Sanabis ( ar, سنابس ') is a village located in the

Kingdom of Bahrain Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ad ...

, in the suburbs of the capital city,

Manama Manama ( ar, المنامة ', Bahrani Arabic, Bahrani pronunciation: ) is the capital and largest city of Bahrain, with an approximate population of 200,000 people as of 2020. Long an important trading center in the Persian Gulf, Manama is h ...

Etymology

The definition of the word ''Sanabis'' is disputed, with the most popular view being that members of the Sunbus tribe which traces its origins to the

Qahtanite The terms Qahtanite and Qahtani ( ar, قَحْطَانِي; Arabic transliteration, transliterated: Qaḥṭānī) refer to Arab people, Arabs who originate from South Arabia. The term "Qahtan" is mentioned in multiple ancient Arabian inscriptio ...

Tayy , location = 2nd century CE–10th century: Jabal Tayy and Syrian Desert 10th century–16th century: Jabal Tayy, Syrian Desert, Jibal al-Sharat, al-Balqa, Palmyrene Steppe, Upper Mesopotamia, Northern Hejaz, Najd , parent_tribe = Madh ...

tribe migrated from Khobar to

Qatif Qatif or Al-Qatif ( ar, ٱلْقَطِيف ''Al-Qaṭīf'') is a governorate and urban area located in Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia. It extends from Ras Tanura and Jubail in the north to Dammam in the south, and from the Persian Gulf in the ...

and

Bahrain Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ...

and the areas that they settled in were named Sinbas after the tribe's name but which later became known as Sanabis.

History

In J. G. Lorimer's

Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf The ''Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf, Oman and Central Arabia'' (nicknamed ''Lorimer'') is a two-volume encyclopedia compiled by John Gordon Lorimer. The ''Gazetteer'' was published in secret by the British government in India in 1908 and 1915 a ...

(1908), Sanabis is said to be inhabited by 1500

Baharna The Baharna ( ar, بحارنة) are the indigenous Shia Muslim inhabitants of Bahrain who inhabited the area before the arrival of Sunni Muslim Arab tribes from Najd, particularly by Banu Utbah in the 18th century which the Bahraini royal famil ...

who primarily engage in boat-building, pearling and fishing. According to his report, the village had a noticeable pretty mosque situated in the centre of the village. At the time, there were an estimated 900 date palm trees, 16 donkeys, 10 cattle, and 30 pearling boats belonging to Sanabis.

Present day

Sanabis is traditionally seen as a commercial centre alongside

Seef Seef ( ar, السيف) is a commercial district in Manama, the capital city of Bahrain. Etymology The word 'seef' means coast or shore in the Gulf Arabic lexicon, similar to 'sahel'. History Seef is a result of active land reclamation work star ...

and the

Central Business District A central business district (CBD) is the commercial and business centre of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides with the "city ...

, this is evident due to the presence of multiple skyscrapers and malls. Native villagers from Sanabis are noted to have had a distinct accent. The village, along with other villages in the country, is also the site for Muharram processions on the annual

Day of Ashura A day is the time period of a full rotation of the Earth with respect to the Sun. On average, this is 24 hours, 1440 minutes, or 86,400 seconds. In everyday life, the word "day" often refers to a solar day, which is the length between two solar ...

and

Arbaeen , duration = 1 day , frequency = once every Islamic year , observedby = Shia , date = 20 Safar , date2018 = 30 October , date2019 = 19 October , date2020 = 8 October , date2021 = 28 September , date ...

festivals respectively. An illegal demonstration calling for a boycott of the controversial 2022 Bahraini general election was held in Sanabis on October 18th of that year.

References

Neighborhoods of Manama {{Bahrain-geo-stub