Page 54 - Histories of City and State in the Persian Gulf_Neat

34 Histories of City and State in the Persian Gulf

communicated the wealth and political influence of the elites: the ruling
family, the tribal leaders cum pearling entrepreneurs and the foreign
merchants. Tribal architecture also became a permanent feature of both
the urban and rural landscapes affirming the Bedouin heritage of the Al
Khalifah family and their allies as a counterpoint to the more cosmopol-
itan, and ostensibly more sophisticated, culture of Bahrain’s commercial
classes. The ‘introvert’ and inward-looking character of the built environ-
ment mirrored the religious and political life of the population. Both
vernacular and public architecture protected and prioritised security:
masonry houses were organised around internal courtyards and hut com-
pounds were surrounded by walls and fences which guarded extended
families, Shi‘i villages and overseas immigrants. Similarly, spaces of pri-
vate and public utility tended to safeguard kinship networks, mercantile
interests and sectarian ideals. 48
For the majority of the urban population housing continued to repre-
sent a moveable asset as thatched huts made of palm branches with stone
or mud walls (known as barasti and ‘arish) dominated towns and villages.
In the villages they were passed from father to son and considered an
integral part of the property of tribal landowners. In Manama and
Muharraq the life span of barasti compounds was dependent on the
precarious nature of land occupancy, which was not protected by private
property rights. As it took from three to five days to erect a barasti, their
building materials (al-athat, lit. furniture) were considered an integral
part of the possessions of a household. With the commercialisation of
land at the turn of the twentieth century the economic meaning of ‘infor-
mal’ housing started to change. Their al-athat were often mentioned in
contracts of sale, if they affected the price or the rent value of the property.
Moreover, evidence suggests that barasti compounds started to became a
source of investment for the notables of Manama who acquired land and
49
built cheap accommodation for rent (see Figure 1).

48
For a discussion of the architecture and Islamic tradition of the Arabian Peninsula see
J. King, Traditional Architecture of Saudi Arabia (London: I. B. Tauris, 1998). On Bahraini
housing and architecture see: Al-Malamih al-‘umraniyyah li al-mudun al-taqlidiyyah fi al-
Bahrayn (Ministry of Housing, Physical Planning Directorate, State of Bahrain, [n.d]);
Tariq Wali, al-Bayan wa al-tibyan fi al-‘imarah wa al-‘umran (Manama: [n.pub.], 1993);
Rashid al-‘Urayfi, al-‘Imarah al-Bahrayniyyah (Manama: al-Matba‘ah al-Sharqiyyah,
1978); al-Khifaz ‘ala khasa’is al-madinah al-‘Arabiyyah wa ala turathiha al-‘Arabi al-
Islami, by Ibrahim ‘Uthman (Central Municipal Committee, State of Bahrain, [n.d]).
49
Wali, al-Muharraq, pp. 116–18; Mahadir li Majlis al-Baladiyyah (al-Manamah) (Minutes
of Manama Municipal Council, hereafter MMBM), 15 Rajab 1355 (1 October 1936)
R/15/2/1923 IOR; E. I. Majed, The Traditional Construction of Early Twentieth Century
Houses in Bahrain (Doha: Arab States Folklore Centre, 1987), pp. 37–8; Ayyam zaman /
Old Days (Manama: Matbu‘at Banurama al-Khalij, 1986), p. 42; files n. 36, 56, 57, Idarah
al-Tabu (Department of Land Registration, hereafter IT).