10 Unusual and Fascinating Facts About Bahraini Society That May Surprise You

### **10 Unusual and Fascinating Facts About Bahraini Society That May Surprise You**

Bahrain, an 33-island archipelago in the Persian Gulf, is commonly understood by the rest of the world to be a finance center, a country of pearling heritage, and a modernizing monarchy. While these remarks are accurate, they scarcely do justice to a society that is a multifaceted and fascinating blend of rich Arabian tradition, cosmopolitanism, and peculiar geographical conditions. Bahraini society itself operates upon a delicate, often unspoken, collection of rules and conventions that seem alien, charming, or baffling to the stranger. To understand Bahrain is to see beyond the Manama skyscrapers and into the rich social fabric of its people. Ten surprising facts reveal the strange and intriguing core of Bahraini culture.

**1. The "Majlis" Culture: The Living Room as a Public Institution**

In most cultures, the living room is a household family space. In Bahrain, the *majlis* (literally "a place of sitting") is a semi-public, deeply important social and political institution, for men mainly. It is an SPA room, sometimes with its own entrance, where the male family head receives guests—whether friends, kin, business acquaintances, or even strangers who happen to pass by in search of an audience to present a petition to.

Its foreignness is its open and formalized informality. A majlis is walk-in only; appointments are unnecessary. Men gather to drink coffee (*gahwa*), to hear news of politics, to settle disagreements, and to solidify communal ties. Even serving the coffee is ritualistic, with the host carrying the traditional *dallah* pot and the guest shaking the handleless little cup to communicate that they have had enough. The majlis is the height of Bahraini hospitality and an unmediated, grass-roots discussion alongside official government institutions and very much a culture with a highly consultative and communal tone.

**2. The Friday-Saturday Weekend: A Compromise Between Sacred and Global**

While most of the West operates on a Saturday-Sunday weekend and a few other Muslim countries operate on a Friday-Saturday weekend, Bahrain's choice is a fascinating cultural balancing act. Friday is the holy day in Islam, congregational prayer (*Jumu'ah*) day, and therefore it is a holiday. But, as a move to align with the global financial markets, Bahrain chose Saturday as its second holiday instead of Sunday.

The exoticism is the weekly rhythm this generates. The week effectively ends on Thursday evening (the local equivalent of a Friday evening in the West, with socializing and a living nightlife) and recommences on Sunday morning. The routine requires constant mental shuttling on the part of expatriates and international companies and generates a unique weekly rhythm that exactly reflects Bahrain's position: firmly rooted in its Islamic beliefs but actively linked to the world economy.

**3. The "Mukhalif" License Plate and the Unspoken Rules of the Road**

In a small, car-dependent nation like Bahrain, social status has its outlet on the roads. The most peculiar and insightful reflection of this is the private (non-commercial) license plate. Where license plate numbers matter little elsewhere in the world, in Bahrain, they are an open display of prestige, history, and sometimes sheer wealth.

The term *\\\"mukhalif\\\""* is reserved for the older white-on-blue plates, in contrast to the newer white-on-red plates. Possessing merely an old "mukhalif" plate can mean that one's family has been living in Bahrain for eons. The real social capital, however, is in the numbers. Low-digit plates (especially single, double, or triple digits) are status symbols of gargantuan dimensions. They are sold in specialized auctions for amounts of hundreds of thousands of dollars. To someone who does not belong, it is nonsensical to pay for a number on a plate, but within Bahraini society, it is a portable, public signpost proclaiming one's status and wealth.

**4. The "Garqoon" and the Art of Subterfuge in Social Etiquette**

Bahraini communication style, under the influence of broader Arabian Gulf culture, is very indirect. A wonderful word that describes this is *\\\"garqoon\\\"*—a term to explain when you say something you do not necessarily mean, or when you promise something that you will not do anything about just because you don't want to use a straightforward, possibly embarrassing "no."

The anomaly for direct cultures is deciphering conversations. A vow or a commitment at the time might be nothing more than *garqoon*, social lubricant to maintain peace and save face for all concerned. It's not necessarily interpreted as lying in a negative sense, but as a socially acceptable means of avoiding confrontation. This forces business and social life to be hard to navigate for outsiders, who learn to read hidden signals and realize that a yes can merely mean "I heard you and I don't want to be rude."

**5. The "Baraha" and "Fereej": The Village within the City**

Despite its more recent urbanization, the soul of Bahrain continues to sway to the rhythm of its ancient villages and neighborhoods, or *"fereej."* A *fereej* is not simply a physical place, but rather a tight-knit social unit, often based on extended family or tribal ties. The focal point of the *fereej* is the *"baraha"*—a public square or open space.

The anomaly lies in the persistence of village culture in a modern capital. The *baraha* is an outdoor *majlis*, and men gather in the evenings after work to socialize, play cards, and drink tea. All know one another's business and feel a very close sense of community and surveillance. Even as the population resides in new apartment skyscrapers, its identity and social belonging are still based on the ancestral *fereej*, outlining an invisible map of villages superimposed over the new metropolis of Manama.

**6. The National Passion for "Muhammar" and "Machboos"**

Every culture has its comfort food, but for Bahrainis, passion for rice foods like *muhammar* and *machboos* is near religious. *Machboos* is a flavored, meat (often chicken or fish) containing rice meal, similar to other Gulf's *kabsa*. But *muhammar* is the real Bahraini strange delight.

*Muhmmar* is a sweet rice meal, cooked with spices and dates or date syrup, and typically served with fried fish. The combination of sweet rice and umami fish is likely to be a jarring dining experience for non-Bahrainis. To Bahrainis, it is a home flavor, a celebratory and comfort food. This unique taste, a side effect of the island's date-palm-dense history, is an overt culinary trace of Bahrain's landscape and a mandatory component of its national identity.

**7. The "Super Mum" and the Matriarch's Hidden Power**

On initial appearance, Bahraini society, like most in the Gulf, appears patriarchal with women held under control by men outside the home. Paradoxically, however, a strange and powerful counter-reality obtains in the domestic sphere: the vast, often under-estimated, power of the matriarch. The mother, or "Super Mum," is the undisputed CEO of the household, the emotional hub of the extended family, and the chief financial officer.

Her authority is silent but profound. She is the final decision-maker on children's education, marriage, and family finances. Sons, married or not, will continue to have a strong filial bond with their mother, whose opinion can determine major decisions in life. It is an intriguing paradox: a patriarchal public world, but a private universe that is actually strongly bound and directed by powerful women who exert great indirect power.

**8. The Evergreen Love Affair with Pearls in an Oil Economy**

Bahrain based its modern economy on oil, but the pearl is at its core. Before oil was discovered, for centuries, Bahrain was the hub of the global pearl trade. The strange aspect is that this relationship is not strictly historical; it is a living, breathing part of modern national identity.

While the pearl of Japanese culture destroyed the economic model of the natural pearl industry, Bahrainis possess a profound, near-romantic affection for the pearling history of their country. The Pearl Roundabout (though destroyed after the 2011 protests) was a symbol of national power. Tours for pearl diving are still being organized for nostalgic purposes, and to be an owner of a Bahraini natural pearl is a badge of honor. This enduring romance with pearls in an oil state marks a society that is deeply conscious of its heritage and uses it as an anchor to its identity in an increasingly evolving world.

**9. The "Bait Al-Qur'an" and the Culture of Religious Pragmatism**

Bahrain is a Muslim country, but it also has a diverse population with a significant proportion of expatriate Christians and other religions and a tiny, historic original Christian community. An odd and beautiful symbol of this closeness is the presence of a fully operational, officially recognized Catholic church (Sacred Heart Church) and Hindu temples within a short distance of magnificent mosques and Islamic centers like the Bait Al-Qur'an.

This practical toleration of religious difference, though tension-ridden, is a feature of Bahraini life, especially if contrasted with some surrounding countries. Officially, the government sponsors mosques and other religious establishments of different faiths. This creates a social atmosphere where the call to prayer intermingles with church bells, a distinctive and unconventional cacophony in the area that is an indicator of centuries of experience of trade and contact with the outside world.

**10. The "Majlis Al-Jinn": Modernizing the "Majlis"**

As Bahrain modernizes, its most traditional institutions are evolving in astounding and fascinating ways. The concept of the *majlis* has been transposed to the virtual sphere, where there is now a virtual public sphere equivalent to the real one. Social media platforms, particularly Twitter and WhatsApp groups, are the *\\\"Majlis Al-Jinn\\«* (The Jinn's Majlis)—an anonymous, often chaotic, and deeply powerful site for public debate.

There, outside the formal protocol of the physical *majlis*, individuals, activists, and anonymous usernames write about politics, vilify ministers, report news, and shape opinion with an freedom of expression that at times is impossible face-to-face. This virtual *majlis* is a two-sided sword—a site for vibrant conversation but also for disinformation and rumor. Its existence shows how Bahraini society is integrating its deepest social usages into the technologies of the 21st century, ensuring that the inherent mission of the *majlis* as a place of meeting and exchange continues to exist, even in cyber-space.

In conclusion, Bahraini society is a fascinating fabric woven out of strands of very ancient tribal custom, Islamic faith, mercantile tradition, and hyper-modernity. These ten items—from the political living room and the status plates to the virtual *majlis* and the matriarch's strength—are not arbitrary novelties. They are the required codes for unraveling a people who live in the complexity of a globalized world while holding on to a richly communal and multilayered cultural core. To get to know them is to see the true Bahrain, a small island nation with a proportionately huge and multi-faceted heart.