IOR/R/15/2/1502

The file comprises: Eid (referred to as Id throughout) greetings sent during Id Adh-Dhuha [Eid-al-Adha] and Id Al Fitr [Eid-al-Fitr] by the Bahrain Political Agent (Lieutenant-Colonel Percy Gordon Loch) to the various rulers in the Persian Gulf, and letters in return giving thanks and acknowledging receipt of these greetings; arrangements for visits made by the Political Agent to members of the Bahrain ruling family and prominent Bahrain merchants during Eid; regulations concerning restrictions on activities such as eating, smoking and the playing of music during Ramadan, announced by the Government of Bahrain and Manama Municipality. The file’s correspondence covers the period 12 Sha’ban 1352 to 17 Dhu Al-Hijja 1354, according to the Islamic (Hijri) calendar.

Aside from the Bahrain Political Agent, the file’s principal correspondents include: the Ruler of Bahrain, Shaikh Ḥamad bin ‘Īsá Āl Khalīfah, and other members of the Āl Khalīfah family, including Shaikh ‘Abdullāh bin ‘Īsá Āl Khalīfah and Shaikh Salmān bin Ḥamad Āl Khalīfah; the Ruler of Qatar, Shaikh ‘Abdullāh bin Jāsim Āl Thānī; the Amir of Hassa [al-Aḥsā’] Shaikh Saud bin ‘Abdullāh bin Jalawī Āl Sa‘ūd; the Ruler of Kuwait, Shaikh Aḥmad al-Jābir Āl Ṣabāḥ; the Ruler of Sharjah, Shaikh Sultan bin Saqr Āl Qāsimī.

Included in the file is a set of instructions detailing the Bahrain Political Agent’s actions and calls for Eid (ff 258-259), and two greetings postcards sent by the Ruler of Sharjah, Shaikh Sultan bin Saqr Āl Qāsimī (ff 267-268).

Correspondence in the file is chiefly in Arabic, with some accompanying English translations.