Transformations of Manama: Equations of Demography, Islamization and Commercialization

المؤلفون

  • المؤلف

  • Nader Kadhim

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.31430/almuntaqa.2.2.0083

الكلمات المفتاحية:

Foreign Employment، Political Islam، Shia Currents، Demography

الملخص

This study explores how many factors, beginning with the recession of the pearl trade and the discovery of oil to the oil boom since the mid-1970s, contributed to the rapid urbanization of the Bahraini capital Manama. It looks at how this growth has opened the door to the arrival of large numbers of foreign workers, including the poor, unskilled or middle class, who have been inching towards having the dominant presence in much of the old city and the surrounding area. The study found that in the midst of these transformations, the political arena witnessed new, unprecedented dynamics, the most important of which was the growth of political Islam currents after the decline of nationalist and leftist trends, the emergence of cultural challenges related to the Bahraini identity, and the attempt to transform old Manama into a popular destination for domestic and foreign tourism.

المراجع

  1. Haidar Mohammad, “As-Sīkh Yuwaqqifūna Bināʾ Maʿbad fī’l-Manāma,“ Al-Wasaṭ , Issue 673, 09/07/2004 (accessed on 10/04/2019 at: http://bit.ly/2J3UFpF). and international relations journal Omran.
  2. These were the main groups making up the social fabric of Manama in the 20th century. Baharnah is used to refer to Shia Arabs; Arabs refers to Sunni Arabs; Awadhiya refers to Sunnis of Persian origins; Ajam are Shias of Persian origin; Najdis are of mainland peninsular origin (i.e. from Najd in modern Saudi Arabia). Source: India Office Records, File: IOR / L / PS / 12 / 2160B, f 58, Naval Intelligence Division of the British Army (January 1933). Source: Author research
  3. This class designation is used in May Mohammad al-Khalifa, Charles Belgrave: as-Sīra wa’l-Mudhakkirāt (1926-1957) , (Beirut: Arab Institute for Research & Publishing, 2000), p. 424.
  4. Abdul-Rahman al-Bakr, Min al-Baḥrayn ilā’l-Manfā: Saint Helena , (Tehran: Manshurât-e Ismâiliyân, 1994). P46.
  5. Ibid, p.68. (Lanham: Lexington Press, 2011).
  6. Our analysis of the Constituent Assembly elections is based on data mentioned in Emile Nakhleh, Bahrain: Political Development in a Modernizing Society,
  7. Fouad al-Khoury notes that with the exception of one member, the members of the People’s Bloc did not belong to the traditional notable families, “but came from ordinary social roots in the Sunni and Shia communities that inhabit the cities of Muharraq and Manama”. See: Fouad Ishak al-Khoury, al-Qabīla
  8. It should be noted that Al-Wifāq did not field any candidates in the seventh district of the capital in the elections of 2006, although it backed Abdul-Aziz wa’d- Dawla fī’l-Baḥrayn: Taṭawwur Niẓām as-Sulṭa wa-Mumārasātihā (Beirut: Maʿhad al-Inmāʾ al-ʿArabī, 1983), p. 334. Abel, the independent liberal candidate close to Al-Wifāq at the time, who won in the district thanks to this support.
  9. A Bahraini author from the first generation of “pioneers” (ruwwād).
  10. Mohammed Abd al-Malik, Mawt Ṣāhib al-ʿAraba , 2nd ed. (Beirut: Manshūrāt Dār al-Mashriq al-ʿArabī al-Kabīr, 1979), p. 38.
  11. al-Mawāqif , Issue 137 (5 July 1976).
  12. al-Mawāqif , Issue 133 (7 June 1976).
  13. al-Mawāqif , Issue 78 (28 April 1975).
  14. al-Mawāqif , Issue 97 (8 September 1975).
  15. Nakhleh, p. 250.
  16. Fallah al-Mudayris , al-Ḥarakāt wa’l-Jamāʿāt as-Siyāsiyya fī’l-Baḥrayn, 1938 - 20 02 (Beirut: Dār al-Kunūz al-Adabiyya, 2003), p. 96.
  17. Laurence Louer, Transnational Shia Politics: Religious and Political Networks in the Gulf (London: Hurst, 2008), p. 129.
  18. al-Mawāqif , Issue 322 (21 April 1980).
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  20. Mai Mohammed al-Khalifa, Miʾat ʿĀm min at-Taʿlīm an-Niẓāmī fī’l-Baḥrayn: as-Sanawāt al-Ūlā li’t-Taʾsīs (Beirut: Arab Institute for Research & Publishing, 1999), p. 391.
  21. Ibid, pp. 422 - 423. Source: Google Maps, retrieved on 102019/04/, at: http://bit.ly/2V119bg
  22. Mohammed Ali al-Tajer, ʿ Aqd al-Laʾāl fī Tārīkh Awwāl (Manama: Muʾassasat al-Ayyām li’ṣ-Ṣaḥāfa wa’ṭ-Ṭibāʿa wa’n-Nashr, 1994), p.29.
  23. James Belgrave, Welcome to Bahrain , 8th ed. (Manama: The Augustan Press, 1973), p. 146.
  24. Mohammad Noor Al-Nabi, The History of Land Use and Development in Bahrain (Manama: Information Affairs Authority, 2012), p. 35.
  25. In an interview on 8 June 2018, with a number of members of the family of the late Mahmoud Hammoud, one of the few Bahraini families still living in Al-Fadhil neighborhood, the family informed me that the number of Bahraini families still residing in Al-Fadhil district did not exceed 20. In an interview on 23 June 2018, Jaafar bin Hassan Rajab told me that the number of Bahraini families still residing in Al-Hatab neighborhood is only a handful now. Issa Amin told me in an interview on 27 June 2018, that almost all of the original families no longer reside in the neighborhood of Al-Awadhiya. One of those who supervised the election campaign of one of Manama's candidates in the 2010 elections also told me that the two residential compounds (301 and 302, Al-Hamam and Al- Mukharaqa) were the most populous and still had the largest number of Bahraini families, according to an estimated voter survey they adopted as a guide in their
  26. See: Aref al-Husseini, “al-Miṣriyyūn Akbar Jāliya ʿArabiyya, 161 Jinsiyya ʿĀmila fī’l-Mamlaka… wa’ṣ-Ṣadāra li’l-Hunūd,” al-Ayyām , 29/01/2018 campaign at the time. The interview with the supervisor, who declined to be named, took place on 16 June 2018. (accessed on 10/04/2019 at: http://bit.ly/2GM34LI).
  27. See Bahrain data on the UN website (accessed on 10/04/2019 at: https://bit.ly/2I6QgCw). Source: Prepared by the author
  28. According to James Belgrave, the population of Manama in 1971 was 88,785, rising to 100,000 in 1972, see: Belgrave, pp. 16, 144.
  29. C.E. Bosworth et al., “The Encyclopaedia of Islam,” vol. 6 (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1991), p. 358. noted that the data of the municipal representative diverge from those of the Central Informatics Organization, which we mention below.
  30. Mohammed al-Qassas, “ʿUḍw Baladiyyāt al-ʿĀṣima: al-Ajānib Yumaththilūn 88% min Sukkān al-Manāma”, Akhbār al-Khalīj , 17/06/2010. It should be
  31. S.M. Zwemer, Arabia: The Cradle of Islam (New York, Chicago and Toronto: Fleming H. Revell company, 1900), p. 99.
  32. See: J.G. Lorimer, Dalīl al-Khalīj: al-Qism al-Jughrāfī, Part 1, (Doha: Maṭābiʿ ʿAlī bin ʿAlī. n.d.), p. 300.
  33. Nasser al-Khairi. Qalāʾid an-Naḥrayn fī Tārīkh al-Baḥrayn (Manama: Muʾassasat al-Ayyām li’ṣ-Ṣaḥāfa wa’ṭ-Ṭibāʿa wa’n-Nashr, 2003), p. 432. Penelope Tuson (ed.) , Records of Bahrain, 1820-1960 , vol. 8 (Slough: Archive Editions, 1993), p. 733; Mahdi Abdalla Al-Tajir, Language and Linguistic Origins
  34. Manama population data from 1950 until 1971 compiled from: in Bahrain: The Baharnah Dialect of Arabic (London: Kegan Pual International, 1982), pp. 6, 7, 177.
  35. See: "Demographic Statistics and Social Security", Bahrain Open Data Platform, 17/3/2019 (accessed on 10/04/2019 at: https://bit.ly/2WRBSS6).
  36. Al-Khalifa, Charles Belgrave , p.206.
  37. Theodore Bent & Mrs. Theodore Bent, Southern Arabia (London: Smith Elder and Waterloo Place, 1900), p. 9.
  38. See: J.G. Lorimer, Dalīl al-Khalīj: al-Qism at-Tārīkhī, Part 7, (Doha: Maṭābiʿ ʿAlī bin ʿAlī., n.d.), p. 3871.
  39. Noura Mohammed al-Qasimi, al-Wujūd al-Hindī fī’l-Khalīj, 1820 - 19 47 (Sharjah: Manshūrāt Dāʾirat ath-Thaqāfa wa’l-Iʿlām, 1996), p. 31.
  40. Residence in India was common among Gulf traders from Kuwait to Oman. See: Ibid, pp.35-40.
  41. G.J. Van Peursem, “The Geography and Climate of Bahrein,” Neglected Arabia , no. 88 (January-March 1914(, p. 7. (Beirut: Muʾassasat Ṭayyiba li-Iḥyāʾ at-Turāth, 2010), p. 33.
  42. See: Abdul-Karim al-Aridh, Nāfidha ʿalā’t-Tārīkh: Bayt al-ʿĀriḍ (Manama: al-Muʾassasa al-ʿArabiyya li’ṭ-Ṭibāʿa wa’n-Nashr, 1999), pp.
  43. Mohammed Ali bin Ahmed bin Abbas al-Tajer al-Bahrani Muntaẓam ad-Durrayn fī Tarājim ʿUlamāʾ wa-Udabāʾ al-Aḥsāʾ wa’l-Qaṭīf wa’l-Baḥrayn , v. 1
  44. Mustafa Sadiq al-Rafei, Tārīkh Adab al-ʿArab. Edited by Abdullah al-Manshawi and Mahdi al-Bahqiri. Part 1. (Al-Mansura: Maktabat al-Īmān, n.d.), p.
  45. Zwemer, p. 109. ʿArabiyya (Beirut: Center for Arab Unity Studies, 2012), pp. 57 - 64.
  46. Al-Khoury, p. 341. The phenomenon of population imbalance is a general dilemma in the Arab Gulf countries. This dilemma worsened rapidly after the oil boom. In the period of 1975-1985, the population growth rate of Gulf nationals was 3.9 percent, while the annual growth rate of expatriates reached 11.1 percent, almost three times the rate of native citizens’ population growth; expatriates accounted for nearly 70 percent of the region's labor force in the mid-1980s. For more, see: Omar al-Shihabi (ed.), Iqtilāʿ al-Judhūr: al-Mashārīʿ al-ʿIqāriyya wa-Tafāqum al-Khalal as-Sukkānī fī Majlis at-Taʿāwun li-Duwal al-Khalīj al-
  47. Belgrave, p.16. Source: Prepared by the author
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