Page 173 - Histories of City and State in the Persian Gulf_Neat

‘Disorder’, political sociability and the urban public sphere 153

The elusive nature of the urban administration was an additional factor
which contributed to weaken resistance to public authority. The methods
employed by the Al Khalifah to rule the town were often at odds with the
aspirations, ideals and commercial practices of traders, artisans and work-
ers. Yet residents were not in a position to appeal to a hierarchy of officials
to voice their grievances or to bypass their leaders. Nor they could turn to
government offices in order to seek justice against abuses. In their world-
view the rule of the Dar al-Hukumah of Muharraq was highly personal-
ised. al-Shuyukh, the term commonly used to refer to the ruler and by
extension to the tribal administration, was suggestive of the coercive and
arbitrary authority exercised by the Al Khalifah family.
Outbreaks of disorder tended to be sudden and sporadic, often sparked
by tribesmen, pearl divers and occasional visitors who poured into the
markets. Random acts of violence could easily ignite intercommunal
conflict and elite factionalism, revealing the Janus-faced character of
3
Manama’s patronage system. The disturbances of 1904 between the
Persians and the entourage of Shaykh ‘Ali, the Al Khalifah governor of
Manama, are a case in point. A band of tribesmen of unknown origin
came to blows with a servant of ‘Abd al-Nabi Kazeruni, the leader of the
Persian community, in central Manama in the presence of some of the
bodyguards of Shaykh ‘Ali. Armed with sticks the tribesmen, whose
numbers ranged from 50 to 200 according to eyewitness accounts,
attacked Persian shops and residents. When news of the aggression
reached ‘Abd al-Nabi Kazeruni, he rushed to the market with members
of his entourage to coordinate the resistance of the shopkeepers. Caught
by some members of Shaykh ‘Ali’s al-fidawiyyah, he was beaten and
chased by an infuriated mob of Al Khalifah loyalists. 4
The dynamics of this incident display some of the features which
characterised communal violence in the inner city. Residents, in this
case the Persians, were victims rather than offenders as they became
involved in confrontations in order to defend their lives and property.

3
This point is applicable more generally to the patron–client networks which organised
political life in other pre-modern Middle Eastern cities. For a general overview of their role
in urban unrest see G. Denoeux, Urban Unrest in the Middle East: A Comparative Study of
Informal Networks in Egypt, Iran and Lebanon (Albany: State University of New York Press,
1993), pp. 45–54.
4
The disturbances are described in great detail from the perspective of British policy in
Farah, Protection and Politics, pp. 131–49. Political Agent Bahrain to Political Resident
Bushehr, 17 November 1904, enclosure n. 1, Political Resident Bushehr to Government of
India, 17 December 1904, L/P&S/10/81 IOR; Hajj Abdul Nabi-bin-Kal Awaz, statement
n. 2 in enclosure n. 27, ‘Statements by Persian subjects’ in ‘Correspondence Respecting
the Affairs of Arabia’ in The Affairs of Arabia, 1905–1906, ed. by Robin Bidwell, 2 vols.
(London: Cass, 1971), vol. I, pp. 116–17.