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204 Histories of City and State in the Persian Gulf

18 The wealthy Persian merchants and landowners of al-‘Awadiyyah,
1951. Second from the right Ahmad ‘Arshi, a relative of the owner of
Bayt Faruq. First from the left Muhammad Tahir Khunji, a relative of
the philanthropist Abd al-‘Aziz Lutf ‘Ali

Khalifah, their customary overlords. Further, in spite of the restrictions
imposed by the government on the alienation of the Al Khalifah holdings
after 1927, members of the ruling family continued to sell properties to
old merchant families such as the Kanus and the rich Persian Sunni
entrepreneurs of al-‘Awadiyyah who in the 1930s and 1940s were able
22
to acquire land fairly cheaply. The penetration of merchant capital, a
process well under way since the last quarter of the nineteenth century, 23
and the absence of a master plan effectively forced the government to
enter a partnership with private entrepreneurs in order to oversee the
expansion of Manama into its agricultural hinterland (see Figure 18).

22
The claims of the peasantry were not successful with the exception of the case of eviction
started in 1928 by Shaykh Muhammad ibn ‘Isa, the brother of the ruler, against some of
the former inhabitants of Zulmabad. It seems that Belgrave intervened, refusing to expel
them. R/15/2/1923 IOR; MMBM, 9 and 23 Jumada al-Ula 1347/23 October and 6
November 1928; Belgrave to Political Agent Bahrain, 26 Dhu al-Qa‘dah 1354/20
February 1936 n. 1299–1 of 1354; minutes by Political Agent Bahrain, 27 February
1936. Belgrave to Political Agent Bahrain, 28 March 1938, R/15/2/807 IOR.
23
See pp. 89–90, 102–4.