Oman
The early Jewish community of Sohar became famous through
Ishaq bin Yahuda, a Sohari merchant mentioned by Buzurq ibn Shahriyar
in his "Kitab 'Aja'ib al-Hind" ("Book of the Wonders
of India," c. 950). He writes that the Jewish merchant seaman,
Ishaq bin Yahuda, visited China from Sohar between the years 882 and
912 after a quarrel with a Jewish colleague. Ishaq left Sohar in poverty
to seek his fortune in China and returned to Oman thirty years later
with great wealth. After a disagreement with the local ruler he sailed
for China again, but at the port of Sumatra his ship and its contents
were seized and Ishaq was murdered.
British Lieutenant J.R. Wellsted mentions in his memoirs,
Travels in Arabia, vol. 1, about the Jews of Muskat. He writes, "there
are a few Jews in Muskat, who mostly arrived there in 1828, being driven
from Baghdad . . .by the cruelties and extortions of the Pacha Daud."
Lieutenant Wellsted states that Jews are not discriminated against in Oman as they are in other
Arab countries such as Yemen and Syria, and do not have
to wear any markings to identify themselves as Jews. He writes also
that Jews are not restricted to living in one concentrated area, nor
are they required to walk in the road if a Muslim is walking on the same street, as they were in Yemen. The Jews in Muskat
were employed in many professions, but many were involved in the fabrication
of silver ornaments, banking, and liquor sale. Despite the toleration
of Jews, in his book Sohar: Culture and Society in an Omani Town, author
Frederik Barth, suggests that the Jewish community had disappeared by
1900.
Sources: Oman
Studies Centre for Documentation and Research on Oman and the Arabian
Gulf
Stillman, Norman A. The
Jews of Arab Lands. The Jewish Publication Society of America;
Philadelphia, 1979
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