Page 45 - Histories of City and State in the Persian Gulf_Neat

Indigenous state traditions and the dialectics of urbanisation 25

rulers established their strongholds in the arid regions of the main island of
the archipelago at some distance from the agricultural areas of the north.
Salman (r. 1796–1825) founded Rifa‘ al-Sharqi which became the resi-
dence of his son Khalifah after 1830. The second Rifa‘, known as al-Qibli,
became the headquarters of ‘Ali ibn Khalifah (r. 1868–9), while ‘Abdallah
(r. 1796–1843), the second son of Ahmad al-Fatih, established the town of
25
Muharraq on an island to the north east of Manama in 1809–10.
During the long reign of ‘Isa ibn ‘Ali (r. 1869–1932), Muharraq
became the seat of the Dar al-Hukumah, a central administration under
British protection. The intervention of the Government of India in Bahrain
was regulated under a convention stipulated in 1861 with the Shaykh of
Bahrain which affirmed his autonomous status under the auspices of
Great Britain. 26 As Shaykh ‘Isa became the sole administrator of the
islands under ‘treaty relations’, he allocated the agricultural regions of
the islands to his relatives following tribal customs. His sons received a
considerable share: ‘Abdallah ruled the village of Jidd Hafs, Hamad con-
trolled Bilad al-Qadim, and Muhammad the agricultural hamlets of
Karbabad, Jidd ‘Ali and al-Jufayr. Isa’s brother Khalid ruled the islands
of Sitrah and Nabi Salih and was given control of Rifa‘ al-Sharqi and Rifa‘
al-Qibli. 27 The distribution of permanent rights over land, villages and
labour force underpinned the establishment of a quasi feudal administra-
tion thus altering the fractured political organisation of al-‘imarah before
1869.
Yet the tribal allies of the Al Khalifah who now controlled the pearling
industry consolidated their independent position. Their leaders main-
tained councils (majlises) where they deliberated on diving matters and
on internal disputes. Only in the case of conflict with other tribes did they
resort to the arbitration of the ruler who presided over umbrella institu-
tions based in Muharraq: his personal majlis and the al-salifah court in
charge of the pearling industry, which included prominent merchants

25
Muhammad al-Nabhani, al-Tuhfah al-Nabhaniyyah fi tarikh al-Jazirah al-‘Arabiyyah
(Beirut: Dar Ihya’ al-‘Ulum, 1976), pp. 47–9, 87–9, 108–9; Tajir, ‘Aqd al-lal, pp. 41–2;
G. B. Brucks, ‘Memoir Descriptive of the Navigation of the Gulf of Persia with Brief
Notices of the Manners, Customs, Religion, Commerce and Resources of the People
Inhabiting Its Shores and Islands’ in Arabian Gulf Intelligence: Selections from the Records of
the Bombay Government, new series, no. XXIV, 1856, ed. by R. Hughes Thomas
(Cambridge: Oleander Press, 1985), p. 566; A. B. Kemball, ‘Memoranda on the
Resources, Localities, and Relations of the Tribes Inhabiting the Arabian Shores of the
Persian Gulf’ (1845), fiche 1090–1, 106, V 23/217 India Office Records (hereafter IOR);
Kemball, ‘Historical Sketch of the Utoobee Tribe of Arabs (Bahrein) … from the Year
1832 to August 1844’ (1844), fiche 1094, 392 ff, V 23/217 IOR.
26
H. M. Albaharna, The Arabian Gulf States: Their Legal and Political Status and International
Problems (Beirut: Librairie du Liban, 1978), pp. 31–2.
27
Khuri, Tribe and State in Bahrain, p. 43; Lorimer, Gazetteer, vol. II, p. 248.