OMAN, JOHN WOOD

born July 23, 1860, Orkney, Scot. died May 17, 1939, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, Eng. British Presbyterian theologian. After graduating from Edinburgh University and the theological college of the United Presbyterian Church, Oman studied in Germany. After serving as an assistant pastor in Paisley, Scot., he transferred to the ministry of the Presbyterian Church of England. In 1907 he was appointed professor of systematic theology at its theological college in Cambridge (Westminster College), of which he was later principal (192235). Oman taught the uniqueness and independence of the religious consciousness: the sense of the sacred establishes man as a personal being in the midst of natural process. In his main work, The Natural and the Supernatural (1931), Oman developed this view in a wide-ranging treatment of knowledge and perception, of necessity and freedom, and of the history and classification of religions. His other works include Grace and Personality (1917), Vision and Authority (1902), and The Church and the Divine Order (1911). The economy Oman is a rural, agricultural country, and fishing and overseas trading are important to the coastal populations. Oil in commercial quantities was discovered in Oman in 1964 and was first exported in 1967. Subsequently, the production and export of petroleum rapidly came to dominate the country's economy. By the late 1990s, oil revenues represented two-fifths of the gross domestic product and provided about four-fifths of the government's income. Before 1970, thousands of Omanis left the country to find work in nearby oil-producing states, and foreigners came to work in Oman as oil production increased. Non-Omanis still comprise more than two-thirds of the labour force, and about one-fifth of the male population remains unemployed. With oil reserves expected to run out early in the 21st century, the government in 1996 initiated a new plan for the post-oil era that focused on developing a liquefied natural gas and also on economic diversification, privatization, and Omanization. By the end of the 1990s, the privatization plan had advanced farther than those in the other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states; notable features included further developing the stock market, selling several government-owned companies and shares, and creating a more liberal investment environment. There are no trade unions or associations in Oman, and the country's development has been aided, in part, by the GCC. Resources Several copper mines and a smelter were opened in the early 1980s at an ancient mining site near Suhar, but production levels have diminished considerably. Chromite is also mined in small quantities. Coal deposits at Al-Kamil are being explored for potential exploitation and use, especially to generate electricity. Exploration projects that began in the mid-1980s to uncover more unassociated natural gas have proved successful, and pipelines were constructed from the gas fields at Yibal to Muscat and Suhar and to Izki. By the late 1990s, the known natural gas reserves had doubled in less than a decade. The land Relief Northern Oman is dominated by three physiographic zones. The long, narrow coastal plain of Al-Batinah stretches along the Gulf of Oman. The high, rugged Al-Hajar Mountains extend southeastward, parallel to the gulf coast, from the Musandam Peninsula to a point near Ra's Al-Hadd at the easternmost tip of the Arabian Peninsula. Much of the range reaches elevations above 4,800 feet (1,463 metres); Mount Al-Akhdar (Green Mountain), at an elevation of 10,086 feet (3,074 metres), is the country's highest point. The great central divide of Wadi Sama'il separates the Al-Hajar into a western and an eastern range. An inland plateau falls away to the southwest of the Al-Hajar Mountains into the great Rub' al-Khali (Empty Quarter) desert, which the sultanate shares with Saudi Arabia and Yemen. These zones can be further subdivided into several unofficial regions: Al-Batinah; the mountains and associated valleys of the Eastern Al-Hajar and Western Al-Hajar ranges; the Oman interior area, or Al-Jaww (the central foothills and valleys on the inland side of the Al-Hajar Mountains and the historic heartland of Oman); Az-Zahirah (the semidesert plain west of the interior Oman area, next to the United Arab Emirates, including Al-Buraymi oasis); Ash-Sharqiyah (sandy plains lying east of interior Oman behind the Al-Hajar Mountains); and Ja'lan (fronting the Arabian Sea south of Ra's Al-Hadd). The southern region of Dhofar (Zufar) is separated from the rest of Oman by several hundred miles of open desert. Dhofar's coastal plain is fertile alluvial soil, well watered by the southwest monsoon. Wooded mountain ranges, rising to about 5,000 feet (1,500 metres), form a crescent in Dhofar behind a long, narrow coastal plain, on which the provincial capital of Salalah is located. Behind the mountains, gravel plains gradually merge northward into the Rub' al-Khali. Climate and plant and animal life The climate is hot and dry in the interior and hot and humid along the coast. Summer temperatures in the capital of Muscat and other coastal locations often climb to 110 F (43 C), with high humidity; winters are mild, with lows averaging about 63 F (17 C). Temperatures are similar in the interior, although they are more moderate at higher altitudes. Dhofar is dominated by the summer monsoon, making Salalah's climate more temperate than that of northern Oman. Rainfall throughout the country is minimal, averaging only about 4 inches (100 mm) per year, although precipitation in the mountains is heavier. There are no permanent bodies of fresh water in the sultanate. A falaj in a date grove on Al-Jabal Al-Akhdar, Al-Hajar Mountains, Oman. Because of the low rainfall, vegetation is sparse except where there is irrigation, which is provided by an ancient system of water channels known as aflaj (singular: falaj). The channels often run underground and originate in wells near mountain bases. Acacia trees form most of what little natural vegetation exists, and the soil is extremely rocky; plant species are protected in nature preserves. The government also protects rare animal species, such as the Arabian oryx, Arabian leopard, mountain goat, and loggerhead turtle. The people Oman's population is principally Arab, although large numbers of ethnic Balochi live along the Al-Batinah; both groups are exclusively Muslim. Arabic is the official language, but English, Farsi, and Urdu are also spoken. Oman has one of the highest birth rates among the Persian Gulf states; life expectancy is about 70 years, and the infant mortality rate is decreasing. The Ibadite branch of Islam, a moderate subsect of the Kharijite sect, claims the majority of adherents. In belief and ritual, Ibadism is close to Sunnite Islam (the major, orthodox branch of Islam), differing in its emphasis on an elected, rather than a hereditary, imam as the spiritual and temporal leader of the Ibadite community. Non-Ibadite Arabs and the Balochi, who have migrated to Oman from Iran and Pakistan over the past several centuries, are Sunnites. The Muscat-Matrah urban area has long been home to significant numbers of Persians (Iranians) and of merchants of Indian ancestry, some of whom also live along the Al-Batinah. Notable among the latter are the Liwatiyah, who originally came from Sindh (now in Pakistan) but have lived in Oman for centuries. The Indian communities are mainly Shi'ite, the most widespread Islamic sect after the Sunnite, with a few Hindus. There are also a number of Swahili-speaking Omanis born in Zanzibar and elsewhere in East Africa who returned to Oman after 1970. Several large Arab groups predominate along Dhofar's coastal plain. The inhabitants of the Dhofar mountains are known as jibalis, or people of the mountains. They are ethnically distinct from the coastal Arabs and are thought to be descendants of people from the Yemen highlands. They speak South Arabic languages, which are largely unrecognizable to speakers of modern (North) Arabic. Since 1970, increasing numbers of foreigners have come to reside in the country, particularly in the capital. These include Western businessmen, as well as government advisers, army officers, and labourers from the Indian subcontinent, the Philippines, and other Asian countries. Since the 1980s the government has followed a policy called Omanization, to reduce the country's dependence on foreign labour and increase employment opportunities for Omani citizens.