1717 Omani invasion of Bahrain

Last updated
1717 Omani invasion of Bahrain
Date1717
Location
Bahrain
Result

Omani victory

  • Omani Empire ended the Safavid rule over Bahrain
Belligerents

Flag of Muscat.svg Omani Empire

Safavid Flag.svg Safavid Empire
Casualties and losses
Unknown Unknown

The 1717 Omani invasion of Bahrain was the invasion of Bahrain in 1717 by the Sultanate of Oman, bringing an end to the 115-year rule by the declining Safavid dynasty. Following the Afghan invasion of Iran at the beginning of the 18th century which weakened the Safavids, the Omani forces were able to undermine Safavid rule in Bahrain and their actions culminated in victory for the Yaruba dynasty rulers of Oman.

Bahraini theologian, Sheikh Yusuf Al Bahrani, provided his personal account of the invasion in his biographical dictionary of Shia scholars, Lu’lu’at al-Baḥrayn (The Pearl of Bahrain):

The earth shook and everything came to a standstill while preparations were made to do battle with these vile men [the Khārijite Omani invasion force]. The first year they came to seize it they returned disappointed, for they were unable to do so. Nor were they able to succeed the second time a year later, despite the help they received from all of the Bedouin and outlaws. The third time, however, they were able to surround Bahrain by controlling the sea, for Bahrain is an island. In this way they eventually weakened its inhabitants and then took it by force. It was a horrific battle and a terrible catastrophe, for all the killing, plunder, pillage, and bloodshed that took place.

After the Khārijites had conquered it and granted the inhabitants safe passage, the people—especially the notables—fled to al-Qaṭīf and other regions. Among them was my father—God have mercy upon him—accompanied by his dependents [i.e., wives] and children, who traveled with them to al-Qaṭīf. But he left me in Bahrain in the house we owned in al-Shākhūra because some chests filled with bundles of our possessions, including books, gold coins, and clothes, were hidden there. He had taken a large portion of our possessions up to the fortress in which everyone had planned to [take refuge] when we were besieged, but he had left some behind in the house, stored in hiding places. Everything in the fortress was lost after the Khārijites took it by force, and we all left the fortress with nothing but the clothes on our backs. So when my father left for al-Qaṭīf, I remained in Bahrain; he had ordered me to gather whatever books remained in the fortress and save them from the hands of the Khārijites. I did manage to save a number of books that I found there along with some that were left in the house, which I sent to him a few at a time. These years passed in an utter lack of prosperity.

I then traveled to al-Qaṭīf to visit my father and stayed there two or three months, but my father grew fed up with sitting in al-Qaṭīf because of the large number of dependents he had with him, the miserable conditions, and his lack of money, so he grew determined to return to Bahrain even though it was in the hands of the Khārijites. Fate, however, intervened between him and his plans, for the Persian army, along with a large number of Bedouins, arrived at that time to liberate Bahrain from the hands of the Khārijites. We followed the events closely and waited to see the outcome of these disasters; eventually the wheel of fortune turned against the Persians, they were all killed, and Bahrain was burned. Our house in the village [of al-Shākhūra] was among those burned.

...During this time, I was traveling back and forth to Bahrain in order to take care of the date palms we owned there and gather the harvest, then returning to al-Qaṭīf to study. [This continued] until Bahrain was taken from the hands of the Khārijites by treaty, after a great sum had been paid to their commander, because of the Persian king's weakness and impotence, and his empire's decline through bad administration. [2]

However, when the Omanis later relinquished control, it did not bring peace to Bahrain. The political weakness of Persia meant that the islands were soon invaded by the Huwala, who Al Bahrani said 'ruined' Bahrain. [3] Almost constant warfare between various Sunni naval powers, the Omanis and then the Persians under Nadir Shah and Karim Khan Zand laid waste to much of Bahrain, while the high taxes imposed by the Omanis drove out the pearl merchants and the pearl divers. Danish German Arabist Carsten Niebuhr found in 1763 that Bahrain's 360 towns and villages had, through warfare and economic distress, been reduced to only 60. [4]

From 1783 Bahrain was ruled by a succession of sheikhs from the House of Al-Khalifa. They continue to rule Bahrain to this day.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Manama</span> Capital and largest city of Bahrain

Manama is the capital and largest city of Bahrain, with an approximate population of 200,000 as of 2020. Long an important trading center in the Persian Gulf, Manama is home to a very diverse population. After periods of Portuguese and Persian control and a short invasion from the ruling dynasty of Saudi Arabia, followed by a longer invasion by Oman, Bahrain established itself as an independent nation in 1971 following a period of British hegemony.

Bahrain was a central location of the ancient Dilmun civilization. Bahrain's strategic location in the Persian Gulf has brought rule and influence from mostly the Persians, Sumerians, Assyrians, Babylonians, Portuguese, the Arabs, and the British.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zubarah</span> Ruined town in Al Shamal, Qatar

Zubarah, also referred to as Al Zubarah or Az Zubarah, is a ruined, ancient town located on the northwestern coast of the Qatar peninsula in the Al Shamal municipality, about 65 miles or 105 kilometres from the capital Doha. It was founded by Shaikh Muhammed bin Khalifa, the founder father of Al Khalifa royal family of Bahrain, the main and principal Utub tribe in the first half of the eighteenth century. It was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Greater Iran</span> Sociocultural region in Central Asia

Greater Iran or Greater Persia, also called the Iranosphere or the Persosphere, is an expression that denotes a wide socio-cultural region comprising parts of West Asia, the South Caucasus, Central Asia, South Asia, and East Asia —all of which have been affected, to some degree, by the Iranian peoples and the Iranian languages. It is defined by having been long ruled by the dynasties of various Iranian empires, under whom the local populaces gradually incorporated some degree of Iranian influence into their cultural and/or linguistic traditions; or alternatively as where a considerable number of Iranians settled to still maintain communities who patronize their respective cultures, geographically corresponding to the areas surrounding the Iranian plateau. It is referred to as the "Iranian Cultural Continent" by Encyclopædia Iranica.

The Bahārna are an ethnoreligious group of Shia Muslim Arabs indigenous to the historical region of Bahrain. They are generally regarded to be the original inhabitants of Eastern Arabia. They inhabited the area even before the arrival of the Banu Utbah in the 18th century which the Bahraini royal family descends from. Most Bahraini citizens are Baharna. Regions with most of the population are in Eastern Arabia, with significant populations in Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman, Iraq, and Hormozgan province of Iran.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eastern Arabia</span> Historical region of Arabia

Eastern Arabia, is a region stretched from Basra to Khasab along the Persian Gulf coast and included parts of modern-day Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. The entire coastal strip of Eastern Arabia was known as "Bahrain" for a millennium.

Najda ibn Amir al-Hanafi was the head of a breakaway Kharijite state in central and eastern Arabia between 685 and his death at the hands of his own partisans. His emergence formed part of the Second Muslim Civil War and the faction he led stood in opposition to the Umayyad Caliphate, which controlled Syria and Egypt, and the caliphate of Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr, which controlled the Hejaz and Iraq.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jabrids</span> Dynasty

The Jabrids or Banu Jabr were an Arab dynasty that ruled all of Arabia except for Hejaz, parts of Oman and Yemen, and expanded into Iran's southern coast, controlling the Strait of Hormuz.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Culture of Eastern Arabia</span> Overview of the culture of Eastern Arabia

There is a rich and ancient culture in Eastern Arabia. The culture in this region has always been oriented towards the sea.

Yūsuf ibn ʾAḥmadal-Baḥrānī (1695–1772) was a Bahraini muhaddith, faqīh and a key figure in the intellectual development of Twelver Shia Islam. Specifically, al-Bahrani was a key figure in the eighteenth century Twelver Shia debates between Akhbaris and Usulis on the nature of ijtihad and jurisprudence. He is known among Shia scholars for his book entitled al-Ḥadāʾiq al-nāḍira in jurisprudence. Indeed, he is often referred to as "The author of Ḥadāʾiq" among Shia clerics.

Sheikh Salih Al-Karzakani was a seventeenth-century Bahraini theologian who was appointed by the Safavid empire as a religious court judge in Shiraz. Al Karzakani left Bahrain along with his friend and fellow cleric Sheikh Ja`far bin Kamal al-Din because they fell upon hard times and like many Bahraini clerics at the time went to Hyderabad in the Shia-ruled Sultanate of Golkonda in South India. The two had made a pact that whichever of them first struck it rich through patronage abroad would help the other.

The Bani Utbah is an Arab tribal confederation in the Arabian Peninsula. The confederation is thought to have been formed when a group of clans from Najd migrated to Eastern Arabia in the late 17th century and early 18th century. Most of the Utub clans and families, such as the Al-Sabah and Al-Khalifa, trace their lineage back to Anizah tribe, with the exception of some, such as the Al Bin Ali, whose lineage goes back to the Banu Sulaym tribe. The Al Bin Ali along with the current ruling families of Bahrain and Kuwait were the rulers of the federation. The name of the confederation is found in the form Attoobee or Uttoobee in English sources up to the late 19th century.

The Bani Utbah invasion of Bahrain led to the end of Persian rule in Bahrain and the annexation of Bahrain by the Arabs.

ʿAbdullāh ibn Ṣāliḥ al-Samāhījī (1675–1722) was a Bahraini Shia Islamic scholar who lived during the Safavid period. He was born in the village of Samaheej on Muharraq Island, and like many of his Bahraini contemporaries, he was a follower of the Akhbari theological school—although his father was a pure Usuli who detested Akhbaris. Among his teachers was Sulaymān ibn ʿAbdullāh al Maḥūdhī.

Abu Sa'id Hasan ibn Bahram al-Jannabi was a Shia and the founder of the Qarmatian state in Bahrayn. By 899, his followers controlled large parts of the region, and in 900, he scored a major victory over an Abbasid army sent to subdue him. He captured the local capital, Hajar, in 903, and extended his rule south and east into Oman. He was assassinated in 913, and succeeded by his eldest son Sa'id.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Portuguese–Safavid wars</span> Series of wars in the 16th–17th century

The Portuguese–Safavid wars were a series of wars between the Portuguese Empire and Safavid Iran from 1507 to 1625. The Portuguese were also supported by Kingdom of Hormuz, its vassal, and Safavids had the help of the Kingdom of England on the other side.

Sayyid Shubar ibn Ali ibn Mish'al al-Sitri al-Bahrani al-Ghurayfi was a Bahraini cleric and rebel leader who attempted to overthrow Sheikh Isa ibn Ali Al Khalifa, Hakim of Bahrain in 1895.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Uyunid Emirate</span> Dynasty

The Uyunid Emirate was a historical Arab emirate centered in al-Hasa that ruled over most of eastern Arabia and Najd. The Uyunid dynasty, which belonged to the Banu Abd al-Qays tribe, ruled the emirate from 1076 until it was overthrown by the Usfurids in 1238. The emirate was established after the Uyunids took control from the Qarmatians.

Sheikh Ahmed bin Saleh bin Taan bin Nasser bin Ali al-Sattari al-Bahrani al-Qatifi was a Bahraini cleric, jurist, and Shia Muslim authority, who was among the most influential Twelver Shiites of the early modern Gulf. Many Shiites in Bahrain and Qatif followed his fatwas, but he is also known for his compilations on fiqh, hadith, history, and poetry.

The Qarmatian invasion of Iraq was a large-scale raid by the Qarmatians of Bahrayn against the Abbasid Caliphate's metropolitan region of Iraq, that began in autumn of 927 and continued until the summer of 928.

References

  1. ↑ ^ محمد خليل المرعشي , مجمع التواريخ , تحقيق عباس اقبال, طهران , 1328هـ - 1949م , ص 37-39
  2. ↑ The Autobiography of Yūsuf al-Bahrānī (1696–1772) from Lu’lu’at al-Baḥrayn, from the final chapter An Account of the Life of the Author and the Events That Have Befallen Him featured in Interpreting the Self, Autobiography in the Arabic Literary Tradition, Edited by Dwight F. Reynolds, University of California Press Berkeley 2001 pp219-220
  3. ↑ The Autobiography of Yūsuf al-Bahrānī (1696–1772) from Lu’lu’at al-Baḥrayn, from the final chapter An Account of the Life of the Author and the Events That Have Befallen Him featured in Interpreting the Self, Autobiography in the Arabic Literary Tradition, Edited by Dwight F. Reynolds, University of California Press Berkeley 2001 p221
  4. ↑ Juan Cole, Sacred Space and Holy War, IB Tauris, 2007 p52


This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.