Just before I start this post, I would like to assure all concerned bloggers that I have found my house keys… in the sunglasses compartment in my car :$, and yes I know I blogged too late but at least I won’t be writing about how I would of had to climb over our house wall with half my arse hanging out then ending up with a huge tear in the back of my jeans (think it’s a wee bit too graphic)
but anywho
Recently, there have been a few posts around the Bahraini blogosphere discussing the sense of belonging, a lost national identity , the barriers one can find betweenBahrainis of different sects and even the search of the image of a perfect Bahraini
So what makes a Bahraini?
In simple terms, a Bahraini is all who carry a Bahraini passport, this is of course politically speaking.
But obviously it goes much deeper than this
Bahrain is an archipelago of islands, the only thing native to it is its sands and animals. 
Bahrain used to be a resting ground where Arabs and Persians from around the Gulf travel to bury their dead believing that it is the Land of Immortality as higlighted in the legend of Gilgamesh and can be seen by the burial mounds in A’ali, Hamad Town and the tribal cementeries in Hawar Islands.
Bahrain for its strategic location for trade in the Arabian Gulf made it a valuable asset to any empire as many have perished on its soil to gain this tiny island and its wealths and has switched hands for centuries until the Al-Khalifa dynasty to the current era.
Due to this ‘revolving door’ history everyone who treaded Bahrain’s soil has left a mark from the Arabs from the larger Bahrain area (which spanned from the shores of Iraq and Kuwait across the shoreline of Saudi Arabia and Qatar ending at the tip of Oman and Ras Al-Khayma in the UAE) , the Yemenis from the beginning of the Islamic expansions (Abo Alaa Il-Hadhrami introduced Islam to the people of Bahrain, whom embraced the religion alhamdulillah, came with his tribe from Hadhramout in Yemen as cover if faced by force in the Bahrain island) to the Portuguese, Persians and British during their ‘protectment’ from the 19th to the 70’s of the last century.
And these are the people who lived on the island, let us not forget the people who traveled and traded in Bahrain’s waters and ports from far off places like India and Zanzibar.
Fast forward to the present and Bahrain is still a financial hub and her people are a mix of Arabs (Sunni and Shi’a), Hawala, Persians and from the Indian subcontinent.
When closing my eyes really tight and imagining the perfect Bahraini, this image appears:
Male:
A man in his late thirties, whose modest and generous despite the low salary he recieves and keeps a smile on his face to the familiar faces he sees everyday and see that smile grow revealing some of his teeth to an old friend he hasn’t seen in years and to a person he just met for the first time.
He would fit in anywhere socially, whether it be wearing the traditional headdress (ghutra and oqaal) and a white thoub, or wearing a plain shirt tucked in a pair of trousers or jeans. A person who would turn up at a maatem or mosque to celebrate weddings or give heart-felt condolences and not feel alien in both places.
Despite his mother tongue being Arabic, he has an array of language skills for instance being able to communicate with other Bahrainis of Persian origin enough to guess if they are bad mouthing him behind his back, and break down his Arabic enough so that Indians and Pakistanis can understand what he wants and if all fails just speak to them in their language and using the words ‘Bayya’ (brother) and ‘Jaldi Jaldi’ (quickly quickly) extensively.
Female:
She shares many of the males traits in addition that she aims higher in life as to show her male counterparts that she can equal to them and surpass them once she puts her mind into it with consideration to her religion and some of Bahrain’s traditions.
Now this is just scratching the surface of what makes a Bahraini… What are your thoughts and your 200 fils on the matter
