Bahrani people

The Baharna (Arabic: بحراني ، بحارنة‎) are a Shia Muslim ethnoreligious group who mainly inhabit the historical region of Eastern Arabia. They are generally regarded by scholars to be the original inhabitants of the Bahrain archipelago.[1] Most Shi'i Bahraini citizens are ethnic Baharna. Regions with most of the population are in Eastern Arabia (Bahrain, Qatif, al-Hasa), with historical diaspora populations in Kuwait, (see Baharna in Kuwait), Saudi Arabia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Khuzestan Province in Iran, Iraq and United States. Some Bahrainis are from other parts of the world too.[2][3]

Origin

The origin of Baharna is uncertain;[1] there are different theories regarding their origins. Several Western scholars believe the Baharna originate from Bahrain's pre-Islamic population which consisted of partially-Christianized Arabs,[4][5] Persian Zoroastrians, Jews[1] (in Bahrain) and Aramaic-speaking agriculturalists.[4][6][7] According to one historian, Arab settlements in Bahrain may have begun around 300 B.C. and control of the island was maintained by the Rabyah tribe, who converted to Islam in 630 A.D.[8]

There are many gaps and inconsistencies in the genealogies of those claiming descent from the Banu Abdul Qays in Bahrain, therefore Baharna are probably descendants of an ethnically-mixed population.[9] Bahraini society has traditionally divided itself into three genealogical categories in order: ansab (clear genealogies), la ansab (unclear genealogies) and bani khudair (foreigner).[10] Baharna were "la ansab" because they have uncertain ancestry.[10]

The Bahrani Arabic dialect exhibits Akkadian, Aramaic and Syriac features.[11][12] The sedentary people of pre-Islamic Bahrain were Aramaic speakers and to some degree Persian speakers, while Syriac functioned as a liturgical language.[6] The Bahrani dialect might have borrowed the Akkadian, Aramaic and Syriac features from Mesopotamian Arabic.[13]

Since only little is known about their ancestry, Robert Hay referred to the Baharna as "Arabs without a pedigree".[1] According to Robert Bertram Serjeant, the Baharna may be the Arabized "descendants of converts from the original population of Christians (Aramaeans), Jews and ancient Persians (Majus) inhabiting the island and cultivated coastal provinces of Eastern Arabia at the time of the Arab conquest".[4][14]

Name
See also: Ajam of Bahrain

The term Bahrani serves to distinguish the Bahrani people from other Shia in Bahrain, such as the ethnic Persian Bahrainis who fall under the term Ajam, as well as from the Sunni Najdi immigrants in Bahrain who are known as Al Arab ("Arabs").[15]

In the United Arab Emirates, the Baharna make up 5% of Emiratis and are generally descended from Baharna tribesmen coming around 100–200 years ago.

Etymology

In Arabic, bahrayn is the dual form of bahr ("sea"), so al-Bahrayn means "the Two Seas". However, which two seas were originally intended remains in dispute.[16] The term appears five times in the Qur'an, but does not refer to the modern island—originally known to the Arabs as "Awal"—but rather to the oasis of Qatif and Hajar (modern al-Hasa).[16] It is unclear when the term began to refer exclusively to Awal, but it was probably after the 15th century.

Today, Bahrain's "two seas" are instead generally taken to be the bay east and west of the island,[17] the seas north and south of the island, or the salt and fresh water present above and below the ground.[18] In addition to wells, there are places in the sea north of Bahrain where fresh water bubbles up in the middle of the salt water, noted by visitors since antiquity.[19]

An alternate theory offered by al-Ahsa was that the two seas were the Persian Gulf and a peaceful lake on the mainland; still another provided by Ismail ibn Hammad al-Jawhari is that the more formal name Bahri (lit. "belonging to the sea") would have been misunderstood and so was opted against.[18]

History
Main article: Eastern Arabia § History

Local anecdotal evidence suggests that the Baharna's Arab ancestry is diverse as some word variants spoken in the dialects of the native people of the villages of Bani Jamra and A'ali are only used in places as far as Yemen and Oman.[20]

Members of the Banu Abdul Qays in Eastern Arabia were mostly Nestorian Christians before the seventh century.[21]

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See also

Language and culture

Geography

  • Bahrain (historical region)

Bahrani People

References
  1. "Social and political change in Bahrain since the First World War" (PDF). Durham University. 1973. pp. 46–47.
  2. Mashal, Mujib. "Pakistani troops aid Bahrain's crackdown". www.aljazeera.com.
  3. Holes, Clive (2001). Dialect, Culture, and Society in Eastern Arabia: Glossary. ISBN 978-9004107632.
  4. Holes, Clive (2001). Dialect, Culture, and Society in Eastern Arabia: Glossary. Clive Holes. pp. XXIV–XXVI. ISBN 978-9004107632. Thus the elements in the pre-Islamic ethno-linguistic situation in eastern Arabia appear to have been a mixed tribal population of partially Christianised Arabs of diverse origins who probably spoke different old Arabian vernaculars; a mobile Persian-speaking population, possibly of traders and administrators, with strong links to Persia, which they maintained close contact; a sedentary, non-tribal community of Aramaic-speaking agriculturalists; a Persian clergy, who we know for certain, used Syriac as a language of liturgy and writing more generally, probably alongside Persian as a spoken language.
  5. Netton, Ian Richard (2006-03-09). A Popular Dictionary of Islam. ISBN 9781135797737.
  6. Smart, J. R. (2013). Tradition and Modernity in Arabic Language And Literature. J R Smart, J. R. Smart. ISBN 9780700704118.
  7. Houtsma, M. Th (1993). E.J. Brill's First Encyclopaedia of Islam, 1913-1936, Volume 5. M. Th. Houtsma. p. 98. ISBN 978-9004097919.
  8. "Bahrain - History Background". education.stateuniversity.com. Archived from the original on October 11, 2015.
  9. Brian John Ulrich (2007). Constructing Al-Azd: Tribal Identity and Society in the Early Islamic Centuries. p. 107. ISBN 9780549634430.
  10. Iranians in Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates. Eric Andrew McCoy. pp. 70–71. ISBN 9780549935070.
  11. Jastrow, Otto (2002). Non-Arabic Semitic elements in the Arabic dialects of Eastern Arabia. Clive Holes. pp. 270–279. ISBN 9783447044912.
  12. Holes, Clive (2001). Dialect, Culture, and Society in Eastern Arabia: Glossary. Clive Holes. pp. XXIX–XXX. ISBN 978-9004107632.
  13. Dialect, Culture, and Society in Eastern Arabia: Glossary By Clive Holes. Page XXIX
  14. Robert Bertram Serjeant (1968). "Fisher-folk and fish-traps in al-Bahrain". Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. SOAS. 31 (3): 488. JSTOR 614301.
  15. Lorimer, John Gordon, Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf, Oman and Central Arabia, republished by Gregg International Publishers Limited Westemead. Farnborough, Hants., England and Irish University Press, Shannon, Irelend. Printed in Holland, 1970, Vol. II A, entries on "Bahrain" and "Baharna"
  16. Encyclopedia of Islam, Vol. I. "Bahrayn", p. 941. E.J. Brill (Leiden), 1960.
  17. Room, Adrian. Origins and Meanings of the Names for 6,600 Countries, Cities, Territories, Natural Features and Historic Sites. 2006. ISBN 978-0-7864-2248-7.
  18. Faroughy, Abbas. The Bahrein Islands (750–1951): A Contribution to the Study of Power Politics in the Persian Gulf. Verry, Fisher & Co. (New York), 1951.
  19. Rice, Michael. The Archaeology of the Arabian Gulf, c. 5000-323 BC. Routledge, 1994. ISBN 0415032687.
  20. Language Variation And Change In A Modernising Arab State: The Case Of Bahrain Google Books
  21. Peter Hellyer. Nestorian Christianity in the Pre-Islamic UAE and Southeastern Arabia, Journal of Social Affairs, volume 18, number 72, winter 2011
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