Our Journeys, Our Enrichment

Toni Stroud does a good job of relating the intangibles of a place, what it feels like, what its personality is, how its heart pulses. I like the fact that she aims to do this. So her article on her 10-day visit to Israel and Palestine last April has a local color and a local flavor.

Toni Stroud (image credit)

For example, as she took a cab from Ben Gurion Airport at 1 AM to the American Colony Hotel in Jerusalem, her driver said he could take her only so far, because he wasn’t familiar with “that part of the city.” Thankfully, for Stroud, he helped her transfer to another cabdriver who was familiar, and even took money out of the $50 fare he agreed to, to pay the second driver. The fact that Stroud, traveling alone, wasn’t ripped off is testament to the existence of good people in the world, even though, to be sure, not all people are good.

I would’ve wanted to find out more about why the first driver took her no further. Certainly Stroud found it curious and strange, especially as the hotel she was traveling to was well-known. Maybe some personal discomfort on his part, religious or otherwise.

Riding with Rashid

This incident reminds me of a very different experience, not at all odd but definitely curious. In my first trip to Bahrain in March 2002, I befriended a cabdriver, Rashid, a Yemeni man in his 60s. I called him once or twice after I did, so he could pick me up, for example, at the National Museum and take me back to the hotel.

He agreed to take me on a tour of Bahrain, and like Stroud’s cabdriver, he didn’t at all try to rip me off.  All for 20 Dinars.  It was, in retrospect, a very kindly, very graceful gesture on his part. He drove me to the Bahrain Fort, where he stopped the meter, turned off his cab, walked to a shanty by a post, and prayed; while I walked around and took photos.  Later on, at the small Oil Museum, he kindly asked the security guard if I could take photos; I asked him to ask the guard.  Finally, he took me to the Tree of Life, an anticlimactic visit, given glowing descriptions of it from booklets; given, in reality, the trash and graffiti surrounding and on that venerable tree. It was a nearly day tour for about $51. 

Dealing with the unpleasant

It wasn’t all pleasant, and this is another thing I liked about how Stroud accounted for her travels. For example, some shopkeepers, apparently desperate for sales, tried to block her exit from their shops when she didn’t purchase anything.

I got a bit ornery in Dubai recently, particularly when I was grocery shopping at the City Market near the Ramee Hotel Apartments where I’ve stayed the last two visits. There’s sometimes of a free-for-all atmosphere in the Middle East:  people casually cutting in line, as if you don’t notice them; people standing close to you, etc. 

Souq (markets) in Dubai (2004)

In this instance, one of the clerks was finishing bagging my stuff, but stopped to offer to bag another shopper’s clothing purchase. The shopper said he didn’t have to, but the clerk insisted, so the shopper relented. In the meantime, the shopper was standing too close to me (i.e., had entered my personal, Western-derived space), then passed his clothing (colorful boxer underwear or swimwear, I wasn’t sure which) right in front of my face. Worse, the clerk did the same thing, after he bagged these items, passing it back right in front of my face.

Remember, I was in an ornery mood, so I pushed the bag and his hand down. The clerk wasn’t pleased, of course, and I said, “You’re passing it right in front of my face!” I angrily picked up my bags. Admittedly, I got nervous at my gesture and hurriedly started to walk out, when this clerk, bless his heart, pointed out that I forgot one of my bags.

Anyway, Stroud’s experience with the shopkeepers reminded me of this incident.  In a foreign country, especially in the Middle East, a Western traveler has to be careful about what he or she pushes back on. Otherwise I fear that things might get quickly comprising for me, real ugly in a way I wouldn’t want it to,  without recourse to American authorities. By and large, I’ve worked discreetly to avoid such situations. But I suppose if that were to have happened to me, I might have gone ahead and purchased some small item in the shop, which I imagine Stroud did.

Enriching our lives

Stroud waxed lyrically, too:

The sound of prayer mixing with birdsong at the Western Wall in Jerusalem, the most scared spot in the Jewish religion

The soft golden glow from the Dome of the Rock

The choice of two crucifixion/empty tomb locations

The dramatic descent from the Judean Desert to the Dead Sea

The ancient mosaic tile floor in dozens of churches and synagogues and Roman ruins

The flowers simply everywhere in Tiberias

I wish Stroud had offered more background, more history, more facts about these places and these events. For me, it’s not just the experience that gives me a feel for a place, but also the intellect that cements my connection with that place.

Nonetheless, I especially love the following from her:

Not only have I, a woman traveling alone, made the trip without incident – and on my first time here, mind you – but my life is now richer for having come; for I also believe that once you take a trip, it’s yours forever.

Mosque in Deira, a neighborhood in Dubai (2004)

I’ve been very fortunate with the opportunity to travel to new places in the Middle East and Europe the last few years. I’ve been blessed with an extraverted personality, so that by nature I desire and relish and immerse myself into these places. I’ve been blessed, too, with an ability to make friends, wherever I go. 

And wherever I’ve gone, that place is mine for life.

Houston to Riyadh: Islamic and Ethnic Lessons

Mohammed  

Mohammed is one of the staff at SABIC Americas in Houston, and he was very helpful in securing my Saudi visa last May in anticipation of centers in Riyadh later that month. We had lunch together in Houston on May 19th 2005, after I finished my Shell program, and he was a pleasant, knowledgeable man.

I learned more about Islam from him:

• Prophets Muhammad, Moses and Jesus all descended from the last (grand) father. I forget which two were brothers, sons of Ismail – or which one was the cousin.

• Muhammad (PBUH) traveled to Jerusalem and ascended to Heaven, just as Hesham Hassaballa noted.

• Apparently Moses had already died by the time of Muhammad’s revelation, so Moses could not necessarily have advised Muhammad to push back on God regarding the number of prayers Muslims had to do each day.

Me, with Herdie, Laure and Rolf, King Abdulaziz Historic Centre, in Riyadh (2005)

Mumtaz 

Mumtaz was the SABIC staff, who picked me up from King Khaled Airport in Riyadh on May 20th and drove me to the Four Seasons Hotel. He’s Pakistani but looked very Saudi in his customary thobe and ghutra.

I told him about how some Aramco participants were convinced that I was a Hejazi Saudi.  Mumtaz could see what they saw, and he offered more information that I found very interesting:

• Apparently there were people, maybe an ethnic group, from the Central Asian part of Russia called the Boharis.

• The Boharis settled in the Hejaz region (Western Province of Saudi Arabia), and I have some of their features.

Mumtaz mentioned that it was very tough to get a job in Pakistan. It’s a little better in Saudi Arabia, though it’s still not all that easy. I gathered from what he was saying that it was due to his being a foreigner.

I’m slowly learning and appreciating the great ethnic diversity in Saudi Arabia. If I recall correctly, there are over 200 ethnicities within Aramco alone.  The greatest diversity apparently resides in the Western Province, where ethnic groups hail from Africa and Asia.

Riyadh

Riyadh, in the Central Province, is the most conservative, and I would guess the least diverse – or, perhaps as Mumtaz is facing, the least open to different ethnicities.

Riyadh looks to be a sprawling city, with only a couple of tall buildings – the Four Seasons Hotel being one of them, apparently owned by one of the Princes. There’s another hotel, no where near as tall as the Four Seasons, that has an interesting cone-like structure. It, too, is owned by a Prince.

Riyadh houses about 4.5 million people, and talk about sprawling:  it’s 100 x 75 square kilometers.

Islamic Lessons from Hesham Hassaballa

> It was a mid-May day in 2005, and while I was home from journeys to, and consulting in, the Middle East, subjects about the Middle East were very much on my mind.  The Chicago Tribune does a fine job of covering a melange of issues that speak to the racial and religious diversity of Chicagoans.  One of its writer, in particular, is a physician and freelancer - Hesham Hassaballa - and I took note of these two articles:  The Hajj - Father's Pilgrimage Eases Pain and A Deliverance - A Muslim for Moses.  Invariably I learn something about Islam and about Muslims from his articles. He writes in an intelligent but down-to-earth manner. <

Dr. Hesham Hassaballa, pictured against the Chicago skyline (image credit)

  

Things that stood out for me

Besides Muhammad (PBUH), Jesus, Noah, Abraham and Moses are among the five mightiest prophets in Islam.

Apparently the Prophet Muhammad had journeyed to Jerusalem and the Heavens, and God ordained upon him and his followers 50 prayers to be said on a daily basis. The Prophet Muhammad readily obliged. But apparently Moses was the one who urged the prophet to push back on God, and get it reduced to what it actually is now for Muslims – which is five prayers a day.

Muslims have their Passover.  It’s called Ashura, and it falls on the 10th day of the first month of the Islamic calendar. On this day, the Prophet Muhammad urged his followers to fast to commemorate the Exodus of Israeli children from the awful shackles of Egyptian slavery.

On a different note, Ashura is also an important day for Shiite Muslims. They commemorate the murder of the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson in the Iraqi city of Karbala about 1400 years ago. The first time I heard about this holiday was last Fall, I believe, when Joe mentioned it. I didn’t know what it signified, but apparently it was celebrated in a self-punishing but ultimately self-ennobling way by symbolically lashing oneself.

Hassaballa noted that many Jews don’t know how much Muslims honor and respect Moses and Abraham. Many Christians, too, don’t know how much Muslims honor and respect Jesus. In a previous article, I learned that Muslims also revere the Virgin Mary.  She is apparently the one woman who’s referred to the most frequently in the Islamic holy book Qur'an.

It is humanity that binds us all. It is knowing more about how each of us lives, relates, works and prays, which helps us feel empathy for each other. It isn’t just about intellectual knowing, but more about experiential knowing.

I have no excuse for not taking more humane actions, yet, to help children, the poor, the devastated. But it’s part of my vision and calling. There’s Humanitarian City in Dubai, and I even e-mailed them and left a voice mail message for them.  (They didn't respond.)

My vision and calling for the Middle East is about impacting leaders, building wealth, and helping the less-fortunate.

> I moved to Dubai in August 2006, and actively involved myself with charitable organizations and activities, such as Gulf for Good, Foresight and the Emirates Association for the Blind, and the Philippine Business Council.  Just this past month, I finally crystallized my aims and concept for Dr. Ron Philanthropy, so stay tuned for its launch in the next few months!

Notes
Ron Villejo, PhD
March 2013 <

Paris Art Exhibit, in Parc de la Villette

Parc de la Villette is situated in northeast Paris. Fréderíque, a colleague from our firm's Paris office, said that the outskirts of the city are recent additions and that they’re not as historic or fine in their architecture:  "There are more modern buildings.”  But for a moment, I thought she was going to characterize that part of Paris as poorer.  One neighborhood I passed through - that late August afternoon in 2004 - resembled an  inner city of Chicago, quite Cabrini-Green but approaching it.

“Musulmanes, Musulmans” is a fine art exhibit in Parc de la Villette, which depicts the trials and tribulations of Muslims in five cities.  It’s entirely in French, so I couldn’t grasp the text. I did pick up bits of meaning, because French is, like English, Latin-derived.  But this moved me to use a different set of media for understanding:  photos, illustrations, sculptures - color, sound, leitmotif.

Le Caire

Six photographs of women, with their names specified: 

• Asma
• Shaima
• Fatma
• Rania et ses enfantes (Rania and her babies)
• Omm Sameh (“Omm” is mother, Sameh is an elderly woman)
• et Les deux amies (and two friends)

A short text in my brochure points out that in Cairo, Islam grew along side “Occidental values”:  personal well-being, consumerism, and hedonism. One photograph is a fine depiction of it: There is a mosque in the background, but in the foreground is a tall billboard in English “Dreamland Sports and Golf Resort.”

Téhéran

A series of paintings about war is both light and dark:  “Vitrine de la guerre” (Victims[?] of war).  Really striking juxtaposition in one: a figure in a black abaya, presumably a woman, covered completely; next to her, another human figure, this one wrapped in a white sheet that’s tied at the top and held together with two strings around the body. 

It is probably too Western, maybe too glib, of an interpretation to equate an abaya with death. I think it would be a wrong interpretation. It probably depicts how women in Iran lose their men to war, and perhaps in that, they experience a sorrowful death themselves. 

In another photo, “Zourkhanek,” men are bent forward in an upside down V, holding sticks or rods on the ground, all of them gathered in a circle. Is this a sport? I ask this, because others are seated around the men in the inner circle.

Istanbul

One photo, “Vielle ville,” is of two women, one lighting the cigarette of the other. I don’t think you’d see this in a less secular, more Islamic state than Turkey.

The other reason I noted this photo is, in Paris, I’ve seen more names that comes close to mine:  Villejuif Léo Lagrange, Villejuif Paul Valliant-Couturier, Villejuif-Louis Aragon (all of which are stops on the Metro line 7).

Paris 

Another photo, a large one:  “Autoportrait ou la Vierge Marie.” It’s a lady in a white abaya:  first turned oh so slightly to her left, with only a sliver of her face visible to us; next to her is one with her back turned completely to us; then, finally one with a bit more of turn to the right, and we can see her eye and part of her nose.

I believe they’re all the same lady.

Dakar

I’m needing to head back to the office at this point.  Isaac, from the IT Helpdesk in Brussels, was helping me retrieve my client folder in Outlook, so I had to keep my laptop fired up, and I needed to get back to the office before any of the staff there left.

So I walk briefly through the Dakar exhibit: color, lots of different colors, little text, no photos. Why, I thought.  Apparently Senegal is a fundamentalist state, and I know that photographing in some (most?) Arabic culture is a big no-no (e.g., it’s a no-no to photograph women in Saudi Arabia). 

Is this the reason why there are no photos?

Lunch with Alamin in Al-Khobar

Alamin was one of the Saudi managers I was working closely with, and he took me out for lunch on Monday, March 15th (2004). We went on a brief tour of Al-Khobar. Since it was prayer time, and the restaurants would be closed anyway, we decided to go to the shore, where city officials had a walking, jogging and biking path built along the shore. Two kilometers in length. The weather was very pleasant, sunny and breezy, quite temperate. 

We went to Isfahani restaurant for lunch. He ordered sultani for us: strip lamb, with the customary rice, onion, and cooked tomato. I asked for bottled water, and the waiter said something that I didn’t understand. But he motioned with his hands, “Large?” So, I said, “Yes.” I thought he was speaking in Tagalog, because he was Filipino. Unfortunately, I hardly understand Tagalog anymore. When he walked away, Alamin asked, “Why was he talking to you in Arabic?” I retorted, “That was Arabic!” It was a funny, curious exchange.

Our conversation turned to customs and culture in Saudi Arabia. Alamin said that within the immediate family circle, the men and women, and boys and girls, are allowed to come together. But in public and outside this circle, they have to be separate. Even cousins of opposite genders are not allowed to be together.

On a related note, I learned from Ahmad and Khalid over our last kickoff dinner that Arabic parents facilitated the marriage of their children. They got together, then proposed that the young couple marry. Now, apparently, the couple has a say in it. They can choose to say, No. But they’re not allowed to date. If they decide to marry, the young couple can live with the groom’s family.

Alamin offered me lessons in Muslim customs, too:  For example, God said it’s better to do brief prayers regularly (i.e., 10-15 minute prayers, five times daily), than doing lengthy prayers once in awhile. It was a perfect lesson, as I was walking through “I” of our Development FIRST model: Implement something everyday (something small and targeted).

Old and New in the Saudi Eastern Province

Herdie and I spent an afternoon and evening, touring with Ahmad, one of our Aramco guys.  We found him to have strong relationship-building skills, from a leadership assessment program we ran, so it was not a surprise that he invited us to visit towns near their HQ and we hit it off well.

Al Qatif (2004)

Al Qatif

We headed to Al Qatif, one of the ancient cities in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, and met Sayeed, another friend at a designated spot along the main street through the city.  He was also an 'Aramcon' who worked in Ras Tanura.  He knew the city really well, though his English was broken.

One of the best parts of the tour was the port where the fishermen and their dhows were docked. It was quite populated, an offshore community of dark-skinned Indian men wearing their ‘skirt’ (cloth wrapped around their lower body). Ahmad said a businessman had 10-15 dhows, and employed a number of men whom he'd pay $100/month in salary.

It was indeed a community, with a range of activities among the men: (a) one older man was pulling a rope hard to get his dhow (boat) to sit against the dock, but he couldn’t do it all the way and a younger man simply tied the rope tighter; (b) some younger men playing, and tossing each other into the water; (c) some maintaining a dhow that’s been dry-docked.

The dhows have a white prow and a flat simple stern. The roofing was like our trellis, made simply of 2 x 2s. During the hotter season, the men will put covering on top to protect them from the sun. All of them have the green Saudi Arabian flag attached. They can go only to designated areas at sea, and the flags identify the country to which they belong.

A man was retrieving blocks of ice, one by one, from a truck, and then handing it off to another man, then another, and so forth to the designated dhow. It was their assembly line. Al Hajry Ice Factory was printed on the truck, probably printed there by the owner’s hand.  Another truck had Ali Al-Saud Ice Factory.

So this is their part of the supply chain process, and I was thinking there has to be a better, faster way of getting that ice to the dhow. Also, I wonder if it might be economical in the long run to purchase a large refridgeration system and install it on the dhow. But would these men even accept a new idea? Would the expense and upkeep of a refridgeration system outweigh the familiarity and simplicity of what they’ve been doing?

Ahmad said that the team or company didn't actually sell fish to a distributor, but rather distributed it directly to a wholesaler.  He said that the fish must be put on ice, otherwise the health authorities would not let them sell what they caught. Sayeed said that once fish was caught at sea, it must be put in an icebox quickly.

One team was busily getting ready to go back out to sea. They were working on large baskets made of wire netting. They’re shaped as a dome with a flat bottom, and they sit on the seabed. Some men were lacing a funnel to the mouth of the basket. Food sits inside, and the fish enter through the funnel and cannot come back out. They’d tie certain colored ribbons on top of the basket, so they could be distinguished from those that belong to another team.

Al Qatif (2004)

We drove through the town of Al Qatif, and saw a number of less than well-to-do neighborhoods with a lot of dilapidated buildings. They were generally made of concrete. But on one building, for instance, the eroded concrete laid bare the wooden beams that must have helped keep the structure together. Still, people lived in some buildings that must have been borderline dilapidated. This part of the trip wasn’t quaint at all, in the way that Old Town Stockholm was definitely quaint. Nonetheless I found the experience and sight equally meaningful.

Speaking of dwellers. In one narrow, circuitous alleyway, a woman in an abaya came out. I saw that she quickly made sure that her face was covered. She must have trailed behind us, but Sayeed said, “Excuse,” and he motioned us to step aside to let the woman pass, and so she did, turned left as we kept walking forward. For a couple of awkward moments, Herdie and I weren’t sure where to stand to let her pass:  on  the left or on the right?

In another part of town, we saw the remains of a small Ottoman castle. Herdie pointed out a picture of that castle, where we visited the Heritage Village in Dammam. I tried to imagine that castle in its full glory.

There were a lot of mosques, so people could just walk to them. As we drove and dusk descended, I could see the green light emanating from the minarets of the mosques, and it made a glow in the darkening sky.

Al Qatif (2004)

We saw other flags placed outside dwellings: dark red, green etc. They were apparently a remembrance of the death of Imam Ali and Imam Hussein, the blood successors of the Prophet Muhammad (PBHM). I understood that Arab people remembered and talked about the dead as though they were still alive and as though their deaths occurred just recently. In fact, Imam Ali was killed in 661 AD and Imam Hussein in 680 AD.

Ras Tanura

The shops were closed, and we apparently were making good time, as we finished touring Al Qatif. Ahmad dropped off Sayeed, then decided to take us to Ras Tanura. This is the site of the largest refinery in the Kingdom, and it was where Ahmad worked. Like Dhahran, it was also haven for employees and their families.  It was a sleepy haven, though, with apparently 50% of the houses unoccupied now.  It bordered part of the Arabian Gulf, so there was a beach there. Green grass, too, and a lot of palm trees.  It looked a resort.

I met up with an Aramcon last Fall (2003), a woman named Bronwyn.  She said that she and her husband owned a beach house in Ras Tanura, and invited us to visit. That was a while ago, and I didn't even think that she remembered me or our conversation.  But I thought about getting Joe or Patrick to contact her and see if her invitation was still open.  Now that we were actually there, it wasn't pressing anymore.

Dammam

Then off we went to Dammam. The only time I had been in Dammam was in December 2002, when my American colleagues - Val, Dave, Adam - and I flew into the Kingdom. It was a rather crowded airport, and there wasn’t much to see on our ride from there to Dhahran because it was very late at night.  This time, Dammam seemed to be a bustling city, with some modern areas. There was a bottleneck at one roundabout, which made me wish these roundabouts were eliminated.  Bahrain had a several of them.

Heritage Village is a hodgepodge museum of many items that were sorted according to type (e.g., documents, camera, tools). The owner apparently just purchased them and collected them for display. There were photos as well of various 20th century Kingdom and Aramco activities, including a collection showing King Abdul Aziz.

Heritage Village was also a restaurant. The dining rooms were just that: dining rooms. They were situated according to sections that represented certain cities or regions of the Kingdom. One represented Al Qatif (mostly white, simple colors); another the southern region (lots of red); and then another section representing a region that I didn't recall, except that there were two raised seats here, so the heads of the household sat higher than the rest.

In a traditional Arab household, the son and his wife lived with his family. They raised their children there. There could be other family members living in the same household. The structure of Heritage Village – with its naturally-shaped wooden beams and ribbings made from the fronds of palm trees serving as the ceiling – its décor, and its overall ambience were all meant to capture that traditional Arab household.   Everyone had his or her own dwelling within the house, then everyone gathered together with the children in the middle.

It was common for Arab couples to have seven to eight children, unlike Americans who have “One or two.” When Ahmad said this, it was absolutely correct:   I have one child, and Herdie has two.

Ahmad also said that over time, houses were getting smaller, so the young couple tended to live away from the family of origin and rent out their own apartment. I didn't think the trend away from traditional could be attributed solely to smaller houses. I bet that houses were built smaller, in light of the fact that young couples were less apt to live with the broader family. Then, I bet that as this trend took hold, contractors built smaller houses, which of course would’ve have prompted families to disperse their young adults further outward.

A number of the houses had water tanks on top. There was a shortage of sweet water, so households had to contract out for it. The desalination process apparently left the water still slightly salty. On one house, the tank was raised even higher, and Herdie reasoned that it was to create more water pressure through the faucet system.

Al Khobar

Our pal Joe, Al Khobar streets (2003)

I saw Al Khobar in a different light last night, just as I did with Dammam. I’d visited the city twice, and twice it was through the suq. This time it looked like a bustling city, for example, I saw Al Bassam Travel and Tourism.

After tossing around ideas and preferences for places to eat, Ahmad settled on Tandoori. We got in, in the nick of time, as it was the final prayer time. The restaurant owners graciously kept the door open for us, as we hurried in. Apparently the matawan would’ve nabbed them, if they found out they were serving people during prayer time.

We were all starving and thirsty, and so we polished off Arabian bread and hummous and baba gnoush. I had Persain Kabab.

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.