ABSTRACT
Islam spread throughout the entire Arabian Gulf region in the seventh century. During the Islamic period settlements continued to grow and a system of administration developed on the west coast of Qatar peninsula. In the year 628, AI Mundhir bin Saw a al-Tamimi, the ruler of Qatar at the time, along with his subjects, embraced Islam when the Prophet Mohammad's (Peace be upon Him) emissary al Ala al-Hadrami visited al-TamimiY> Eventually, trade and commercial links were established between Qatar and Arabia. Historians have failed to identify al-Tamimi' s seat of administration, but it may have been at either Umm al-Ma or Murwab in the Joghbi area. This theory is lent supported by the archaeological discovery of about 100 small stone-built houses and the fortified palaces of a tribal leader at Murwab, which date to the early Islamic period. The Murwab palace or fort was built on the ruins of an earlier fort destroyed by fire. Furthermore, an early Islamic village site with rectangular wall lines similar to those at Murwab was unearthed one kilometer north of al-Nama, south west of Zubara.<4>
During the reign of the Umayyads (661-750 AD), and the Abbasids (750-1258 AD) in Damascus and Baghdad respectively, trade and commerce grew in Qatar. It became a famous camel and horse breeding centre during the Umayyad period, while the Abbasid period witnessed the development of the pearling industry in the rich waters around Qatar. The demand for Qatari pearl also increased in the East, as far away as China. As mercantile activities intensified on the western coast of Qatar, settlements began to spring up there, particularly at Murwab, between Zubara and Umm al-Ma, where, as mentioned above, 100 or more small stone-built houses were constructed.<s>
TOWNS AND TOPOGRAPY IN MODERN TIMES The development of modern settlements is best understood in the historical and geographical context. It is interesting to note that Carsten Niebuhr's map of the Persian Gulf, published in 1765, failed to show Qatar as a peninsula. Niebuhr's map is confusing and not accurate. Although he visited Arabia in 1 764, he prepared his map without visiting Qatar personally and relied on local Arab
informants as well as English sea captains. Niebuhr's Qatar included 'Guttur' [al-Bida], 'Adslar' (probably al-Khor), al Huwailah, Yusufiyah and Furaiha. 6> In 1809, more than four decades after the publication of Niebuhr' s map, Captain John Wainwright referred to the Qatar coast as ' the coast of danger' because of its inaccessibility from the sea, an opinion based on his voyage to the Gulf. <7> Major Colebrook's report on the Persian Gulf littoral of 10 September 1820, gives the first description of the major towns of Qatar:
Zobarah [Zubara] . . . . protected by a tower and occupied at present merely for the security of fishermen that frequent it. It has a Khoor with three fathoms water which Buggalahs may enter.
