Pearl & Coral Hunt in the Arab Culture

Arab countries, especially Gulf countries such as Bahrain, the UAE, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, have always been famous for their interest in fishing and extracting pearls from the depths of the sea, but basically this industry was not prosperous in the pre-Islamic era, it was simple left to slaves, and when Islam came, this craft became of great importance, so it created forms of crafts that the Arabs did not know and ordered to build the land and invest its bounties, and the Holy Qur'an referred to the craft of diving, extracting pearls and coral and catching them while telling the story of our master Solomon, peace be upon him, in the words of the Almighty. ﴿ Marj Al-Bahrain meet * Between them is an isthmus that they do not want * By what alaa of your Lord do you lie * Pearls and coral come out of them ﴾ -Surat Al-Rahman from verse 19 to verse 22-

How are pearls and coral fished from the deep sea?

Pearls can be extracted from sweet or salty water, which is in fact the secretion of a marine animal inside a house in white color and after extracting it carefully is manufactured in a way that makes it used in the manufacture of jewelry price necklaces, rings or earrings and its color is white to yellowish.

The confluence of fresh water with salt water facilitates the process of pearls exiting as the static bays on which rainwater descended move them and make the process of pearl and coral extraction much easier. The nature of pearls is strange, especially because it is an animal that lives inside a shell that protects it from dangers and from fish and marine animals that may try to devour it

Pearling and coral diving for Arab countries

Pearling is of great interest to the Arab countries, led by the State of Bahrain, which contains a complete road called the Pearling Route, and was added in 2012 to the World Heritage List by UNESCO.

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The road, which starts from Bu Maher Castle, specifically from an area called Herat Pearls and extends over a period of 3 km and ends with the Pearling Route at Muharraq Governorate and there is the main Pearl Museum, and this is one of the most important reasons why Muharraq Island is very important for Bahrain, as it is the capital of pearls and a cultural center full of history of pearling operations and methods that have evolved over time and were a direct cause of the renaissance and development of Bahrain as one of the most important countries in the Arab Mashreq.

After the discovery of natural gas and oil in the fields of the State of Bahrain, pearling operations were directly affected, especially after the transfer of the Bahraini capital to the city of Manama instead of Muharraq Island, which was the capital of pearls as we mentioned, but this sudden change did not take much from the prestige of pearl diving and then diving operations returned to nature and Muharraq retained its cultural and economic position in the hearts of Arabs in general and the people of Bahrain in particular, and its importance increased by preserving its nature and culture since ancient times and increased when it was developed by UNESCO. On the list of human heritage in the world in the last decade.

Although the process of diving in Herat Bahrain (pearl baths in Bahrain) is difficult and needs a lot of equipment, pearl fishing operations are carried out at very large depths that may reach 16 thousand meters under the sea and need ships that can follow the process in all its details over its days to be rewarding and those difficulties facing diving and fishing teams that aim to extract pearls are what give pearls their splendor and Yuz them on the value of their rarity and difficulty of reaching it and that In addition to being one of the most important and luxurious pieces of ornaments and natural decorations, which are comparable to gold and diamonds in beauty and value as well.

Sheikh Zayed Heritage Festival

The State of Bahrain is not the only one among the Arab Gulf countries whose waters are rich in pearls as the United Arab Emirates is also proud of its heritage and history in pearl extraction and fishing by holding the Sheikh Zayed Heritage Festival on an annual basis and making it a pearl diving and the beginning of its economic renaissance is part of the festival and in that part many tales and stories are told about pearling trips that make up the Emirati and Bahraini history and Qatari history, which is also celebrated in special museums Capital Museums Doha.

Pearls and coral are not only part of the economy of Arab countries, but part of their culture and history, which they cherish day after day and adhere to its development more.

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