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DILMN

We are still left with the difficult qucstion of what rclation, if any, thc island's name has
١o the pre-fslaic and early Islamic al-Muharri or vMuharriq. Surcly the cxplanation given
to Mackay in 1925 for the use of al-Muharriq to designate an island where crcnations took
place, rescmbles that suggestcd by Rothstein for those Lakmids and Ghassanids who may
have been involved in the burning, either allegcd or rcal, of cnemies or their villages, One
point sce١s certain, howevcr. It is not likcly that thcrc is any significance in the Bahraini
:ontext in the fact that both Awil and Muharriq wcre the names of pre-lslamic idols.

In the first place, none of the Arabic sources in which these deities are named indicate
any conceCtion whatsoever bctwecn thcm., Moreover, as our inquiry has shown, the names
ere not, for the most part , in use simultancously in Bahrain. Awil had been the principal
n١٥ of the largest of the Bahrain islands for roughly 13 years bcfore Muharriq was first
atested in the early 19th ccntury.

Conclusion

These notcs on the origins and usage of two of the most well-known names in the Bahrain
islands were intendcd to bring a pair of interesting problems to the notice of all conccrned
٥ith the early history of the region. Therc are, undoubtedly, other sources which should
bave been consulted, other explanations which have been overlooked. It is hoped,
nonetheless, that this excursion into one of the lesser known areas of Bahrain's past may
prompt others with relevant information at their disposal to contribute to the study of
oponyms in the Arabian Gulf.

Abbreviations

A.٤٠A٠٧.B, Abhandlugen der 5niglichen Aadcmie der Wissenschaften 2u Berlin.
٠A..G.W.G. Abhandlugen der k‫ﺓ‬niglichen Gescllschaft der Wissenschaftcn 2un Gottingen.
A.DP.F R. Boucharlat and‫ﻻﻱ‬. F, Salles, Arabie orientale, Mdsopotaie et lran meridional de I'age du
fr au debut de la periode lslaique, A٠D.P.F., Paris.

B..O. D. T. Potts, cd., Dilmun: New Studies in the Archaeology and Early History of Bahrain,
Berliner Beitrage 2um Vordcren Oicnt 2, Rcimer, Berlin .

A.NE.S. Jouraal of the Ancient Near Eastern Society.‫ﻻ‬

N..G.W.G. Nachrichten von der onigl. Gescllschaft der Wissenschaften 2u Gottingen,
philologisch-historische lasse.

P.R.G.S. Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society.

PW, Pauly-Wissowa, Realencyclopidie der classischen AItertumswissenschaft.

2.D.M.G. 2‫ﻚ‬itschirft der Deutschen Morgenlindischen Gesellschaft.

Bibliography

-haAlif,a‫ﻝ‬H.E. Shaikh Abdullah b. halid and Dr. A٠ A٠ Hussain. 1983. 'Fom the tub histoyr of
‫ ﻋﻨﺎ‬18th century', summayr of a paper read at the Bahrain Trough the Ages Conference, 3-9
December, 1983, p. 34.

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