Ajam of Bahrain
Iranian School in Bahrain 1939
|
|
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| (200,000-350,000) | |
| Languages | |
| Persian, Ajami Arabic | |
| Religion | |
| Twelver Shi'a Islam | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Ayam, Persians |
Ajam of Bahrain are an ethnic group in Bahrain composed of Shia Bahraini citizens of non-Arab Iranian national background (mainly Persian and Lur Persians). There is also a substantial community of Sunni citizens of Persian descent, although they do not self-identify as Ajam.
The Ajam are mostly bilingual in Persian and Arabic, though speak Persian as their first tongue.
Persian migration into Bahrain goes back to the days of the Sassanid and Achaemenid Persian empire, though in modern times it has been constant for hundreds of years. There has always been a flow of Persian-speaking Shi'a into Bahrain.
In 1910, the Persian community funded and opened a private school, Al-Ittihad school, that taught Persian amongst other subjects.
Nasser Hussain says that many Iranians fled their native country in the early 20th century due to a law King Reza Shah issued which banned women from wearing the hijab, or because they feared for their lives after fighting the English, or to find jobs. They were coming to Bahrain from Bushere. This was between 1920 and 1940. It takes 18 hours to arrive at Bahrain by boat from Bushere.
In the Manama Souq, many Persians were clustered in the neighborhood of Mushbir. However they resettled in other areas with the development of new towns and expansion of villages during the era of late Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa. Today, a significant amount of them are based in Muharraq's Shia enclaves and Bahrain Island's modernized Shia towns.
Matam Al-Ajam Al-Kabeer (Arabic:مأتم العجم الكبير) is the first Persian Matam and the largest such matam in Bahrain. The matam was founded in Fareej el-Makharqa by Elyas Rasti, a rich Persian merchant. Himself an immigrant from the Dashti region of Iran, he organised processions, collected donations and hired orators (Arabic: خطيب) to speak at the matam. Construction started in 1882 as a specialized building where Ashura, a holy day in Shia Islam, would be marked with processions, ceremonial flagellation and passion plays commemorating the death of Imam Hussain. The matam is still used for this purpose.
...
Wikipedia