Turki bin Said

Turki bin Said bin Sultan Al Busaidi (born at Muscat in 1832 – died there on 4 June 1888) was Sultan of Muscat and Oman from 30 January 1871 until his death, a son of Sultan Said bin Sultan by an Ethiopian mother. ^{1 2} His road to the throne ran through rebellion, two imprisonments and exile in Bombay, before money from his brother the Sultan of Zanzibar and a web of tribal alliances carried him past the elected Imam of Oman, Azzan bin Qais, into Muscat; he then spent his reign rebuilding a central administration, and was succeeded peacefully by his second son Faisal. ^{1 2}

Turki was born at Muscat in 1832, the fifth son of Sultan Said bin Sultan according to the Urdu article — Said had thirty-six children, twenty-six sons and ten daughters — and his mother was an Ethiopian woman whom the English article describes as a concubine. ^{1 3} The Arabic article carries an internal contradiction the museum states as it stands: its body text claims he was born in 1837 and "took power in 1863", while its own categories file him under births of 1832 and 1248 AH and the English and Urdu articles support 1832 and a reign beginning in 1871; the record follows 1832 and notes the body reading without following it. ² He was appointed Wali of Sohar in 1854, and after his father's death in 1856, when Muscat passed to his brother Thuwaini and Zanzibar to his brother Majid, relations between Turki and Thuwaini soured and Turki revolted in 1861 and was imprisoned, Salim bin Thuwaini replacing him as Wali of Sohar, until British intervention secured his release in 1862. ^{1 2} When Salim murdered his father Thuwaini in 1866, Turki was imprisoned again, was again freed by British intervention, and was granted an annuity of 7,200 Maria Theresa thalers, after which he lived for a time in Bombay. ¹

Turki prepared his return with money from his brother Majid, Sultan of Zanzibar — some 80,000 thalers, spent mostly on arms and tribal alliances, as the Arabic article puts it — and with the support of the sheikhs of Dubai, Ras Al Khaimah and Ajman and of the Na'im, Bani Qitab and Ghafiriyya tribes, giving British representatives a verbal pledge to protect British interests. ^{2 1} Based at Sur, with his forces under Sayf bin Sulayman Al Busaidi, the Wali of Matrah, he took Matrah and then Muscat, his victory sealed — on the English article's account — by the defeat of Imam Azzan bin Qais at the Battle of Dhank, and he acceded on 30 January 1871. ¹ In 1874 he fell seriously ill, his opponents spread rumours of his death, he summoned his brother Abd al-Aziz from exile in Gwadar to act as his deputy and was himself taken to Gwadar to convalesce, pressing his brother Barghash to continue the payments Majid had made; he returned to Muscat in December 1875 recovered, and his relations with Abd al-Aziz deteriorated. ¹ The following twelve or so years he spent reorganising his administration, with advisers including Badr bin Sayf, responsible for army affairs and made Wali of Sohar and then Matrah, and Sulayman bin Suwaylim, his private secretary and made Wali of Sur and of Dhofar, within a ranked system of walis headed by Muscat, then Matrah, then Sohar, with Dhofar and Sama'il specially favoured. ¹ Britain appointed him a Knight Grand Commander of the Order of the Star of India on 1 January 1886, as the London Gazette records. ¹

Turki bin Said died at Muscat on 4 June 1888, the date given by the English article, the Arabic article's infobox and the Urdu article's lead, with Wikidata's place of death (Muscat) agreeing. ^{1 2 4} He was succeeded peacefully by his second son Faisal bin Turki (1864–1913), as the Arabic article notes, and his issue, on the English article's list, also included Muhammad, Fahad, Turkia and an unnamed daughter. ^{2 1}

This section is read as a presentation of positions reported from the sources, not as a verdict of the museum.

The live question in his record is his religion, and the museum sets out the attestation exactly. The English article's infobox religion field gives "Ibadi Islam" and its categories file him under "Omani Ibadi Muslims"; the Arabic article's infobox religion field gives "Ibadi Muslim"; the Urdu article files him in the corresponding category. ^{1 2} But no article's text discusses his personal religion, neither infobox value is cited to any source within its article, and Wikidata carries no religion value for him at all — so the whole attestation is uncited infobox and category values within one Wikipedia family, precisely what the doubt rule leaves unclassified, and the two-source rule requires two independent sources naming the school for the man himself. ^{1 4} That Oman's interior was Ibadi in character, and that the imam Turki defeated was an elected Ibadi imam, is the context of his state and of his opponent, not an attestation of Turki's own school; the infobox readings are therefore preserved in the faith note of his data record while the value stays unknown pending two independent sources. ¹ The other documentary disagreements are set out in the early-life and death sections: the Arabic body text (born 1837, took power 1863) against its own categories and the other two articles, and Wikidata's day-precision birth (4 June 1832), which no article read supports and which mirrors his death day. ^{2 4}

• The defined sources cited above, registered in data/source/.
• Later translations and edits of this article need periodic review with clear update dates.