| Bani Utbah invasion of Bahrain | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Belligerents | |||||||
 al-Madhkur's realm |
Supported by: | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Nasr Al-Madhkur Madan Al-Jidhafsi † [1] Sayed Majed Al-Jidhafsi (MIA) [2] |  Ahmad Al Khalifa  Abdullah I Al-Sabah [3] | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| Heavy[ citation needed ] | Unknown[ citation needed ] | ||||||
| History of Bahrain |
|---|
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 Bahrainportal |
The Bani Utbah invasion of Bahrain led to the end of Persian rule in Bahrain and the annexation of Bahrain by the Arabs.
After the fall of the Safavid dynasty, Bahrain went through a period of anarchy, dismay, and self-rule in villages which made the country vulnerable to foreign invasions. Utub forces often attacked the island during this phase, which made the spiritual leader of Bahrain, Sheikh Mohammed ibn Abdullah Al Majed, use the Huwala to combat the Utubs' attacks. These attacks continued throughout the early 18th century until the Utubs launched a full-scale invasion of the island and established a government loyal to the Imam of Oman. [4] The Utubs were defeated and expelled by the Huwala forces loyal to Bahrain's spiritual leader who established a government headed by Sheikh Jabara Al-Holi (also known as Jubayr al-Holi). The Persian Afsharids led by former Safavid general Nader Shah invaded the island in 1737 and deposed Sheikh Jabara. Persian rule continued for 46 more years, with brief interruptions, until the Utubs finally took over the island in 1783. [5]
Sayid Majed ibn Sayid Ahmad Al-Jidhafsi was Bahrain's vice governor and the headman of Jidhafs who often clashed with his political nemesis, Ahmad ibn Muhammad Al-Biladi, the headman of the semi-autonomous village of Bilad Al-Qadeem. This rivalry reached its climax when an argument between the Al Khalifas who came to the island of Sitra to buy some supplies and a merchant escalated into a shoot out which resulted in the deaths of numerous Al Khalifas. Those who remained went back to Zubarah and informed their clan about the incident which caused outrage between the Utubs, causing them to send a naval fleet to Sitra with the intention of avenging their kins' deaths. After a disproportionate number of Sitra inhabitants were killed as a result of the rampage, the Utubs returned to Zubarah. [6] [7]
After news of the incident reached Bahrain's governor, Nasr Al-Madhkoor, he ordered a naval attack on Zubarah and sent numerous warships filled with well-equipped soldiers to fulfill this mission. However, the Utubs' spies infiltrated Al-Madhkoor's inner circle and as a result the Utubs crushed Al-Madhkoor's navy after plans of the attack reached them which resulted in a decisive Utub victory. Al-Madhkoor then headed to Iran to ask the troubled government, which was already suffering from its own internal issues, for help which did not arrive because of that country's bad conditions. Subsequently, Sayid Majed Al-Jidhafsi, who was substituting for Al-Madhkoor, personally asked the Al Khalifas and their allies to invade the Bahrain archipelago and promised them material aid and victory, should they do so. This action proved to have a lasting effect on the county and a civil war between the loyalist forces led by Sayid Majid Al-Jidhafsi and Madan Al-Jidhafsi, the Iranian governor's vizier and the rebels led by Ahmad Al-Biladi ensued as a result. The loyalists ultimately won the civil war. [8]
However, by this time, the Al Khalifas and other Utubs had just entered the country, killed the vizier and successfully captured the islands of Bahrain from Nasr Al-Madhkur. The Al Khalifa family has ruled Bahrain ever since. The invasion was led by Ahmed bin Muhammad Al Khalifa, leading to him being named Ahmed Al Fateh ("Ahmed the Conqueror").
The Al Khalifa were supported by a naval fleet from Kuwait and several Bedouin clans based in Zubara in its invasion of Bahrain. These clans included the, Al-Fadhil, Al-Buainain, Al-Romaihi, Al-Kuwari, Al-Noaimi, Al-Bin Ali, Al-Jalahma, Al-Musalem, Al-Mannai, and other families and tribes who later settled in the island. [9]
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.
The House of Khalifa is the ruling family of the Kingdom of Bahrain. The Al Khalifas profess Sunni Islam and belong to the Anizah tribe. Some members of this tribe joined the Utub alliance which migrated from Najd in central Arabia to Kuwait, then ruled all of Qatar, more specifically Al Zubarah, which they built and ruled over before settling in Bahrain in the early 17th century. The current head of the family is King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, who became the Emir of Bahrain in 1999 and proclaimed himself King of Bahrain in 2002, in fact becoming a constitutional monarch.
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.
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, Khoramshahr, Hormozgan province of Iran.
Al Dawasir is an Arab tribe in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, and other Gulf states. Its main base is in Wadi Al-Dawasir in Saudi Arabia. The Al Dawasir tribe is among the most powerful and influential tribes of Arabia, as they are the maternal uncles of much of the House of Saud family.
Al Bin Ali is a Sunni Arab sub-tribal confederation based in the Arab states, especially in Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, UAE, and the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia.
Al Khuwayr is an abandoned village in northwest Qatar, located in the municipality of Ash Shamal. It is a popular domestic tourist attraction due to its history and ruined structures.
Shaikh Isa Bin Tarif Al Bin Ali was chief of Al Bidda, known today as Doha, the capital of Qatar, as well as the chief of the Al Bin Ali tribe from the beginning of the 19th century until his death in 1847. He was described by the political agents in the Persian Gulf as being one of the most energetic and powerful chiefs in the Gulf region
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.
Sheikh Nasr Al-Madhkur was the 18th-century Arab governor from a Huwala clan under Karim Khan Zand of the Zand dynasty of what was described by a contemporary account as an "independent state" in Bushehr and Bahrain. The account by German geographer Carsten Niebuhr who visited the region at the time describes Sheikh Nasr as "the sole Monarch of the Isle of Bahrain”. A “mutashayi’”, Sheikh Nasr lost Bahrain - which was inhabited by his Shi’a compatriots - in 1783 after his defeat by the Bani Utbah tribal alliance at Zubarah in 1782.
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.
Freiha is a small deserted village on the north western coast of the Qatar Peninsula in the Al Shamal municipality. It lies in the Zubarah region, located 3 km north of Zubarah town. It was founded by the Al Bin Ali tribe, the main and principal Utub tribe in the first half of the eighteenth century along with the historical town of Zubarah.
Mohammed bin Khalifa bin Ahmed bin Salman bin Khalid bin Ali bin Khalifa Al Khalifa is a Bahraini politician, currently Minister of Oil and Gas. He was born in Manama, the nation's capital.
Ebrahim Bashmi is a Bahraini politician, novelist, journalist, and nonfiction writer.
Sheikh Ahmed bin Abdul Ridha bin Hussein bin Muhammad bin Abdullah Al Harz was a Bahraini Shia Muslim cleric and jurist. He was among the leading figures in the Shi’ite community of Bahrain at the time.
Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa bin Faisal Al Jumaili Al Khalifa Al Thalabi ibn Wa'il (Arabic: الأمير محمد بن خليفة بن فيصل الجميلي التغلبي الوائلي, was an Emir of Qatar and founder of the city of Zubarah as well as a founding ancestor of the House of Khalifa. Al Jumaili was born his tribe’s original hometown of Al-Hadar, a village in the Al-Aflaj Province of the Riyadh Region of Saudi Arabia, south of Najd. From there he moved to Kuwait and then to Qatar, where he ruled from 1765 until his death in 1773.
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.
Ahmed bin Mohammed bin Khalifa bin Hamad Al Khalifa was a Bahraini poet. Born in the village of Al Jasra, he held several government jobs in his youth, and then became a self-employed poet and writer. He represented his country at a number of literary conferences in several Arab capitals. As the author of several collections of poetry, he saw his first four collections printed as العناقيد الأربعة in 1980.
The Order of Sheikh Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa is a Bahraini order of merit. It is the highest decoration in the Kingdom of Bahrain and is named after Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa, the former Emir of Bahrain.
Sayyid Hashim al-Bahrani also known as Sayyid Hashim al-Tublani was a Twelver Shia jurist, muhaddith, exegete, and historian from Bahrain. He is known for his Al-Burhan Fi Tafsir al-Quran, a traditionary (riwayi) exegesis of the Quran. Shia scholars frequently praised him, including his contemporary Shaykh Al-Hurr al-Amili, author of the comprehensive hadith compilation Wasa'il al-Shia, which remarked his virtues and high status. He is considered by Shaykh Yusuf al-Bahrani to be second only to Allama Majlisi in terms of compilation and collection of Shia hadith.