Page 154 - Truncal States to UAE_Neat

I

The Islamic Basis of Society

As has been mentioned, during the very early years of Islam the old
approach routes to Oman, namely the one from al Bahrayn along the
edge of the sabkhah, through Tu’am (Buraimi) and the Wadi Jizi, and
the route from Julfar (Ra’s al Khaimah) along the mountains as far as
Daid or Buraimi before a crossing through the mountains was
attempted, were as much in use as ever. The armies of the Caliph are
not reported to have encountered hostility on that leg of their long
march from Medina, and it may be assumed that the majority of the
tribes living to the west and north-west of the Hajar were either
already all faithful supporters of the new regime in Medina or
certainly were not militantly opposed to it. Those who were
supporters of the Omani secedersand ofDhulTaj Lakit had probably
all marched to Dibah to swell his ranks.
To what extent the tribal population, during the first decade of the
conversion of Eastern Arabia to Islam, had already grasped how
profoundly this would change their way of life, their social and
domestic customs, and above all their concept of right and wrong,
cannot be easily determined. But it was a fortunate circumstance that
after the battle at Dibah there was for several decades no more
fighting necessary in the name of the new faith in Eastern Arabia.
Once the military and political aspects of Islamisation of the region
were settled,11 the moral values and the spiritual scope of the religion
could unfold gradually, become appreciated and whole-heartedly
adopted by the population. Miles describes aptly the slowness of this
process: “We hear of no religious persecutions or tumults in Oman.
No martyr suffered in the cause of heathenism. The people simply
ceased to adore idols openly and to frequent the temples to worship
the graven images . . . Probably the people long maintained the
existing order of things and offered an inert resistance to the
encroachments, while nominally accepting the change; but their
feelings and interests were not much affected, and it was only as time
went on that the . . . invasion of Islam swept away that old system. It
was by degrees that the people acquired pride and enthusiasm about
Islam and its founder and stamped out paganism as an accursed
thing."12
The radical change in customs and ideas probably took more than
one generation, but the merits of Islam became eventually self-
evident to people who had previously known only their own internal
tribal laws. Before Islam they had not had much sense of security and
fair justice in the face of constant encroachment on their property by
other tribes. Their insecurity even extended to their beliefs, because
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