THE SAFAVID, PORTUGUESE, AND OMANIS IN BAHRAIN

The Arab navigator, Ahmad Bin Majid, visited Bahrain in 1489 and gave a contemporary
account of the country that the first Portuguese would have seen: "In Awal (Bahrain)
there are 360 villages and fresh water can be found in a number of places. A most
wonderful al-Qasasir, where a man can dive into the salt sea with a skin and can fill it
with fresh water while he is submerged in the salt water. Around Bahrain are pearl
fisheries and a number of islands all of which have pearl fisheries and connected with
this trade are 1,000 ships". After the whole mingling with the Portuguese for some
years, it was expected that they would soon forcefully invade Bahrain and take over the
island. That happened in 1521 when a Portuguese commander, Antonio Correira,
invaded with his army (approved by the King of Portugal at the time) in order to take
control of the wealth from the Pearl Industry. This invasion had also resulted in the final
demise of Jabrid dynasty (It is said that Correira’s coat of arms features the beheaded
head of the last King of the Jabrids, King Murqin). After the invasion, Correira was said
to have ruled Bahrain for the next few decades (but overall, Portuguese rule lasted for
80 Years).

Under Safavid rule (1602–1717), Bahrain fell under the administrative jurisdiction of the
Beglarbegi of Kuhgilu centered at Behbahan in southern Iran. In fact, the Safavids ruled
Bahrain from a distance, seeking to control the islands not by force, but through
ideology and the manipulation of local rivalries. Safavid rule was a period of intellectual
flowering among the Shia theological elite, with Bahrain's seminaries producing such
theorists as Sheikh Yusuf Al Bahrani. The Safavid's used the clergy to buttress their
rule, hoping that by firmly implanting Imami Shiaism they could secure the islands of
Bahrain, with their centrality to trade routes and pearl wealth. However, the Safavids'
strategy was in many ways too successful: the power and influence of the religious
class meant that they had a great deal of autonomy, and it was the subsequent tension
between Safavid state and the clergy that drove Bahrain's theological vitality.
Oman invaded Bahrain in 1717, ending over a hundred years of Persian hegemony.
The Omani invasion began a period of political instability and a quick succession of
outside rulers took power with consequent destruction. According to a contemporary
account by theologian, Sheikh Yusuf Al Bahrani, in an unsuccessful attempt by the
Persians and their Bedouin allies to take back Bahrain from the Kharijite Omanis, much
of the country was burnt to the ground. Bahrain was eventually sold back to the
Persians by the Omanis, but the weakness of the Safavid Empire saw Huwala tribes
seize control. In 1730, the new Shah of Persia, Nader Shah, sought to re-assert Persian
sovereignty in Bahrain. He ordered Latif Khan, the admiral of the Persian navy in the
Persian Gulf, to prepare an invasion fleet in Bushehr. The Persians invaded in March or
early April 1736 when the ruler of Bahrain, Shaikh Jubayr, was away on hajj. The
invasion brought the island back under central rule and to challenge Oman in the
Persian Gulf. He sought help from the British and Dutch, and he eventually recaptured
Bahrain in 1736. In 1783, The Al-Khalifa family arrived from Kuwait and drove out the
Persians. The Al Khalifas rule the land benevolently to this day.