دراسات في تاريخ عمان

the eastern coast of the Gulf. Members of Bakr b. Wa-'il were taken to Kerman; those of Hanzala were forced to settle in Ahwaz، and sections of "Abd al-Qays had to settle in Tawwaj and Kerman. This ruthless Persian policy took place around A.D. 350.

North of Hajar there was a fort called al-Mushaqqar، described in the sources as an important administrative and commercial centre، 'the great city'; it was also the site of an annual market before Islam. Perhaps al- Mushaqqar's importance in the view of the local historians of the Gulf comes from the fact that it was the site of a fierce battle between the Per- sian army an the Arabs، called the Yawm al-Safqa. The sources refer to this battle as one of the first victorious battles of the Arabs against the Per- sians.

The location of Hajar is identifiable as the town of al-Hufuf in Saudi Ara- bia; but al-Mushaqqar's location is now unknown.

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(3) Al-Qatif 9 was a famous town on the coast of Bahrain، at the coming of Islam، second in importance only to Hajar. Al-Qatif was a fortified town surrounded by a trench and a wall with four gates; it was also the centre of an agricultural region with plenty of water. The Ridda leader al-Hatim b. Dubay a made it his headquarters during his war against the central Islam- ic regime in Medina. However، his supporters could not resist the Muslim army for long; they surrendered to al-Ala' b. al-Hadrami، and their Per- sian allies were obliged to retreat to al-Zara. According to our sources، al- Qatif flourished in the third/ninth century. Some accounts assert that there was a minbar there، indicating its importance as an administrative centre، although it was not known as an important commercial town. Al-Qatif today includes the island of Tarut and extends along the coast for

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