Abstract
The close relationship between the Iranian and Arab populations in coastal areas of the Persian Gulf is not a recent development or a consequence of the economic boom due to oil production in the Arab countries. Rather, it is the result of a long and partly conflict-laden history. To illustrate the forms of exchange relations between these populations, it is necessary to explore the background of the current interconnections and conditions that preceded them. This will be achieved by an analysis of the local history, as far as written sources are available and the historical memory of the population can be interrogated. History here means, in particular, settlement history: the coexistence of Iranian and Arab settlements in the Iranian coastal region, their entwinement, and their relationship with the Arab world.
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Notes
John and Jean Comaroff, Ethnography and the Historical Imagination (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1992), 34.
For further literature see “Banu Kaʿb” by A. M. Abu-Hakima and “Al-Kawasim” by G. Rentz in Encyclopedia of Islam, New Edition; Willem Floor, “The Rise and Fall of the Banu Kaʿb: A Borderer State in Southern Khuzistan,” Iran 44 (2006): 277–315;
H. Field, Contributions to the Anthropology of Iran (Chicago: Field Museum of Natural History, 1939);
D. Hawley, The Trucial States (London: Allen & Unwin, 1970), 90–125;
J. G. Lorimer, Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf, Oman and Central Arabia (Calcutta, India: 1908 and 1915; reprint Farnham Common, England: Archive Editions, 1986), 2095ff.;
S. B. Miles, The Countries and Tribes of the Persian Gulf (London: Harrison and Sons, 1919), 430;
L. Pelly, “Remarks on the Tribes, Trade and Resources around the Shore Line of the Persian Gulf,” in Transactions of the Bombay Geographical Society 17 (1865): 32–103;
J. R. Perry, “The Banu Ka’b: An Amphibious Brigand State in Khuzestan,” in Le Monde Iranien et l’Islam 1 (1971), 133;
Thomas Miller Ricks, “Politics and Trade in Southern Iran and the Gulf, 1745–1765” (PhD diss., Indiana University, 1975), 270;
Sultan Muhammad Al Qasemi, The Myth of Arab Piracy in the Gulf (London: Croom Helm, 1986);
A. Iqtidari, Kishta-yi Khish: Majmuʿa-yi panjah maqala (Tehran: Intisharat-i Tus, 1357/1978);
A. Faramarzi, Karim Khan-i Zand va Khalij-i Fars (Tehran, 1346/1967);
H. Nurbakhsh, Bandar Linga dar sahil-e khalij-i Fars (Tehran, 1358/1979), 29.
For the definition of “tribe” I refer to James Peoples and G. Bailey, Humanity (St. Paul, MN: West Publishing, 1994), 237, “Tribes … have’ formally organized institutions that unite scattered residential communities, give the society greater cohesiveness, and make possible a more united response to external threats.”
[Daryadar] Ghulam-Ali Bayandur, Khalij-i Fars (Khurramshahr, 1938);
Mirza Hasan Husaini Fasa’i, Farsnama-yi Nasiri (Tehran: Amir Kabir, 1367/1988);
Muhammad Ali Janab [Jinab], Khalij-i Fars: Nufuz-i Biganigan va Ravidad-ha-yi Siasi (Intisharati pazhuhishgah-i ulum-i insani, 2536/1977);
A. Masʿudi, Khalij-i Fars dar dawran-i sar bulandi va shukuh (Tehran: Mu’asisa-yi Ittalaʿat, 1357/1978);
M. M. Sadiq Musavi, Tarikh-i giti gusha dar tarikh-i khandan-i Zand (Tehran: Kitabfurushi-yi Iqbal, 1317/1938);
M. A. Sadid al-Saltana, Bandar Abbas va Khalij-i Fars, ed. Ahmad Iqtidari (Dunya-yi Kitab, 1363/1984);
S. Sirjani, Vaqayiʿ-i ittifaqiya (Tehran: Nashr-i Paikan, 1376/1986).
Abbas Anjum-Ruz, Burqa pushan-i Khalij-i Fars va Darya-yi Uman (Tehran: Homa, 1371/1992);
E. Dildam, Khalij-i Fars (Tehran: Navin, 1363/1984);
H. Ilahi, Khalij-i Fars va masa’il-i an, 2nd ed. (Tehran, 1375/1996); Iqtidari, Kishta-yi Khish, 1357;
Muhammad Ali Khan Sadid al-Saltana, Tarikh-i Masqat va Uman, Bahrain va Qatar va ravabit-i anha ba Iran, ed. A. Iqtidari (1933) (repr. Tehran: Dunya-yi kitab, 1370/1991);
A. Faramarzi, Karim Khan-i Zand va Khalij-i Fars (Tehran, 1346/1967);
M. H. Ruknzada Adamiyat, Awzaʿ-i ijtirnaʿi-yi Khalij-i Fars (Tehran: Idara-yi kull-i intisharat va radio, 1342/1963), 101–44;
E. Yaghma’i, Khalij-i Fars (Tehran, 1352/1973).
C. Niebuhr, Beschreibung von Arabien, aus eigenen Beobachtungen und im Lands selbst gesammelten Nachrichten (Copenhagen, Denmark: 1772); George N. Curzon, Persia and the Persian Question, vol. 2 (London: Longmans, Green, 1892; repr. Frank Cass, 1966);
J. G. Lorimer, Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf, Oman and Central Arabia (Calcutta, India: 1908 and 1915; reprint Farnham Common, England: Archive Editions, 1986);
A. T. Wilson, Persia (London: Benn, 1932).
J. C. Wilkinson, “Arab-Persian Land Relationships in Late Sasanid Oman,” Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies 3 (1973); Wilson, Persia (London: E. Benn, 1932);
Ilahi, Khalij-i Fars va Masa’il-i an (Tehran, 1375/1996).
F. Warden, “Extracts from Brief Notes Relative to the Rise of the Arab Tribes of the Persian Gulf,” in Selections from the Records of the Bombay Government, New Series no. 24 (Bombay, India, 1856), 286.
L. Pelly, “Visit to Lingah, Kishm, and Bundar Abbass,” Journal of the Royal Geographical Society 34 (1864): 252.
“There is not a single really Persian village or town from Mohammerah, on the Shat-el-Arab, to Gwadur, on the Baluchistan border. Excepting Bushire, every town, village, and island is inhabited by Arabs, with a very small sprinkling of Persian blood among them, over whom the Persian Government would be incapable of asserting authority should any concerted rising take place.” (Foreign Office, “Memorandum respecting British Interests in the Persian Gulf,” 12 February 1908, FO 881/9161, 67, included in The Persian Gulf Historical Summaries, 1907–1953, vol. 1, Historical Summary of Events in Territories of the Ottoman Empire, Persia and Arabia affecting the British Position in the Persian Gulf, 1907–1928 (Gerrards Cross, UK: Archive Editions, 1987).
J. J. Morier, Reisen durch Persien in den Jahren 1808 bis 1816, ed. K. K. Walther (1918 repr., Berlin, Germany: Rütten and Loening, 1985), 32.
As we will demonstrate later, this statement refers to the fact that the shuyukh had to accept Iranian nationality in order to receive land, titles, and privileges from the Iranian government. Therefore Iqtidari regards all these groups as “Iranized” or “Persianized.” This opinion of Iqtidari has to be rejected with reference to anthropological literature and research that supposes that ethnic affiliation of a group does not orient itself by linguistic, religious, or territorial criteria but is processual and renegotiated and redefined anew depending on the respective context. F. Barth, Ethnic Groups and Boundaries: The Social Organization of Culture Difference (Boston: Little, Brown, 1969);
Abner Cohen, ed., Urban Ethnicity (London: Tavistock Publications, 1974);
S. Hall and P. du Gay, eds., Questions of Cultural Identity (London: Sage, 1996).
M. A. Muvahhid, Mubaligha-yi mustaʿar. Barrasi-yi madarek murid-i istinad-i Shuyukh dar iddiʿa bar jazayir-i Tunb-i kuchak, Tunb-i buzurg, Abu Musa (Tehran: Nashr-i Karnama, 1380/2001), 22.
For further Persian literature about the Arab settlement see P. Mojtahidzada, Jughrafiyayi tarikh-i Khalij-i Fars (Tehran: Danishgah-i Tehran, 1354/1975);
E. Ra’in, Daryanavardi-yi Iranian (Tehran, 1356/1977);
P. Varjavand, Safarnama-yi junub: sayr va safari dar kinara-ha va jazayir-i darya-yi Uman (Tehran, 1313/1934; repr. 1351/1972);
and M. B. Vusuqi, Tarikh-i muhajarat-i aqvam dar khalij-i Fars (Shiraz, Iran: Danishnama-yi Fars, 1380/2001).
G. Demorgny, “Les reforms administratives en Perse,” Revue du Monde Musulman 22 (1913): 103–04.
Roger M. Savory, “A.D. 600–1800,” in The Persian Gulf States: A General Survey, ed. Alvin J. Cottrell (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1980), 37.
Muhammad Abbasian-Bastaki with Abbas Anjum-Ruz, Tarikh-i jahangiriya va Bani Abasiyan-i Bastak (Bandar Lingeh: n.p., 1339/1960), 110.
C. U. Aitchinson, A Collection of Treaties, Engagements and Sanads Relating to India and the Neighbouring Countries (Calcutta, India; 1933); Curzon, Persia and the Persian Question; Warden, “Extracts from Brief Notes.” Curzon and Savory use the term “lease” in order to describe the relationship.
Badger speaks about “rental of these places” (G. P. Badger, The History of the Imams and Seyyids of Oman [London: Hakluyt Society, 1871]);
von Oppenheim applies the term “Erbpacht” (long lease) (M. Freiherr Von Oppenheim, Vom Mittelmeer zum Persischen Golf [Berlin, Germany: Dietrich Reimer, 1900]).
Bastaki, Tarikh-i jahangiriya, 238; Iqtidari, Kishta-yi Khish and Tarikh-i Masqat va Uman; Fasa’i, Farsnama-yi Nasiri; Qa’im-Maqami, Mas’ala-yi Hurmuz dar Ravabit-i Iran va Purtughal (Tehran, 1354/1971) and M. A. Sadid al-Saltana, Tarikh-i Masqat va Uman, Bahrain va Qatar va ravabet-i anha ba Iran (Dunya-yi Kitab, 1370/1991).
A. A. Bina, Tarikh-i duhazar-va pansad sala-yi Khalij-i Fars (Tehran, 1964), 222; Muvahhid, Mubaligha-yi mustaʿar.
Fasa’i, Farsnama-yi Nasiri (1367/1988) and Bastaki, Tarikh-i jahangiriya, 131. In Iqtidari, who adopts much information from Sadid al-Saltana, Bandar Abbas va Khalij-i Fars we find contracts about the lease system (Iqtidari, Tarikh-i Masqat va Uman, 120, 154). Muvahhid, Mubaligha-yi mustaʿar, 158 and Jinab, Khalij-i Fars also give a listing of these contracts. For further literature about tributes and customs refer to: Curzon, Persia and the Persian Question, 470, 521, 554; Miles, The Countries and Tribes of the Persian Gulfi Von Oppenheim, Vom Mittelmeer zum Persischen Golf; Lorimer, Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf; and Al Qasemi, The Myth of Arab Piracy.
J. B. Kelly, Britain and the Persian Gulf 1795–1880 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1968), 40.
Willem Floor, “A Description of the Persian Gulf and Its Inhabitants in 1756,” Persica 8 (1979): 169–70.
Curzon, Persia and the Persian Question; Willem Floor, “The Revolt of Shaikh Ahmad Madani in Laristan and the Garmsirat 1730–33,” Studia Iranica 12 (1983); Hawley, The Trucial States; Lorimer, Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf, 2065; J. A. Saldanha, The Persian Gulf Précis 1903–1908 (repr. Archive Editions, 1986); The Persian Gulf Administration Reports, 1873–1947, vol. 8 (Gerrards Cross, UK: Archive Editions, 1986); Warden, “Extracts from Brief Notes”; and Von Oppenheim, Vom Mittelmeer zum Persischen Golf.
Bastaki, Tarikh-i jahangiriya; Faramarzi, Karim Khan-i Zand va Khalij-i Fars; Fasa’i, Farsnama-yi Naseri; M. H. Haj-Kiramati, Tarikh-i dilgusha-yi ivaz (Shiraz: Intisharat-i Navid, 1380/2001), 128–29ff; Saidi-Sirjani, Vaqayiʿ-i ittifaqiya (Tehran: Nashr-i Paykan, 1376/1997);
and M. A. Sadid al-Saltana, Bandar Abbas va Khalij-i Fars (Tehran: Dunya-yi kitab, 1363/1984).
It was not possible to find a summary work about the effects of the kashf-i hijab. The investigations of Ustad al-Mulk and Murtaza deal more generally with the meaning of clothing and hijab. (See F. Ustad al-Mulk, Hijab va kashf-i hijab dar Iran (Tehran, 1367/1988)
and J. Mortaza, Vaqiʿa-yi kashf-i hijab (Tehran, 1371/1992).)
Abd al-Razzaq Muhammad Siddiq, Sahwa al-faris: fi tarikh al-Arab al-Fars, comp. Arash Nasuri (1373/1994, unpublished). This is a local unpublished chronicle in Arabic, made available to me by an informant in Gavbandi.
The story of Kalat-e Surkh is very popular and those who experienced the events were pleased to recount the episode. An account is also given in Lorimer, Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf, 2063; Fasa’i, Farsnama-yi Naseri 1367/1988; and Sirjani, Vaqayiʿ-i ittifaqiya, 108.
For questions concerning identity, such as ʿarab/ʿajam, Sunni/Shiʿi, see S. R. Nadjmabadi, “Identité éthnique contre nationalité: Le cas de l’île de Larak (Golf Persique),” in Le fait éthnique en Iran et en Afghanistan, ed. J. P. Digard (Paris, France: CNRS, 1988), 65–74; also S. R. Nadjmabadi, “‘Anha ham az khodemanand’: Ravabit-i faramahalli va faramarzi dar kinara-yi Khalij-i Fars” (“They are one of us”: Transregional and Transnational Relations among Persian Gulf Coast Dwellers), Anthropology (Insan shinasi) 1, no. 2 (2001) (Tehran University Publication).
Nadjmabadi, “Identité éthnique contre nationalité”; Nadjmabadi, “‘Arabzadeh’ (Born Arab): The Arab-speaking Population among the Iranian Shoreliners on the Persian Gulf,” in The Anthropology of Ethnicity: A Critical Review (Amsterdam, The Netherlands: “The Anthropology of Ethnicity” Workshop, December 15–19, 1993).
Ibid. Also: S. R. Nadjmabadi,“‘Arabisiert’ oder ‘Iranisiert’? Siedlungsgeschichte in der iranischen Provinz Hormozgan am Persischen Golf,” Welt des Islam 45 (2005): 108–50; Nadjmabadi, “‘Anha ham az khodemanand’.”
J. Clifford, Routes, Travel and Translation in the Late Twentieth Century (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1997).
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© 2009 Lawrence G. Potter
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Nadjmabadi, S.R. (2009). The Arab Presence on the Iranian Coast of the Persian Gulf. In: Potter, L.G. (eds) The Persian Gulf in History. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230618459_7
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