Al-Zarah (Bahrayn)

In the pre-Islamic era al-Zarah was an important commercial center along the Arabian coast.^[6] By the early seventh century al-Bahrayn had come to be dominated by the Arab tribes of Abd al-Qays, Bakr ibn Wa'il, and Tamim,^[7] but the town itself was also likely host to a considerable population of non-Arab residents.^[8] As with the rest of region, al-Zarah was subject to Persian control during this period, and it was the seat of a Sassanid marzban or margrave.^[9]

Following the death of Muhammad in 632, al-Zarah briefly emerged as a local center of anti-Muslim resistance. During the ridda wars in the caliphate of Abu Bakr, the Persian governor Azad Peroz and a number of Magians refused to pay the jizya and fortified themselves in the town, which was then subjected to a siege by al-Ala ibn al-Hadrami. The garrison held out until the Muslims managed to cut off the water supply, at which point it came to terms and agreed to hand over to al-Ala one-third of the town, one-third of its gold and silver, and half of its outlying parts in c. 634.^[10]

At the end of the ninth century al-Zarah was governed by one al-Hasan ibn al-Awwam, a member of the Azd, but a short time later it was burnt down during the Qarmatian conquest of al-Bahrayn.^[11] The town subsequently lapsed into obscurity, and by the turn of the thirteenth century the historian Majd al-Din ibn al-Athir considered it to no longer be a place name.^[12]

• Abu Ezzah, Abdullah (1979). "The Political Situation in Eastern Arabia at the Advent of Islam". Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies. 9: 53–64. JSTOR 41223215.
• Al-Baladhuri, Ahmad ibn Jabir (1916). The Origins of the Islamic State, Part I. Trans. Philip Khuri Hitti. New York: Columbia University.
• Caskel, W. (1960). "'Abd al-Kays". In Gibb, H. A. R.; Kramers, J. H.; Lévi-Provençal, E.; Schacht, J.; Lewis, B. & Pellat, Ch. (eds.). The Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition. Volume I: A–B. Leiden: E. J. Brill. pp. 72–74. OCLC 495469456.
• Al-Hadithi, Qothan Abdel Sattar (2014). "The Bahrain of the geographers". In al-Khalifa, Shaikh Abdullah bin Khalid; Rice, Michael (eds.). Bahrain through the ages, the History. London and New York: Routledge. pp. 251–278. ISBN 978-0-7103-0272-4.
• Lecker, Michael (2002). "The Levying of Taxes for the Sassanians in Pre-Islamic Medina". Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam. 27: 109–126.
• Al-Mas'udi, Ali ibn al-Husain (1897). Le livre de l'avertissement et de la revision (in French). Trans B. Carra de Vaux. Paris: Imprimerie Nationale.
• Omar, Farouk (1987). "Urban Centres in the Gulf during the Early Islamic Period: A Historical Study". Bulletin (British Society for Middle Eastern Studies). 14 (2): 156–161. doi:10.1080/13530198808705462. JSTOR 194381.
• Tafazzoli, A. (1987). "ĀZĀD FĪRŪZ". Encyclopædia Iranica, Vol. III, Fasc. 2. p. 173.
• Yaqut, Ibn 'Abdallah al-Hamawi (1867). Wüstenfeld, Ferdinand (ed.). Jacut's Geographisches Wörterbuch, Zweiter Band (in Arabic). Leipzig: Brokhaus.