Zafar in 1200, Dhofar | Atlas of 1200

The town of the Dhofar plain that gave the land its name.

The Habudis will destroy it in 618 AH (1221) and build their walled city al-Mansura on the shore, because the old town lay too far from the sea; al-Mansura took over the name Zafar, and its ruins are today's al-Balid in Salalah. Where exactly old Zafar stood is not settled: either a little inland in the plain, or on the al-Balid site itself, where archaeologists find occupation before the Habudi city.

Who holds it

Name: Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Akhal al-Manjawi (his governor here not named)
Title: Lord of Zafar
Since: Not pinned
Confidence: medium

Lord in 1200

The Manjawi lord; a governor (wali) of Zafar appears in the chronicle in 604 AH.

How things stand that morning

Under the Manjawi lord.

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

A governor for the lord; the town rebels in 597 AH (Shanbal).

Communities

Arab townsmen and farmers; mountain folk who come down to market.

Fairs and markets

No fair dates recorded for 1199-1200.

Militia

Not recorded for 1199-1200.

Walls and castle

Not described; the walls with four gates belong to the Habudi city (618-620 AH).

Trade and crafts

Farming of the monsoon plain (grain, coconuts later attested), frankincense trade, fish.

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.

597 AH (1200-1201)Zafar rebels after the lord's death.Depends on: The lord dying in 596 AH (Shanbal). Stopped by: A settled succession.

Where the sources disagree

The seat is placed in the Salalah plain near al-Balid because the old town's site is not settled.
Shanbal records 'Muhammad ibn Manjuh died' under 596 AH without a month; 596 AH runs from about 22 October 1199 to 10 October 1200, and 1 January 1200 is about 12 Rabi I 596, so he is more likely than not still alive at first light on 1 January 1200, but this is not pinned. TDV (after Ibn al-Mujawir and Ba Makhrama) dates the death of the last Manjawi, Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Akhal, to 600 AH (1203-1204), and Ibn al-Athir tells the vizier's takeover under 600 AH. We take Shanbal's Muhammad ibn Manjuh and TDV's al-Akhal to be the same man.

Evidence: Known through Ibn al-Mujawir's account of its destruction; its site and its state in 1200 are uncertain.

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

Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.