Word: muscat
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Under the despotic reign of his father, Sultan Said bin Taimur, Muscat and Oman* as the country was known before Qabus shortened the name-was not far removed from the 15th century. Fearful that social and economic development would corrupt traditional Islamic values, Said turned his land, perched on the southeastern hump of Arabia near the gates of the Persian Gulf, into a 112,000-sq.-mi. jail...
From Algiers to Aden, Marrakech to Muscat, Nasser's death united Arabs in grief. Everywhere the plaintive cry went up: "Why do you leave us alone, Gamal?" From loudspeakers atop minarets in a thousand towns and cities wafted the reedy, lugubrious voices of muezzins chanting verses from the Koran...
Under Said Bin Taimur, the Sultanate of Muscat and Oman, which lies on the southeast corner of the Arabian peninsula, remained one of the most stagnant societies on earth. The 60-year-old Sultan decreed long ago that his 600,000 subjects should not own automobiles or attend cinemas. In the capital, Muscat, the city gates are closed at sundown, when the cannon booms. People must carry lanterns at night; flashlights are banned as too blinding...
Life imprisonment in Muscat means being dumped into a 30-ft. hole in the ground. When a British visitor recently complained that such treatment was harsh, the Sultan disagreed. "It is enlightened because the man does not live long enough to suffer much," he said...
...first visit to Muscat town in many years, Qabus ordered the release of 19 political prisoners. He offered full amnesty to the Dhofari rebels in the southwest who had opposed his father's regime; one group responded by congratulating him on his accession. He still faces opposition from Dhofari extremists, backed by the South Yemeni government in Aden and half a dozen Chinese advisers, but the rebel pressure will be sharply reduced. Even if Britain withdraws its 300 R.A.F. regulars by the end of 1971, as presently planned, Qabus appears capable of rallying enough support from his subjects...