetoreal ancestral relations or actual descent from one forefather, is therefore based on a series of accounts put into circulation, most probably, in the ǧāhiliyya, i.e. thecenturiesprecedingIslam.Theseaccountswereoftencontradictoryandambiguous,whichentailedtheneedtoimposesomeco-herenceonthemwhenitcametoproducingthewrittenrecordsinresponse,aswehaveseen,totheeventsandrequirementsoftheUmayyadperiod.Inthisperspective,followingapracticefrequentinArabhistoriography,24 the

22 siyābī 2001, i: 71. 23 nAṣṣ 2000: 7-8. 24 on this see for example CheddAdi 2004.

Chapter 1 - al-ʿAwtabī and the ‘Kitāb al-ansāb’

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The origins of the history of Oman

initialexpositionbyal-ʿAwtabīofthenasabofMālikpresentedapatternofthepoliticalrelationsandsocialbondswhich,inatimeofchangemarkedbymigrations,wasalsotoaccountforthenewrelationsandnewsituationsmarking Arab history.

Ibnal-Kalbī,setonrepresentingthetribalsysteminasystematicwayandhighlightingtheconnectionbetweentheArabsevenintheperipheralareas of the caliphate and the history of southern Arabia, established a sort ofcatalogueofthetribes.Inthisway,inpartbystretchingthefacts,heestablished that complex tribal structure that became fundamental for an is-lamicviewofhistorybasedonthedivisionbetweentheArabsoftheNorthand those of the South. As Wilkinson25 aptly sums it up, this also seems to be attested by the epigraphic sources, «so both the epigraphic and literary evidenceclearlypointtomajorconflictbetweentheMaʿaddandtheiras-sociated (nizâri/northern) tribes and the southern tribes […] the Sabaeo-ḤimyariticdomainwasalmostentirelyassociatedwithYamanitribes».26

Thanks to the genealogical relations, even non-Arabic populations foundunificationand,atthesametime,atemporalpositioninginwhichre-lations–whatevertheymightactuallyhavebeeninhistoricalreality–werereducedtotheessentiallinesofthefather-sonrelationship.Oftenitwasamatter of spurious recognition of kinship, made a posteriori and coming intoplayinasysteminwhichthecomplexityofrelationsbetweenpersonsandgroupswereschematicallyrepresentedassimplerelationsofkinship.Arabgenealogysimplifiedacomplexsituation,creatingaglobalpictureofthehistoryoftheknownworldatatimewhentheuniversalvisionofIslamwasmakinggreatheadway.InthiswaythememoryofthepastofevenquitediversifiedpartsofthePeninsulaandtheNearEast27findsinthegenealo-giesa frameworkwithinwhich toplacehistoricalevents insuccession.Inthecourseoftimebiographiesandtraditionswoveintotheschematicframeworktosuchanextentastogeneratehistoriographicaltextsfromtheninthcentury,withthefirstgreatworkofthisgenre,theKitāb ansāb al-ašrāfbyal-Balāḏurī(b.892).28

25 Foramorerecentviewontheissueofthedivisionbetweennorthernandsoutherntribes, addressed notably by robin, see wilKinson2010:11ff.,wherebothepigraphicsourcesandthetextbyal-ʿAwtabīareexamined. 26 wilKinson 2010: 16. 27 retsö 2003: 475. 28 Onthiswork,seeGoitein 1936: 14-24.

17

From the 10thcentury,however,asthepowerofthecaliphatedeclinedandpowerwastakenoverbythelocaldynasties,theinterestingenealogiesdwindled,whilethehistoriansofDār al-islām abandoned the comprehen-siveviewpointthathadcharacterisedtheuniversalhistoriesoftheprevi-ouscenturies.Theirattentionnowturnedtobiographiesandlocalhistoriesconcerningdynasties,communities,citiesandfamouspersonages,aswellasmoreextensivehistoriographicalworks.

InOman,inasocietydominatedbytheIbadimovementwhich,inop-positiontothecentralpowerofthecaliphsandtheirapproachtoIslam,continued to keep the tribal structure alive over the centuries,29al-ʿAwtabītraced out the history of his country taking the ansāb as a model. in a periodthatsawtheOmaniimamategoingthroughcrisis,alsointernally,al-ʿAwtabī,asachildofhistimes,wrotehisKitāb to conserve the memory of the past, bringing together accounts and traditions in a form that placed particular emphasis on the genealogical aspect, fundamental for a tribally based society like that of oman.

The Kitāb al-ansābbyal-ʿAwtabībegins,aswasthepractice,withtheCreation,tocontinueinroughlychronologicalorderwithNūh,i.e.Noah,uptoIsmāʿīlandthenontotheArabtribesinpopulationsoftheǧāhiliyya, withtheProphetMuḥammadandthehistoryofearlyIslam,onlytobreakoffquiteabruptly,unfortunately,atthetimeofthefalloftheUmayyads.Settingaboutwritingthehistoryofthesocietyhebelongedto,theauthorconcentrated in particular on the facts relevant to oman in the pre-islamic period and in the early centuries of the hegira, dedicating a great deal of spacetotheAzdandtheirleader,Mālikb.Fahm.

«Mālikb.Fahmal-AzdīwasthefirstoftheAzdtoarriveinOman,sub-sequenttothedepartureofagreatmanyAzdwho,togetherwithʿAmrb.ʿĀmir,abandonedthelandofMaʾribwhenthedamoverflowed,scatteringthemanddestroyingthetwogardens.wewillrecountthishistoryafterouraccountoftheepisodeofthetwogardens,thesituation,thedestructionandmigration (intiqāl)oftheAzd,ifAllāhwills».30

TheAzdwere,infact,animportantgroup31 in the ‘southern’ component

29 on this aspect, see wilKinson 2010: chapter 1 and 2. 30 ʿAwtAbī Ansāb, i: 181; ms. f. 244a. 31 LetusrecallthatŠanfara(6th-7th century), too, the pre-islamic poet-brigand, be-longedtotheAzd,beingaffiliatedtothistribe.

Chapter 1 - al-ʿAwtabī and the ‘Kitāb al-ansāb’

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The origins of the history of Oman

ofearlyIslamArabsocietyinoppositiontothe‘northern’tribesfromḤiǧāzinaclashoccurringinthecaliphalperiod,fortunefavouringnowoneside,nowtheother,intheSyrian-Iraqiterritories.ThustheAzd ʿUmān appear tohaverepresentedalinkwiththeothersouthernArabtribesandsowithpre-islamic history, the ǧāhiliyya, of the Arabian Peninsula through to the great states of southern Arabia.32

TheAzd,whohadalreadyfoundmentionintheinscriptionofNamāraof 328 AD,33 are seen as the forefathers of a great many tribes and groups that left their mark in pre-islamic history and early islam, not only in the PeninsulabutalsointheSyrian-Iraqiareaandwho,albeitscatteredoverareas separated by considerable distances, have for centuries taken pride in their origins. in fact, among the descendants of al-Azd, according to ibn al-Kalbī,wasNaṣr,progenitorofanumerouslineageincludingMālikb.FahmandMāzin.Fromthelatter,inturn,descended–amongothers–ʿ Amrb.ʿ Āmir.Allthesefiguresarecentraltotheaccountwewillbeanalysinginthefollowingchapters.34

Theprecisepositionof theBanūAzdandtheirconnectionswith theTanūḫ,andthuswiththevariouseventsintheregionofIraqare,ofcourse,complex issues to whichmuch research has been dedicated.35 Without dwellingonthepresenceofMālikand«hisson»ǦaḏīmainthehistoryoftheIraqarea,wewillconcentrateontheaccountgivenbyal-ʿAwtabīofthedepartureoftheAzdfromMaʾribundertheleadershipofʿAmrb.ʿĀmir.ThefirstmentionwehaveofMālikb.Fahm,too,arosefromthisepisode,andweshallbefollowinghimasthefirsttoarriveinOmanonhisjourneytowardstheeasternpartofthePeninsulawhere,havingdefeatedthePer-sians, his decision to settle there led to the Arabisation of the area.

The Azd played a fundamental part in the omani history of the islamic

32 Thankstoepigraphicfinds,wehavesufficientevidenceoftheconnectionoftheArabswithSabaʾandḤimyarseewilKinson 2010: 6. 33 on the issues involved, see mAsCitelli2006a:151-164.TheBanūAzdarealsorecorded in the inscriptions Ja 635/37 and reS 2959/4 has cited by beeston 1981: 183: «inthesecasesthereferenceiscertainlytoAzdal-Sarāt;butRES4916ishadramiticand its ʾs¹dnperhapsreferstothebranchwhichwaslatertobecometheAzdʿUmān».For the position of the Azd in early islamic history see mADʿAj 1988. 34 For the genealogy of the Azd see also ibn Al-KAlbī/CAsKel Ǧamhara, i: 176. 35 Inparticular,wemaymentionretsö 2003: 474 ff. and the interesting article by ulriCh 2008.

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period,acquiringsuchgreatandlastingprestigethatvariousdynastiesthatgovernedthecountrywereheldtohavedescendedfromthem.Infact,theycontributed to both the rise of the ibadi movement and the imamate, and to the inclusion of oman in the chronicles of the caliphate, and thus in the Arabworld, thankstocertainhistory-makingfigures.Ofthese,prideofplacegoestoal-Muhallabb.AbūṢufraal-Azdī(632-702c.),thepowerfulgeneralwhosavedBaṣrafromtheKharijitsandthenbecamegovernorofKhorasan.36 in fact, the pages our author dedicates to the Muhallabids, the powerfulfamilythatplayedanactivepartinthehistoryoftheearlycentu-riesofIslamandwereconsideredtobelongtotheAzdbymuchofArabhis-toriography of the origins,37weretranslatedbyMartinhindsasbeing«themostimportantsectionofthetext[Kitābal-ansāb]»inabookthatcameoutposthumously in 1991,38 although he had sent it in for publication in 1988.

Formypart,however,onaccountofbothmyparticularinterestintheǧāhiliyya and my participation in the Pisa mission to oman, i have con-centrated on the part of the Kitāb al-ansābthatal-ʿAwtabīdedicatestotheearliestdaysofOmanwithitsanticipationsoffuturedevelopments.Obvi-ously, this cannot be considered a direct source, nor a historiographical source in the modern sense of the term. rather, it is a literary-anecdotal narrativeinwhichIhavesoughttohighlightreferencestoandechoesofthehistoricalandsocialrealitieswhichtheseepisodesevidentlyreflect.Theseare episodes that have played an important role in the history of the Arabian Peninsula, and my aim is to bring them to a non-specialist readership in endeavour to shed some light on the Arab narrative tradition in general, and on the Sultanate of oman in particular.

Inthisperspective,inthesecondchapterIwillbelookingintothehis-tory of oman in the pre-islamic period starting from the earliest times, from theʿĀdtotheʿAmālīq,tocontinueinthethirdchapterwiththecollapseofthedamofMaʾrib,whichwasthedirectcauseoftheiftirāq, the disper-

36 al-Muhallab, considered by bAlāḏurī (Futūḥ: 396) a šarīf,gainedpowerintheser-viceoftheUmayyadswhilesomemembersofhisinfluentialfamily,aboveallwomen,hadconnectionswiththeIbadis.In720theMuhallabidswereputatadistancebut,oncetheyabandonedtheirIbadisympathiestoshowmorehashemitetendencies,theirfor-tunesrevivedwiththeAbbasidsuntilal-Maʾmūn(813-833). 37 ibn Al-FAqīh (c. 900) Abrégé:148quotesthisversebyAbūNuwās:«TheAzdofoman place their glory in the Muhallabids»; see wilKinson 2010: xi. 38 hinds 1991.

Chapter 1 - al-ʿAwtabī and the ‘Kitāb al-ansāb’