Note 46 — Chapter III · THE ARAB CONQUEST OF AFRICA

or ’Oman. Maskat is the capital of the principality of ’Oman (a word which is really pronounced ’ūman) in East Arabia, ruled by an “Imam” or laicized descendant of a line of preacher-kings or “Prince Bishops,” leaders of the Ibadite sect of Puritan Muhammadans, believing mostly that sin was worse than unbelief. The Ibadites were identical in origin with the N. African Khariji already described, whose tenets, in the 18th and 19th centuries, were unconsciously repeated by the followers of Muhammad ibn Abd-al-Wahhab, the conquering “Wahhabis” of Nejd.