Bani Utbah in the context of "Bahrain"

Sheikh Nasr Al-Madhkur (Arabic: الشيخ نصر آل مذكور) was the 18th-century Arab governor from a Huwala clan under Karim Khan Zand of the Zand dynasty of what was described by a contemporary account as an "independent state" in Bushehr and Bahrain. The account by German geographer Carsten Niebuhr who visited the region at the time describes Sheikh Nasr as "the sole Monarch of the Isle of Bahrain”. A “mutashayi’” (convert to Shi’ism, as described by Sheikh Sultan bin Muhammad Al-Qasimi), Sheikh Nasr lost Bahrain - which was inhabited by his Shi’a compatriots - in 1783 after his defeat by the Bani Utbah tribal alliance at Zubarah in 1782.

The Al-Madhkur family was regarded as an Omani Arab clan and led the Bushehr province on the Persian Gulf littoral. According to Carsten Niebuhr, the 18th-century German geographer, the Abu Shahr Arabs under the Al Madhkurs were one of three major Arab forces ruling parts of southern Persia in the 1760s. Although the Abu Shahr Arabs lived on the Persian Gulf littoral they should not be confused with Huwalas, and did not share their sense of identity, at least according to Niebuhr. Niebuhr visited Bushire in 1765, and when he wrote of independent Arab states, he included Bushire.

Al Bin Ali (Arabic: آل بن علي) is a Sunni Arab sub-tribal confederation based in the Arab states, especially Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, the UAE, and the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia.

The Al bin Ali Al Utbi Tribe is a descendant of the original Utub tribe which conquered Bahrain. The vast majority of members of the Al Bin Ali clan stem either from the Bani Sulaim or Al-Maadeed tribes.

Zubarah (Arabic: الزبارة), also referred to as Al Zubarah or Az Zubarah, is a ruined, ancient town located on the northwestern coast of the Qatar peninsula in the Al Shamal municipality, about 65 miles or 105 kilometres from the capital Doha. It was founded by the Bani Utbah tribal confederation who migrated from Kuwait in the mid-eighteenth century. It was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2013.

It was once a successful center of global trade and pearl fishing positioned midway between the Strait of Hormuz and the west arm of the Persian Gulf. It is one of the most extensive and best-preserved examples of an 18th–19th century settlement in the region. The layout and urban fabric of the settlement have been preserved in a manner unlike any other settlements in the Persian Gulf, providing insight into the urban life, spatial organization, and the social and economic history of the Persian Gulf before the discovery of oil and gas in the 20th century.

The history of Qatar spans from its first duration of human occupation to its formation as a modern state. Human occupation of Qatar dates back 50,000 years, and Stone Age encampments and tools have been unearthed in the Arabian Peninsula. Mesopotamia was the first civilization to have a presence in the area during the Neolithic period, evidenced by the discovery of potsherds originating from the Ubaid period near coastal encampments.

The peninsula fell under the domain of several different empires during its early years of settlement, including the Seleucid, the Parthians and the Sasanians. In 628 AD, the population was introduced to Islam after Muhammad sent an envoy to Munzir ibn Sawa who was the Sasanid governor of Eastern Arabia. It became a pearl trading center by the 8th century. The Abbasid era saw the rise of several settlements. After the Bani Utbah and other Arab tribes conquered Bahrain in 1783, the Al Khalifa imposed their authority over Bahrain and mainland Qatar. Over the following centuries, Qatar was a site of contention between the Wahhabi of Najd and the Al Khalifa. The Ottomans expanded their empire into Eastern Arabia in 1871, withdrawing from the area in 1915 after the beginning of World War I.

The Bahārna (Arabic: بُحارنة, lit. 'Buharnah', or Arabic: اِلبحارنه, lit. 'il baharneh'), are an ethnoreligious group of Shia Muslim Arabs indigenous to the historical region of Bahrain. Regarded by some scholars as the original inhabitants of Eastern Arabia, most Bahraini citizens are Baharna. They inhabited the region before the arrival of the Banu Utbah, which the Bahraini royal family descends from, in the 18th century.

Outside the modern country of Bahrain, Baharna populations are found throughout Eastern Arabia (Bahrain, Qatif, and al-Ahsa). There are also significant populations in Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman, Iraq (specifically Najaf and Karbala), as well as Khorramshahr and Hormozgan province in Iran.

The Bani Utbah invasion of Bahrain led to the end of Persian rule in Bahrain and the annexation of Bahrain by the Al Khalifa clan of the Bani Utbah.