GREENING OMAN: ISLAMIC ENVIRONMENTALISM, SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT, AND POST-OIL FUTURES

The discovery of oil in Oman in 1964 contributed to unprecedented change and development, resulting in a demographic shift from a largely agrarian, rural village society to increased urbanization around Muscat, and a transformation of the human relationship to land and resources. Policymaking was an act of “Omanibalancing”; incorporating a regional oil and gas economy, forward-thinking sustainability built on Qur’anic precepts, and “Omani ecocultural spirituality.”³ During his fifty-year reign, His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said Al-Said safeguarded Oman’s many environmental assets through national initiatives, thus laying the foundation for enduring policy that cultivated a spirit of ecological appreciation that a