Abu al-Bahlul al-Awwam

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Abu al-Bahlul al-Awwam (Arabic: أبو البهلول العوّام‎) was a Sunni member of the Abd al-Qays tribe in Bahrain who overthrew Qarmatian rule in the islands around 1058[1].

Along with his brother, Abu’l-Walid Muslim, he had called for the khutba in Bahrain to be read in the name of the Abbasid caliph al-Qaim, a common way of expressing alliegence to the Abbasids, which was anathema to the millenarian Qarmatian Ismailis. Their rebellion quickly overthrew Qarmatian rule and their position was secured when a seaborne landing by the Qarmatians to retake the islands was repulsed in 1066-7. A similar rebellion took place in Qatif in 1058, forcing the Qarmatians back to Al-Aha before their final defeat after a seven year siege of the city by the Uyunids and Seljuk Turks in 1067[2].

While Abu al-Buhlul was able to gain independence for Bahrain, he was not strong enough to defend the islands against the new ruler of Qatif, Yahya ibn 'Ayyash. Bahrain soon came under the control of bin Abbas and his son, before it was captured by Abdullah al-Uyuni, the founder of the Uyunid dynasty.[3]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Farhad Daftary, The Ismāı̄lı̄s: Their History and Doctrines, Cambridge University Press 1990, p221
  2. ^ Curtis E. Larsen. Life and Land Use on the Bahrain Islands: The Geoarchaeology of an Ancient Society University Of Chicago Press, 1984 p65
  3. ^ Larsen, p66

[edit] See Also

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