History of the Jews in Oman

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There was a Jewish presence in Oman for many centuries, however, the Jewish community of the country is no longer existant.

Contents 1 Early Jewish History 2 Ishaq bin Yahuda 3 Later Community 4 References

[edit] Early Jewish History

Some of the most early Jewish history in what is now Oman is associated with the biblical figure Job. The Tomb of Job is located 45 miles from the port city of Salalah.

[edit] Ishaq bin Yahuda

The later, more documented Omani Jewish community was made famous by Ishaq bin Yahuda, a merhcant who lived in the 9th century. Bin Yahuda lived in Sohar, and sailed for China between the years of 882 and 912 after an argument with a Jewish colleague, where he made a great fortune. He returned to Shoar and sailed for China again, but his ship was sized and bin Yahuda was murdered at the port of Sumatra.

[edit] Later Community

In the mid 19th century, the British Lieutenant J.R. Wellsted documented the Jews of Muscat in his memoirs Travels in Arabia, vol. 1. He mentions that there are "a few Jews in Muskat (sic), who mostly arrived there in 1828, being driven from Baghdad . . .by the cruelties and extortions of the Pacha Daud." He also notes that Jews were not discriminated against at all in Oman, which was not the case in other Arab countries (they did not have to live in Ghettos, nor identify themselves as Jews, not walk in the road if a Muslim was walking on the same street, as was the case in Yemen). The Jews of Muscat were employed mostly in the making of silver ornaments, banking, and liquor sale. Despite the lack of persecution in Oman, the community is belived to have dissapeared before 1900. During World War II, a Jewish American Army enlisted man, Emanuel Glick, encountered a small community of Omani Jews in Muscat, but this community consisted mostly of recent migrants from Yemen.

[edit] References

• http://www.jewishsightseeing.com/oman/salalah/tomb_of_job/19980320-job_tomb_oman.htm
• http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/anti-semitism/omanjews.html