Bahrain (historical region)

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This article is about the historical region of Bahrain. For the present-day state of Bahrain, see: Bahrain.

Bahrain (Arabic: البحرين‎ al-Baḥrayn) is a historical region in eastern Arabia that was known as the Province of Bahrain (Arabic: إقليم البحرين,‎ Iqlīm al-Baḥrayn) until the 16th century. It stretched from Basra south along the Persian Gulf coast and included the regions of Kuwait, Al-Hasa, Qatif, Qatar, and the Awal islands (present-day Bahrain). The name means "two seas" in Arabic.

[edit] History

Until Bahrain embraced Islam in AD 629, it was a center for Nestorian Christianity. Among its inhabitants, the major tribe was the Abdul Qais.

In the early 7th century, Bahrain was one of the first places in Arabia to become Islamic, despite its great distance from Muhammad's base in Medina.

In 899 the Qarmatians, a millenarian Ismaili sect, seized hold of the country and sought to create a utopian society based on reason and the distribution of all property evenly among the initiates. The Qarmatians caused widespread disruption throughout the Islamic world and sacked Mecca and Medina in 930, carrying off the sacred Black Stone to Qatif where it was held for ransom. They were defeated in 976 by the Abbasids.^{[citation needed]}

The name "Bahrain" referred to the eastern mainland Arabia until the 16th century at least. The Arab inhabitants of the province, were called Baharna after it.

[edit] Population

The people of eastern Arabia are still sometimes called Baharnas and their language is Baharna Arabic. The Baharnas were traditionally settled (nonnomadic). They inhabited oases and coastal areas.