Oman

We will be visiting Oman today, specifically the port of Muscat. There is just a tad of apprehension about this port because scuttlebutt has it that the folks here are not very friendly towards us. I don’t know if us is just our group from the USA, or us as in all Westerners. Time will tell and the report will follow a bit later when we return from our excursion. This will be our second time using Tours by Locals and we feel a bit more relaxed as we are hoping that at least our guide, Samir, will be friendly!

We’re paying him so at least he can fake it!

          Getting the real story from Samir will be difficult. Oman is the oldest absolute monarchy in the world, with the Sultan having  well, absolute (I can hear it now, “What part of ‘absolute’ do you not understand Mr. Hall?” ) powers. There is a constitution of sorts, there are two houses of government, one appointed by the Sultan, the other one “elected” but everything is subject to the (here it comes again) absolute power of the Sultan. I’m hoping that we can get along here…. The Sultan and I are almost the exact same age, I’m just eleven days older than he is, so maybe…….?

                             This is the most “Arabic” country that we will be visiting, so we are looking forward to witnessing a culture that has its roots back in the Arabian Nights times and before. These guys, while not particularly an ally of ours, have had a relationship with the Brits (again!) who exercised some influence up until, and including, present day. It was the Omanis who helped secure the release of some British sailors captured by Iran in 2007. In fact, Oman has no qualms about showing its independence from everyone as it still remains friendly towards Iran, even when its Arab neighbors have dissed Iran. So far, no one on the planet has been able to convince the Sultan to distance themselves from Iran. Remember he is absolute……

                             Human Rights in Oman are questionable.

                Especially if, and when, you are foolish enough to question.

                   While the standard of living is reportedly pretty good for this area of the world, one must toe the line when it comes to any criticism of the government or the Sultan. Women’s rights are fairly non-existent and since researching this stuff I am going to amend that statement and say the women’s rights are totally non-existent.

Such is life under an Absolute Monarch and Sharia Law.

                   The list goes on and on, and the word totalitarian comes to mind. Nothing that the Sultan doesn’t like, or want to have, is allowed. I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that until a Sultan comes to power, or is appointed by the presently ruling one, (the line is hereditary unless the Sultan dies with no male heirs as the one before this guy did) that has a milder view and stance on all of these rights, not much will change.

                   Sometimes I wonder if visiting here is a good idea. I’m not worried about safety or anything like that, it’s just that going here as a tourist would seem to (in a way) justify their stance on basic human rights as we see them. I’m not foolish enough to think that we ae going to exercise any influence over Omani rules, but maybe just by showing some interest and putting our best Western foot forward, we can at least demonstrate to Samir that we are not the evil infidels. I know, probably just more “tilting at windmills”, but I think we’ll give it a go!

                                      My Report on Oman by Donald Hall

                                      Mrs. McGillicuddy

                                      Grade Six

                    I told you the report would follow!

                   We could not have been more pleased with either the reception that we received or the tour that Salim provided us with! I will report that despite us being the same age, the Sultan did not have time for me, nor did he even want to speak with me. He was too busy not using his (largest I’ve ever seen) yacht and not being in the one  Palace that we visited, he was at one of his four other ones. Interestingly, Salim did let slip a few times his displeasure (?) at such opulence wasted by non-use, and that this wealth would be better used for the people. Folks, this is the start of that growing garden that is begun by sowing just a few seeds of discontent. Based on what I had read, we did not think that we would get any “comments” from our guide.

We were wrong.

Salim picked us up at the Port Entrance. Our first stop was at the Grand Mosque, a few miles up the road, in what may be called “new” Muscat. Muscat is both the capital and largest city in Oman. Most of the government buildings and anything that has been built in the last thirty years or so are located out there. The roads were great, and traffic was non-existent.

We have never been to mosque before, Grand or otherwise, so for now our basis of comparison is slim. What I can tell you is that this particular mosque was, in fact, GRAND in its simplicity. My only comparisons here could be to other denominations’ houses of worship, namely Christian, as I’ve only been in one synagogue for a funeral once.  

The Grand Mosque is about thirty years old and was built by, and current expense funded by, the government. The stats are quite impressive, and I will relate them as best I can. According to Salim the Women’s Mosque can hold a tad over 600 women at a time. This is because, and I quote here, “the women’s place is in the home” so they can worship there when needed. (Don’t be mad at me, I’m just the reporter!) In Islam, one does not need to attend any services in order to be faithful. I am here to report that the Women’s Mosque was very nice.

          Until we visited the Men’s Mosque.

This one will hold over six thousand worshippers at a time. The carpet was woven simultaneously by six hundred women from Iran (formerly Persia, as in Persian Rugs) and it took four years to complete, and has, hold onto your calculators here, 1,600,000,000 knots! (that’s one billion, 600 million!) Do not ask me more than that as it was hard enough to wrap our heads around that single fact alone! All of the wood for the ceiling came from Burma (Myanmar) and the chandelier was made by the Italian company, Faustig.

          Here are the stats:

          Largest in the world (at the time of its construction) standing at 45’ tall and 26’wide and weighs in at over eight tons.

          It is made up of over 600,000 thousand Swarovski gold-trimmed crystals, and has a stairway built into the center for its maintenance.

          It has 24-carat gold plating and took over four years to complete. I guess they worked on it at the same time as the carpet!

          Salim did his best to convert us without being obnoxious about it. It was exactly what we had come here for, to learn about someone else’s culture and way of life. We were successful, Salim was not. 😊

But, no hard feelings, he was very gracious and we really liked him more and more as we all became comfortable with each other. We plied him with all the usual questions, kids, marriage, laws, customs, vacations, and traveling. To sum it all up, I would say that he is content with his life, he did not openly complain and we were treated to only those few remarks about the wasting of money and resources gone unused by the Sultan.

          We then went to a local fish market and a souk. The market was as clean as any fish market I’ve ever been in, definitely cleaner than the Fulton Market ion NYC. The souk was as traditional as they get and this one thankfully was all enclosed, the tunnels hiding us from the heat of the sun. But there was no hiding from the merchants standing in front of their stores! The “to be expected salesmanship” rituals were in full force. It’s not so bad once you get used to it, it’s the way that they do business!

In general, I would have to say that the merchants we met and watched going about their business seemed content enough, they had smiles on their faces and were laughing as they talked amongst themselves. We encountered, nor observed any amount of animosity directed towards us or anyone else.

At one point, when we were at the Palace, Salim turned to me and asked, “Does Mr. Biden have any houses like this?” I replied, “No, he lives in the White House, and it is owned by the four of us,” indicating, Paula, Harold, Sherry, and myself. Adding, “And if we don’t like what he does, we get to kick him out at the end of four years.” He smiled at this; I think he liked my answer.

So, I am happy to report that our initial misgivings about visiting here were unfounded. And after speaking with some fellow shipmates that shared our original feelings about this port, they too felt much better after their visit. It would appear, as in many other regimes, that if you obey the laws, you have nothing to fear, with nothing being a relative word, as freedom is not something to fear.