دراسات في تاريخ عمان

fourth/tenth century and helped to a certain extent to create a moderate and flexible atmosphere among the conflicting groups in the Ibadiyya move- ment. Nazwa is still a large، well-inhabited town in Oman.

There were other small towns and villages in Oman، which our sources ei- ther do not mention or provide only scanty information on them; al-Sir، Samad and Jurfar are only a few examples of these.

III

21

In conclusion، it is perhaps possible، in the light of the information provid- ed by our sources، to divide the urban centres in Bahrain and Oman، into three categories: first، urban centres which are mentioned by nearly all ge- ographers and historians، who agree on their locations and provide a fair amount of data on their political، social and economic conditions; second، urban centres which are mentioned by our sources but whose location is not identified in them; most of them seem to have been destroyed due to natural factors or political disturbances; third، villages which were inhabit- ed by particular tribes and named after them، such as the villages of the Banu Muharib، Banu Amir of Abd al-Qays and Banu 'Utarid of Tamim. The villages of 'Abd al-Qays were، for example، al-Rum، al-Naqiyya and al-Ramla، and the villages of Tamim were al-Rafiqa and al-Shunun، all of them in Bahrain. This article، obviously، deals only with urban centres of the first category، which flourished during the early Islamic period.

C

Notes

1. Yaqut، Mu jam (Leipzig، 1868)، pp. 506 - 7. See also F. Omar، 'The Is- lamisation of the Gulf، a paper delivered at the University or Exeter Symposium on The Gulf and the Arab World، 1986.

2. On the geography of Bahrain see Hamadani، Sifat Jazirat al-Arab (Cai-

29