Page 87 - Life & Land Use on the Bahrain Islands (Curtis E Larsen)

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fifteenth or sixteenth century that the islands became more commonly associated
with the name. Bahrain or Awal has been bound with the sea and to maritime
trade, yet there is little mention of it in the first years of Islam, which was
introduced into eastern Arabia by al'Ala' al-Hadrami during the seventh century
A.D. (Wus ten field 1874:178). Belgrave (1975) describes the population of Sasanian
east Arabia as a mixture of Persians and Arabs. An atmosphere of religious
pluralism prevailed, but was replaced, superficially at least, by the new religion.
The coastal area was administered by a local Sasanian governor, and presumably
Awal fell under this same jurisdiction. Adherence to Islam waned after the death
of the Prophet. According to Khulusi (1976), the return to earlier religions was
significant enough to warrant a reconquest of the eastern province of Arabia by
Khalid al-Walid. A similar pattern is described by Belgrave (1975) for Awal, and
thus the first years of Islam seem to have been temporarily unsettled for Bahrain.
The forceful climax to the early caliphate in Mecca brought on by the
Umayyads seems to have brought more stability to Bahrain, at least for a period of
a few years. Bahrain apparently became subject to the Umayyad caliphate shortly
after its inception. Sectarian revolts, however, proved to be a disruptive factor.
Kharijite rebellions took place on Bahrain during the caliphate of Abdl Malik bin
Marwan in A.D. 695 (Khulusi 1976). These insurrections were put down, but
nineteen years of independent rule by Masud bin Abi Zainab al-Abdi followed, until
the islands were reabsorbed into the Umayyad system. Certain important maritime
events can be linked to this period; for example, Hourani (1951) cites the first direct
contact between Arab seafarers and Tang Dynasty China in A.D. 671. TTiese
contacts were to grow into a widespread network of shipping that linked the
Arabian Gulf and Red Sea to the Far East by direct sailing.

The Abbasid revolution against the Umayyads created a new dynasty of
caliphs in A.D. 749 and transferred the seat of the caliphate to Baghdad. Basra
became the Islamic port of entry to the interior of Iraq and the West. Maritime
contacts and mercantile interests achieved an unprecedented range of expansion at
this time. By A.D. 758, maritime trade with the Far East had grown to such an
extent that there was already an Arab settlement at Canton. Such settlements