دراسات في تاريخ عمان

Chapter Eight

URBAN CENTRES IN THE GULF DURING THE EARLY ISLAMIC PERIOD: A HISTORICAL STUDY

The shores of the Gulf region comprised several provinces in the early Is- lamic period، but the present paper is limited to the only two provinces on the western coast of the Gulf، i.e. Oman and Bahrain. Oman geographical- ly extended between Jurfar in the north and al-Ashfa' in the southern part of the Arabian peninsula، while Bahrain، regionally extended along the western coast of the Gulf between Basra in Iraq and Jurfar in Oman.

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Along the coast of Bahrain، there extends a low plain 1 in which there are many salty lowlands، and then come broad sandhills and waste desert. There are also valleys، such as that of al-Sattar، the soil of which is suita- ble for agriculture. We find، therefore، more than one hundred villages، mentioned by the sources، such as Thaj and Nata'. In this latter village، the tribe of Tamim captured a caravan sent by the Persian governor of the Yemen to the Sasanid Emperor. Our sources relate that this was the reason for the battle of Yawm al-Safqa' between the Banu Tamim and the Sasan- id army in Bahrain. After the coastal and inner plains، the third topograph- ical part in Bahrain is called al-Samman. It was so-called for its hardness، but its valleys were rich in pastures، especially in rainy winters، and the rain water in this region accumulated for a long period. There are also a number of islands which belong to the province of Bahrain، the most im-

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