IOR/R/15/2/88

The file concerns relations between the Sunni and Shiah communities in Bahrain.

The correspondence is mainly between the Political Agent, Bahrain and the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf, but the file also contains correspondence with Shaikh Hamad, Deputy Governor of Bahrain [Ḥamad bin ‘Īsá Āl Khalīfah] and Charles Dalrymple Belgrave, Adviser to the Government of Bahrain, as well as petitions from members of the two communities. Enclosures to correspondence from the Political Resident to the Political Agent, Bahrain include copies of correspondence between the Resident and the Government of India.

The papers cover the following:

• reports by the Political Agent, Bahrain to the Political Resident;
• reports by the Political Resident to the Government of India;
• discontent among the Dowasir [Dawāsir] tribe and their possible involvement in the murder of Shiahs, 1923;
• discontent among Sunni pearling nakhodas over the possibility of political reforms, 1923;
• the introduction of political reforms in Bahrain at the behest of the British Government, 1923;
• petitions from representatives of the Shiah community (referred to as Baharnah), October 1923;
• a violent incident at Sitrah in which two members of the Baharaneh [Baharnah] were killed and several others wounded, January 1924;
• sentences passed on those involved in the outage at Sitrah, February 1924;
• two of those convicted of involvement in the outrage at Sitrah found to be subjects of Nejd [Najd], November 1925;
• the conviction, exile, and subsequent readmission to Bahrain of Shaikhs Ibrahim and Sulaiman [Ibrāhīm and Salmān], the sons of Shaikh Khalid bin Mohammed al Khalifah, who were found guilty of the murder of Baharnah at Sitrah in 1924, January - May 1928;
• account of proceedings in the Bahrain Court against three members of the ruling family, August - September 1929.

The Arabic content of the file consists of approximately 15 folios of copies of Political Agency reply letters, a petition, and correspondence from the Government of Bahrain and local rulers.