In 899, the Qarmatians, a millenarian Ismaili Muslim sect , had seized Bahrain, seeking to create a utopian society based on reason and redistribution of property among initiates.

Following a CE 976 defeat by the Abbasids, the Qarmations are overthrown by the Arab Uyunid dynasty of al-Hasa, who takes over the entire Bahrain region in 1076.The Uyunids controls Bahrain until 1235, when the archipelago is briefly occupied by the Persian ruler of Fars.