Mazoon Al-Mashani - Biography

Biography

Princess Mazoon was born in the 1920s in Eastern Dhofar, the southern province of Oman. She was the daughter of Sheikh Ahmed Ali Al-Maashani, the leader of the powerful Bait al-Maashani tribe. She was a "Jebbali", thus a member of a mountain tribe. In 1936, she became the second wife of Sultan Said. She was from the same tribe and a cousin of his first wife. The wedding ceremony was not without complications. The wedding was interrupted because the Maashani tribe was of the opinion that the bride price was not high enough. Therefore they kidnapped the fiancée of the Sultans and carried her back into the mountains. Thereupon the Bait Tabook tribe, a tribe of the coastal plain around the province capital Salalah, mounted a pursuit. They succeeded in stopping the kidnappers and forcing them to return to Salalah. The wedding was celebrated with the usual rejoicing and on 18 November 1940, Mazoon gave birth to the Sultan's only son Qabus, the later Sultan and successor of her husband. Of her life little is known, except that Sultan Qabus was cordially connected with his mother throughout his life. She died in 1992 from her long lasting diabetes. Sultan Qabus buried her in her homeland region in Taqah in the cemetery near the mosque. She was not only popular in her home province, but throughout the entire country. Therefore on the occasion of her death a three-day-long state mourning was declared.