Bahrani

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The Baharni (Arabic: بحراني‎ Baḥārnai} are the indigenous inhabitants of the archipelago of Bahrain and the cities of Qatif and Al-Hasa on the Persian Gulf coast of Saudi Arabia (see historical region of Bahrain). They are Arabs, descending from Arab tribes, speaking their own dialect known as "Bahrani". They are overwhelmingly adherents of the Twelver Shia sect of Islam.

Before the advent of the oil industry, the people of this region mostly engaged in agriculture, including the cultivation of date palms, fishing, and pearl diving, as well as a host of other cottage industries, such as basket weaving and pottery. Unlike their Bedouin neighbors, the people of this region led a settled lifestyle, as they had access to abundant freshwater springs and long coastal lines, rich with fish, shrimp, and oysters. The pearling industry involved a variety of other business activities, such as ship building (with distinctive styles of dhows) and trade with Africa, Iran, the Indian subcontinent, some parts of Indochina, and Indonesia.

The Baharna produced many well-known religious scholars, including Shaykh Ahmad al-Ahsai (1753 - 1826) (founder of the Shaikhí school), Shaykh Maitham al-Bahrani (1238 - 1299) and Shaykh Yusuf al-Bahrani (1695 - 1722) (one of the foremost Akhbari scholars). Many religious scholars migrated to Iran after the Bahrain islands were conquered by the Safavids in 1602. Many students and scholars settled, and still do today, in centers of Shi'ite scholarship, especially Najaf, Karbala, and Qom. Insignificant numbers have settled in relatively remote areas, such as Zanzibar [1], [2].

The singular term "al-Bahrani" and the plural term "al-Baharna" are also used as family names by individuals who have Baharna ancestry, such as the Iraqi art historian Dr Zainab Bahrani.