History of Bahrain

Herdie and I spent a couple of hours in the Bahrain National Museum, a pleasant time indeed. As I remarked the first time I visited there, it’s an austere museum.  Nothing about it comes close to being “pomp and glory”: it has a sparing décor, only a handful of exhibits really. This time, I brought my laptop, so I could easily capture what I was seeing and thinking about.

Bahrain National Museum (2003)

Many, many years ago, Bahrain and most of the Arabian Peninsula were under water. About 65 million years ago, the oldest sediments formed under the sea. Many years of compaction and pressure changed the sediments into rocks. More layers of rocks formed, resulting in the base of the Jabal Al Dukhan about 50 million years ago. The cap of this mound formed about 20 million years ago, and the surface and soil sediments on which we walk are much younger: just 10,000 years ago.

85,000 – 125,000 years ago

The sea was higher than it is today. The rising and lowering of the sea level were governed largely by the weather.  Warming trends melted the ice off glaciers and polar caps – thus raising the sea level, while cooling trends lowered sea level.

15,000 – 25,000 years ago

The Arabian Gulf was dry. The cooling trend resulted in neat adaptations and opportunities: With water not being a “barrier,” different animal and plants “arrived” in Bahrain. Conditions were especially ideal around freshwater springs, which created an oasis of shelter and food for these living things.

5,000 – 8,000 years ago

The sea returns, and Bahrain becomes a group of islands. It’s funny to characterize the sea a living thing, but it’s apropos. It was so warm that the sea level got very high, apparently about two meters higher than it is today.

Bahrain National Museum (2003)

Stone Age

Fishermen and hunters roamed Bahrain, and clearly used flints for tools and weapons. They probably used wood and bone as well, but these have “disappeared.”

Formative Dilmun (3200 – 2200 BC)

Trade in “Bahrain” grew, and the wealth of the country grew in turn. True to human nature, this resulted in attacks and eventually the burning down of the country.

Another story tells how, when the gods would destroy mankind in the Great Deluge, Enki saved one man, Ziusudra, by instructing him to build an Ark, and, after the flood waters subsided, Life like a god they gave him, breath eternal… and they caused Ziusudra the king, the preserver of vegetation and the seed of mankind, to dwell in the land of crossing, the land of Dilmun, where the sun rises. After many years, the mighty Sumerian hero Gilgamesh came, in his quest for immortality, to Ziusudra, the immortal, in the land where old age is unknown. From him, he learned how to dive to the seabed and pluck the flower that restores youth, and with it set forth for his home. But a snake came up from the deep and stole and ate the flower. Whereupon it cast off its skin and regained its youth, thus cheating mankind of immortality. This was the story that was to be remembered long in Dilmun.

Dilmun had not preserved its own legends. Some of them, however, were told in the clay tablets of Mesopotamia in the centuries around 2200 BC. The earliest tells how Enki, god of the sweet water sea beneath the world, and Ninhursag, goddess of the earth, dwelt in Dilmun. And Enki blessed Dilmun with sweet water and all the fruits of the earth: The land of Dilmun is holy, the land of Dilmun is pure… In Dilmun the raven does not croak… the lion does not kill… No one says, “My eyes are sick, my head is sick.” No one says, “I am an old man, I am an old woman.” Let the sun bring Dilmun sweet water from the earth… Let Dilmun drink the water of abundance, Let her springs become springs of sweet water, Let her fields yield her grain… Let her cities become the port of all the world.

Early Dilmun (2200 – 1600 BC)

Attacks came, so a wall was erected. These were the centuries of rich trade and manufacture. From India to Mesopotamia, the stamp and seal of the Dilmun merchant was known and respected.

Middle Dilmun (1600 – 1000 BC)

“Bahrain” apparently became increasingly dependent on Mesopotamia.  Why? About 1400 BC, it came under the rule of the Kassite kings of Babylon, and they further strengthened the walls around Dilmun. The Kassites were nomadic tribesmen from the Iranian highlands who, little by little, took power in Mesopotamia. During the reign of the Kassite king Agum III (1465 BC), the Sealand was conquered. Dilmun probably became a province in the Kassite realm at about this time. But the Kassite dynasty was overthrown after 250 years, and that was the end of that in Dilmun.

Late Dilmun (1000 – 330 BC)

Except for 60 years under Assyrain pressure, different (“independent”) kings ruled. Wealth continued to grow, and funded the building of the palace at Ras Al-Qalah, which still stands. Ras Al-Qalah was a trading site to the north.

Tylos

Greek culture entered with the passing of Alexander the Great across the “northern horizon.” So what was the influence? Incense trade brought “Bahrain” into closer contact with the Arabian mainland, and Arabia into closer contact with the civilizations and religions of the “outside” world. (I believe the word “Tylos” is a Greek translation of “Dilmun.”)

Early Islam (600s AD)

Bahrain National Museum (2003)

“Bahrain” apparently embraced the new Faith, keeping close contact with the Islamic centers of culture to the north. The Masjid al Khamis (now the Twin Minarets Mosque) was built during this time.

In the seventh year of the Al Hijrah (629 AD) the Prophet Mohammed sent a letter with Al Aala bin Al Hadhrami to Al Munthir bin Sawa Al Tamimi, the Ruler of Bahrain, calling his people to accept Islam. Most accepted, but some Zoroastrians (Majoos), Christians, and Jews chose to keep their own faith. Bahrain soon became a launching post for the spread of Islam and developed into an important province within the growing Islamic empire… In the Name of God the Beneficent, the Merciful. From Mohammed the Prophet of God to Mundhir Bin Sawa. Greetings to you. Praise be to God, there is no God but He. I bear witness that there is no God save Allah and Mohammed is His Servant and Prophet. I remind you of the Mighty and Glorious Allah. The advice is tendered to one for his own sake. One who obeys my messengers and follows their instructions obeys me. Those who proffer advice to them advise me. My messengers have spoken well of you and I commend you to your people. Leave in their positions those of your people who accept Islam. Those among them who have sinned in the past are forgiven, so accept them. As long as you continue in your good work, you will not be removed from it. Those who remain Jews or Magians shall pay Jizya tax. Allah Messenger Mohammed.

Under Islam, the decorative use of Arabic writing on architecture and furniture became a fine art. The words of the holy Qur’an were so revered that the very writing of them became a source of artistic inspiration… The first Arabic alphabet first appeared in the 9th century BC, when it was developed by the Anbat tribes who used the Aramaic language. After the 4th century AD, the Arabic alphabet showed increasing inventiveness and creativity in the rendering of each letter. The distinctive patterns and shapes used in the pre- and early-Islamic periods were given different names like the “soft” or flowing calligraphy, and the “hard” or geometric style. Some Arab cities gave their names to styles of calligraphy, like the Heiry, Al Anbari, Makki, and the Madinai.

It is written in the Hadith, the sayings of the Prophet: Who builds a mosque for Allah, Allah builds for him a house in Heaven.

Arabic manuscripts are an important part of the Islamic heritage. They have helped to preserve the arts, literature, and sciences of the Arabic Islamic culture. The Qur’an was the first collection of Arabic manuscripts made into a book. It was put together during the reign of the Caliph Abu Bakker Al Seddiq in AH 11-13/632 – 634 AD. He preserved and safe-guarded the verses of the Qur’an without organizing the order of the scripts [Suras]. This first Qur’an was written on parchment in Kufic script. The compiling and translation movement in the Islamic world called for the transcription of thousands of books. As a result, the art of manuscript-making flourished. Special attention was paid to all the components of the manuscripts like paper, calligraphy, book-binding, ornamentation and gold-plating… (Paper was introduced into the Arab world after the conquest of Samarkind in 705 AD.)

Middle and Late Islam

So, while in the broad sweep of history, the sea levels rose and dropped dramatically, in the more “minute” movement from century-to-century, there was an increase in seafaring activities and contacts with foreign lands (e.g., Oman and China). For a hundred years, Portuguese held rule.