In the city of Nizwa and elsewhere in northern Oman, whilst a national historical narrative articulates a territorial domain on the basis of a homogenous citizenry, an unacknowledged slave legacy, an ineradicable residue of the Ibadi shar?‘a past, produces unofficial tribal hierarchies. This paradoxical state of affairs has been further enabled by the active management – rather than its abolishment - of tribal hierarchies and their differential relationships under the rubric of the State. Marriage practices in Nizwa are one of the key sites at which tensions between those who are ‘pure’ tribal Arabs versus those descended from slaves or client tribes ignites hostilities and passions between the two broad groups. While issues of genealogy and blood ties are at the center of these hostilities, modern religiously-grounded family law plays a decisive role in legally endorsing ‘customary’ hierarchical marriage practices between ‘pure’ tribal Arabs effectively marginalizing those descended from slaves or client tribes through the legal principle of kafa‘a or equivalence in marriage status. The result of this paradoxical state of affairs has been debates between Omanis about differences in opinion about the relationship between the Islamic discursive tradition, differential status accorded by tribal genealogies and inter-marriage in ways that are deeply informed by the lived realities of nation-hood, including liberal notions of equality, human rights and capitalist modernity. In this paper, I delve into the debates arising around the notion of importance of tribal genealogy, Ibadi shar?’a and national citizenship in order to examine: 1) the daily tensions that arise between those who emphasize the egalitarian ideals embodied in homogenous citizenship and its ties to human rights verses those whose social relationships are guided by the prescriptions of a ranked Ibadi shar?’a society that defines kinship ties, marital relations and social interactions in terms of status determined by lineage and descent and 2) the ways in which these two broad social movements have opened up a space of contestation in the modes within which Islam is articulated and manifested as part of daily living.