Omani Sorcerer Jailed

Oman NEVER fails to baffle me. Real this article here by the one and only Sunil Vaidya over at Gulf News. Omani sorcerer caused the death of two people during one of his rituals in Muscat. I haven't heard of any 'death by black magic' incidents in Dhofar in recent years, but witchcraft is still quite popular down south where we are. In fact, just yesterday the house of someone I know had to be evacuated and 'cured' of any hex since several bundles of horrible things (animal bones, herbs, verses from the Quran written backwards, names of people, skin, etc) were found in the house. You can see from this piece by a local newspaper columnist that the use of black magic is still quite prevalent in Dhofar. Not a pleasant thought.

Witches on Main Street

The number of veiled female beggar/wackos around Salalah has been on the rise recently. Many of them have GCC accents but claim to be Palestinian, etc. They accost you in supermarkets and start saying prayers very quickly and asking you for help. You're so annoyed by their fast praying that you immediately shove a couple of rials in their hand to get away from them. They then clutch your hand and thank you profusely. You notice their wrists are heavy with gold and they wear expensive perfume. Their faces are covered so you have no idea what they look like. They creep you out and you try to leave the store immediately.
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I've had to deal with them at least ten times in the past month. They usually hang out in expensive abaya or perfume stores. And they certainly lurk around bank machines.

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One of my colleagues claims they're witches and my other colleagues agree. I thought it was odd they should think that (they look like gold-wearing beggars to me!). Anyway, last week my cousin was getting into his car in front of the Isteqrar Hypermarket in Salalah. As he was loading groceries into his car, a woman approached him. She started praying and almost chanting under her breath. He couldn't exactly pinpoint the accent, but he figured a Saudi accent. He told her to shoo off and get away, but before he could do anything, she grabbed his hand and started rubbing her wrist into his palm. He started feeling dizzy and almost numb. He didn't know what was happening to him. He dropped a bag of groceries to the ground. She started telling him about himself. She knew his name, his family, problems in his current life, his wife, etc. She then told him she wants money. He said he didn't have any. She said he had 73 rials in his wallet (which he did) and if he didn't give it to her, she would put a curse on his wife. She continued praying and chanting until he pulled his wallet out and gave her the money. She she shoved a few strings tied to a shell, etc into his hand (curse bundle) and told him to go home and put it in the frankincense burner. She left. He got back into his car and sat there for half an hour trying to understand what had just happened. He felt tired, drugged, sleepy. He decided the best thing to do was to go to the nearest mosque and ask the Imam. The Imam told him she was playing around with black magic and that he needed to go home, wash and pray. He also said if my cousin's faith was strong there was nothing to be afraid of.

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I've heard several stories like this before, but none of these incidents had actually occured with someone I know until my cousin came home a nervous wreck. I myself am not a firm believer in magic or evil spirits, etc. As a Muslim I am required to believe in Jinn and other beings, etc, but I don't necessarily believe they can be used to assist witches and sorcerers in their black magic. However, having grown up in Dhofar (an area where people openly identify witches and where people dwell in the dark arts and claim to use Jinn as assistants) I'm exposed to this kind of stuff reguarly. Magic is against Islam yet many people continue to play around with it. I'm against all of it, but I can't deny the fact that it exists in Dhofar.

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As for the female witch beggars, they are not your typical Dhofari witch. They are not Omani but they've figured out a few magic tricks to help them get more money.

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So! Next time you're in town and an odd-looking woman approaching you and starts speaking fast, RUN IN THE OTHER DIRECTION! :)

Omani Zombies

Please read this article on Omani witchcraft & 'zombies'. Saleh Al Shaibany's choice of words sent me into a fit of hysterical laughter as I imagined the evil Omani zombies working at slave labor camps in Bahla. I read his articles regularly but this one is really amusing. I know a lot of it is believed to be true in Oman, especially in Salalah where voodoo and witchcraft is big. Taqah, the small fishing village outside Salalah, is the witch-town of Dhofar. Dhofaris in general won't visit Al Baleed archaeological site because they believe the place is cursed. Security guards quit regularly because they're terrified of guarding the place at night. Khor Ruri Valley after Taqah is supposedly the meeting place for witches and spirits. Rumor has it that the valley is guarded by a red fox. That, I know, is true because I've seen it several times. Anyway, I'll blog about witchcraft and spirit beliefs in Salalah some other time. Today I'm merely entertaining you with this article. Cheers.

Who needs Hogwarts?

Dear Muggle (fellow blogger),
I could not believe it when you said you had never been to the South of Oman before (and you’re Omani!). I’ve been thinking about it all morning. Dhofar is such an amazing place. So, I decided to pretend I’ve joined a debate club, and my job is to convince someone that they MUST visit Salalah. How do I start? First of all, it is an obligation if you’re Omani, and no, the monsoon is not the only reason we’re famous, although it is quite attractive.

(1) First of all, Dhofar is the Land of Frankincense! Do a little research on the subject and you’ll realize how special this title is. The history of frankincense is amazing.

(2) Dhofar is a province of antiquity, boasting both the ruins of the fortified town Sumharam, an important port from 100 BC – AD 400 (supposedly used by the Queen of Sheba), and the buried cities of Al Baleed (yes, one city buried on top of the other). Both these sights are on the ocean. The new Land of Frankincense museum in Al Baleed is quite interesting.

(3) Mormons! To those of you who have never heard of the subject, look up Salalah and the Mormon Church online. In Mormon culture, Dhofar is the most popular traditional location of the Land of Bountiful, in the Book of Mormon. This theory has been discussed for many years; however, back in 2001, a Dhofari researcher who studies cave writings in Dhofar was in Colorado attending a conference and discovered that the 20 out of the 22 letters of the cave writing alphabet matched. (yup, the same language in Dhofar and in the USA), and this brought up the Land of Bountiful discussion again. Look up Dhofar, Mormons on YouTube and watch a couple of the documentaries made on the subject. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwV-61mZKtk

(4) Dhofar is also the alleged resting place of the Prophet Job (the tomb can be found in the mountains), and the Prophet Imran, father of the Virgin Mary (in the middle of Salalah).

(5) We got witches baby! Many people in Dhofar still practice witchcraft, black magic, and many forms of paganism. It’s a little unsettling but quite fascinating. Read my post on April 27, 2009. The Valley of Khorori is said to be a portal to another world/universe. Witches from all over the world (including Brazil and Egypt) claim to have visited Khor Rori while they were in a trance. The stories are fascinating. Who needs Hogwarts when we have Taqah?

(6)Basic Tourism: What do we have in Salalah that you don’t in Muscat? Miles and miles of white sandy beaches, thousands of palm trees, camels, coconuts, bananas, papayas, etc. In fact, the coconut stalls are so cute these days that they have their own little freezers and you can order a chilled coconut. It doesn’t get better than that We also have good weather.

(7) Another interesting topic: Ice Age. I’m serious here. About a year ago, a crew of scientists working for the BBC were supposed to come to Salalah to take cheek swabs from 50 older members of a mountain tribe in Dhofar. The Reason? DNA testing. Why? Because they believe that during the Ice Age, humans did exist and were living in the Dhofar caves!!!!! The BBC documentary on the subject is called ‘The Incredible Human Journey' or 'Human Traces', not quite sure. If they are able to prove this theory, humanity will be forever changed.

(8) Salalah is one of the most tribal cultures in the Gulf. We live in a very tight society. Yes, it has disadvantages, but I believe the advantages outweigh them.

(9) Have you ever heard Jebbali poetry, the local mountain dialect?

(10) It’s interesting to read about the Dhofar Rebellion.

Life in Salalah is more 'real'. I love going to Muscat, but can never stay longer than a couple of weeks. It overwhelms me. The higways, shopping malls, crowds, etc. Life in Salalah is quiet. We are proud of our one and only Pizza Hut and KFC. We don't have any shopping malls, and hope it stays that way. We have one tiny highway. I could write pages and pages, but then my post will become too long (like your last one, Muggle) and I don’t need readers to become cross-eyed halfway through.

Tell me what you think. These are just ‘some’ thoughts.

PS (the picture was taken at the entrance to Darbat Valley during the monsoon)

Paganism in Salalah

I am in a state of shock. Indeed I am, even though I know I shouldn't be. I'm a Salalah girl. I know what our culture is all about. I know we still practice some forms of paganism, witchcraft, black magic, etc. However, we do live in the year 2009. Women pray five times a day, wear black from head to toe, drive their BMWs around town, chat on their brand new cell phones, and watch Dr. Phil. We are a modern Islamic country, right? Wrong.

My colleagues at work told me an amazing story today. So, it all started hundreds of years ago when a certain mountain tribe (call them Short Tribe) owned the land around a water spring in the mountains. Their animals drank from that spring for hundreds of years. To this very day, there are guards from Short Tribe guarding the spring (and paid to do it by the government!). It was all nice and dandy up until Wednesday April 22nd, 2009, when the government announced an extra 15 guard positions to guard the spring. These positions were to be given to certain families in Short Tribe. The Shiekh of Short Tribe gathered his men to decide on the distribution of jobs. It was all going fine until someone from Tribe Tall (a new tribe) barged into the meeting claiming his tribe owns part of the land and therefore deserve half the positions. All hell broke loose, and they started arguing. The man left in a fury claiming he'd 'show them' the hard way not to mess with Tribe Tall. Everyone from Short Tribe knew this meant business, so they gathered the older women in the tribe (around 100) and took them to the water spring to perform an ancient pagan ritual to put a curse on Tribe Tall to ensure they never try to mess with Short Tribe again. The men isolated the area to ensure no strangers came through. Meanwhile ,the women proceeded to chant and scream. They slaughtered 10 cows under the water at the spring and then all beat the cows with their bare hands while chanting and screaming. They then proceeded to pull their hair until it stood on end and continued chanting. This went on all afternoon and evening. The curse would be complete by midnight when they would twirl a thick black rope in the air until it stood straight up like a stick. At 11:34 they succeeded and the curse was complete.

Meanwhile, Tribe Tall heard about this and out of fear sent their sheikhs to approach Short Tribe to surrender and announce that they had excommunicated the man who created all this trouble. Thus, the curse was transferred from the entire tribe to one man. Once the curse was complete, everyone went looking for the man to see if the curse had worked. Turns out he disappeared. Everyone is talking about it, and some say he vanished; others say he was eaten by Jinn. Most say he died mysteriously as a result of the curse.

This all happened last night by the way. A colleague at work (from Short Tribe) told me all about it today. In fact, he went to watch, but wasn't allowed near the spring because it seems the sight of the women doing their ritual was too disturbing and indecent.

I wish to remind you all that all this is against Islam and anything to do with magic and curses is considered paganism and therefore a terrible sin. I'd love to know how they're going to justify their actions to the rest of town. Sigh. Life in Salalah Never Lacks Excitement.