Original version

BBC World Service Online

Heart and Soul

Documentaries

Religion & Ethics

Personal approaches to spirituality from around the world.

Heart and Soul: Faith in Oman: 10/01/2015 03:32 GMT: Ibadi Islam

Magazines & Reviews

Factual: Health & Wellbeing

Oman's Sultan Qaboos bin Said, Credit: Mohammed Mahjoub/AFP/Getty Images

10/01/2015 03:32 GMT

10/01/2015 03:32 GMT: Ibadi Islam

Faith in Oman

Ibadi Islam

BBC World Service - Heart and Soul, Faith in Oman, Ibadi Islam

What absolute monarch Sultan Qaboos has done for Oman's religious tolerance

What absolute monarch Sultan Qaboos's 'benevolent dictatorship' has done for Oman's climate of exceptional religious tolerance.

Ask members of any faith in Oman what it is like to live there and almost everyone will extol the virtues of the country’s absolute monarch, Sultan Qaboos. Oman’s short-lived version of the Arab uprisings appears to bear this out - protests over unemployment quickly subsided after the Sultan promised jobs and benefits. 

In the second part of her series Mounira Chaieb examines what Sultan Qaboos’ benevolent dictatorship has done for the country’s climate of exceptional religious tolerance. 

We hear how Oman’s dominant branch of Islam - the Ibadis - relates to the country’s Sunnis and Shias, who, uniquely in the Muslim world, are both in the minority here. But does the country’s lack of democracy diminish the value of its policy of religious tolerance? And what does the future hold for Oman when the Sultan’s rule comes to an end? 

(Photo: Oman's Sultan Qaboos bin Said. Credit: Mohammed Mahjoub/AFP/Getty Images)

Heart and Soul: Faith in Oman

BBC World Service

The Gulf state of Oman grants faiths other than Islam a surprising amount of freedom. Could the Omani model catch on elsewhere?

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Heart and Soul

Faith in Oman

10/01/2015 03:32 GMT: Ibadi Islam

Genres

Formats

Brand

Series

BBC World Service Online

About BBC World Service