Said Bin Sultan

(Sayyid) Said bin Sultan Al-Said (Arabic: سعيد بن سلطان‎, Sa‘id bin Sulṭān) (5 June 1797 – 19 October 1856) was Sultan of Muscat and Oman from 20 November 1804 to 4 June 1856. He became joint ruler of the country along with his brother Salim on the death of their father, Sultan bin Ahmad, in 1804. Said deprived his brother of joint rule on 14 September 1806.

In 1834, he agreed to a treaty with the United States on very favorable terms.^[1] In 1837, he conquered Mombasa, Kenya. In 1840, Said moved his capital from Muscat, Oman, to Stone Town, Zanzibar and sent a ship to the United States to try to establish a trading relationship.

Upon Said's death in 1856, his realm was divided. His third son, Thuwaini bin Said, became the Sultan of Muscat and Oman, and his sixth son, Sayyid Majid bin Said, became the Sultan of Zanzibar.

The National Museum of Oman in Muscat houses numerous items of silverware and other possessions that belonged to Said.

Children

Said had 36 children:

1. Sayyid Hilal bin Said al-Said (ca. 1815–1851): an alcoholic, according to Ruete (Ch. 15), he left three sons, Suud, Fesal, and Mhammed
2. Sayyid Khalid bin Said al-Said (c.1819–1854)
3. Sayyid Thuwaini bin Said al-Said (also called Tueni) (−1866): Sultan of Muscat and Oman, 1856–1866
4. Sayyid Muhammad bin Said al-Said (1826–1863): he "...was considered the most pious of our entire family.... cared little for the world and wordly goods.... possessed by... antipathy against Zanzibar" (Ch. 14, Ruete); he lived most of his life in Oman
5. Sayyid Turki bin Said (1832–1888): Sultan of Muscat and Oman, 1871–1888
6. Sayyid Majid bin Said Al-Busaid, 1st Sultan of Zanzibar (1834/5-1870): Sultan of Zanzibar, 1856–1870
7. Sayyid Ali bin Said al-Said (?-1893)
8. Sayyid Barghash bin Said Al-Busaid, 2nd Sultan of Zanzibar (1837–1888): Sultan of Zanzibar, 1870–1888
9. Sayyid Abdu'l-Wahhab bin Said al-Said (1840–1866)
10. Sayyid Jamshid bin Said al-Said (1842–1870)
11. Sayyid Hamdan bin Said al-Said (1843–1858)
12. Sayyid Ghalib bin Said al-Said
13. Sayyid Sawedan bin Said al-Said (1845–?)
14. Sayyid Abdu'l-Aziz bin Said al-Said (1850–1907)
15. Sayyid Khalifah bin Said Al-Busaid, 3rd Sultan of Zanzibar (1852–1890): Sultan of Zanzibar, 1888–1890
16. Sayyid Hamad bin Said al-Said
17. Sayyid Shuwaid bin Said al-Said
18. Sayyid Abbas bin Said al-Said
19. Sayyid Manin bin Said al-Said
20. Sayyid Ali bin Said Al-Busaid, 4th Sultan of Zanzibar (1854–1893): Sultan of Zanzibar, 1890–1893
21. Sayyid Badran bin Said al-Said (?-1887)
22. Sayyid Nasir bin Said al-Said (also called Nasor) (?-1887) went to Mecca with his older sister Chadudj: died in his twenties
23. Sayyid Abdu'l-Rab bin Said al-Said (?-1888)
24. Sayyid Ahmad bin Said al-Said
25. Sayyid Talib bin Said al-Said
26. Sayyid Abdullah bin Said al-Said
27. Sayyida Sharîfe of Zanzibar and Oman: the daughter of a Circassian woman, she was "a dazzling beauty with the complexion of a German blonde. Besides, she possessed a sharp intellect, which made her into a faithful advisor of my father's" (described in Ruete, Ch. 15)
28. Sayyida Chole (or Khwala) of Zanzibar and Oman (died 1875): the daughter of a Mesopotamian woman, she "was particularly close to our father; her enchanting personality, her cheerfulness and charm won him over completely" (Ruete, Ch. 15)
29. Sayyida Aashe of Zanzibar and Oman: full sister of Chole; after the death of their brother Hilal (1851), she "took motherly care of his eldest son Suud" (Ruete)
30. Sayyida Chadudj of Zanzibar and Oman: full sister of Majid; after his death (1870), she went with her younger brother Nasir to Mecca and died not long afterward (Ruete)
31. Sayyida Shewâne of Zanzibar and Oman: the daughter of an Abyssinian woman; "a classical beauty ... endowed with a keen mind", she died early (Ruete)
32. Sayyida Mettle of Zanzibar and Oman: the daughter of an Abyssinian woman, she married a "distant cousin" in Stonetown and had "two charming twin boys" (Ruete)
33. Sayyida Zeyâne of Zanzibar and Oman: the daughter of an Abyssinian woman (Ruete)
34. Sayyida Semsem of Zanzibar and Oman: full sister of Zeyâne, she was married "rather late in life [to] our distant cousin Humud" (Ruete)
35. Sayyida Nunu of Zanzibar and Oman: the daughter of a Circassian woman, she was born blind; after the deaths of her parents, she lived with her sister Aashe (Ruete)
36. Sayyida Salme of Zanzibar and Oman (1844–1924): she became known as Emily Ruete^[2]

Honours

• Sword of honour from George IV – 1821
• Order of the August Portrait of the Persian Empire – 1856^[3]

Further reading

• Memoirs of an Arabian Princess from Zanzibar, Emily Ruete, 1888. (Many reprints). Author (1844–1924) was born Princess Salme of Zanzibar and Oman and was a daughter of Sayyid Said. In the fifteenth chapter of her book, she describes her sisters and two of her brothers (Hilal and Thuweini).

References

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