The Middle East's most surprising country

Oman, where I have spent the past week, is an Arab country unlike any other. Count the ways.‎

Islam has three main branches: Sunni (about 90% of all Muslims), Shiite (about 9%) ‎and Ibadi (about 0.2%). Oman has the only Ibadi-majority population in the world. Being a ‎tiny minority in the larger Muslim context, rulers of Oman have historically kept away from ‎Middle Eastern issues. Part of the country was isolated mountainous desert terrain, part was ‎focused on the seas, especially on India and East Africa. For two centuries, the Omani empire ‎competed with the Europeans for control of the Indian Ocean; indeed, Oman ruled the African ‎island of Zanzibar until 1964, making it the only non-European state to control African territory.‎

This unique remoteness from Middle Eastern problems, whether it be the Arab-Israeli conflict or ‎Iranian expansionism, remains in place. At present, with a civil war raging in next-door Yemen ‎and Iran making trouble right by Oman's Musandam Peninsula, which juts out into the super-‎strategic Strait of Hormuz, Oman is an oasis of calm. Jihadism has so far been nonexistent, with ‎no acts of violence in Oman and no Omanis joining ISIS.‎

The bifurcated desert-sea nature of Oman has induced a tension between cosmopolitan ‎worldliness and insularity. The ruler from 1932 to 1970, Said bin Taimur, went to school in India ‎and Iraq, then visited U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt in Washington; he also educated his son Qaboos bin ‎Said abroad. Despite this, Said kept Omanis isolated from the outside world, squirreled away oil ‎revenues, and perversely thought isolation and backwardness would assure his continued rule. ‎Symbolic of Oman's standing in 1970, it had a grand total of two electricity generators, two hospitals, ‎‎three private schools, and six miles of paved roads. Slavery was legal; smoking in the streets was not. ‎Not a single newspaper or movie theater existed. As one visitor put it, "The clock of history was ‎stopped somewhere in the Middle Ages."‎

It turns out that poverty and ignorance did not assure his continued rule. In July 1970, the 30-‎year-old Qaboos overthrew his father in a palace coup d'etat; 47 years later, Qaboos remains ‎Oman's absolute ruler. He turned out to be a relentless modernizer who personally oversaw the ‎building of the country, from oil refineries to an opera house. About a million barrels per day of ‎petroleum sustains the economy without overwhelming it; 2.5 million Omanis employ ‎about 2.1 million expatriates, largely from South Asia.‎

A once-closed country is now easy of access; $13 buys a visa at the airport and Oman's ‎natural beauty has made it a destination for high-end Western sun lovers and eco-tourists. It's ‎become so chic, Lonely Planet in 2012 listed the capital, Muscat, as the second "best in travel" city ‎in the world.‎

As a result, the country has largely caught up, boasting electricity in the most remote villages, an ‎extensive network of excellent highways, 91% literacy, a network of colleges, and the ‎Royal Oman Symphony Orchestra.‎

A benevolent dictator, Qaboos dominates the country in ways alien to a Westerner. He serves ‎simultaneously as prime minister; defense, foreign affairs, and finance minister, and ‎supreme commander of the armed forces and police. Nor is that all: As The Economist has noted, ‎on an average day, a resident of Muscat "is likely to drive down Sultan Qaboos Road, pass Sultan ‎Qaboos Grand Mosque and perhaps Sultan Qaboos Port, too. He or she may be a graduate of ‎Sultan Qaboos University and watch a football match at the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex ‎before heading home to a house in Madinat Sultan Qaboos, a neighborhood of the city."‎

The Arab insurgency that began in 2011 reached Oman but, as in the case of most of the ‎monarchies, was easily handled with some extra spending.‎

March 3 saw the country's biggest news in decades: The 76-year-old Qaboos, sick, frail, and ‎childless, appointed a cousin, Asaad bin Tariq, as deputy prime minister, a step widely ‎interpreted as indicating his choice for successor. After years of speculation, this designation, ‎with luck, will stave off lurking instability.‎

As a democrat, I rue absolute monarchies. As a Middle East analyst, however, I acknowledge ‎that monarchies govern far better than the region's alternatives, mainly ideologues and military ‎officers. I therefore join many Omanis in hoping for a smooth transition that keeps the country ‎deftly out of harm's way.‎

Daniel Pipes (DanielPipes.org, @DanielPipes) is president of the Middle East Forum.

טעינו? נתקן! אם מצאתם טעות בכתבה, נשמח שתשתפו אותנו