- 34 - among all the Sheikhs on the Persian coast, was absent in his distant travels.(1) In mid-1780, Persia was going through a period of terrible tension as a result of Sadiq Khan of Shiraz realizing that King Abul-Fatħ Khan was so ineffective in standing against the threat of Ali Murad Khan Zand of Isfahan. Consequently, he dethroned him and appointed himself King of Persia. This caused an atmosphere of tension that enveloped the whole country in a shroud of sorrow. This feeling was intensified following other tragic events that impacted the population negatively especially that the land had suffered an earthquake of high magnitude a few months before. All the buildings in Shiraz and neighbouring village were completely destroyed. Some of them were said to have been swallowed by the earth. The catastrophe had hit at night killing around 50,000-60,000 people.(2) On 9th September 1782, Bahrain was attacked. The attackers were a group of Utoub’s men from Zubara, on the west coast of the Island of Qatar, opposite Bahrain. They were avenging the killing of a mawla (slave/
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