kingdom · Arabia and the Gulf

Nabhani dynasty

1154 CE – 1624 CE (approx.) · capital Bahla

A line of kings who ruled the Omani interior from Bahla for nearly five centuries between periods of Ibadi imamate.

Origins

The Banu Nabhan, an Arab tribe of the Azd, took power in inland Oman in the mid-12th century, as the Ibadi imamate weakened. Ruling as maliks, or kings, from Bahla and its great fort, they governed the interior while the coast was dominated by Hormuz.

Rule and society

Unlike elected Ibadi imams, the Nabhanis ruled by hereditary right, and Ibadi scholars often condemned them as tyrants. Their power waxed and waned; elected imams sometimes ruled alongside or instead of them from the 15th century. Their era is poorly documented, but the poet-king Sulayman ibn Sulayman al-Nabhani is remembered, and Bahla's walls and fort date largely from this period.

Decline and legacy

From the 16th century the Portuguese took the coast, including Portuguese Muscat. In 1624 Ibadi scholars elected Nasir ibn Murshid as imam, founding the Ya'aruba dynasty, which reunited Oman and ended Nabhani rule.

Few sources survive for this state; details are uncertain.

Lineage

Nabhani dynastyYa'aruba dynasty 1624 CE – 1744 CE

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Cite this page
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Nabhani dynasty. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/nabhani-dynasty
MLA
“Nabhani dynasty.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/nabhani-dynasty. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Nabhani dynasty.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/nabhani-dynasty.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Nabhani dynasty’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/nabhani-dynasty (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻