This thesis has been submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for a postgraduate degree (e.g. PhD, MPhil, DClinPsychol) at the University of Edinburgh. Please note the following terms and conditions of use: This work is protected by copyright and other intellectual property rights, which are retained by the thesis author, unless otherwise stated. A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the author. The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the author. When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given. Politics, Economy and Religion in a Near Eastern Periphery: The Region of Baḥrayn in East Arabia c. 1050 – c. 1400 CE Faisal Adel Ahmad Alwazzan Thesis submitted for PhD The University of Edinburgh 2015 0 Abstract The region of Baḥrayn in eastern Arabia during the post-Qarmāṭian era has received little attention from scholars because of the scarcity of local written sources and the daunting task of gathering scattered small pieces of information from other sources in more than one language. This thesis focuses on the politics, geopolitics, economy, literature and religion of Baḥrayn from c. 1050 to c. 1400 CE. It consists of eight chapters in addition to an introduction and a conclusion. The introduction presents the research framework of the thesis. World-systems Analysis in a pre-capitalist setting is used to analyse Baḥrayn’s hierarchical position in the Near East according to its economic, political and cultural characteristics. It also sets out the historical background and context of the region, presents the thesis’ questions and structure, reviews modern studies and summarises the extant literary and archaeological evidence. Chapter One describes the historical geography and economy of Baḥrayn and analyses the impact of the region’s geography and the wider economic context on its history. Chapter Two studies the two rebellions against the Qarāmiṭa on the island of Uwāl and in the city of al-Qaṭīf, which led to the establishment of the emirate of Āl al-Zajjāj and the emirate of Āl ʿAbbās. Chapters Three and Four deal with the rise and decline of the ʿUyūnid emirate (1077-1230s CE) and study the ʿUyūnids’ institutions, including their administration and army formation. Chapter Five concentrates on the powers that ruled the region of Baḥrayn after the fall of the ʿUyūnid emirate in 1230s CE: the ʿUqaylid emirate in al-Aḥsāʾ and the deserts of Baḥrayn and Najd, and the Iranian-based polities that ruled Uwāl and al-Qaṭīf. Chapter Six focuses on literature produced in Baḥrayn, presenting biographies of its poets and analyses of the commentary of the poetry collection of the poet ʿAlī ibn al-Muqarrab al-ʿUyūnī and Abū al-Buhlūl’s letter. It also examines the relationship between the poets and the emirs of the ʿUyūnid emirate. Finally, Chapters Seven and Eight shed light on religion in Baḥrayn. They examine the region’s communities of Shīʿites and Sunnis which appear to have adhered to popular forms of Ismāʿīlism, Twelverism, Ḥanafism and Shāfiʿism. The question of scholars and scholarship in Baḥrayn from the twelfth to the fourteenth century is revisited. It is argued that the current consensus that attributes a number of 12th-14th century Twelver scholars who held the nisba of al-Baḥrānī to Baḥrayn lacks early evidence, appeared in a Safavid context and indeed contrasts with the evidence for the region’s peripherality and other evidence that suggests a lack of scholars in the region. 1 Declaration of Authorship: I hereby declare that this thesis has been composed by me and is based on my work, and that it has been written only for the University of Edinburgh as part of the PhD programme. The references I used for this research are acknowledged and cited in full. Faisal Alwazzan 2 List of Contents and Figure Figure 1: Map of Baḥrayn in the World-system of 1212 CE and 1478 CE. 13 Figure 2: The geographical location of the region of Baḥrayn. 36 Figure 3: The main cities and oases of the region of Baḥrayn in eastern Arabia. 39 Figure 4: The main villages of the island of Uwāl. 40 Figure 5: Al-Masjid al-Jāmiʿ, the Main Mosque of al-Aḥsāʾ during the ʿUyūnid Emirate. 43 Figure 6: Masjid al-Khamīs in Uwāl. 45 Figure 7: Key dates of events during the ʿUyūnid emirate period. 78 Figure 8: List of the ʿUyūnid emirs. 79 Figure 9: Parts of al-Mustanṣir’s letter to the Ṣulayḥid king. 91 Figure 10: The ʿUyūnid inscription of Maʿālī ibn al-Ḥasan (1124/5 CE). 106 Figure 11: The inscription of the ʿUyūnid emir Muḥammad ibn al-Faḍl (d.1130s CE). 108 Figure 12: Samples of the ʿUyūnid coins. 117 Figure 13: Chronology of the Salghūrid Atābegs of Uwāl and al-Qaṭīf (1236-c.1282 CE). 136 Figure 14: The Hierarchical Position of Uwāl and al-Qaṭīf within the Mongol Ilkhānate. 140 Figure 15: Chronology of the Ṭībids of Uwāl and al-Qaṭīf (1291-c.1335 CE). 142 Figure 16: Chronology of the Kings of Hormuz of Uwāl and al-Qaṭīf (c.1335-c.1400 CE). 147 Figure 17: The waqfiyya inscription. 150 Figure 18: Map of trade routes of Arabia. 165 List of Contents and Figures 3 Abstract 1 Declaration of Authorship 2 Acknowledgments 8 Introduction 10 1. The Region of Baḥrayn (c.1050–c.1400) and the World-systems Analysis. 10 2. Importance of the Research. 16 3. Literature Review. 18 4. Structure, Questions and Objectives of the Research. 23 5. Sources: Archaeological and Written. 25 Chapter One: Historical Geography and Economy of the Region of Baḥrayn c.1050-c.1400 3 1. Introduction. 34 2. Location, Land relief and Climate of the Region of Baḥrayn. 36 3. Natural Resources and Main Economic Activities in Baḥrayn. 46 4. Pearl Diving. 48 5. Overland Trade and Pastoralism. 49 6. Maritime Trade. 50 7. Archaeological Evidence: Numismatics and Pottery. 52 8. The Impact of Baḥrayn’s Geography on its Society, Politics and Economy. 54 9. Conclusion. 60 Chapter Two: The Emergence of the Baḥraynī Emirates of Āl al-Zajjāj on the Island of Uwāl and Āl ʿAbbās in al-Qaṭīf 62 1. Introduction. 62 2. The Revolt of Uwāl and the Emirate of Āl al-Zajjāj 1050s-1070s CE. 65 3. The Revolt of al-Qaṭīf and the Emirate of Āl ʿAbbās. 69 4. Conclusion. 71 Chapter Three: The Rise of the ʿUyūnid Emirate: The Formative Period (1077-1140s CE) 1. Introduction. 73 2. The Background of the ʿUyūnid Family and the Genealogy of the Founder ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿAlī al-ʿUyūnī. 75 3. The Conquest of al-Aḥsāʾ: The Tribal Coalition’s Siege against the Qarāmiṭa and their Allies. 80 4. The Turkmen Family/Tribe of the Urtuqids and the Nature of their Military Campaigns in Baḥrayn. 81 5. The Military Alliance between the ʿUyūnids and the Urtuqids against the Qarāmiṭa. 87 6. The Question of the Relationship between the Fāṭimid Caliph and ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿAlī. 89 7. The Formative Period of the Emirate under ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿAlī al-ʿUyūnī. 93 7.1 The Conflict between al-ʿUyūnī and the Urtuqids. 94 7.2 The Turkmen’s Further Expeditions to Baḥrayn. 95 7.3 Corrections to Modern historians’ Identification of the Turkmen Chiefs. 97 7.4 The Subjugation of the whole Region of Baḥrayn under ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿAlī al- ʿUyūnī. 99 4 8. The Tribes of Baḥrayn and the Emergence of the ʿUqaylids. 100 9. The Reign of al-Faḍl ibn ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿAlī al-ʿUyūnī in the Life of his Father. 101 10. The Reign of Abū Sinān Muḥammad ibn al-Faḍl ibn ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿAlī. 102 11. Administration, Dawāwīn, iqṭāʿāt and Military of the ʿUyūnid Emirate. 108 12. Conclusion. 112 Chapter Four: The Decline and Fall of the ʿUyūnid Emirate c. 1140s-c. 1230 CE 114 1. Introduction. 114 2. The Period of Political Division among al-Aḥsāʾ, al-Qaṭīf and Uwāl (1140s-c.1200). 114 2.1 Al-Aḥsāʾ under the Branch of ʿAlī ibn ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿAlī. 115 2.2 The Island of Uwāl and al-Qaṭīf under the Branch of al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿAlī. 116 2.3 The Conflict over the Rule of al-Qaṭīf and the Raids of Kīsh. 118 3. The Period of Recovery and Reunification under Shukr ibn Manṣūr and Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad (c.1190s-c.1230). 119 3.1 The Alliance between the Emir Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad and the ʿUqaylids. 120 3.2 The Alliance between the Emir Muḥammad and the ʿAbbāsid Caliph al-Nāṣir li- Dīnallāh. 121 3.3 The Breakdown of the Emir’s Alliance with Several Branches of the ʿUqaylids and his Murder. 122 4 The Period of Decline and Fall. 123 4.1 The ʿAbbāsid Caliphate and its Support for the Emir al-Faḍl ibn Muḥammad. 124 4.2 The Control of the Kīshids over Baḥrayn’s Economy. 124 4.3 The Fall of the ʿUyūnid Emirate in al-Aḥsāʾ to the ʿUqaylids in c.1229 CE. 125 4.4 The Fall of the ʿUyūnid Emirate in al-Qaṭīf to the ʿUqaylids (c.1233 CE) and in Uwāl to the Salghūrids (1236 CE). 128 5 Conclusion. 130 Chapter Five: Baḥrayn under the ʿUqaylid Emirate and the Iranian-based Polities 1230s– c.1400 CE 132 1. Introduction. 132 2. The Rule of the Iranian-based Polities over Uwāl and al-Qaṭīf (c.1230-c.1400) 137 2.1 Uwāl (1236-1282 CE) and al-Qaṭīf (1244-1256 CE) under the Salghūrid Rule.137 5 2.2 Uwāl and al-Qaṭīf under the Mongol Rule: Sūghūnjāq and the Ṭībids (1272- c.1335 CE).