[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

Salaams Jim~ Yours is a very thought provoking reply ! I still need to address the question of the Hormus Omanis referring to Yemen in my next post if I may and I see some other interesting notes by you on Michael Blalocks half sword which I would like to add notes.... and reitterate my theory on dots on blades being related to the Abbasid which are shown on the website ...Topkapi Museum at the very end of my letter.

May I reconstruct my reply that I concocted last evening(which disappeared when I pressed send!!) into a far simpler form of essentially 4 statements of fact ~ One for each sword so that people dont get confused. I will colour them in red if I may?. I will also add a comprehensive brief as a footnote defending the Funun and to some extent perhaps the apparent religious "facts" and understandably the fable inherent in most peoples idea of "folklore" built around my argument. I will also place the references at the end.



For clarity and simplicity I rearrange my theory into 4 paragraph statements of considered fact based on my evidence so far upon the provenance of essentially 2 original sword systems and 2 developmental branches viz;

1. The Omani Short Battle Sword and
2. The Old Omani Long Kattara and Terrs. and the spin off of two other swords namely;
3. The modern Omani Long Kattara and
4. The Wallace Collection Sword.

1. The Omani Short Battle Sword;
(Turned down Quillons, Islamic shaped pommel, octagonal hilt etc)

"The Omani Short Battle Sword came into being between late 7thC and not later than 751 AD having been copied from the Abbasid sword then in use against Omanis in Oman by the Abbasid Garrison from Iraq"

2. The Omani Long Kattara and Terrs;
(Long, flexible, spatula round tipped sword with buckler shield. Hilt as per the above No 1. except "stretched" and with quillons worked forward into the cuff. The Old Omani Long Kattara appears to be a traditional blade to which the same honorific hilt as at 1. above is fitted in a noticeably stretched style) .

''This Old Omani Long Kattara was introduced at the beginning of Ibadi Islam not later than 751AD i.e. at the same time as the Short Omani Battle Sword''


3. The Modern Omani Long Kattara;
(Long flexible usually European replacement blade with pommel tang and blade as one piece on a conical flat hilt).


"This is the updated 17th C to 19th C rehilted on a new style blade, therefore, A totally restyled modern version of the old sword at 2.
The Shield, (Terrs) however, never changed".


4 . The Wallace Collection Sword;
(Iconic badge of Office VIP Dress Sword on long carry scabbard with magnificent furniture and silver Hilt with a European Blade etc. No apparent Shield).

"This is the restyled, exported, frozen old Omani Long Kattara awakened and brought up to Iconic, Badge of Office status for a dignitary or VIP. Likely provenance Yemen between the 17th and 19th Century A.D".


Notes. In supporting my general theory I rely heavily upon doctrine not usually researched i.e. The traditional music, dance and poetry of Oman and secondly the normally seldom used aspect of religion; in this case Ibadi Islam.

There are distinct and vital reasons why this approach must please be viewed with a different perspective: In the West reliance upon folklore as fact or upon religion which is normally alegorical is seldom if ever used. In Oman however these are solid references because the folklore I have researched is sacrosanct and totally not based upon fable like for example in the West say the story occasionally re-enacted on pantomime "George and the Dragon". In Oman Folklore has been enacted strictly from the "get go" of Ibadi Islam as a method of passing down "the way of life in the past"… Like for example the ancient loading of a Dhow where participants mimic the loading of heavy stores and chests onto a make believe but real ( in terms of passing down the way of life) ship swaying and moving to drum beat. There is no mythology in this structure. It is a reflection of daily life. The Funun is just the method of "Transmission".

Islamic (and I do not want to get into a religious discussion) conceptual theology, does not, as in other religions promote the use of fable or alegory, moreover, it tends to be very factual… In the case of its historical support documentation it is absolutely clear upon dates and characters therefore we have at the outset of this religion a set of practices that could only be complete at the time the first Imam was elected…and a precise date.

Julanda Ibn Massoud was elected as the first Imam in 751 therefor by that time all the whistles, bells and fine details such as celebratory administration and scholistic theory etc of Ibadi Islam were intact and operational including the Eid celebrations and fasting and all. As were the celebratory folkloric traditions; "The Funun".

The Funun; The early genre folklore volumes of work also contains the Razha. The Razha is the ancient sword dance with the Old Long Kattara and Buckler Shield(Terrs). It is in 2 parts . One is a celebratory parade with shimmering swords and participants leaping in the air and throwing and catching of swords... the blades humming and oscillating by the rapid wrist action of the swordholders etc. and without Terrs. The other is a mimic fight …All set to the drum beat this has become like a martial art but its technically the passing down of that part of their way of life ... War !
These pageants are reenacted twice a year to celbrate each Eid and at weddings and other meetings of dignatories and international guests e.g. at celebrations and National Day etc ... as they have mostly always been done since the beginning of Ibadi Islam. As the seat of Ibadi Islam, Nizwa, has always retained these "Funun" traditions.

Since the Old Omani Long Kattara is therefore on the scene in 751 A.D. in the Funun dances we can safely assume that the Short Omani Battle Sword was in the arena at about the same period and by annalysing a previous leaders history a likely scenario appears ~ Via Jabr Ibn Zayd.

He was a Nizwa man. Not only was Nizwa the place Oman received the letter asking it to join Islam which it agreed to do … but it was also to become the seat the centre and the Capital of both Ibadi Islam and of the Interior and during later struggles down the centuries against Coastal Oman as a country often split in half and at war with itself rather like "The War Of the Roses". Thus Nizwa is important since from here swords would have been traded to neighboring countries and the nearest were by regular camel train to what is now Saudia and Yemen. Hardly surprising then that swords turn up in Riyadh Souk and in Yemeni Museums bearing a striking resemblance to Omani Kattara but with weird old hilt forms. Perhaps more odd is the appearance of an Iconic looking Wallace Collection Dress Sword.

Having been in Iraq for many years Jabr Ibn Zayd would have been ideally placed to view the technology of the Abbasid swords. He returned to Oman destined and determined to lead his country against the Abbasid invaders garrisoned there and who were punitive, being against the advance and accepting of Ibadi Islam. He was a fighter and a leader and achieved his ambition eventually, however, he died in 711 AD . I believe that by then the idea of the celebratory hilt upon the Omani Short Battle Sword and indeed upon the Old Omani Long Kattara were sealed, however, it is the latter date of 751 AD which I believe is more acceptable as the date of inauguration of the first Immam. To bridge the possible problem however I have stated a date not later than 751 A.D. "for both weapons." Even taking the date of Islam entering Oman as 630 AD as the date before which that pair of weapons could not have appeared, the bracket is still quite a narrow one, moreover, it is based upon irrefutable "folklore" and "religious" fact.

In some cases hearsay, guesswork or mis-aligned data have confused an already clouded history. Many of the later dates have been in a wide range from the 10th to the 19th Century and attempts to tag the system to African, Baluch, Portuguese, Spanish and other regions when in fact they are Omani (hilts). In some cases the guesswork is time barred by as much as 500 years and even more as I have seen one reference in a Museum to the 19th Century! on an ancient Omani "Excalibur" equivalent from 751 AD !! All these guesstimates failed at the outset to follow one simple idea... that to solve the crime you need a motive.. An Islamic sword can hardly have evolved from the Portuguese in the 16th Century since the Portuguese regularly slaughtered Omanis and the time scale is wildly out or from a Persian sword since Oman adopted Islam before them and anyway theirs is the wrong sect..The Nasrid sword is too late by 500 plus years and separated by thousands of miles of mountains, sea and desert and is altogether unrelated.

Nasrid, Portuguese, Baluch, African, Indian, Persian. No. It is time to set the record straight. These are Omani and in the case of the Long blade it could and probably does predate Islam but ~ I respectfully submit that;

"The Old Hilted Long and Short weapons are both Omani from not later than 751 A.D.".

Regards,

Ibrahiim al Balooshi.

Note on Omani Short Battle Sword; It was introduced by Jabr Ibn Zayd who had been in Iraq and had returned to Oman to lead the nation against the Abbasid Garrisons. He died in 711 however 751 A.D marked the date of the first elected Imam thus giving the clue to this swords approximate operational birth. This Imam was called Julanda Ibn Massoud and ironically he was killed fighting against the Abbasid a year later. It is a copy of the Abbasid sword with the addition of an Ibadi Islamic Hilt.
This is a close in fighting system however as yet no shield has been identified though its operation was likely to have been the same as the Roman Gladius. having been copied from the Abbasid sword then in use against Omanis by the Abbasid Garrison. (The hilt change is honorific extolling the new Islamic sect of Ibadism.)

Note on Old Omani Long Kattara; (At various times in the history of Oman this sword was exported to neighboring countries in what is now Yemen and Saudia Arabia probably from Nizwa. Once in place in its new abode this sword froze only to be awoken by two events ~ refitting with European trade blades between the 17th and 19 th centuries and 2. Iconic revival in what is now the style seen in the Wallace Collection and discussed here.)

References; A The entire forum debate so far, B Topkapi Museum Abbasid Swords, C Ingrams Visier to the Zanzibar Court Chronicles 1931. D Islamic Arms by Antony North (V and A Museum), E.Sword in the Military Museum in Yemen photographed by Forums Michael Blalock, and F The Wallace Collection Sword,
As a bulk sized reference the following all together as Reference G; Al Ain Museum Old Omani Battle Sword, Kuwait Tariq Rajeb Museum Old Omani Battle Sword, Zuhair Museum Muscat Old Omani Battle Swords and Kattara, My own collections and those of clients numbering more than 30 such weapons.

Topkapi Reference:Web ~
Topkapi Abbasid Swords; Type into search Abbasid Swords Topkapi.
Medieval Swords and Helmets from Topkapi Museum - STLCC.edu
Medieval Swords and Weapons in the Topkapi Museum, Istanbul (Part 2). Two swords dated to the Abbasid Period (ca. 9th century). ...
users.stlcc.edu/mfuller/turk/TopkapiArms2.html - United States - Cached