High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The Baharna are the oldest inhabitants of the region of Bahrain formerly comprising the Eastern Coast of the Arabian Peninsula, al-Ahsa, al-Qatif, and island of Awal, today known as Bahrain. The Baharna are descended from Arabian tribes who had lived in the region since pre-Islamic times; prominent among them in those times were the tribes of Banu Abdul Qays and Rabi`a.Until Bahrain embraced Islam in 629 AD, it was a center for Nestorian Christianity. In the early 7th Century, Bahrain became one of the first places in Arabia to become an Islamic state, despite its great distance from Muhammad`s location in Medina After the death of the Prophet Muhammad, most of the Baharna became Shia and they remained so until this day.. The Shia Arabs of Bahrain are closely related to the Shia of Qatif, and even speak a similar dialect. They live in Manama, almost all the villages of the main island of Bahrain, several villages in the island of Muharraq in the North and in the island of Sitra to the east. They speak similar dialects, with slight variations between villages, although the villages of Sitra have dialects which differ considerably from those of the main island. Fishing, palm tree farming and pearl diving were the traditional economic activities of the Baharna. There are also Shia Arabs concentrated in several neighborhoods in Muharraq City. These are distinct from the Shia villages outside the city proper. Many believe that these Shia originally came from Al-Ahsa. As a result of their proximity to surrounding Sunni Arabs and Africans, they speak the Sunni dialect.