OMAN, frankincense, myrrh and the fighter pilot

About 2 generations ago, I read a book about the frankincense trail from Oman. My interest was reinforced by Sunday School lessons about the Three Kings - The Magi - The Wise Men (probably astrologers if they really existed but that's not the point of this narrative) and the gifts they brought: gold, myrrh (still looks like a typographical error!) and frankincense. Our teacher, a high school student not much older than we were, had trouble with the pronunciation. She said gold (ok, she got that right), my ruh, and frank's sense. I remember that Ronald asked what they were and she answered, "Bible stuff".

My grandmother knew all about them and read to me from the encyclopedia including articles about the Sultanate and the importance of incense in our church - Episcopal.

The tour I had booked turned out to be the best of all. Our guide, Adil, was chatty, knowledgeable and eager to answer questions, which he did with suprising frankness.

Muscat, the capital city, is much larger than I had expected, with lots of new houses built in a quasi-Arabian style but with central air conditioning in an area where the temperature averages 44 degrees C in the summer and almost never goes below 18 in the winter. It was 38 degrees at 10 am when we arrived at the souk just as it was opening.

I was tempted to buy an Omani evening dress, beautifully embroidered but it was black and I could not bear the thought of wearing black for fun.

From there we went to a highlight - the Bait al Zubair Museum (www.baitalzubairmuseum.com) dedicated to Omani life and culture. I am always interested in jewelry and the collection is superb. Of as much interest was the fact that the clothing representing each region was very colorful, nothing in black. I asked the guide and he answered me there but then in the bus expanded on the theme of religion vs tradition. The religion is based on 5 tenets - The Five Pillars of Islam. But, nowhere does it say that a woman should wear black as in Saudi Arabia or Iran, nor does it say that a woman has to wear a mask.

Islam is a religion founded in the desert and having been caught in a sandstorm, I know how it feels on your face. A mask would have come in very handy at that time. So, the tradition of a woman wearing a mask in the desert has endured but it looks really silly (or threatening) on a London bus. That's the tradition, practiced in the wrong place.

There were 2 women wearing all-black including masks and when I asked about them, he said "Yemeni", probably refugees from the civil war still continuing there. They were the only women I saw covered. Everything, he said, is based on respect. In the souk, he saw a Western woman wearing short shorts and he told her to cover up, that she would be disrespected publically if she did not. Unfortunately, she did not seem to want to listen. Cover knees and elbows at all times in public, a scarf (see pictures of Queen Elzabeth in the rain and you'll know what he means) and you are good to go.

The Sultan is much loved and no one wants to talk about a successor - they want him to live forever, or at least for a long time. He has managed to develop the country slowly and carefully, with the common welfare in mind. There is a new Grand Mosque but there is also a magnificent opera house - the only one in an Arab country, I think.

Also, each person, man or woman is given a parcel of land (about 600 square meters, I think) and can do with it whatever he/she wants: build on it, grow crops on it, lease it or sell it. According to the guide, one woman leased her land and with the money, paid for her daughter's education. Today, that daughter is a jet fighter pilot in the Royal Omani Air Force - the first and only female jet pilot in the Arab world.

This is the only Islamic country I could live in, I am sure. And, I think with a knowledge of Arabic which I have wanted to learn for years and years, and air conditioning of course, I would enjoy it.