The harbour of Dhofar under the Jabal Samhan, the seat of its lord in Ibn al-Athir's account and the port from which horses and frankincense were shipped to India.
The Ba Alawi scholar Muhammad ibn Ali, called Sahib Mirbat, taught and judged here and was buried here in 556 AH (1161). The Habudis will order its people to move to their new city of al-Mansura in 618-620 AH.
Who holds it
- Name
- Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Akhal al-Manjawi
- Title
- Lord of Mirbat
- Since
- Not pinned
- Confidence
- medium
Lord in 1200
Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Akhal al-Manjawi; his vizier al-Habudi runs the port.
How things stand that morning
The lord's seat and port.
Charter
None known: southern Arabian towns had no charters; the lord or his deputy, the judge (qadi) and the notables answer for the town.
Council
The lord and his vizier; the judge and the Shafi'i scholars trained by Sahib Mirbat's circle (names for 1200 not pinned).
Communities
Arab townsmen, merchants, sailors, Shafi'i scholars; visiting Indian and Persian merchants (not pinned).
Fairs and markets
No fair dates recorded for 1199-1200.
Militia
Not recorded for 1199-1200.
Walls and castle
Not described for 1200.
Trade and crafts
Horses for India, frankincense, fish; shipping (the vizier hires out ships to merchants).
What the year holds
What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.
- 600 AH (1203-1204)The vizier al-Habudi becomes lord of Mirbat.Depends on: The lord's death. Stopped by: A strong heir.
Places of note
- Tomb of Sahib Mirbat: Muhammad ibn Ali Ba Alawi, died 556 AH (1161).
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: Ibn al-Athir, Ibn al-Mujawir (through TDV), the Ba Alawi tradition.
Primary sources for Dhofar
Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.
- Annals of Oman, from the Kashf al-ghumma, Sirhan ibn Sa'id ibn Sirhan (compiler), from earlier Ibadi chronicles (about 1728, from earlier Ibadi sources). The Ibadi imamate of Oman has no contemporary chronicle for 1200; the later Omani compilations (the Kashf al-ghumma and al-Salimi's Tuhfat al-a'yan) preserve a list of imams and the tradition of the Nabhani maliks who ruled the interior from the 12th century, with Hormuz and Kish pressing on the coast. Read online
- History of the Observant Traveller (A Traveller in Thirteenth-Century Arabia), Ibn al-Mujawir (Jamal al-Din Yusuf ibn Ya'qub) (about 1226 to 1232). A merchant-traveller's description of western and southern Arabia a generation after 1200: Mecca and the Hijaz ports, the Red Sea crossing, Zabid and the Tihama, Aden with its customs and tariffs, the Hadramawt coast, Dhofar and Oman, Socotra, and the opposite African shore at Zeila and the Dahlak islands. Read online
Sources and studies
- Dorar historical encyclopedia, year 600 AH: Mahmud ibn Muhammad al-Himyari takes Mirbat and Zafar (after Ibn al-Athir, al-Kamil)
- 'Zafar', TDV Islam Ansiklopedisi (Cengiz Tomar, 2013; after Ibn al-Mujawir, Tarikh al-mustabsir 260-261, 271; Ba Makhrama, Tarikh thaghr Adan; Ibn Battuta; P. M. Costa, Journal of Oman Studies 5, 1979)
- Oman Daily, 2022, seminar report on Muhammad ibn Ali Ba Alawi, Sahib Mirbat (died 556 AH)
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.