Photo credit: U.S. Department of State
When Sultan Qaboos bin Said of Oman died on January 10, 2020, at
age 79 without an heir, a letter was opened that revealed his hand-picked successor.
The transition of power to his cousin, Haitham bin Tariq, who has two sons and
two daughters, was peaceful -- and so far, that peace has held.
Sultan Qaboos lived as a homosexual, with elegant, somewhat
effete young men (displaying Rolex watches and other luxury items) populating
his palaces. He was also known to have a male English lover. Qaboos had been
educated in England and even served in the British Army. Although everyone in
the Middle East knew of his homosexual proclivities, the Sultan never came out.
With support from the British he seized power from his father in a
1970 coup to become an absolute monarch who ruled by royal decree. The press
was muzzled, and all media was censored before publication or broadcast, so
nothing of the sultan’s homosexual activity was ever revealed to the public. In
Oman, homosexual acts were punishable by up to three years of imprisonment, and
Qaboos did nothing to create a more progressive environment for gays. Even so, there is
a dynamic underground gay scene in Oman, but the police turn a blind eye to it. So to
this day, Turkey is the only predominantly Muslim country in the Middle East
where homosexuality is not outlawed (no longer true - several alert readers have pointed this out -- see comment section).
Yet Sultan Qaboos enjoyed a reputation as an “enlightened” despot.
Quite naturally he received good press in England and at home, where even the “live”
news broadcasts were pre-recorded for purposes of censorship. Not a single
unflattering comment or photo was allowed to be made public.
The sultan presented an image of a Renaissance Man – he played the flute, built an opera house (above) and maintained a full symphony orchestra that included female musicians (although they wore hijabs); all 120 members are Omani nationals.
He was partial to the pipe organ and had a large German-built instrument installed in the opera house in 2011. One of the stops is labeled “Flûte Qaboos” in honor of his flute playing ability.
Over the course of a 50-year reign, he ended Oman’s international isolation,
raised standards of living, increased business development, abolished slavery,
granted freedom of religion and quelled a rebellion. He paved roads, built an
airport, schools and hospitals, established a telecommunications network and
spread electrification throughout the country. These achievements are remarkable. For a brief three years
(1976-79) Sultan Qaboos was married to his first cousin, who later remarried.
Their union produced no heirs.
To celebrate the 30th anniversary of his rule, the sultan built this grand mosque, one of the largest in the Middle East.
Now that Sultan Qaboos is dead, there remains only one other Middle Eastern royal known to engage in homosexual activity, the bisexual Crown Prince Hamdan bin Mohammed al Maktum of neighboring Dubai. But that deserves a separate blog post. Stay tuned.
References:
San Cassimally
Wikipedia
Royal Foibles (blog)
If you visit Morocco, you will soon learn that most citizens consider the ruling king being a gay man. Many local stories about his lovers ...
ReplyDeleteWho ever wrote this clearly cribbed everything and had no experience of living in Oman, understanding of the political realities within the country and local geopolitical area or an idea of the tightrope the Sultan walked.
ReplyDeleteHis Majesty, the late Sultan Qaboos Bin Said was an incredible man of outstanding intelligence, conscience and duty. He dragged an essentially mediaeval feudal country into the 20th century at a rate that defied belief. I know because I was there for a time watching part of the transformation.
It’s true, by so called civilised western standards, there were and are areas where this transformation would be considered lacking, but those who most vociferously argue these points completely ignore the starting point and the constraints of being a Muslim country.
Sultan Qaboos introduced an obvious don’t ask don’t tell policy in most disputed sociopolitical areas in the 1970’s which was decades ahead of the same policy adopted by the USA regarding the military. He permitted western overseas worker the right to maintain their liberal lifestyles, the consumption of alcohol, gambling, cultural activities etc within the confines of their own living areas. The only condition was to respect the areas where these were allowed and not spread them outside designated areas. The Sultan not only respected other faiths by allowing places of worship to be built, he personally paid for a large number of them. I could list hundreds of examples but that would be labouring the point. The simple truth is, he was a good man who did as much as he could within the constraints imposed upon him. He had no choice in remaining on good terms with countries like Saudi Arabia, yet still managed to push boundaries far beyond what Saudi would tolerate from any other Arab leader or nation.
It’s easy to lazily highlight only faults whilst ignoring or disingenuously belittling the incredible achievements. Apply the same vapid inept analysis to any country and every single one of them is left wanting. If a level playing field isn’t stringently applied any analysis is little more than an exercise in cultural and social fascism.
From your blogger -- I did not belittle the Sultan's achievements, I enumerated them (in paragraph after photo of pipe organ). However, Ataturk achieved more than this in the early twentieth century, pushing Turkey out of the dark ages into an enlightened secular nation. I have visited Istanbul many times, and gay bars are numerous and freely accessible to all tourists. Ataturk turned backward Turkey on its head. If he could accomplish all that, so could Sultan Qaboos. To read about Ataturk, click the link in the sidebar.
Delete"So to this day, Turkey is the only predominantly Muslim country in the Middle East where homosexuality is not outlawed."
ReplyDelete^ This is not an accurate fact. Bahrain is another Muslim country where homosexuality is not outlawed.
https://www.equaldex.com/region/bahrain
https://lib.ohchr.org/HRBodies/UPR/Documents/Session1/BH/ILGA_BHR_UPR_S1_2008_InternationalLesbianGayAssociation_etal_uprsubmission.pdf
From your blogger: My sources for this post were not up-to-date, so I stand corrected. Homosexuality is no longer illegal in Bahrain since 1976, Lebanon since 2014, Northern Cyprus since 2014. But homosexuality has been legal in Turkey since the country was founded in 1923.
ReplyDelete