Page 89 - Life & Land Use on the Bahrain Islands (Curtis E Larsen)

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perhaps more properly, extracting tribute from shipping along the Arabian coast.
This period was also marked by the height of development the port city of Siraf on
the opposite shore of the Gulf (Whitehouse and Williamson 1973).
As tribute payments were progressively cut off, either by the subsequent
Buyid government in Iraq or by rival Arab tribes, the Carmathian state shrank to
local dimensions. Bahrain broke away in A.D. 1058 under the leadership of Abd
al-Buhlul who reestablished orthodox Islam on the islands (Khulusi 1976, Madelung
1978). Similar revolts removed Qatif from Carmathian control at about the same
time. Deprived of all outside income and control of the coasts, the Carmathians
retreated to their stonghold at the Hofuf Oasis. Their dynasty was finally dealt a
final blow in 1067 by the combined forces of Abdullah al-Uyuni, who with the help
of Seljuk army contingents from Iraq, laid siege to Hofuf for seven years and
finally forced the Carmathians to surrender.

Middle Islamic Bahrain (A.D. 1055-1500)

Hie Middle Islamic period began with changing leadership throughout Persia and
Iraq and coincided with the entrance of Seljuk groups into Persia. A critical review
of the impact of the Seljuks on Persian and Arab society is presented in Richards
(1973). For the purpose of this research, it is only necessary to discuss the broad
changes that affected the gulf and, by inference, Bahrain.
The first half of the eleventh century was marked by the invasion of
Persia and Iraq by nomadic tribal groups referred to as Ghuzz (Lambton 1973).
Among these were the Seljuks who were:
not simply the leaders of nomadic tribal groups: they were also
familiar with urban life, and in some measure heirs to the
civilization which had developed in the lands of the Eastern
Caliphate. From the very beginning of their transformation
into the rulers of an empire, they had settled capitals. They
did not, like the Mongols live in tented encampments apart
from the local population—or at any rate not to the same
extent ... It is noteworthy that only the Saljuks among the
Ghuzz succeeded in establishing an empire. [Lambton 1973:111]