Abdullah bin Ali Al Uyuni

Lineage and dynastic etymology

Al Uyuni was a descendant from the Banu Abdul Qays tribe, although it is unclear from which branch. Some sources indicate the Al-Marri as a Marra bin Amer bin al-Harith bin Anmar bin Amr bin Wadia ’bin Lakiz bin Afsa bin Abdul Qays, but Abu al-Faraj al-Isfahani spoke of a prince named Abu Senan Muhammad bin al-Fadl bin Abdullah bin Ali Al-Abdi Al-Marri. The Uyunid rulers were also named Al Ibrahim after Al Uyuni’s great-grandfather. Since the tribe once lived in the village of Al Oyun in the Al-Ahsa Oasis, the family was named after it, that is, Al Uyuni. The Abdul Qays tribe stemmed from Rabi'a ibn Nizar, the ancestor of the Eastern Arabian tribes and son of Nizar ibn Ma'ad.

Founding the state

Main article: Overthrowing of the Qarmatians

Revolt Against the Qarmatians

Political, social and economic conditions in the Qarmatian state had reached a critical point when Al Uyuni began his revolt. He struggled at first in his skirmishes with the authorities given that he started with only around 400 supporters from the Abdul Qays, but other tribes took advantage of the weakened authority and eventually joined in. Al Uyuni’s troops forced the Qarmatians to withdraw to the Al-Ahsa Oasis while the loyal tribes withdrew to the Syrian Desert, culminating in a seven-year war of attrition and a siege of the Qarmatian capital at Qatif.

End of the Qarmatians

The final overthrow of the Qarmatians started with the revolt of Abu al-Bahlul al-Awwam, but the deathblow was struck once Al Uyuni petitioned the Abbasid caliph Al-Qa'im and the Seljuk Emperor Malik-Shah I (represented by his vizier Nizam al-Mulk) for reinforcements in 1072 or 1073. Malik-Shah was the more receptive of the two sovereigns in his eagerness for suzerainty over Al-Ahsa and to avenge his general Kajkina’s defeat at the hands of the Qarmatian troops of Yahya ibn Ayyash. Therefore, the Turkmen commander, Axsek Salar, was dispatched from the Seljuk capital of Baghdad to Al-Ahsa, from where he marched through Basra to Qatif. Salar looted Qatif and confiscated the treasury of Ibn Ayyash (who had fled to Awal Island, now Bahrain). Afterwards, the Seljuks assisted Al Uyuni’s siege of Al-Ahsa, ultimately leaving 200 soldiers to garrison it. Finally in 1078, at what was called the “Battle of the Two Rivers,” the Qarmatians and their Banu Amir allies were routed and surrendered.

Restoring Qatif

After the retreat of the Seljuk army, however, Ibn Ayyash recaptured Qatif, but he was rebuffed by Al Uyuni, who proceeded to occupy Bahrain. Finally killing Ibn Ayyash in battle, Al Uyuni has united Eastern Arabia and Bahrain into one state, the Uyunid Emirate, based in Al-Ahsa.

Royal dynasty

• Uyunid dynasty

References

References

• Abdelkader Statistical: masterpiece beneficiary on Ahsa in the old and the new, the achievement Hamad Al-Jasser Riyadh 1960.

References

1. (2001). "الدولة العيونية في البحرين ("The Uyunid State of Bahrain")". King Abdulaziz Foundation (Darah).
2. (2006). "تاريخ الخليج وشرق الجزيرة العربية المسمى: إقليم بلاد البحرين في ظل حكم الدويلات العربية ("History of the Gulf and Eastern Arabia: The Territory of the Land of Bahrain Under the Rule of the Arab states")". Madbouly Library.
3. "العيونيون في البحرين ("Uyunids of Bahrain")".
4. "Tuhfat al-Mustafid, Vol. 1".
5. (2014). "تاريخ الإمارة العيونية، ص ("The History of the Uyunid Emirate in Bahrain")". New National Publishing.
6. "Mirror of Time".
7. (2002). "نقود الدولة العيونية في بلاد البحرين ("Money of the Uyunid State in the Land of Bahrain")". [[King Faisal Foundation]].
8. (2012). "The Gulf States: A Modern History.". I.B. Tauris.