the official religion of bahrain is islam; most of the people are shi'a and sunni muslims, but there are also small jewish and christian minorities. most bahrainis are arabs, although some tribes came from persia. today, many of the people in bahrain are guest workers who come from iran, south asia and southeast asia. a "financial times" article from 31 may 1983 found that "bahrain is a polyglot (speaking many languages) state, both religiously and racially. leaving aside the temporary immigrants of the past 10 years, there are at least eight or nine communities (groups of people) on the island".