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The Transformation of Religious Learning in Oman: Tradition and Modernity1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 May 2011

ABDULRAHMAN AL-SALIMI
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Abstract

The last fifty years mark a period of great change in the role of religious leadership and education in the Sultanate of Oman. The country moved from bifurcated leadership between an Imam and a Sultan to a single political authority. These decades also witnessed the modernisation of the state. These factors combined to reshape the place of religion and religious education in society. Whereas previously religious leaders had relative autonomy and more direct political influence, now they were brought under the auspices of the government with their focus circumscribed to religious matters. The structures and foci of religious education were then reshaped so that tradition provided a platform for progress and the more zealous ideologies emerging in the region could be held at bay. This has permitted Oman to modernise and engage with a global society in an amicable, non-sectarian, manner.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society , Volume 21 , Issue 2 , April 2011 , pp. 147 - 157
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal Asiatic Society 2011

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Footnotes

1

My special thanks to Mr Michael Bos and Dr Jeremy Jones for their comments and assistance.

References

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