iii. Social structure.
ʿUmān is overwhelmingly an Arab, Muslim society, and tribal organisation remains an important element in national identity. The country’s rapid development since 1970 has introduced a measure of physical and social mobility, as well as creating an influx of emigrants.
The migration of Arab tribes into ʿUmān predates Islam, with Kahtānī or South Arabian tribes moving ¶ along the southern Arabian Peninsula from Yemen into ʿUman around the 2nd century A.D. They were followed several centuries later by ʿAdnānī or North Arabian tribes …