Said bin Taimur

Said bin Taimur سعيد بن تيمور
File:Said Bin Taimur.jpg
Sultan of Oman
Reign	10 February 1932 – 23 July 1970
Predecessor	Taimur bin Feisal
Successor	Qaboos bin Said
Born	13 August 1910 Oman
Died	London, England
Burial	Brookwood Cemetery, Woking, England Royal cemetery, Muscat
Spouse	Sheikha Fatima al-Mashani Sheikha Mazoon al-Mashani
Issue	Qaboos Bin Said
Dynasty	Al Said
Father	Taimur bin Feisal
Mother	Sayyida Fatima bint 'Ali Al-Sa'id
Religion	Ibadi Islam

Said bin Taimur (13 August 1910 – 19 October 1972) (Arabic: سعيد بن تيمور‎‎), (Balochi: سعید بن تیمور) was the sultan of Muscat and Oman (the country later renamed to Oman) from 10 February 1932 until his overthrow on 23 July 1970. His second wife was Mazoon al-Mashani (cousin of his first wife, Fatima). He studied in Mayo College, Ajmer in India from 1922 to 1927 in Urdu and English.

Upbringing

The son of Taimur bin Feisal, he inherited the remains of an Omani Empire, which included the neighboring provinces of Oman and Dhofar, as well as the last remnants of an overseas empire, including Gwadar on the Pakistani coast—the latter was ceded to Pakistan in 1958. Nevertheless, his petroleum-rich country also had long established ties with the United Kingdom, based on a 1798 Treaty of Friendship, and was a British protectorate since 1891.

Leadership

As sultan, oil wealth would have allowed Sultan Said bin Taimur to modernize his country, and, in fact, he secured British recognition of its independence in 1951. Nevertheless, he also faced serious internal opposition, from Imam Ghalib Bin Ali – a religious leader of Oman, who claimed power in the sultanate for himself. The Imam's revolt in Jebel Akhdar was suppressed in 1955 with the help of the United Kingdom, but this, in turn, earned Taimur the animosity of Saudi Arabia, which supported the imam, and of Egypt, which regarded British involvement in suppressing the revolt as unconducive to the cause of Arab nationalism. In 1957, these two countries supported a renewed revolt by the Imam, which was similarly suppressed by 1959.

In 1958 Said sold Gwadar to Pakistan for $1 million.

In 1965, the province of Dhofar revolted, this time with the support of People's Republic of China and some of the nationalist Arab states, followed by an assassination attempt in 1966, which had a marked effect on Said causing him to become even more erratic in governing the country. Reportedly, even wearing eyeglasses was discouraged. No one was safe from the sultan's paranoia, not even his own son, Qaboos, who was kept under virtual house arrest at the Sultan's palace in Salalah.

Departure

Qaboos staged a coup in 1970 and exiled his father to the United Kingdom. Said lived his last two years at the Dorchester Hotel in London. He was originally laid to rest in Brookwood Cemetery, Woking, Surrey, England. His corpse was then disinterred and transported back to Oman whereupon he was buried in the Royal cemetery in Muscat.

Source

• Harris M. Lentz III, Heads of States and Governments: A Worldwide Encyclopedia of Over 2,300 Leaders, 1945 through 1992. McFarland & Company, Inc., 1994, p. 604. ISBN 0-89950-926-6.

External links

• Omani Ministry of Foreign Affairs
• The Death of the Last Feudal Arab State

References

Regnal titles
Preceded by Taimur bin Feisal	Sultan of Oman 10 February 1932 – 23 July 1970	Succeeded by Qaboos bin Said