Page 53 - Histories of City and State in the Persian Gulf_Neat

Indigenous state traditions and the dialectics of urbanisation 33

the multi-layered organisation of Bahrain’s settled life became manifest.
Unlike in Muharraq, merchants were of mixed background. al-
Tawawish, the most prestigious pearl merchants, were Sunni, Shi‘i and
Hawala (Arabs with a tribal pedigree but originally from southern Iran).
Persians and Indians monopolised food imports from Iran and British
India. Moreover, the majority of the urban population was located socially
and politically outside the tribal system, and capitalised on the utilitarian
ethos and outward-looking orientation of the port’s economy. The pres-
ence of different ethnic and religious groups created a distinctively
Manami Shi‘i and Sunni culture whose heterogeneous character con-
trasted with that of tribal towns and rural communities.
The layout of the inner city of Muharraq also reflected political orders
which were in contrast with those of Manama. Under Shaykh ‘Isa ibn ‘Ali,
central Muharraq evolved as the centre of the Dar al-Hukumah and
embodied the tribal hierarchies and allegiances which supported the
administration. The tribal quarters were located around a central area
inhabited by prominent members of the Al Khalifah family which was
organised around the palace of the ruler and which after the 1930s was
named after Shaykh Hamad, ‘Isa’s successor. In the celebratory words of
Muhammad al-Nabhani, Bayt Shaykh ‘Isa stood among the residences of
his relatives as ‘the moon among shining stars’. 46 In contrast, the land-
scape of Manama encapsulated the acephalous political organisation of a
cosmopolitan port town with the seafront constituting its political and
administrative centre. At the turn of the twentieth century the creation of a
new warehouse district and the building of the British political agency
marked the consolidation of a class of powerful merchants who controlled
overseas trade in partnership with Shaykh ‘Isa and with the Government
of India, whose representatives came to dominate Manama’s political
47
life.

Built environments and spaces of socialisation
The evolution of new architectural styles, and the creation of new venues
of political and religious socialisation were part and parcel of the dialectics
of urbanisation which characterised the Al Khalifah era. As the majority of
the population continued to live in huts, stone buildings made a vivid
impression on locals and visitors alike. In both urban and rural districts,
masonry buildings mirrored the increasing socio-economic, ethnic and
cultural stratification of the population. Their architectural language

46 47
al-Nabhani, al-Tuhfah al-Nabhaniyyah, p. 141. See p. 81.