The are of Bahrain
The area of Bahrain (today Bahrain was not a small island in the Persian Sea but used to include many islands of the Persian Sea alongside the Eastern coast of Saudi Arabia, UAE and Qatar in the times of Prophet Muhammad salla lahu alaihi wa sallam
Bahrain (Arabic: البحرين al-Baḥrayn) is a historical region in eastern Arabia that was known as the Province of Bahrain (Arabic: إقليم البحرين, Iqlīm al-Baḥrayn) until the 16th Century. It stretched from the south of Basra along the Persian Gulf coast and included the regions of Kuwait, Al-Hasa, Qatif, Qatar, and the Awal Islands, now known as Bahrain. The name "Bahrain" referred to the eastern mainland Arabia until the 16th century at least. The Arab inhabitants of the province were called Bahranis after that time.
Prophet Mohammed sala lahu alaihi wa sallam ruled Bahrain through one of his representatives, Al-Ala'a Al-Hadhrami. Bahrain embraced Islam in 629 (the seventh year of hijra). During the time of Umar the famous companion of the Prophet Abu Hurayrah was the governor of Bahrain. Umar also appointed Uthman bin Abi Al Aas as governor of the area as well. The name Bahrain referred to the wider historical region of Bahrain stretching from Basrah to the Strait of Hormuz in Oman along the Persian Gulf coast. This was Iqlīm al-Baḥrayn, i.e. the Province of Bahrain, and the Arab inhabitants of the province were descendants of the Arab tribe Bani Abd al-Qais. This larger Bahrain comprised three regions: Hajar (present day Al-Hasa in Saudi Arabia), Al-Khatt (present day Al-Qatif in Saudi Arabia) and Awal (present day Bahrain).
Early Entry Into Islam
The ‘Banu Abd al-Qais’ tribe which inhabited the area accepted Islam out of their own free choice . In the two Sahih’s from Ibn Abbas (Allah be pleased with him) is the following narration:
Best people of the east
…When the delegation of the tribe of ‘Abdul Qais came to the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) he asked them, “Who are the people (i.e. you)? (Or) who are the delegates?” They replied, “We are from the tribe of Rabi’a.” He said to them: Welcome! O people (or O delegation of ‘Abdul Qais)! Neither will you have disgrace nor will you regret. Al-Bukhari, Book of Faith (53)
Imam al-Bayhaqi narrates in Dalail al-Nubuwwah (5/327) that:
Whilst the Prophet (Allah bless Him and give Him peace) was talking to his companions He said to them: A group of riders will appear here who are the best of the people of the east. Umar stood up and went in their direction and met thirteen riders. He said : who are you? They replied: from Bani Abd al-Qais. He said: What has brought you to this land? Is it for trade? They replied: No
He said: Indeed the Prophet just mentioned good regarding you, he then walked with them until they came to the Prophet (Allah bless Him and give Him peace).
Umar said to them: this is the person who you are looking for
The group (of riders) jumped off their mounts, amongst them were those that walked, those that ran, and those that sprinted until they reached the Prophet (Allah bless Him and give Him peace), they took His hand and kissed it.
Closest In Resemblance to the Ansar
Prophet Muhammad salla lahu alahi wa sallam turned to the Ansar when the delegation of Abd al-Qais came and said: O people of the Ansar, honour your brothers, for they are the closest in resemblance to you in Islam.
Ahmad in his Musnad (3/432) al-Haithami said in Majma al-Zawaid (8/178) that its narrators were trustworthy.
Places for migration are Madinah or Bahrain or Qansarayn.
Prophet Muhammad salla lahu alahi wa sallam said:
I have been given revelation, meaning these three have been revealed and they are the places of your migration: Madinah or Bahrain or Qansarayn.
[Qansarayn: It is a place in Syria close to Halab, it was conquered by Khalid bin al-Walid in the year 18 Hijri and it contains the grave of the Prophet Salih (Upon him be peace). See Mujam al-Buldan (7/169).
Al-Tirmidhi (13/378) and by al-Hakim (3/2,3) via another chain who commented that this hadith has a Sahih chain but they both did not narrate it.]
The Second Jumah of Islam
Likewise the first Jumah prayer established after the Jumah in the masjid of the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and give him peace) was in the Masjid of Abd al-Qais in Jawatha, as mentioned by in al-Bukhari from the hadith of Ibn Abbas.Al-Bukhari in the Book of Jumah (892) Hafidh ibn Hajar said in Fath al-Bari (1/216)
Location of Masjid :The place is called ‘Jawatha’ and it is located in the area of al-Ahsa in Saudia Arabia, a relatively short distance from the city of Hofuf
(also referred to as al-Ahsa by locals).Firmness During Early Tribulations
When all the Arabs of the Arabian peninsula apostated from Islam during the Caliphate of Abu Bakr al-Siddiq (Allah be pleased with him) the tribe of Banu Abd al-Qais remained firm to the Muslim faith and fought alongside the Muslims in the conquest of neighbouring area’s.Refer to al-Bidayah wal-Nihayah (6/369)
Ibn Kathir mentions in al-Bidayah wa al-Nihayah (6/720) that one of their nobles: al-Jarud bin al-Mualla, who was from those who had migrated to the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless Him and give Him peace) gathered them together and addressed them saying:
O people of Abd al-Qais, I will ask you regarding a matter, answer me if you know it, but do not reply if you do not.
They said: Ask
He said: Do you know that Allah sent Prophets before Muhammad?
They said: Yes
He said: Do you know this or did you see this?
They replied: We know this
He said: What happened to them?
They replied: They passed away
He said: Indeed Muhammad (Allah bless Him and give Him peace) has passed away just as they have passed away, and I bear witness that there is no god except Allah, and the Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah
They said: We also bear witness that there is no god except Allah, and the Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah. You are the best of us and our master.
They remained firm on their Islam and left the rest of the people as they were.
Imam Ahmad reports in Fadail al-Sahabah (1510) and Abd al-Razzaq in his Musannaf (11/52) that:
“After the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless Him and give Him peace) had passed away, the Arabs apostated except for three masjids: The Masjid al-Haram, Masjid of Madinah and Bahrain.”
It is mentioned the works of history that after the passing away of the Prophet (Allah bless Him and give Him peace) many of the Arabs left the muslim faith (apostated), such that only these three communities in Makka, Madinah and Bahrain remained. A short period after the passing away of the Prophet (Allah bless Him and give Him peace) the ruler of Bahrain al-Mundhir bin Sawaya al-Abdi died, after which a group from the people of Bahrain left the muslim faith and only the masjid of Jawatha remained faithful. The Arabs who had returned to idol worship decided to surround this community of Muslims and placed an embargo preventing supplies reaching them. Severe hunger ensued and one of the muslims in Jawatha composed a poem whilst besieged and experiencing great suffering, he said:
If only a Messenger would reach Abu Bakr
And all of the people of Madinah
Do you not wish to help a noble group
Sitting in Jawatha surrounded?
It is as if their blood is in every street
Like the rays of the sun envelops the ones looking
We have placed our reliance on ‘al-Rahman’ for indeed
We have found patience is for those who place their trust (In Allah)
In dealing with the (apostasy) in the area of Bahrain (today Bahrain was not a small island in the Persian Sea but used to include many islands of the Persian Sea alongside the Eastern coast of Saudi Arabia, UAE and Qatar in the times of ) Prophet Muhammad salla lahu alaihi wa sallam .Tt was Abul A’la Hadhrami who was the Head of the armies fighting the apostates. Here are a few important events that happened with Abul A’ala Hadhrami. When they set a base and chose a camp a strange thing that happened was that all of a sudden the camels ran away with the entire luggage of the soldiers. Sometimes Camels become too aggressive. The soldiers were left without transport and luggage in the middle of nowhere and there was no water available in the desert. They were worried as it was late at night and they didn’t know what to do. Abul A’la Hadhrami said: Don’t worry. Aren’t you Muslims? Are you not fighting for the cause of Islam and in the sake of Allāh? Let us assemble and pray to Allāh Azzawajal. So all of them joined together and started making dua . They continued humbly entreating their Lord till it was the time of Fajr. Out of the blue they saw the clouds coming rapidly above their heads. Soon it began to rain heavily and water started to amass in the shape of pools. As they were too thirsty they quenched their thirst. To their amazement they saw that all of their camels had come back to drink from the water. They were so happy to receive back all of their camels along with their luggage safe and sound. It was, without any iota of doubt, karama that occurred to Abul A’la Hadhrami ((Radee-Allāhu ‘Anhu).Thereafter they attacked the enemy that retreated a long way till it was night. After they camped next to the enemy at midnight Abul A’la Hadhrami heard some loud and irritating noise. He asked some of his soldiers to go and locate where the noise was coming from. They found that nearby in the camps their enemies were drinking, singing and didn’t know what they were doing. Abul A’la Hadhrami said: Get ready and let us raid them. Their sudden attack made the drunken army absolutely puzzled and perplexed. They didn’t know what had befallen upon them. One of their leaders, al-Hutum was asleep. He woke up and was embarrassed to see huge massacre of his warriors. In an endeavor to save his life he jumped on his horse and as his foot slipped in the stirrup he fell down. He got nervous and begged earnestly: Who would fix up my stirrup? One Muslim who was nearby said: I’ll do that for you. Lift up your leg. As he lifted up his leg the Muslim chopped off his leg and walked away. Al-Hutum fell down and said: Finish me off. He said: I won’t. Al-Hutum was lying down with his entire leg amputated. Whenever he saw the Muslim who amputated his leg or any other soldier Al-Hutum would request him to finish him off because he was terribly bleeding and was in deep trouble. But nobody cared for him and would simply say ‘No’ and would leave him. One of the Ansār, Qais bin Thābit passed by. Al-Hutum implored him: Finish me off. When Qais bin Thābit knew that he was one of the leaders he said:O. K. I will do that. And he finished him off but when he saw his leg lying beside him he regretted: I wish I didn’t kill him. I wish I had left him bleed to death by and by.The harsh way with which the apostates were being treated was because of the gravity of their crime.We know that Prophet Muhammad sala lahu alaihi wa sallam says: Even when you kill someone you should do it in the most compassionate way. But the Sahaba observed that apotasy was blatantly a great sin. Therefore they had to adopt a different way to put it to an end. Anyhow, a huge number of enemies were killed and the rest of them retreated and went into the island. Abul A’la Hadhrami wanted to chase them. He had to cross over a part of the sea and Allah knows best how far it was. They say it took almost the whole day to cross the distance. The Muslims had no boats whatsoever and there were numerous Sahaba who had never sailed in a boat . But they had to chase the enemy. And in the process they experienced another miracle/karamah that is mentioned by Ibn-i-Katheer and Tabari. Once again Abul A’ala Hadhrami motivated all the soldiers to pray to Allah subhanawatala and beseech His protection because they were Mujahideen fe sabeelillah . They recited Bismillah and started to walk over the water. They were traversing the entire distance with their horses or camels over the water. The narrator says that those who were without horses or camels were just walking on foot. They felt that only their feet got wet. They continued marching on the surface of water till they reached the enemy whom they crushed without any difficulty and victoriously came back. the whole event happened within one day. One of the soldiers in the army composed a line of poetry."Didn’t you see how Allāh humbled the sea for us and He brought down his wrath on the enemy. We prayed to Allāh to split the sea for us and forthwith Allāh blessed us with a miracle that didn’t happen to any one of us before."[These events dealing with apotasy issue are transcribed from a lecture by Imam Anwar alAwlaki called Abu Bakr al Siddiq : His Life and Times CD 10".
