Qatif
Qatif or Al-Qatif (Arabic: القطيف Al-Qaṭīf) is a governorate and urban area located in Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia.
Location
It extends from Ras Tanura and Jubail in the north to Dammam in the south, and from the Persian Gulf in the east to King Fahd International Airport in the west. This region has its own municipality and includes the Qatif downtown and many other smaller cities and towns.
History
Qatif is one of the oldest settlements in Eastern Arabia, its history going back to 3500 BC.
The historic oasis area shows its first archeological evidence of settlement beginning about 3500 BC. It was known by other names, such as Al-Khatt (Arabic: الخَطّ), immortalized in the poetry of `Antara ibn Shaddad, Tarafa ibn Al-`Abd, Bashar ibn Burd (in his famous Ba'yya), and others. The word "Khatty" became the preferred "kenning" for "spear" in traditional poetic writing until the dawn of the modern era, supposedly because the region was famous for spear making, just as "muhannad" ("of India") was the preferred kenning for "sword". The older name also survives as the eponym of several well-known local families ("Al-Khatti", spelled variously in English).
Qatif functioned for centuries as the main town and port in this region of the Persian Gulf. In fact, it was called Cateus by the Greeks, and some early European maps even labeled the entire present-day Persian Gulf as the Sea of El Catif or Katif. Qatif oasis and the nearby island of Tarout are some of the most interesting tourist and archeological sites in the Kingdom, which reflects the importance of the eastern part of the Arabian Peninsula in the past.
Until 1521 and Ottoman rule, Qatif belonged to the historical region known as the Province of Bahrain, along with Al-Hasa and the present-day Bahrain islands.
In 899 the Qarmatians conquered the region with the oases of Qatif and Al-Hasa. They declared themselves independent and reigned from al-Mu'miniya near modern Hofuf until 1071.[1] The Buyids of western Persia raided Qatif in 988. From 1071 until 1253 the Uyunids ruled the region first from the city of "al-Hasa" (predecessor to modern Hofuf) and later from Qatif. In 1253 the Usfurids rose from Al-Hasa and ruled during the struggle of Qays with the Hormuz for control of the coast. Probably at about this time, Qatif became the main port for the mainland surpassing 'Uqair in importance for the trade and thus became the capital of the Usfurids.[2] Ibn Battuta, visited Qatif in 1331 and found it a large and prosperous city inhabited by Arab tribes whom he described as "extremist Shi`is" (rafidiyya Ghulat).[3] Power shifted in 1440 to the Jabrids of the Al-Hasa oasis. In 1515 the Portuguese conquered Hormuz and sacked Qatif in 1520, killing the Jabrid ruler Muqrin ibn Zamil.[4] The Portuguese invaded the island of Bahrain and stayed there for the next eighty years. The ruler of Basra extended his power to Qatif in 1524 but ultimately in 1549 the Ottomans took over the whole region, building forts at Qatif[5] and 'Uqair, though they could not expel the Portuguese from the island of Bahrain.[6] In 1680 the Al Humayd of the Banu Khalid took the by now weak garrison of the Ottomans in Hofuf. In a battle at Ghuraymil, south of Qatif, the Banu Khalid lost their rule to the new "First Saudi State" in 1790. In 1818 the Saudi State was destroyed in the Ottoman-Saudi War and the commander of the mostly Egyptian troops, Ibrahim Pasha, took control of Hofuf, only to evacuate it the next year and return to the west coast. The Humayd regained control until the Banu Khalid were finally defeated in 1830 by the "Second Saudi State" who now took control of the whole region. The Ottomans moved in again in 1871 not to be expelled until 1913 when Ibn Saud finally established the Saudi rule in the Eastern Province.
In Jat History
Prof. Abdul Ali[7] mentions that yet another solid evidence of the Jats' active participation in the socio-political life of the Arabs is clear from the fact that they made their presence felt in the riddah (secession) wars triggered by the death of the Prophet in 632 AD, in which almost all Arabia broke off from the newly organized Muslim state and followed a number of local rulers and false prophets. As represented by Arab chroniclers, the Jats settled at Qatif and Hajar in Bahrain, sided with al-Hutam Bin Dubay'ah of the tribe of Qays Bin Tha' labah who had raised the banner of revolt by rallying around him the rebels of the tribe of Bakr Bin Wa'il and Other non-Muslims of that region.[8]
External links
References
- ↑ William Facey, The Story of the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, 1994, ISBN 1-900988-18-6
- ↑ William Facey, The Story of the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, 1994, ISBN 1-900988-18-6
- ↑ -which is not. Ibn Battuta, Rihla Ibn Battuta Beirut: Dar Sadir, 1964 pp. 279-80
- ↑ William Facey, The Story of the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, 1994, ISBN 1-900988-18-6
- ↑ Nehme, Michel G. (October 1994). "Saudi Arabia 1950-80: Between Nationalism and Religion". Middle Eastern Studies 30 (4): 930–943. Retrieved April 11, 2012.
- ↑ William Facey, The Story of the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, 1994, ISBN 1-900988-18-6 Jump up ^ -which is not. Ibn Battuta, Rihla Ibn Battuta Beirut: Dar Sadir, 1964 pp. 279-80
- ↑ The Jats, Vol. 2: Socio-Political and Military Role of Jats in West Asia as Gleaned from Arabic Sources,pp.12
- ↑ Muhammad Bin Jarir al-Tabari, Tarikh al-Tabari, Vol. m, Cairo, 1962, p. 304.
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