Page 106 - Histories of City and State in the Persian Gulf_Neat

86 Histories of City and State in the Persian Gulf

were generally confined within an individual’s community. A specific
profession or trade continued to identify the popular classes over time,
as suggested by the names of old suqs which indicated specialisation or
ethnic origin. Manama’s richer households were supplied with cushions
and mattresses from Suq al-Naddafah, which gathered together wool
carders from Bastak in southern Iran. Sellers of dry nuts and fruit, sweets,
rice and cooking oil from the village of Garash were based in Suq al-
Garashi. Textile dealers, mostly Indians linked to wholesalers or Baharna,
were based in Suq al-Aqmisha. By 1891 sweet makers, mostly Baharna
and Persian Shi‘is, had their own market in Suq al-Halwa. Baharna of
rural extraction formed the artisan class which was identified with the
various specialised suqs, although their workshops could move from one
warehouse to another. 30
The outlook of the markets selling local produce contrasted with those
of their counterparts across the town. As shopkeepers were exclusively
Baharna who had retained strong village connections, they were the least
affected by overseas immigration and by the fluctuations in international
trade. Located at the western extremity of the import markets, these
commercial areas represented the terminus of the axis of transport
which linked Manama to the agricultural belt lying to the west and north-
west of the town. Their stalls were stocked with produce from the estates
controlled by the Al Khalifah, particularly fruit, vegetables, fish and water.
There are no statistics on the supplies which reached Manama from the
villages but the open landscape of some of these market areas suggests that
peasants could sell their produce in makeshift stalls, often independently
of their tribal overlords. Ibrahim Kazeruni reported in 1836 that villagers
flocked to this end of the bazaar every Friday and that many of them
aspired to establish a business in the town. 31
Attitudes towards professional specialisation and trade reinforced the
social and cultural cleavages between tribal and non-tribal residents.
Individuals of tribal descent expressed their feeling of superiority vis-à-
vis the shopkeeper and artisan population by displaying their attachment
to strong moral codes stemming from religious and social diktats. Arabs
who maintained connections with the Arabian Peninsula did not deal in
tobacco as a result of the ban on smoking imposed by Wahhabism.
Tribesmen looked down on any occupation outside the traditional remit
of pearling, particularly the sale of foodstuffs, which was in the hands of
Persians and Indians. For their part, Persians and Indians tended to look

30
Transcripts of interview with ‘Abbas Qannati (b. 1913), 8 December 1990, by ‘Ali Akbar
Bushehri; Sayf, al-Ma’tam, vol. I, pp. 136–7.
31
Kazeruni, Athar, pp. 880 ff.; Lorimer, Gazetteer, vol. II, p. 246.