Munzir ibn Sawa Al Tamimi

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Munzir ibn Sawa Al Tamimi (Arabic: المنذر بن ساوى التميمي) was the ruler of Bahrain and Qatar during the age of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. In the 7th century AD, when Muhammad and his companions started preaching Islam throughout the world, the message of Islam was sent by Muhammad to Munzir ibn Sawa Al Tamimi.

Prior to Islam, the inhabitants of Qatar and Bahrain were idol worshippers. They worshipped idol gods such as Awal. Islam swept the entire Arabian region in the 7th century, overturning the idol worshippers. Muhammad sent his first envoy Al-Ala'a Al-Hadrami to Munzir ibn Sawa Al Tamimi, the ruler of Bahrain, which in those days, extended the coast from Kuwait to the south of Qatar including Al Hasa and Bahrain Islands, in the year 628 AD, inviting him to Islam. Munzir, responding to Muhammad’s call announced his conversion to Islam and all the Arab inhabitants of Bahrain and Qatar including some Persians living in Qatar also became Muslim, heralding the beginning of the Islamic era in Bahrain and Qatar. Consequently, Al Ala Al-Hadrami was appointed by Muhammad as his representative in Bahrain to collect the Jizya (religious tax).

The letter from Muhammad is preserved and can be seen at Beit Al Qur'an museum in Hoora, Bahrain, with the seal of Muhammad still intact.