Bahrain is known to have had a population of Jews long before Islam was conceived. In the 12th century nearly 500 Jews lived in Qays and 5,000 resided in al-Qatifa.

In modern times, Jews had settled in Bahrain after emigrating from Iraq, Iran and India. Bahrain was occupied by the British from 1820-1970. Oil was discovered in 1932 which brought rapid modernization to Bahrain. Bahrain is the only Arab Persian Gulf state with a synagogue

Jews who have lived in Bahrain, numbered 1,500 until 1947 when pro-Palestinian outsiders came and rioted, forcing many Jews to flee. When the same thing occurred in 1967, most of the remaining Jews fled to Israel or England. There are presently 30 to 50 Jews remaining in the Kingdom.