Nasir bin Murshid Al Ya'arubi

Who is Nasir bin Murshid Al Ya'arubi?

Nasir bin Murshid Al Ya'arubi was the founder of the Ya'ruba dynasty of Imams of Oman, elected Imam around 1624 during a period when the Omani interior had fallen into disorder following the collapse of the preceding Nabhani rule, while Portuguese garrisons still held the main coastal ports. A member of the Ibadi Ya'ariba tribe, he used the elective Ibadi imamate to unify the fractured tribes of the interior under a single authority and to fund a sustained military campaign against the Portuguese-held forts. His forces expelled the Portuguese from Julfar in 1633 and captured the fort at Sohar in 1643, steadily rolling back Portuguese control of the Omani coast that had lasted since the early sixteenth century. By the time of his death in 1649, only Muscat remained partially contested, and a treaty agreed in October 1648 had already tilted decisively in Oman's favor. His nephew and successor, Sultan bin Saif, completed the expulsion of the Portuguese in 1650. Nasir bin Murshid is remembered as the architect of Omani unification and the ruler who began the recovery of national sovereignty after more than a century of Portuguese coastal occupation.

Sources: Wikipedia: Nasir bin Murshid · "The Dhow and the Clove" — Imam Nasir bin Murshid (1624-1649) · Ya'rubids dynasty historical records