Background
Sheikha Mazoon was born in the 1920s in Eastern Dhofar, the southern province of Oman. She was the daughter of Sheikh Ahmad bin Ali Al-Mashani, a leader of the Al-Mashani tribe, a branch of the powerful Al-Hakli tribe.
Sheikha Mazoon was born in the 1920s in Eastern Dhofar, the southern province of Oman. She was the daughter of Sheikh Ahmad bin Ali Al-Mashani, a leader of the Al-Mashani tribe, a branch of the powerful Al-Hakli tribe.
In 1936, she became the second wife of Sultan Said. The wedding ceremony was not without complications. The wedding was interrupted because the Al-Mashani tribe was of the opinion that the bride price was not high enough.
Therefore they kidnapped the fiancée of the Sultans and carried her back into the mountains. Thereupon the Tabook tribe, another tribe belonging to Al-Hakli located around the mountains of Salalah, mounted a pursuit. They succeeded in stopping the kidnappers and forcing them to return to Salalah.
Of her life little is known, except that Sultan Qaboos was cordially connected with his mother throughout his life. She died in 1992 from her long lasting diabetes. Sultan Qaboos had her buried in her homeland region in Taqah.
She was not only popular in her home province, but actually throughout the entire country. On the occasion of her death a three-day-long state mourning was declared.
She was a "Jebbali", thus a member of a mountain tribe.
