Sūr Masqaţ

The prophet Mohamed himself wrote a letter to the Omani people inviting them to follow Islam. They accepted, choosing to follow Abd Allah ibn Ibad; the Ibadi Muslim faith is one of the oldest, purest forms of Islam. About three-quarters of Omanis are Ibadi, though there are some Shia and Sunni Muslims, not counting those from Bangladesh and the sub-continent.
Ibadism is an offshoot of the Kharijite movement that began after the death of the Prophet in 632 A.D., predating both the Sunni and Shia denominations. They believe that the Imam is the spiritual and political leader of the community and is elected by the community: therefore leadership of Islam should not be hereditary.
Obviously one sees mosques at every turn and invariably they are elegant and minimalistic. One notable feature is the "call to prayer" which is very clean sounding: the loudspeakers are not over-driven for maximum volume as in many other countriesRead more