John C. Wilkinson | |
---|---|
Born | John Craven Wilkinson |
Nationality | British |
Academic background | |
Education | University of Oxford |
Academic work | |
Discipline | Islamic studies |
Sub-discipline | Ibadi studies |
Institutions | University of Oxford |
John Craven Wilkinson (born 1934) is a scholar of Islamic studies specializing in Ibadi studies. He is a British expert in the field of Ibadi studies.
Prior to his career in Islamic studies,he worked for international oil companies throughout the Middle East. He then returned to the UK to obtain his PhD at Oxford,where he wrote his doctoral thesis on the Ibadi Imamate of Oman. [1] In 1969,he finished his PhD thesis titled Arab settlement in Oman:the origins and development of the tribal pattern and its relationship to the Imamate. [2] Wilkinson then began a prolific career publishing on Ibadi Islam and Omani history. [3] From 1969 until his retirement in 1997,Wilkinson taught at Oxford University as a Reader. [1] He is also an Emeritus Fellow of St. Hugh's College in Oxford. [1] He is widely regarded as the world's foremost Western expert on Oman's tribes,demonstrated especially in Water and tribal settlement in South-East Arabia. A study of the Aflāj of Oman in 1977. [4]
Oman is the site of pre-historic human habitation,stretching back over 100,000 years. The region was impacted by powerful invaders,including other Arab tribes,Portugal and Britain. Oman once possessed the island of Zanzibar,on the east coast of Africa as a colony. Oman also held Gwadar as a colony for many years.
The Ibadi movement or Ibadism is a school of Islam. The followers of Ibadism are known as the Ibadis.
Islam is the state-religion in Oman. The country is 95% Muslim. 45% of the Muslim population of Oman follow Sunni Islam and 45% follow Ibadi Islam,while 5% identify as Shia Muslims. Islam spread to Oman in the early years.
The Sultanate of Muscat and Oman,also known briefly as the State of Muscat and Oman during the rule of Taimur bin Feisal,was a sovereign state that encompassed the present-day Sultanate of Oman and parts of present-day United Arab Emirates and Pakistan,in the second half of the 19th century and 20th century. Ruled by the Busaid dynasty,it was established as a result of the partition of the Omani Empire upon the death of its last ruler Said bin Sultan. The Sultanate transitioned into a new form of government after the palace coup of 23 July 1970 in which the sultan Said bin Taimur was immediately deposed in favor of his son Qaboos bin Said.
Wilferd Ferdinand Madelung FBA is a German-British author and scholar of Islamic history.
Michael Allan Cook FBA is a British historian and scholar of Islamic history. Cook is the general editor of The New Cambridge History of Islam.
The Imamate of Oman was a historical state within the Oman proper in the present-day Al Hajar Mountains in Sultanate of Oman. The capital of the Imamate alternated historically between Rustaq and Nizwa. The Imamate's territory extended north to Ibri and south to Alsharqiyah region and the Sharqiya Sands. The Imamate was bounded from the east by the Al Hajar Mountains and from the west by the Rub' al Khali desert. The Al Hajar Mountains separated the Imamate of Oman from Muscat and Oman. The elected Imam (ruler) resided in the capital,and Walis (governors) represented the Imamate in its different regions.
Laura Veccia Vaglieri was an Italian orientalist.
The Wajihids were an Arab dynasty that ruled in coastal Oman in the early and mid-10th century AD. Their capital was the town of Suhar,after moving there from Al-Buraimi Oasis or Tawam,where they had been in the 9th century.
The Hināwī are one of two major tribal groupings of Oman and the Trucial Coast,the other being the Ghāfirī. Characterized as two significant factions having distinct interests and organizations,their rivalry began approximately 2000 years ago;almost during the time Ghafiris arrived to Oman. The Hinawis,for the most part,resided in southeast Oman,while the Ghafiris predominated in the northwestern part of Oman. Several tribal groups make up the Hinawi alliance,such as,the Dhowahir,Beni Yas,and the Awamir,Beni Hina and the Harasis. During the 18th century,serious conflicts occurred between the two factions. These conflicts only ended after many sub-tribes were united under one leader that belonged to one of the two factions. The Hinawis gathered under Khalaf bin Mubarak Alhinai from the Bani Hina tribe,while the Ghafiris gathered under Mohammed bin Nasir Alghafiri of the Beni Ghafir tribe. The almost equal strength of the two alliances led to the end of the feud. The rivalry played a decisive role in shaping the political history of Oman,with Omani tribes affiliating themselves historically with either the Ghafiri or Hinawi alliances.
The Nabhani dynasty,members of the Bani Nabhan family,were rulers of Oman from 1154 until 1624,when the Yaruba dynasty took power.
Muḥakkima and al-Haruriyya refer to the Muslims who rejected arbitration between Ali ibn Abi Talib and Mu'awiya at the Battle of Siffin in 657 CE. The name Muḥakkima derives from their slogan lāḥukma illāli-llāh,meaning "judgment (hukm) belongs to God alone". The name al-Haruriyya refers to their withdrawal from Ali's army to the village of Harura' near Kufa. This episode marked the start of the Kharijite movement,and the term muḥakkima is often also applied by extension to later Kharijites.
Ibadism,or the Ibadi school of Islam,which has followers in Oman and elsewhere,has been the subject of much academic study. Much of the earlier writings from within the Islamic world presented Ibadism as a heresy. Western academic interest in Ibadism began in the mid-19th century,when translations of Ibadi texts and other literature began to become available. French and Italian scholars focussed mainly on Ibadism in North Africa,while John C. Wilkinson and other British scholars have studied it in Oman,where few texts were accessible until the 1970s.
Ibāḍītheology refers to the study of God within the Ibāḍībranch of Islam,and shares a path with Islamic theology. Although the school was founded in Basra,modern-day Iraq,its followers subsequently sought refuge in Oman,Yemen,Hadramawt in the southeast peninsula of Arabia,and North Africa. Though largely ignored by the mainstream of Arab and Muslim scholarship,and scarcely tapped by Orientalist research,there does exist a continuous tradition of Ibāḍīscholarship throughout the centuries to this day.
Several Omani/Ibadi manuscripts discovered over the past four decades,particularly in the Sultanate of Oman and North Africa,contain the texts of what is commonly termed “sirah”(“history”) or “jam’al siyar”. They belong to a familiar type of literature,a genre used when addressing the general public in mosques in the early Islamic era centuries.
Valerie Hoffman is an academic scholar on Islamic studies expertise on religion,anthropology of Islam and Ibadi studies.
Ziaka Angeliki is an academic scholar on Islamic studies expertise on Byzantine studies,Ibadi Studies and Shia Studies.
Adam Russell Gaiser is a scholar of Islamic studies specialising on the development of early Kharijites and Ibadiyya.
Dale F. Eickelman is an American anthropologist with an expertise on the Middle East. He is the Ralph and Richard Lazarus Professor of Anthropology and Human Relations at Dartmouth College.
Nur al-Dīn al-Sālimī was an Omani historian and scholar noted for his expertise in IbāḍīIslam.