Abdulrahman converted a free kick five minutes into added time to leave the woeful Uzbeks, the best-performing team in earlier rounds, rooted to the bottom of the Group One table.
Bahrain moved third, four points behind Japan and six adrift of leaders Australia, who played out a goalless draw in Yokohama.
"It's a very good result for us," Bahrain's Czech coach Milan Macala told reporters.
"We still have some away matches and I hope that we will battle for second spot in this group."
The defeat severely dented Uzbekistan's hopes of reaching the finals for the first time having come within two games of the 2006 tournament.
"We were unlucky to miss a lot of chances," said Uzbekistan coach Mirdjalal Kasimov.
"Our players did not follow instructions...we lost but we will fight for every point in the remaining matches."
