The name 'Bahrain' comes from Arabic ''Bahárayn'', literally meaning 'two seas'.
The Dilmun era
Main articles: Dilmun
The history of
Bahrain goes back more than five thousand years to its role as the centre of the ancient civilisation of
Dilmun, which dominated the trade routes between
Sumer and the
Indus Valley. For the history of Bahrain until the arrival of
Islam in the
7th century, see
Dilmun.
In the first century AD, Bahrain was referred to by the Greeks as "Tylos", the centre of pearl trading, when
Nearchus came to discover it serving under
Alexander the Great. The town of
Muharraq was referred to as "Arados" (now there is "
Arad" in Muharraq) (Larsen, p. 13).
While Bahrain was never incorporated into the
Roman Empire it did become a centre for Christianity(Larsen, p107): : church records show that Bahrain was the seat of two of the five
Nestorian bishoprics existing on the Arabian side of the Persian Gulf at the time of the arrival of Islam. It is uncertain when the two bishoprics were dissolved though they are known to have survived until 835. Nestorian Christianity left its traces in Muharraq, and Christian names, like the village of
Dair (ie parish),
Samahij (used to be the name of a bishop) remain until today. Muharraq was also the centre of the worship for the cult of
Awal, and between the end of Tylos and the arrival of Islam, Bahrain was known by this term(Larsen, p108).
The arrival of Islam
From the time when Islam emerged in the seventh century till the early sixteenth century, the name ''Bahrain'' referred to the wider
historical region of Bahrain stretching from
Basrah to the
Strait of Hormuz along the
Persian Gulf coast. This was ''Iqlīm al-Baḥrayn'', i.e. the Province of Bahrain, and the Arab inhabitants of the province were descendants of the Arab tribe Bani Abd al-Qais. This larger Bahrain comprised three regions: Hajar (present day
Al-Hasa in Saudi Arabia), Al-Khatt (present day
Al-Qatif in Saudi Arabia) and
Awal (present day Bahrain). The name Awal remained in use, probably, for eight centuries. Awal was derived from the name of an idol that used to be worshipped before Islam by the inhabitants of the islands. The centre of the Awal cult was
Muharraq.
Bahrainis were amongst the first to embrace Islam. Mohammed ruled Bahrain through one of his representatives,
Al-Ala'a Al-Hadhrami. Bahraini embraced Islam in
629 (the seventh year of hijra).
Al Khamis Mosque, founded in 692, was one of the earliest
mosques built in Bahrain, in the era of
Umayyad caliph
Umar II.
The expansion of Islam did not affect Bahrain's reliance on trade, and its prosperity continued to be dependent on markets in Mesopotamia. After
Baghdad emerged as the seat of the
caliph in 750 and the main centre of Islamic civilization, Bahrain greatly benefited from the city's increased demand for foreign goods especially from China and South Asia.
Bahrain became a principal centre of knowledge for hundreds of years stretching from the early days of Islam in the sixth century to the eighteenth century. Philosophers of Bahrain were highly esteemed, such as the 13th Century mystic, Sheikh
Maitham Al-Bahrani (died in 1299). (The mosque of Sheikh Maitham together with his tomb can be visited in the outskirts of the capital,
Manama, near the district of
Mahooz).
al-Qaramita
Main articles: Qarmatians
In the end of the third
Hijri century,
Abu Sa'id al-Hasan al-Janaby led the
Revolution of al-Qaramita, a rebellion by a
messianic Ismaili sect originating in Baghdad. Al-Janaby took over the city of Hajr, Bahrain's capital in that time, in addition to
al-Hasa, which he made the capital of his nation and sought to create a
utopian society.
The Qarmatians' goal in Bahrain was to build a society based on reason, tolerance and equality. All property within the community was distributed evenly among all intiates. The Qarmatians were organized as an
esoteric society but not as a secret one. Their activities were public and openly propagated, but new member had to undergo an initiation ceremony involving seven stages. The Qarmatian world view was one where every phenomena repeated itself in cycles, where every incident was replayed over and over again.
From Bahrain, the Qarmatians raided Baghdad and sacked Mecca and Medina in 930. The sacking of Islam's holiest sites saw the Qarmatians desecrate the
Well of Zamzam with corpses of Hajj pilgrims and
take the
Black Stone from Mecca to Bahrain. The sack of Mecca followed
millenarian excitement among the Qarmatians (as well as in Persia) over the conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter in 928. Bahrain became the seat of the Qarmatian Mahdi-Caliph from Isfahan who abolished
Sharīa law. The new Mahdi also changed the
qibla of prayer from Mecca to that of fire, a specifically
Zoroastrian practice.
For much of the tenth century the Bahraini Ismailis were the most powerful force in the Persian Gulf and Middle East, controlling the coast of Oman and collected tribute from the caliph in Baghdad as well as from a rival Ismaili
Abbasid imam in Cairo, whom they did not recognize. They were eventually defeated in battle in
976 by the
Abbasids, which precipitated the waning of Qarmatian power and by the twelfth century the Ismailis had virtually disappeared from the entire Persian Gulf.
In the sixth hijri century,
Genghis Khan, the Emperor of
Mongol Empire took over Bahrain. It was taken over by
Hulagu Khan around a hundred years later. When Hulagu died, Bahrain was liberated from the Mongol Empire.
Portuguese invasions and Persian influence
Portuguese expansion into the Indian Ocean in the early sixteenth century following
Vasco da Gama's voyages of exploration saw them battle the
Ottomans up the coast of the
Persian Gulf. Reputedly, the first Portuguese traveller to visit Bahrain was
Duarte Barbosa in 1485.
The Arabian navigator,
Ahmad Bin Majid, visited Bahrain in 1489 and gave a contemporary account of the country that the first Portuguese would have seen: "In Awal (Bahrain) there are 360 villages and sweet water can be found in a number of places. A most wonderful al-Qasasir, where a man can dive into the salt sea with a skin and can fill it with fresh water while he is submerged in the salt water. Around Bahrain are pearl fisheries and a number of islands all of which have pearl fisheries and connected with this trade are 1,000 ships".
In 1521, a Portuguese force led by commander
Antonio Correia invaded Bahrain to take control of the wealth created by its pearl industry. The defeated
King Muqrin was beheaded after Correia defeated his forces near present day Karbabad and took control of the fort "
Qala'at Al-Bahrain". The bleeding head of King Muqrin was later depicted on the Coat of Arms of Antonio Correia.
The Portuguese ruled through brutal force against the inhabitants for eighty years, until they were driven out of the island in 1602, when an uprising was sparked by the governor's order of the execution of the island's richest traders. The uprising coincided with regional disputes between the Portuguese and rival European powers. The power vacuum that resulted was almost immediately filled by the Persian ruler,
Shah Abbas I, whose general
Allahverdi Khan invaded the island and subsumed it within the
Safavid Empire.
The Al Khalifa and the British treaties
In 1783, the
Al Khalifa clan (of the
Bani Utub tribe) invaded and captured Bahrain from their base in
Zubara in neighbouring
Qatar. The leader of the clan at the time was
Ahmad ibn Mohammed Al Khalifa who is now referred to as
Ahmed Al Fateh ("Ahmed the Conqueror"). In 1799 the Al Khalifa were evicted from Bahrain to be replaced first by the rule of the
Sultanate of Oman and then the
Wahhabis. The Al Khalifa regained control of the country in 1811 when they launched another attack from Zubara With Baluch's (Al Bloush).
In 1820 the
Al Khalifa signed the General Treaty of Peace with the
British, agreeing not to engage in piracy unless they were in a state of war. A binding treaty of protection, known as the
Perpetual Truce of Peace and Friendship, was concluded in
1861, ushering in the period of
colonialism in Bahrain, and was further revised in
1892 and
1951. This treaty was similar to those entered into by the British Government with the other
Persian Gulf principalities. It specified that the ruler could not dispose of any of his territory except to the United Kingdom and could not enter into relationships with any foreign government without British consent. In return the British promised to protect Bahrain from all aggression by sea and to lend support in case of land attack. More importantly the treaty the British promised to support the rule of the
Al Khalifa in Bahrain, securing its unstable position as rulers of the country.
Bahrain underwent a period of major social reform between 1926 and 1957, under the ''de facto'' rule of
Charles Belgrave, the British advisor to Shaikh
Hamad ibn Isa Al-Khalifa (1872-1942). The country's first modern school was established in 1919, with the opening of the Al-Hiddaya Boys School, while the Persian Gulf's first girls school opened in 1928. The American Mission Hospital, established by the
Dutch Reform Church, began work in 1903. Other reforms include the abolition of
slavery, while the pearl diving industry developed at a rapid pace.
These reforms were often opposed vigorously by powerful groups within Bahrain including sections within the ruling family, tribal forces, the religious authorities and merchants. In order to counter conservatives, the British removed the Emir,
Isa bin Ali Al Khalifa, replacing him with his son in 1923. Some Sunni tribes such as the al Dossari were forcibly removed from Bahrain and sent to mainland Arabia, while clerical opponents of social reforms were exiled to Saudi and Iran, and the heads of some merchant and notable families were likewise exiled. The Britain’s interest in pushing Bahrain’s development was motivated by concerns about Saudi-Wahabbi and Iranian ambitions.
The discovery of oil and the Leftist movement
The
discovery of oil in 1932 made Bahrain the first location in the
Persian Gulf to have oil wells sunk. Oil production required thousands of workers, attracting peasants as well as enfranchised slaves who had become free men thanks to the end of slavery and debt bondage. As the first oil wells were being drilled, the pearl diving industry, hitherto the main source of income for the country, collapsed because of competition from
cultured pearls produced in Japan. This provided a further pool of labour needed by the new oil industry. It was the bringing together of all these disperate groups that prompted the emergence of an indigenous
working class and the
Leftist politics they adopted was to have important repercussions for the development of Bahraini society over the next fifty years.
During the
Second World War, Bahrain fought on the side of the Allies, declaring war on
Germany on September 10, 1939. It was a key base for the allies to safeguard oil supplies in the Persian Gulf and was the subject of Italian air raids on its oil refineries on October 20, 1940 from bases in East Africa.
The
National Union Committee (NUC), a Leftist Nationalist movement associated with the labor unions, was formed in 1954 calling for the end of British interference and political reforms. Work sites were plagued with frequent strikes and occasional riots (including several fatalities) during this period. Following riots in support of
Egypt defending itself against the tripartite invasion during 1956
Suez Crisis, the British decided to put an end to the NUC challenge to their presence in Bahrain. The NUC and its offshoots were declared illegal. Its leaders were arrested, tried and imprisoned. Some fled the country while others were forcibly deported.
Strikes and riots continued during the 1960s, now under the leadership of underground cells of the NUC, namely the
Communist National Liberation Front and the Bahraini section of the
Arab Nationalist Movement.
Independence and the constitutional experiment
After
World War II, Bahrain became the centre for British administration of the lower Persian Gulf. In
1968, when the British Government announced its decision to end the treaty relationships with the Persian Gulf sheikdoms, Bahrain joined with
Qatar and the seven Trucial States (which now form the
United Arab Emirates) under British protection in an effort to form a union of Arab emirates. By mid-1971, however, the nine sheikhdoms still had not agreed on the terms of union. Accordingly, Bahrain sought independence as a separate entity and became fully independent on August 15, 1971, as the State of Bahrain.
The emirate emerged just as the price of oil sky rocketted after the
1973 Arab-Israeli war; while Bahrain's own reserves were being depleted the high oil price meant there was massive capitalisation in the Kingdom's neighbours. The Kingdom was able to exploit this new to attract massive inward investment thanks to another war in the Levant in 1975: the
Lebanese civil war.
Beirut had long been the financial centre of the Arab world, but the outbreak of hostilities in the country had an immediate impact on the banking industry. Bahrain offered a new location at the centre of the booming Persian Gulf with a large educated indigenous workforce and sound fiscal regulations. Exploiting this opportunity saw a massive growth in the industry in the country, and bolstered the development of the middle class, and thus giving Bahrain a very different class structure to its tribal dominated neighbours.
Although there had long been an large Indian presence in Bahrain, it was at this time that mass migration to the Kingdom began to take off with massive subsequent consequences for the Kingdom's demographics, as large numbers of third world immigrants from countries such as the
Philippines,
Pakistan,
Egypt and
Iran were attracted by better salaries than at home.
Based on its new
constitution, Bahraini men elected its first
National Assembly in
1973 (although Article 43 of the states that the Assembly is to be elected by "
universal suffrage", the conditional clause "in accordance with the provisions of the electoral law" allowed the regime to prevent women from participating). Although the Assembly and the then emir
Isa ibn Salman al-Khalifa quarreled over a number of issues: foreign policy; the
U.S. naval presence, and the budget, the biggest clash came over the
State Security Law (SSL). The Assembly refused to ratify the government-sponsored law, which allowed, among other things, the arrest and detention of people for up to three years, (renewable) without a trial. The legislative stalemate over this act created a public crisis, and on August 25, 1975, the emir dissolved the Assembly. The emir then ratified the State Security Law by decree, and suspended those articles in the constitution dealing with the legislative powers of the Assembly. In that same year, the emir established the
State Security Court, whose judgments were not subject to appeal.
The Iranian Revolution and social and political change
The tide of
political Islam that swept the Middle East in the 1970s culminating in the
Iranian Revolution in 1979 was to have profound implications for Bahrain's social and political development.
There were a number of factors that had caused Bahrain to be more liberal than its neighbours, but all of these were challenged by the zeitgeist of religious fundamentalism. Bahrain's pluralist traditions were to a large extent a result of the complex confessional and demographic make up of the state, which required
Shias,
Sunnis, Persians (i.e
Huwala and
Ajams) and a plethora of minority faiths to live and work together; this tolerance had been buttressed by the prominence of
Arab nationalism and
Marxism as the main modes of dissent, both of which were socially progressive and downplayed religious affiliations; while the country's traditional dependence on trade further encouraged openness.
Even before Iran's Revolution in 1979, there was a noticeable conservative trend growing, with the traditional
abaya being donned by women in preference to the then popular
mini-skirt. But it was the political earthquake represented by the
Shah's fall that changed the dynamics of Bahrain's politics.
Ayatollah Khomeini's Iran immediately saw their co-religionists in Bahrain, who had grown more conscious of their own religious identity during this period, as prime agents to export the revolution. The failure of the Left to offer a political or philosophical challenge to the
Islamists allowed them quickly to dominate the avenues of dissent.
In 1981, an Iranian front organisation, the
Islamic Front for the Liberation of Bahrain attempted
a coup d'etat with the plan involving the assassination of Bahrain's leadership and an Islamist uprsing. The aim was to install a clerical leadership with Iraqi cleric
Hādī al-Mudarrisī as supreme leader, but the coup was detected after a tip off from a friendly intelligence source.
The failed coup along with the outbreak of the
Iran-Iraq War led to the formation of the
Gulf Cooperation Council which Bahrain joined with
Kuwait,
Oman,
Qatar,
Saudi Arabia and the
United Arab Emirates. The sense of regional uncertainty was further heightened when
Saddam Hussein's
Iraq invaded Kuwait followed by the 1991
Persian Gulf War.
Years of political stasis combined with the collapse of the price of oil, saw growing frustration at the lack of democracy explode into an uprising in 1994. While previous advocacy of reforms had been secular in character, the uprising was specifically Islamist beginning with the stoning of female competitors in a marathon race for wearing 'inappropriate' clothing. Until 1998, Bahrain was hit by riots and bomb attacks, while the police responded with heavy handed tactics. In all over forty people were killed. (For more details see
Adel Darwish in the ''
Middle East Review of International Affairs'').
The State Security Law era and the 1990s uprising
Main articles: 1990s Uprising in Bahrain
The prelude and aftermath of the
Iranian Revolution in 1979 encouraged Shia Islamist dissent across the Middle East.
Ayatollah Khomeini's Iran immediately saw their co-religionists in Bahrain, who had grown more conscious of their own religious identity during this period, as prime agents to export the revolution. The failure of the Left to offer a political or philosophical challenge to the
Islamists allowed them quickly to dominate the avenues of dissent.
In 1981, an Iranian front organisation, the
Islamic Front for the Liberation of Bahrain attempted
a coup d'etat with the plan involving the assassination of Bahrain's leadership and an Islamist uprsing. The aim was to install a clerical leadership with Iraqi cleric
Hādī al-Mudarrisī as supreme leader, but the coup was detected after a tip off from a friendly intelligence source.
The Islamic Front was later to carry out a series of bomb attacks in the Kingdom during the 1990s as part of an Islamist uprising against the government. The Front bombed the Diplomat Hotel on 1 November 1996, with the group telling the Associated Press "We put a bomb in the Diplomat hotel 20 minutes ago...after the feast...tell the government that we will destroy everyplace."
[1]
However, it would be a mistake to consider the Islamist violence to be purely foreign instigated: due to perceived discrimination against the majority
Shia population of Bahrain by the
Al Khalifa rulers, there was a strong sense of grievance. The extent to which this discrimination occurred is open to debate, considering that many of the richest families in the Kingdom were Shia.
In the aftermath of the
Persian Gulf War and the
collapse of the Soviet Union, and encouraged by electoral and parliamentary developments in
Kuwait, Bahraini opponents of the govenrment sensed an opportunity to raise again the issue of elections and their own parliament. In 1992, following informal discussions, a group consisting mainly of clerics and businessmen led by Islamist leader
Abdul Amir Al Jamri, drew up a petition that was then signed by more than 300 prominent individuals, known as the "". The signatories were fairly evenly split between
Shia and
Sunni, and between
Islamists and secular
nationalists. It asked for restoration of the
National Assembly and the constitution of 1975, and participation by the population in decision making. After listening to their demands, the emir responded that the government planned to establish a consultative council (appointed directly by the emir), which would be the appropriate institution to serve the population, and that there could be no further discussion on the subject.
The failure of this petition led to the second petition, the so-called general or . This mass petition was reportedly signed by some 22,000 people. To pre-empt the delivery of the petition to the emir, the regime arrested several of the leading Shia clerics who were organising the petition, including
Ali Salman, after they were accused of inciting their stoning of women competitors in a marathon race.
The uprising was specifically Islamist in character, beginning with the stoning of the leading team in the Bahrain Marathon Relay race after they ran along a road alongside a conservative village. Women's participation in the race had been cited as immoral by conservative clerics in the run up to the race, and a large group were amassed on one of the race hand over stages demonstrating, when one of the
SAAD Track Club team passed the demonstrators, the runner was attacked and knocked to the ground. The uprising was characterised by riots, stonings and bomb attacks, which targeted the government, the middle classes, third world immigrants and liberals.
The uprising was led by London based Islamist group, the Bahrain Freedom Movement. According to Egyptian liberal journalist Adel Darwish: "Interviews with BFM leaders leave little doubt about the totalitarian nature of their type of Islamic fundamentalist ideology. Their final aim is to declare an Iranian-style Islamic republic."
[2]
The political impasse continued over the next few years during which time the regime dealt with its opponents using severe repression. Bomb attacks and police brutality marked this period in which over forty people were killed in violence between the two sides. Although the violence was never entirely stopped by the security measures it was contained and continued as low level intermitten disturbances.
King Hamad and his reforms
In 1999
Shaykh Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa became Amir after the death of his father,
Shaykh Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa, and carried out wide ranging social and political reforms, described by
Amnesty International as representing an
'historic period for human rights'. King Hamad ended the political repression that had defined the 1990s by scrapping security laws, releasing all political prisoners, instituting elections, giving women the vote and promising a return to constitutional rule. The move brought an end to political violence, but did not initially bring about a reconciliation between the government and most of the opposition groups.
The invitation to Bahrain's former exiles to return home revitalised the Kingdom's politics. Exiled leaders included a number of London based Islamists including Dr Majid Al Alawi who became Minister of Labour, Dr Mansur Al Jamri who became editor of the new opposition daily,
Al Wasat, and Sheikh
Ali Salman who became head of the newly established Shia Islamist
Al Wefaq, Bahrain's largest political group. Former Leftist dissidents formed the
National Democratic Action, the Communist
Democratic Bloc, and the
Bahrain Human Rights Society. Leftists were also involved in the new trade union movement, although they faced competition from Islamists for control of several unions.
Following the political liberalisation Bahrain negotiated a
Free Trade Agreement with the United States in 2004. The country participated in
military action against the
Taliban in 2001 with its ships patrolling the Arabian Sea searching for vessels, but opposed the
invasion of Iraq. Relations improved with neighbouring
Qatar after the border dispute over the
Hawar Islands was resolved by the
International Court of Justice in
The Hague in 2001. The two are now building the
Qatar-Bahrain Friendship Bridge to link the countries across the
Persian Gulf, which will be the longest fixed link bridge in the world when completed.
In 2001 Hamad put forward the
National Action Charter which would return the country to constitutional rule. However the opposition was opposed to the Charter's call for an amendment to the
1973 Constitution, changing the legislature from
unicameral to
bicameral. The Charter stated that "the legislature will consist of two chambers, namely one that is constituted through free, direct elections whose mandate will be to enact laws, and a second one that would have people with experience and expertise who would give advice as necessary." The opposition groups deemed this statement to be too ambiguous, and remained opposed to the Charter.
Hamad responded by holding a highly publicized meeting with the spiritual leaders of the Shia Islamist opposition. He signed a document clarifying that the only the elected lower house of the parliament would have legislative power, while the appointed upper house would have a strictly advisory role. Upon this assurance, the main opposition groups accepted the Charter and called for a 'Yes' vote in the national referendum. The Charter was accepted in the 2001 referendum with 98.4% voting 'Yes' for it.
However, in 2002 Hamad promulgated the
2002 Constitution in which both the elected and the royally-appointed chambers of parliament were given equal legislative powers, going back on his public promise of 2001. As a result, the parliamentary elections due to be held later that year were boycotted by a group of four political societies:
★
Al Wefaq, a Shia Islamist group, thought to be the most popular political society in the country
★
National Democratic Action, the largest Leftist political society
★
Islamic Action Society, a marginal Shia Islamist society
★
Nationalist Democratic Rally Society, a marginal Arab Nationalist society
Between 2002 and 2006, the four boycotting societies continued their demand for discussions on constitutional reforms. By 2006 these four party opposition indicated that it would participate in the parliamentary elections, but retain their demand for constitutional reform at the top of their agenda.
See also
★
Dilmun
★
Bahrain (historical region)
★
History of the Jews in Bahrain
★
List of rulers of Bahrain
★
History of the Middle East
★
Rahmah bin Jabir al-Jalahimah
★
Bahrain National Museum
★
Bandargate scandal
References
★
★
★
★
Generational change and elite-driven reforms in the Kingdom of Bahrain. (Sir William Luce Fellowship Paper No. 7) Dr. Steven Wright (2006) Middle East and Islamic Studies,
University of Durham, (PDF Format)
★
Voice of Bahrain (London-based Islamist group website)
★ Khalaf, Abdulhadi (1998). ''
Contentious politics in Bahrain: From ethnic to national and vice versa''.
★ Mahdi Abdalla Al-Tajir (1987). ''Bahrain, 1920-1945: Britain, the Shaikh, and the Administration''. ISBN 0-7099-5122-1
★ Talal Toufic Farah (1986). ''Protection and Politics in Bahrain, 1869-1915'' ISBN 0-8156-6074-X
★ Emile A Nakhleh (1976). ''Bahrain: Political development in a modernizing society''. ISBN 0-669-00454-5
★ Andrew Wheatcroft (1995). ''The Life and Times of Shaikh Salman Bin Hamad Al-Khalifa : Ruler of Bahrain 1942-1961''. ISBN 0-7103-0495-1
★ Fuad Ishaq Khuri (1980). ''Tribe and state in Bahrain: The transformation of social and political authority in an Arab state''. ISBN 0-226-43473-7
★ Fred H. Lawson (1989). ''Bahrain: The Modernization of Autocracy''. ISBN 0-8133-0123-8
★ Mohammed Ghanim Al-Rumaihi (1975). ''Bahrain: A study on social and political changes since the First World War''. University of Kuwait.
★ Fakhro, Munira A. 1997. “The Uprising in Bahrain: An Assessment.” In ''The Persian Gulf at the Millennium: Essays in Politics, Economy, Security, and Religion'', eds. Gary G. Sick and Lawrence G. Potter: 167-88. New York: St. Martin’s Press. ISBN 0-312-17567-1
★ Abdulla, Khalid M. 1999. “The State in Oil Rentier Economies: The Case of Bahrain.” In ''Change and Development in the Gulf'', ed. Abbas Abdelkarim: 51-78. New York: St. Martin’s Press. ISBN 0-312-21658-0
★ Curtis E. Larsen. 1984. ''Life and Land Use on the Bahrain Islands: The Geoarchaeology of an Ancient Society'' University Of Chicago Press. ISBN 0226469069
External links
★
Timeline: Bahrain, BBC
★
Bahrain: The last 100 years Life before and after the discovery of oil
★
History of Bahrain on an Islamist opposition website
★
Rahmah of the Gulf, Jon Mandaville, Saudi Aramco World, May 1975
★
Qarmatians in Bahrain, Ismaili Net
★
Background Note: Bahrain
★
History of Bahrain
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