Baharna


The Bahārna, are an ethnoreligious group of Shia Muslim Arabs indigenous to the historical region of Bahrain. Regarded by some scholars as the original inhabitants of Eastern Arabia, most Bahraini citizens are Baharna. They inhabited the region before the arrival of the Banu Utbah, which the Bahraini royal family descends from, in the 18th century.
Outside the modern country of Bahrain, Baharna populations are found throughout Eastern Arabia. There are also significant populations in Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman, Iraq, as well as Khorramshahr and Hormozgan province in Iran.

Origin

The origin of the Baharna is debated, and there are different theories regarding their origins. Several Western scholars believe that the Baharna originate from Bahrain's ancient pre-Islamic population which consisted of partially-Christianized Arabs, Aramaic-speaking agriculturalists, Persian Zoroastrians, and a small number of Jews. According to one historian, Arab settlements in Bahrain may have begun around 300 B.C., and control of the island was maintained by the Rab'iah tribe that eventually converted to Islam in 630 A.D.
Local anecdotal evidence suggests that the Baharna's ancestry is diverse, as some word variants spoken in the dialects of the native people of the villages of Bani Jamra and A'ali are only used in places such as Yemen and Oman, indicating southern Arabian ancestry.
Most Baharna families and clans claim descent from the Rab’ia tribe. However, the direct relation is often contested. While some trace ancestry to the Abd al-Qays, who were mostly Nestorian Christians before the seventh century, others trace their ancestry to the Anizah tribe. Some among them also claim ancestry to Bakr Bin Wail. Furthermore, other families trace their heritage to the other influential tribal conglomeration of northern pre-Islamic Arabia, the Banu Mudar, through the Banu Tamim tribe who ruled Bahrain during the early Islamic era. Illustrating the tribal mosaic of the Baharna, many other clans trace their heritage to Al-Azd, from Yemen.
The Bahrani Arabic dialect exhibits Akkadian, Aramaic and Syriac features. The sedentary people of pre-Islamic Bahrain were Aramaic speakers and to some degree Middle Persian speakers, while Syriac functioned as a liturgical language. The Bahrani dialect might have borrowed the Akkadian, Aramaic and Syriac features from Mesopotamian Arabic, with influences from an older Persian dialect.
According to Robert Bertram Serjeant, the Baharna may be the last of the "descendants of converts from the original population of Christians, Jews and ancient Iranians inhabiting the island and cultivated coastal provinces of Eastern Arabia at the time of the Arab conquest".
These claims are also supported by archaeological finds, as archaeologists uncovered Parthian related artefacts in Shah-khoura, and a Christian church in Samaheej.

Genetics

A 2024 genomic study sequenced whole genomes from four individuals who lived in Bahrain during the Tylos period. The results revealed that ancient Bahrainis possessed a composite genetic profile, primarily derived from ancient populations of the Near East. Their ancestry was best modelled as a mixture of ancient Anatolian, Levantine, and Iranian/Caucasian sources, reflecting Bahrain's historical position as a crossroads of regional populations. Subtle genetic variation among the four individuals indicated internal diversity even before the Islamic era—one individual showed stronger Levantine affinities, while others were genetically closer to groups from Iran and the Caucasus. Comparisons with modern populations showed that these ancient Bahrainis shared closer genetic affinities with present-day peoples of Iraq and the Levant than with those of the central Arabian Peninsula.
Complementing this, a Y-chromosome study of 562 Bahraini males found that haplogroup J2—often associated with populations of Iran, the Caucasus, and Mesopotamia—was the most prevalent lineage in Bahrain, accounting for 26.7% of all samples. This was followed by haplogroup J1, E1b1b, and R1a. Sub-regional analysis revealed that J2 was the dominant haplogroup in all governorates, with its highest concentration in the Northern Governorate. These results align with the genetic continuity observed between ancient and modern Bahrainis, especially among the Baharna and Ajam, whose Y-lineages show strong affinities to populations of the northern Arabian Gulf and southwestern Iran rather than the central Arabian Peninsula.

Subgroups

Some Baharna and Ajams likely intermixed, giving many Bahrainis claim to Iranian descent. Furthermore, a significant portion of the Baharna, along with many Emiratis, can trace part of their ancestry to Persian roots, often through a grandmother from two or three generations ago during the pre-oil era. This connection might position them as a distinct intermediate or mixed ethnic group.
Some families seem to also show affinity to J2, including Al-Alawi, ''Al-Musawi, Al-Qassab and others. This is also true of the general population in the northern and capital governates, both in ancient and present times. Additionally, some subgroups of Baharna have had recurring migrations between Bahrain and Khouzestan, notably the Al-Qarooni/Karuni family, who have had to re-migrate after the Persian harassment campaign against the Arabs of Mohammerah'' intensified. They speak a variant of Mesopotamian Arabic. Some of them are shown by some samples to have an affinity to the J2 Haplogroup.

Etymology

The term Bahrani serves to distinguish the Bahrana from other Kuwaiti or Bahraini ethnic groups, such as the ethnic Bahraini-Iranians who fall under the term Ajam, as well as from the Sunni Arabs in Bahrain who are known as Al Arab, such as Bani Utbah. In the United Arab Emirates, the Baharna make up 5% of Emiratis and are generally descended from Baharna coming around 100–200 years ago.
In Arabic, bahrayn is the dual form of bahr, so al-Bahrayn means "the Two Seas". However, which two seas were originally intended remains in dispute. The term appears five times in the Qur'an, but does not refer to the modern islandoriginally known to the Arabs as "Awal".
Today, Bahrain's "two seas" are instead generally taken to be the bay east and west of the island, the seas north and south of the island, or the salt and fresh water present above and below the ground. In addition to wells, there are places in the sea north of Bahrain where fresh water bubbles up in the middle of the salt water, noted by visitors since antiquity.
An alternate theory offered by al-Ahsa was that the two seas were the Persian Gulf and a peaceful lake on the mainland Near Al-Ahsa, known as Al-Asfar Lake; still another provided by Ismail ibn Hammad al-Jawhari is that the more formal name Bahri would have been misunderstood and so was opted against.

Language

Pre-Arabization

Prior to Arabic, it is likely that the Baharnah spoke Syriac Aramaic, preceded by Akkadian.

Bahrani Arabic

The Bahrani 'Arabic dialect, which is a bit different from Bahraini Gulf Dialect and other Gulf Arabic dialects, is one of the dialects of the Arabic language, spoken by the people of the Kingdom of Bahrain in rural areas, as well as by the inhabitants of Qatif Governorate in eastern Saudi Arabia.
The Bahrani dialect is spoken in two forms: the traditional old form and the modern form used today. Its vocabulary is divided into several sub-varieties, including:
  • The general Bahrani dialect, which is widespread in most villages and areas of Bahrain and is closely related to the Iraqi dialect.
  • The dialect of Sitra Island residents ', used only in Sitra and its surroundings, differing slightly from the main Bahrani dialect.
  • The dialect of A’ali and Buri residents, which is a middle form between the general dialect and that of Sitra, characterized by heavier pronunciation.
  • The dialect of Manama and Ras Rumman residents, known for its calm tone and closest resemblance to the Qatif dialect.
  • The dialect of Diraz residents.
Notes on the Bahrani dialect:
  • The letter k is changed to sh in feminine words — a feature known as shanshana.
  • * Example: Yā l-mas‘ada jātsh ḥamātsh.
  • The letter dh/the is pronounced as d .
  • * Example: hādhāk → hadāk.
  • The letter ẓ is pronounced as ḍ .
  • * Example: bi-ḥifẓ Allāh → bi-ḥfaḍ Allāh.
  • The letter qāf is pronounced as the Egyptian g '/ Persian g or the hard g' sound.
  • * Example: qāl → jāl or gal.
  • The letter qāf is also sometimes softened to j .
  • * Example: ṣadīq → ṣadīj.
  • The letter th is changed to f .
  • * Example: thalātha → falāfa.
  • The addition of the -n sound to some words in the second-person form.
  • * Example: ’inti → ’intīn, ’antum → ’intūn.
Only Bahrani Arabic has a different pronoun for female "I", and like other gulf dialects it includes the “ga” and “ch” sounds, below are some examples of that:

Culture

Traditional Crafts

The Baharnah are known for their handcrafts and have been known so for many years, these crafts include:
  • Weaving: Artisans use palm leaves to create mats, baskets, fans, and more, particularly in Karbabad and Jasra.
  • Pottery : The village of Al-Ali is famous for its ceramics, alongside other pottery traditions found across the island.
  • Dhow Building or Ship building : A highly respected art form, with shipyards in Manama and Muharraq known for building traditional wooden boats.
  • Metalwork: Artisans excel in copper and gold work, creating intricate jewelry and decorative items.
  • Embroidery & Textiles: Traditional textiles and embroidery are also significant crafts.