It is not possible to talk about the history of the eternal relations between the Bahraini and Saudi peoples without talking about the Najdi merchants in Bahrain and their great roles and numerous contributions in deepening and strengthening these relations at various levels. Likewise, it is not possible to talk about the Najdi merchants of Bahrain in isolation from the late notable Abdulaziz Al-Ali Al-Bassam, who we will discuss here pages from his fragrant history, which is at the same time part of the modern history of the two kingdoms, and a reflection of the ties of the two brotherly peoples since ancient times.
As for why we chose to talk about Al-Bassam specifically, because his biography reveals to us aspects of the civilized, political, economic, social and cultural history of Bahrain in the first and second thirds of the twentieth century, and secondly explains to us the reasons that prompted a number of people from Najd to work in Bahrain, not to mention the fact that his biography is a model To get acquainted with the relationship of the Najdi merchants with the honorable rulers of Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, and an introduction to their relations with the British protection authorities on the other hand, and a way to identify their various contributions to the renaissance of Bahrain and the renaissance of their mother Saudi society in the fields of education, the dissemination of culture, and economic, commercial, charitable and social activities before and after the discovery of oil.
In narrating Al-Bassam’s biography, we use a main source, represented in the wonderful book titled “Najdi Traders in Bahrain, Abdulaziz Al-Ali Al-Bassam as an Example,” which was prepared by Professor Ahmed bin Abdulaziz Al-Eidi as a dissertation for obtaining a master’s degree in modern history from the College of Arabic Language and Social Studies at Qassim University. Where Al-Eidi obtained a master’s degree with excellent grades in the year 1442 AH, before publishing his research in two volumes from Dar Al-Thuluthia for Publishing and Distribution in Riyadh in the following year.
The Al-Bassam family is considered one of the most famous Najdi-Qassim families, and the most mentioned in the literature of travel, trade and early adventures outside the borders of the Arabian Peninsula, in Iraq, the Levant, Egypt and India, for reasons including drought and torrential rains in their original homeland or for other reasons such as the spread of epidemics, political instability and insecurity in their regions Before the establishment of the third Saudi state.
The birth of Al-Bassam
The origins of Al-Bassam family go back to the Tamim tribe, and they are descendants of Uqba bin Rayes bin Zakher, whose name ends with Nazar bin Maad bin Adnan. They are – according to many studies and documents – from the ancient civilized families of Najd, and their founder is Hamad bin Ibrahim bin Abdullah Al-Bassam (died 1792), the grandson of the judge and religious scholar Sheikh Ahmed bin Muhammad bin Abdullah bin Bassam bin Uqba (died 1631). The latter left his city, Ushaiqer, in the year 1602 to work as a judge in other Najd cities such as Mulham, Al-Qasab and Al-Uyaynah, to end up in Unaizah.
Abdulaziz Al-Bassam was born in the city of Onaizah in 1893, the son of his father, merchant Ali bin Hamid bin Abdul Qadir bin Hamad Al Salim Al-Bassam Al-Wahbi Al-Tamimi, and his mother, Lulwa Al-Abd Al-Muhsin Al-Bassam. In 1904, when he was over ten years old, he accompanied his father to Mecca, where he stayed for two years, after which he returned to Unaizah, where he memorized the Qur’an and learned the principles of reading, writing and arithmetic, while his father remained in Mecca trying to establish his feet in the world of commerce without success, which led to accumulated debts.
The journey of change
In 1907, Abdulaziz decided to chart a way for himself to help himself and his family, so he joined with an escort in one of the commercial convoys heading towards Basra, initiating a journey that would change the course of his life. In Basra, he lived with his cousin, “Hamad Al-Muhammad Al-Bassam,” but a serious accident occurred to his travel companion, as his body was burned by a fire he was warming with, which made him rush to transfer him for treatment to the American Mission Hospital in Kuwait because there were no hospitals at the time in Basra, but the injured person died during Treatment, the sad boy Abdulaziz found nothing but to tell his father what happened, asking him for advice, so he advised him to go to Manama and contact one of his Najdi acquaintances there in order to arrange for him a suitable job at Al-Qusaibi's office.
Commenting on the above, researcher Al-Eidi informs us in his book that the boy Abdulaziz Al-Bassam’s move to Bahrain was not planned, and that his departure from Unaizah was with the aim of working for his relative Hamad Al-Bassam in Basra, but the latter had died before his arrival in Basra, so he had only three options. He is in Kuwait: either to return to Basra and wait for the arrangement of his cousins’ business there after the death of Hamad Al-Bassam, or to return to Unaizah empty-handed, or to go to Bahrain in implementation of his father’s wish. Abdulaziz chose the third option, bearing in mind the goal of helping his father and paying off his debts through diligence and perseverance in any suitable work. Thus, the boy began his journey of struggle, starting from the job of a clerk with Al-Qusaibi in Manama. He used to work during the day in their commercial office and sleep at night in their large council with many other employees of the Al-Qusaibi family.
It seems that the man could not bear this life and his livelihood, so he started looking for another job with a higher pay, until he found a job in charge of accounts with the Bahraini merchant Yusef bin Ahmed Kanoo, who allocated a separate room for him to stay.
Bahrain stage
Al-Bassam was keen, during his work and residence in Bahrain, to learn the secrets of commercial work, and not to be satisfied with his job as a wage-earner with others. As his great ambitions to improve his conditions and become a substitute for his employers prompted him to monitor the course of commercial activity, its paths and deals, and to save money as much as possible in order to start his own trade. Thus, we find him in the year 1920 opening his own shop to sell foodstuffs in Al-Tijjar Street in the center of Manama, and he used to work in it at night after finishing his work during the day in Yusuf Kanoo’s store, which he did not mind because of his admiration for the aspirations of his employee and his appreciation for his honesty and perseverance. The man continued in this way for several years, with the help of his cousin, Hamad Al-Mohammed Al-Bassam, who came from India, to run his business, until he realized that he was able to dispense with his day job and that he had the experience and capital that would make him an independent trader. To engage in trade under No. 174, and he obtained a mailbox for his correspondence No. 81, and he started importing foodstuffs for his account from India through his cousins residing there, and re-exporting them to Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries, but he also started importing from East Africa until he became an agent for a number of foreign merchants in Bahrain. Perhaps one of the signs of the expansion of his commercial activity and prominence is that he became one of the major merchants in paying taxes, not to mention his continuous work for 15 hours a day, and his carrying his account books on the back of a donkey every evening from his store to his home to work on them until midnight.
After God rewarded him with abundant sustenance, he decided to own a house befitting his commercial and social status, so he bought a piece of land in the upscale Fareej Al-Awadiyah (at that time) in the center of Manama to build a house on it adjacent to the homes of notables and notables from the area’s residents, but before he started building it happened that the government of Bahrain offered For sale in an auction is a huge house for the mayor of Manama at the time, Muhammad Sharif, and the house was his share. In this luxurious house, he opened a majlis to receive his guests from rulers, sheikhs, notables, dignitaries, and visitors, and in it he received King Saud and the former ruler of Bahrain, Sheikh Hamad bin Isa bin Ali, may God have mercy on them, and many of the honorable sheikhs of Al Khalifa, with whom he had friendly relations, just as he had intimate relations with the various sectors of society. The Bahraini, the men of the British delegation, the senior managers of the oil company, the merchants of Bahrain, its scholars, writers and intellectuals.
success factors
Al-Bassam's success was not the result of chance or luck. Rather, there were several factors behind it, including the start of his struggle in Bahrain, which has an advanced commercial environment over others in the region, modern infrastructure, a medium strategic location in the Gulf, and geographical proximity to eastern Saudi Arabia, not to mention its embrace of a Najdi society. Great collaborator with each other. Including also his personal ambition, self-confidence, honesty, honesty in his dealings, commitment to official regulations and instructions, his constant knowledge of world developments (through the radio, newspapers and magazines that he was keen to subscribe to and obtain) and his eagerness to acquire every talk that helps him in his trade and business such as telegraphic and telephone services, express transportation, etc., in addition To allocate part of his wealth to be spent on charitable causes, on the grounds that alms develop and purify the owner’s wealth, as his charitable works included donating to the poor in Bahrain and Unaizah, building and restoring mosques, endowing houses and shops on them, supporting literary clubs and cultural forums, newspapers and magazines, and contributing to the printing of useful books. Providing material assistance to Arab and Islamic issues.
Flexibility with variables
This does not mean that the man was not exposed to hardships and obstacles during his commercial struggle. He was exposed to many of them, especially since his career witnessed many events with well-known economic repercussions, starting with the painful “edition” incident in September 1925, the global economic crisis and the deterioration of the pearl trade and markets in the thirties, and the discovery of counterfeit coins in the market in the same period, and ending with the discovery of oil in the year 1932, with which the features of the local economy changed, the outbreak of World War II with its bleak economic and living repercussions, and the outbreak of the famous Manama fire in 1936, which destroyed lives, property, and a large number of market stores. However, Al-Bassam had enough flexibility to adapt to all these changes and setbacks, so he was able to overcome them and look to the future with optimism. Indeed, in the forties and beyond, Bahrain witnessed many developments that our friend benefited from, like other merchants and businessmen. The markets flourished, the sources of imports multiplied, the means of transportation and communications developed, the population increased, and the demand for Al-Bassam services increased in trade, real estate, import, transportation, and the sale of gold. Concomitantly, his commercial and social standing was strengthened, as evidenced by his choice of membership in the Knowledge Council when it was established in 1930, the membership of the Manama municipality, in which he contributed to the development of its services, the membership of the Minors’ Funds Department, through which he submitted good proposals, and the membership of the Bahrain Chamber of Merchants, in which he was among the contributors to the formation of its nucleus represented by In the General Merchants Association in 1939. This is in addition to the British delegation’s keenness to invite him to its weekly council to express an opinion with other Bahraini notables on the issues raised, and he received an invitation from the British government to attend the British Industries Exhibition in London in 1936. Al-Bassam was also among the providers of financial support For the project of digging artesian wells in 1926, and for the new women’s hospital project in Salmaniya in 1959.
Consulting reference
Al-Bassam has accumulated rich experiences and experiences with the passage of time, changing conditions and successive events, which made him a reference for others in commercial consultations, and a destination for them in some services and assistance. This is evident from his correspondence with the merchants of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq, Lebanon, Egypt and India who asked him for help and support, such as the Saudi businessman Suleiman Saleh Al-Olayan, or asked him to facilitate their arrival to Bahrain, such as the Indian merchant Abdul Sattar Abdul Jabbar Al-Hariri, or they went to him for a letter of recommendation that would enable them to achieve their goals. Such as the merchant Saleh bin Abdullah Al-Bassam, residing in Bombay, who wrote to him in order to facilitate the tasks of an Indian bank delegation, or they contacted him in order to provide them with certain goods from the Bahraini market, such as the Egyptian businessman Ahmed Fathi Al-Balqi, who asked him for a shipment of sea shells for the purposes of making buttons in his factory in Alexandria, or They intended him to nominate a local agent for their business, as did the Lebanese merchant Mahmoud Shukrji.
I travel a lot
Al-Bassam was known for his frequent travels abroad for the sake of his trade, a request for rest and recreation, or with the intention of discovering and getting to know what the other has. Where he frequented India to visit his cousin, Muhammad al-Ali al-Bassam, who resides in Bombay, and to meet with Arab and Indian merchants. And after the deterioration of the situation in Lebanon with the outbreak of its civil war in 1975, he headed towards Egypt, and owned a residence there in the Giza area of Cairo, next to President Sadat's palace. It was fate that the man breathed his last in Cairo during his visit in 1976 due to a sudden heart attack. As a result, preparations were made to transfer his body to Bahrain to be buried in its cemetery, but his cousin, the merchant Al-Jeddawi Abdullah Al-Ali Al-Bassam, suggested moving the body to Saudi Arabia to pray over him in the Great Mosque of Mecca. Thus, his body was transported by plane to Jeddah and then to Mecca, where he was prayed at dawn on September 7, 1976, and buried in the cemetery of Al-Mu'alla, may God have mercy on him.
In Bahrain, which mourned his passing, his home council in Fareej Al-Awadiya was opened for condolence, so sheikhs, notables, merchants and the general public came forward to offer condolences.
His foundation has been operating since 1926 until now
It is worth noting that Al-Bassam married four women during his life: Moudi bint Fahd bin Hamid bin Abdul Qadir Al-Bassam, who bore him his firstborn son, Abd Al-Rahman, who died young in Unaizah, and his only daughter, Lulwa, who was born in Manama in the fifties, and Hessa, daughter of Suleiman bin Hamad Al-Bassam, who died during his lifetime. In 1930, Madawi, daughter of Suleiman bin Abdullah bin Ibrahim Al-Bassam, who gave birth to his son Youssef, who died young, and Hessa, daughter of Ibrahim Al-Qadi, who did not have children. And the late 7 of the tribes from his daughter Lulwa, the wife of Abd al-Rahman al-Sulaiman al-Fahd al-Bassam, and they are Abd al-Hamid, Ahmed, Muhammad, Ali, Abdullah, Farida and Nadia, all of whom are graduates of the United States universities or the University of Petroleum and Minerals in Dhahran or Kuwait University.
It is also worth noting that the commercial enterprise established by Al-Bassam in Bahrain in 1926, which began its activities with the trade of foodstuffs and luxuries during the first decades of the twentieth century and then turned from 1955 to investing in building and developing land and real estate and selling wholesale gold. In 1977, its ownership was transferred to The husband of his only daughter, “Abdul Rahman Al-Sulaiman Al-Bassam,” and today it works through its offices in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain under the name “Abdul-Rahman Al-Sulaiman Al-Bassam and Sons Company.”
Written by: Dr. Abdullah Al-Madani abu_taymour@