My dissertation “An Enchanted Sea: Occultism, Empire, and Society in the Western Indian Ocean, 1450-1750,” recovers the forgotten history of occult-scientific knowledge and practice in the Arabian Peninsula, the Yaʿrubī Empire, and under Ibāḍism—a third current of Islam that anchored an Afro-Asian-Arabian network across the early modern Indian Ocean. In the mid-fifteenth century, as Persianate and Iberian powers launched an arms race for imperial domination by land and sea, a circle of occultist-jurists led by the Banū Maddād revived the long-dormant Ibāḍī imamate in Oman. Their manuscripts on astrology, talismans, and alchemy animated networks from the Rasulids in Yemen to the Hormuzīs in the Persian Gulf, laying the foundation for a new Ibāḍī vision of universal sovereignty.
When the Portuguese invaded the Hormuzī Empire (1507–1622), encounters between Portuguese admirals, Jesuit missionaries, and Safavid poets made the war of omens as consequential as the war of arms. Subsequently, the Omani Yaʿrubīs rose as alchemist-rulers of a transoceanic empire (1624–1750) stretching from the Persian Gulf to the Swahili Coast, fueled by claims to a cosmocracy articulated in prophetic and astrological discourses, and enacted through enchanted weaponry and talismanic palaces. They institutionalized occult-scientific scholarship in inclusive academies, commissioning encyclopedic works that gave occultism judicial force.
By analyzing interactions between elite authorities and subaltern practitioners, this dissertation shows how both sanctioned and rogue occultism shaped everyday life within a legal system that acknowledged occult technologies while regulating their use, cost, and potential for abuse. While the Yaʿrubī Empire harnessed occult sciences for its own empowerment, it also policed brutal witch-hunts, exposing tensions between centralizing jurisdiction and vigilantism; this provides an instructive counterpoint to Europe’s better-known persecutions. These Yaʿrubī institutions, texts, and practices endured well into the nineteenth century, extending inland to the Congo, demonstrating the expansive reach of this Enchanted Sea.
This dissertation expands the history of science in Muslim empires chronologically, spatially, and thematically, moving beyond its current focus on the largely land-bound Persianate powers to their oceanic counterparts. From its rulers to its enslaved, the Yaʿrubī Empire stood as an equally creative nexus of knowledge exchange, successfully infusing occultism into society and empire-building—an occult(ed) success that still haunts the surviving archive.
In my public history practice, I am committed to community-building. I am also dedicated to increasing accessibility to scholarship through initiatives such as the “Arabian Peninsula History” and “Occult & Weird Studies” groups, I work to create spaces where scholars and students can engage, learn, share ideas, and collaborate. I am also invested in increasing accessibility to scholarship through initiatives such as the Indian Ocean World Podcast, my active presence on social media platforms, organizing panels, and my endeavors in translating academic works for Arabic-speaking readership. For more details, please refer to my publications and talks below.
An Emirati born and raised in Sharjah, I graduated from Zayed University with a B.A. (Hons) in international studies. After studying cultural anthropology at Rutgers University as a Fulbright fellow, I enrolled at Princeton University to pursue a Ph.D. in the Department of Near Eastern Studies. I am an incoming faculty in the Heritage and Tourism Department at the United Arab Emirates University.
Selected Publications
Journal Articles
Ahmed Y. AlMaazmi, “I Authored This Book in the Absence of My Slave: Enslaved East Africans and the Production of Occult Knowledge across the Omani Empire.” Monsoon: Journal of the Indian Ocean Rim,2, no. 2 (2024): 74-87.
Ahmed Y. AlMaazmi,“The Apocalyptic Hijab: Emirati Mediations of Pious Fashion.” Hawwa: Journal of Women of the Middle East and the Islamic World, 19(1), 5-27.
Chapters
Ahmed Y. AlMaazmi, “Solomon’s Shadow: The Politics and Poetics of Baloch Genealogical Traditions.” In Genealogical History in the Persianate World, eds. Jo-Ann Gross and Daniel Beben (I.B. Tauris, 2025).
Translated & Annotated Books (English to Arabic)
Fahad A. Bishara, Monsoon Voyagers: An Indian Ocean History (Forthcoming).
Fahad A. Bishara, A Sea of Debt: Law and Economic Life in the Western Indian Ocean, 1780-1950 (Abu Dhabi: Kalima Project, 2023).
M. A. Talpur,The Baloch Awakening: Essays on the Baloch Question (Beirut: Arab Diffusion Co., 2015).
T. M. Breseeg, Baloch Nationalism Its Origin and Development (Beirut: Arab Diffusion Co., 2013).
Ahmed Y. AlMaazmi, The Baloch and Their Country in the Gulf Gazetteer 1515–1908. (Beirut: Arab Diffusion, 2012).
Public Scholarship and Engagement
Ahmed Y. AlMaazmi, Building Scholarly Communities in the Time of COVID: Fieldnotes from the Indian Ocean World Podcast, Toynbee Prize Foundation.
Ahmed Y. AlMaazmi, (2020 July-present) Indian Ocean World Podcast
