Bahrain (officially the Kingdom of Bahrain; Mamlakat al-Baḥrayn) is an archipelago in the Persian/Arabian Gulf originally consisting of thirty-three islands. It lies just offshore from eastern Saudi Arabia (to which it is connected by a causeway, completed in 1986) and is close to the Qatar peninsula to the east. Bahrain's capital, Manama (al-Manāma), is located on the main island, also called al-Baḥrayn (classically known as ʿAwāl). The island of al-Muḥarraq, to the north, is the second most heavily populated island. The Ḥawār Islands