The castle museum
History, crafts and sea life.
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The old heart of Mirbat, a Dhofar port that long shipped frankincense and Arabian horses; its name is said to mean a place for tethering horses. Its landmark is Mirbat Castle, a two-storey fort with two towers overlooking the old harbour, seat of the town's governors until 1988 and now a museum, amid the old souq and lanes of over 200 traditional houses. The castle's origins are uncertain: some histories credit Muhammad bin Aqil al-Saqqaf, ruler of Dhofar from 1806, with ordering a fort here; the present castle was rebuilt under Sultan Said bin Taimur. The merchants' houses, of local stone and lime plaster in a style influenced by Hadramawt, kept goods below and families upstairs, behind carved wooden windows mostly imported from India. Many now stand empty and crumbling. Inside, rooms from the guards' quarters and prison below to the guest majlis above hold an exhibition on the town's history, crafts and sea life, and a stone dated 316 AH (AD 928–29) found at Al Noor Mosque, the town's oldest. The fort looks out over al-Furda, the old harbour, a sandy cove with boats, and the souq with its customs house of 1919. Mirbat lies about 75 km east of Salalah by road; Taqah Castle and Sumhuram (Khor Rori), 32 and 28 km west as the crow flies, are on the way, so one day covers all three. About 1.1 km north of the fort, near the town's entrance, the white, twin-domed mausoleum of Muhammad bin Ali, a 12th-century scholar known as Sahib Mirbat, stands in a large cemetery.
History, crafts and sea life.
On the houses that kept them; most came from India.
Twin white domes in a large cemetery.
Old town on the shore, Mirbat, about 75 km east of Salalah by road
Muhammad bin Ali Ba'alawi, a scholar from Hadramawt who settled in Mirbat under the Manjawi rulers, served there as judge and mufti and died in 1161. Every surviving branch of the Ba'alawi family of Hadramawt descends from him.
It is a revered shrine: dress modestly with arms and legs covered, women cover their hair, take off your shoes before going in, and avoid prayer times, especially Friday midday prayer. Non-Muslims should ask before entering.