Al-Ala'a Al-Hadrami
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Al-Ala'a Al-Hadrami (Arabic: العلاء بن الحضرمي) was an envoy sent by Muhammad in the 7th century AD, to spread the message of Islam to the region that is now Bahrain and Qatar.
Prior to Islam, the inhabitants of Qatar and Bahrain were idol worshippers. They workshipped idol gods like Awal. Islam swept the entire Arabian region in the 7th century, overturning the idol worshippers. Muhammad sent his first envoy Al-Ala'a Al-Hadrami to Munzir ibn Sawa Al Tamimi, the ruler of Bahrain, which in those days, extended the coast from Kuwait to the south of Qatar including Al Hasa and Bahrain Islands, in the year 628 AD, inviting him to Islam. Munzir, responding to Muhammad's call announced his conversion to Islam and all the Arab inhabitants of Bahrain and Qatar including some Persians living in Qatar also became Muslim, heralding the beginning of the Islamic era in Bahrain and Qatar. Consequently, Al Ala Al-Hadrami was appointed by Muhammad as his representative in Bahrain to collect the Jizya (religious tax).
Al-Ala' was also the ruler of the region from 633 until his death in 635.
The letter from Muhammad to Munzir ibn Sawa Al Tamimi is preserved and can be seen at Beit Al Qur'an museum in Hoora, Bahrain, with the seal of Muhammad still intact.
