Wilayat Sur in the Era of the Blessed Renaissance

In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

Among the sayings of the Leader: "The crafted heritage and the gifted nature are a national duty upon each one of us to bear his responsibility towards them." Sur in brief lines

When the lighthouses flash, the fragrance of the shores wafts; and when the past of the lighthouses is recalled, Sur flashes as a beacon of history, a lighthouse of the ages, and a fragrance of the shores.

And ever since man discovered the sea, Sur would raise its mast and sail towards the angriest of seas, their deepest and their bluest ........ to seek out the virgin shores and discover the untouched cities. Sur, this wilaya generous in its giving and rich in its heritage, proud of its past and its present — on its shores are secrets and tales, whose events were written by men who lived through the waves, on ships built by their youthful arms, filled with trust in God and in these ships amid the waves of the treacherous sea, seeking their livelihood; they crossed the seas and oceans and reached many lands, to the lands of India and Sind, to Baghdad and Basra, and Zanzibar and Madagascar, travelling to them as traders, carrying with them what our giving land bestowed, and bringing back what they needed. And since that eternity, Sur spreads out along the coasts at Al Ayjah, Khor Jarama, Ras Al Jinz, the sands of Tiwi and Qalhat, counting the waves and casting its gaze far towards an approaching mast and nakhodas trilling with the sorrow of return. Sur is "the rock" in the ancient languages ..... the steadfast rock in all languages, even if its words are renewed .... it is the cradle of the Phoenicians who loved the sea, the salt and the oyster. It is the throne of all the lovers who loved the Sur dishdasha, the nashl dress, and the hambal, the sharh and the yamal. Sur is a poem in whose verses lies the thirst of those who came from the harbours of the ancient world with their dark complexions, their beards dipped in henna, their hands dyed with the blue of the oyster, and their eyes longing for the flash of the lighthouses. And when Oman re-reads its blue history, Sur rises with all pride as the bluest, most-frequented and most-adventurous of stages in Oman's stock of the colour blue. Sur awakens today, in eyes trilling with joy the kohl of the blessed renaissance, and on lashes drenched with delight the radiance of modern Sur. Sur awakens as the chimneys of the factories vie in their height with the masts of the ships; it awakens with the line of the future more extended than the past. So a thousand congratulations, Sur Al Afia, as you enjoy the well-being of the renaissance.