Cultural-Social Relationships of al-Ahsa and al-Qatif Regions with Iran from the Safavid Period to Qajar Period

  The civilizations on the coasts of the Persian Gulf have always been in contact with each other since ancient times. Although in certain historical periods some limitations and political and military conditions created obstacles to the relationships between the inhabitants of these regions, they continued their interactions within other cultural-social frameworks. The Shi'ite al-Ahsa and al-Qatif regions in today's Saudi Arabia in the south of Persian Gulf were intermittently in contact with Iran fromthe distant past to the Qajar period. In various periods, including the one between Safavidand Qajareras, the cultural-social relationships between the residents of these regions and Iranians followed a particular process which was never free from the influences of the political and religious conditions in Iran, al-Ahsa, and al-Qatif. The present study explores the social-cultural relationships between these two regions and Iran during the time interval between the Safavid and Qajarperiods.