Editing History of Bahrain (section)

==Persian Safavid hegemony and Omani invasion==
Under Persian Safavid rule (1602–1717), Bahrain fell under the administrative jurisdiction of the Beglarbegi of Kuhgilu centered at [[Behbahan]] in southern Iran. In fact, the Safavids ruled Bahrain from a distance, seeking to control the islands not by force, but through ideology and the manipulation of local rivalries. Safavid rule was a period of intellectual flowering among the Shia [[ulema|theological elite]], with Bahrain's seminaries producing such theorists as Sheikh [[Yusuf Al Bahrani]]. The Safavid's used the clergy to buttress their rule, hoping that by firmly implanting Imami Shiaism they could secure the islands of Bahrain, with their centrality to trade routes and pearl wealth.<ref>Juan Cole, ''Sacred Space and Holy War'', IB Tauris, 2007 p44</ref>

However, the Safavids' strategy was in many ways too successful: the power and influence of the religious class meant that they had a great deal of autonomy, and it was the subsequent tension between Safavid state and the clergy that drove Bahrain's theological vitality. Part of this flourishing was borne of the Bahraini clerics' adherence to conservative [[Akhbari]] Shiaism, while the Safavids encouraged the more state-centric, [[Usuli]]sm. Attempts by the Persians to reign in the Bahraini ulema were often counterproductive, and ended up strengthening the clerics against their local land-owning Bahraini rivals who challenged the clerics' control over the lucrative pearl trade. Cleric-landowner conflict was usually contained within very limited parameters given that the senior ulema were usually the sons of the land-owning class.<ref>Juan Cole, ''Sacred Space and Holy War'', IB Tauris, 2007 p50</ref>

===Omani invasion and subsequent instability===
An Afghan invasion of Iran at the beginning of the 18th century resulted in the near collapse of the Safavid state.<ref name="Bashir 7">{{cite web|last1=Bashir|first1=Sani Ali|title=A study of Al-Khalifah's rule in Bahrain, 1783–1820|url=http://digitool.library.mcgill.ca/webclient/StreamGate?folder_id=0&dvs=1463879906969~482|publisher=McGill University|access-date=23 May 2016|pages=7|format=Thesis|date=1981}}</ref> In the resultant power vacuum, [[1717 Omani invasion of Bahrain|Oman invaded Bahrain in 1717]], ending over a hundred years of Persian hegemony. The Omani invasion began a period of political instability and a quick succession of outside rulers took power with consequent destruction. According to a contemporary account by theologian, Sheikh Yusuf Al Bahrani, in an unsuccessful attempt by the Persians and their Bedouin allies to take back Bahrain from the [[Kharijite]] Omanis, much of the country was burnt to the ground.<ref>[http://content.cdlib.org/xtf/view?docId=ft2c6004x0&chunk.id=d0e7560&toc.depth=1&toc.id=d0e7560&brand=ucpress&query=Bahrain# Autobiography of Sheikh Yusuf Al Bahrani] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221215144157/https://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebooks/view?docId=ft2c6004x0&chunk.id=d0e7560&toc.depth=1&toc.id=d0e7560&brand=ucpress&query=Bahrain |date=15 December 2022 }} published in ''Interpreting the Self, Autobiography in the Arabic Literary Tradition'', Edited by Dwight F. Reynolds, University of California Press Berkeley 2001</ref> Bahrain was eventually sold back to the Persians by the Omanis, but the weakness of the Safavid empire saw [[Huwala]] tribes seize control.<ref>The Autobiography of Yūsuf al-Bahrānī (1696–1772) from Lu'lu'at al-Baḥrayn, from the final chapter [http://content.cdlib.org/xtf/view?docId=ft2c6004x0&chunk.id=d0e7560&toc.depth=1&toc.id=d0e7560&brand=ucpress&query=Bahrain#  An Account of the Life of the Author and the Events That Have Befallen Him] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221215144157/https://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebooks/view?docId=ft2c6004x0&chunk.id=d0e7560&toc.depth=1&toc.id=d0e7560&brand=ucpress&query=Bahrain |date=15 December 2022 }} featured in ''Interpreting the Self, Autobiography in the Arabic Literary Tradition'', Edited by Dwight F. Reynolds, University of California Press Berkeley 2001 p221</ref>

In 1730, the new Shah of [[Persia]], [[Nader Shah]], sought to re-assert Persian sovereignty in Bahrain. He ordered Latif Khan, the admiral of the Persian navy in the Persian Gulf, to prepare an invasion fleet in [[Bushehr]].<ref name="Bashir 7"/> The Persians invaded in March or early April 1736 when the ruler of Bahrain, Shaikh Jubayr, was away on [[hajj]].<ref name="Bashir 7"/> The invasion brought the island back under central rule and to challenge Oman in the Persian Gulf. He sought help from the British and Dutch, and he eventually recaptured Bahrain in 1736.<ref>Charles Belgrave, The Pirate Coast, G. Bell & Sons, 1966 p19</ref> In 1753, Bahrain was occupied by the Arabs of Abu Shahr of the [[Bushire]]-based Al Madhkur family,<ref>Ahmad Mustafa Abu Hakim, ''History of Eastern Arabia 1750–1800'', Khayat, 1960, p78</ref><!--unreliable source--> who ruled Bahrain in the name of Persia and paid allegiance to [[Karim Khan Zand]]. During the [[Qajar era]], Persian control over Bahrain waned.<ref name="Bashir 7"/>

The years of almost constant warfare and instability in the period led to a demographic collapse – German geographer [[Carsten Niebuhr]] found in 1763 that Bahrain's 360 towns and villages had, through warfare and economic distress, been reduced to only 60.<ref>Juan Cole, ''Sacred Space and Holy War'', IB Tauris, 2007 p52</ref> The influence of Iran was further undermined at the end of the 18th century when the ideological power struggle between the Akhbari-Usuli strands culminated in victory for the Usulis in Bahrain.<ref>"Are the Shia Rising?" Maximilian Terhalle, ''Middle East Policy'', Volume 14 Issue 2 Page 73, June 2007</ref>