Qais bin Ahmad (died May 1808) was the third son of Ahmad bin Sa'id Al-Busaidi, the first Sultan of

Oman Oman, officially the Sultanate of Oman, is a country located on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in West Asia and the Middle East. It shares land borders with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. Oman’s coastline ...

of the

Al Said The House of Al Bu Said (, ), is the current ruling royal family of Oman, and former ruling house of the Omani Empire (1744–1856), Muscat and Oman, Sultanate of Muscat and Oman (1856–1970) and the Sultanate of Zanzibar (1856–1964). It wa ...

dynasty. After his father's death he made more than one attempt to gain the throne.

Youth and first revolt

Qais bin Ahmad bin Sa'id Al-Busaidi was the third son of Ahmad bin Said. He has been described as "headstrong, ambitious and inclined to give trouble." His father made him governor of

Sohar Sohar () is the capital and largest city of the Al Batinah North Governorate in Oman. An ancient capital of the country that once served as an important Islamic port town on the Gulf of Oman, Sohar has also been credited as the mythical birthp ...

, an important port in the north of Oman. His older brother Said bin Ahmad was elected Imam when his father died in December 1783. The Imam Said became increasingly unpopular. Towards the end of 1785 Qais bin Ahmad declared himself independent. A small number of dissident leaders elected him Imam at Al-Masna'ah, on the Batinah coast. This revolt soon collapsed.

Rules of Hamad and Sultan

In 1786 the Imam's son Hamad bin Said managed to get control of

Muscat Muscat (, ) is the capital and most populous city in Oman. It is the seat of the Governorate of Muscat. According to the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI), the population of the Muscat Governorate in 2022 was 1.72 million. ...

, with its fortress. One by one the other fortresses in Oman submitted to Hamad. Said no longer had any temporal power. Hamad took the title of ''Sheikh'' and established his court in Muscat. His father, Said bin Ahmad, remained in Rustaq and retained the title of Imam, but this was purely a symbolic religious title that carried no power. Hamad died of smallpox in 1792. On Hamad's death Sultan bin Ahmad took control in Muscat. He was the fifth son of Ahmad bin Sa'id. To avoid family disputes, at a meeting in Barka he confirmed his brother Said as Imam in Rustaq, and he ceded control of

to Qais bin Ahmad. In 1800, Oman suffered from an invasion by

Wahhabi Wahhabism is an exonym for a Salafi revivalist movement within Sunni Islam named after the 18th-century Hanbali scholar Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab. It was initially established in the central Arabian region of Najd and later spread to other ...

s from the north, who occupied the Buraimi oasis and besieged Qais bin Ahmad in Sohar.

Second revolt

The Imam Sultan died in 1804 on an expedition to

Basra Basra () is a port city in Iraq, southern Iraq. It is the capital of the eponymous Basra Governorate, as well as the List of largest cities of Iraq, third largest city in Iraq overall, behind Baghdad and Mosul. Located near the Iran–Iraq bor ...

. He appointed Mohammed bin Nasir bin Mohammed al-Jabry the Regent and guardian of his two young sons,

Salim bin Sultan Salim bin Sultan was joint Sultan of Oman with his brother Said bin Sultan, ruling between 1804 and 1806. Salim bin Sultan was son of Sultan bin Ahmad, who ruled Oman from 1792 to 1804. Sultan bin Ahmad died in 1804 on an expedition to Basra. He ...

and

Said bin Sultan Sayyid Saïd bin Sultan al-Busaidi (, , ) (5 June 1791 – 19 October 1856) was Sultan of Muscat and Oman, the fifth ruler of the Al Bu Said dynasty from 1804 to 4 June 1856. His rule began after a period of conflict and internecine rivalry of su ...

. Qais decided to make another attempt to seize power. Early in 1805 he joined forces with his younger brother Mohammed and marched down the coast to

Muttrah Muttrah, () administratively a province, is located in the Muscat Governorate of Oman. Before the discovery of oil in Oman, Muttrah was the center of commerce in Oman (Muscat). It is still a center of commerce as one of the largest seaports of ...

, which he took with little opposition. Mohammed bin Nasir tried to buy Qais off with a large monthly annuity. Qais refused since he had growing support and was confident of success, and continued to besiege

. Mohammed bin Nasir called on

Badr bin Saif Badr or Badar bin Saif (died 1806) was a member of the Al Said dynasty of Oman. In 1804, he became regent while the heirs to the sultanate were minors. When he attempted to increase his power in 1806 he was killed. Early years Badr bin Saif was t ...

for help. Badr was the son of Saif bin Ahmad, the brother of the former Imam. Badr bin Saif arrived at Muscat just in time to forestall its capitulation. He also arranged for the Wahabbis to attack Sohar. Qais agree to lift the siege in return for being given Al Khaburah and part of the Batinah. A month later he returned and again took Muttrah, but was forced to withdraw when a large seaborne force of Wahabbis appeared. He accepted peace on the grounds that he would gain Muttrah as well as the other places he had taken, and a monthly subsidy. In July he broke his engagement and again advanced on Muscat. The Wahabbis again attacked Sohar, while Said bin Sultan advanced into the

Samail Samāʾil () is a ''Wilayah'' (Province) located in Muscat Region of the Sultanate of Oman. It is surrounded by a range of towering mountains, and its valley, Wadi Samail, is approximately from the capital Muscat. The population is around 40, ...

valley. Kais was forced to make peace, and gave up Muttrah and his subsidy.

Death

In May 1808 Qais bin Ahmad was killed at

Khor Fakkan Khor Fakkan () is a city and an exclave of the Emirate of Sharjah, located on the east coast of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), facing the Gulf of Oman, and geographically surrounded by the Emirate of Fujairah. The city, the second largest on ...

in a battle with Shaikh Sultan

Al-Qasimi Al Qasimi (, spelled sometimes as Al Qassimi or Al Qassemi; plural: Al Qawasem and, archaically, Joasmee) is an Arab dynasty in the Persian Gulf that rules Sharjah and Ras Al Khaimah, today forming two of the seven emirates of the United Arab ...

Ras Al Khaimah Ras Al Khaimah (; ), often referred to its initials RAK, is the largest city and capital of the Emirate of Ras Al Khaimah in the U.A.E. The city had a population of 191,753 in 2025, and is the sixth-most populous city in UAE after Dubai, Abu ...

Sharjah Sharjah (; ', Gulf Arabic: ''aš-Šārja'') is the List of cities in the United Arab Emirates, third-most populous city in the United Arab Emirates, after Dubai and Abu Dhabi. It is the capital of the Emirate of Sharjah and forms part of the D ...

. He had one son and one daughter. His son Azzan bin Qais inherited the position of governor of Sohar.

References

Citations Sources * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Qais bin Ahmad 1808 deaths 19th-century Omani people Al Said dynasty Year of birth missing