In February, 1979 thousands of Bahraini Shi’a demonstrated in support of Iranian Islamic revolution. Similar demonstrations also broke out in eastern Saudi Arabia. Much of the activity was centred around Shia Mosques and Ma’atams; many such institutions at this time became effective social and political fronts for Shi’a Islamic groups. These centres played an active role in mobilizing people against the government.
Prominent Shia clerics presented a petition to the Prime Minister demanding the application of Islamic law in Bahrain; including segregation of males and females in schools; and the imposition of “Islamic dress” on women. The proposals were similar to those advocated by Shaikh Isa Qassim’s Islamic Bloc during the 1973-75 National Assembly.
Al-Da’wah contacts with Iran’s revolutionary leadership
Sheikh Isa Qassim’s Islamic Enlightenment Society (the Bahrain branch of Al-Da’wah) supported the Islamic revolution in Iran materially and spiritually.
Before the start of Iran’s Islamic revolution, the leaders of the Islamic Enlightenment Society initiated their first communications with Ayatollah Khomeini. This was primarily during Khomeini’s time in Al-Najaf, where many Bahraini clerics had studied and sought guidance.
After the revolution succeeded, the Society sent a telegram congratulating Ayatollah Khomeini and the revolutionary leadership. Representatives from the Society were part of a delegation that visited Tehran to congratulate Ayatollah Khomeini on the establishment of the Islamic Republic.
From this moment on, giant portraits of Ayatollah Khomeini and Iran’s other revolutionary leaders have been a central element of Al-Da’wah public processions and Al-Da’wah leaders like Isa Qassim endorsed Khomeini’s principle of “Welayat al-Faqih” (rule by the supreme Islamic authority).
This ideological commitment to Iran’s revolution and to the governing principle of Welayat al-Faqih made it very clear what Al-Da’wah’s ultimate political goals were.
Changing Iranian allegiances
As we shall see; after the Shirazi faction fell out with Ayatollah Khomeini in the mid-1980s, Iranian attention would once again shift back to the more traditionalist Bahraini clerics associated with the Al-Da’wah movement.
The emerging Iranian pragmatic conservatives in the later 1980s – for example; Presidents Ali Khamenei and Ali-Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani – realized that in Bahrain it was the traditionalist clerics, not the Shirazis, who they could profit most by supporting.
They understood that figures like Abdulamir al-Jamri and Isa Qassim were respected and followed by tens of thousands of Bahrainis; and so it was only through such figures that Iran could hope to have a long term influence. Thus, from the mid-1980s, we find relations once again being intensively cultivated with the Da’wah leadership.
This was reinforced by Saddam Hussein’s repressive policies, which made Iraq unsuitable for study. As a result, Shia Bahraini clerics increasingly went to Qom to pursue their studies. Therefore, Isa Qassim spent much of the 1990s in Qom, Iran’s most important theological centre and the hub for propagating the principle of Welayat al-Faqih. This period of study brought Qassim and other Bahraini clerics further into Iran’s ideological orbit.
Origins of the Bahrain opposition: Other sections
A major divide within Shia Islam: Al-Da’wah and the Shirazis
Al-Da’wah and the Shirazis in Bahrain
The Da’wah current in Iraq
The Da’wah current in Bahrain
Why do Al-Da’wah & the Islamic Enlightenment society matter?
Origins of the Shirazi current in Bahrain
Consolidation and radicalization of the Shirazis
Differences between the Da’wah & Shirazi factions in Bahrain
Beginnings of labour activism and civil society movements
1953-56 unrest and the Higher Executive Committee
Emergence of left-wing, Marxist and Baathist parties
Whatever happened to Bahrain’s left-wing?
Who were the People’s Bloc?
Who were the Religious Bloc?
Religious Bloc versus the People’s Bloc in the National Assembly
Eclipse of the left
Politicization of Bahraini Shia
The influence of political Islam movements elsewhere
The influence of Ayatollah Khomeini
Politicization of religious festivals
The radicalizing influence of Iran’s Islamic revolution
Growing Shirazi radicalism
Exporting Iran’s Islamic Revolution
Al-Da’wah contacts with Iran’s revolutionary leadership
Changing Iranian allegiances
Saudi oppositionist movements
Announcing the Islamic Front for the Liberation of Bahrain
Islamic Front aims and ideology
1981 coup attempt by Islamic Front for the Liberation of Bahrain
Islamic Front for the Liberation of Bahrain after the failed coup
The Shirazi movement loses favour in Iran
Declining influence: The Islamic front in the 1990s
Iranian support for Bahrain’s Al-Da’wah movement
Moving into the Iranian ideological orbit
What is Welayat Al-Faqih?
Breaking with Shia quietism
Ayatollah Isa Qassim and Welayat Al-Faqih
A new generation of Shia clerics
Hezbollah in Bahrain
Major references
(Additional specific references can be found as hyperlinks within the text)
Eds. Paul Aarts & Gerd Nonneman, 2005: Saudi Arabia in the Balance; Hurst
Husain M. Albaharna, 1968: The Legal Status of the Arabian Gulf States: A Study of Their Treaty Relations & International Problems; Manchester University Press
Ali Alfoneh, 2012: Between reform and revolution: Sheikh Qassim, the Bahraini Shi’a, and Iran
Nazih N. Ayubi, 2001: Overstating the Arab State; Tauris
Charles Belgrave, 1960 Personal Column; Hutchinson
Juan Cole, 1987; Rival Empires of Trade and Imami Shiism in Eastern Arabia, 1300-1800; International Journal of Middle East Studies, Vol. 19, No. 2
David Commins, 2012: The Gulf States: A Modern History; Tauris
Europa Publications, 2003 Political Chronology of the Middle East; Routledge
Thomas Fibiger: The role of shrines among Shi’a Muslims in Bahrain; University of Aarhus
F. Gregory Gause, 2009: International Relations of the Persian Gulf; Cambridge
Anissa Haddadi, 2012: Bahrain Uncovered: Divided Political Landscape
Bashar al-Hadi, 2013: Al-judhur al-ta’rikhiyah li-sukan al-bahrain
Bashar al-Hadi, 2005: Ulema’ wa adiba’ al-bahrain; Bait al-Bahrain lil-Darasat wal-Tawthiq
Khair El-Din Haseeb ed. 1998: Arab-Iranian relations: Centre for Arab unity studies
Mohammed Gharib Hatim, 1997: Ta’arikh arab al-hawala; Al-Maktaba al-Wataniya
Clive Holes, 1987: Language Variation and Change in a Modernising Arab State: The Case of Bahrain
Clive Holes, 2001: Dialect, Culture, and Society in Eastern Arabia; Brill
Timothy Insoll, 2007: Changing identities in the Arabian Gulf: The Archaeology of Identities: A Reader; Routledge
Faleh Jabar, 2003: Shi’ite Movement in Iraq, Saqi
Mansour al-Jamri, 2010: Shia & the State in Bahrain; Integration & Tension
Mohammad Khalid A. Al-Jassar, 2009 Constancy and Change in Contemporary Kuwait City; Proquest
Miriam Joyce, 2012: Bahrain from the twentieth century to the Arab Spring: Palgrave Macmillan
Abdulhadi Khalaf, 1998: Contentious politics in Bahrain: From ethnic to national and vice versa
Abdullah Ibn Khalid Al Khalifa; Michael Rice; 1993; Bahrain through the ages: the history; Kegan Paul International
Fuad Khouri, 1980: Tribe and State in Bahrain, University of Chicago Press
Jane Kinninmont, 2012: Bahrain: Beyond the Impasse
Laurence Louer, 2008: Transnational Shia Politics; Columbia University Press
Laurence Louer, Political Impact of Labor Migration in Bahrain; Centre for International Studies and Research
Abdul-Hameed Salem al-Mahadin, 2007: Min dhakirat al-bahrain; Al-Markaz al-Arabiya lil-Dirasat wal-Nashr
Dr Christin Marschall, 2003: Iran’s Persian Gulf Policy: From Khomeini to Khatami; Routledge
Toby Matthiesen, 2009: Hizbullah al-Hijaz: A History of The Most Radical Saudi Shi‘a Opposition Group; Middle East Online
Eric McCoy, 2008: Iranians in Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates: Migration, Minorities, and Identities in the Persian Gulf Arab States; Proquest
Falah al-Mdaires, 2002: Shiism & Political Protest in Bahrain
Helem Chapin Metz, ed, 1993:Persian Gulf States: A Country Study: The Constitutional Experiment
Yitzhak Nakash, 2011 Reaching for Power: The Shi’a in the Modern Arab World; Princeton University Press
Khaldoun Nassan Al-Naqeeb, 2012: Society and State in the Gulf and Arab Peninsula; Routledge
Katja Neithammer, 2007: Avenues of Political Participation in Bahrain
Mubarak Al-Otabi, 1989: The Qawasim and British Control of the Arabian Gulf; University of Salford
Lawrence G. Potter, 2009: The Persian Gulf in History; Palgrave Macmillan
Hassan Ali Radhi, 2003 Judiciary and Arbitration in Bahrain: A Historical and Analytical Study; Brill
Madawi Al-Rasheed, 2005 Transnational Connections and the Arab Gulf; Psychology Press
Mohammed Ghanim al-Rumaihi, 1973: Social & Political Change in Bahrain Since the First World War; Durham University
Mohammed al-Rumaihi, 1976: Qadaya al-taghayyr al-siyasi wa al-ijtima’I fi-al-bahrain; Al-Wahdah
A Rush, ed, 1991: The Ruling Families of Arabia
Jean-Francois Seznec, 2012: Is Reconciliation in Bahrain Possible? Middle East Institute
Frederic Wehrey, 2013: Sectarian Politics in the Gulf: From the Iraq War to the Arab Uprisings; Columbia University Press, Dec 13, 2013
Arnold Wilson, 2012: The Persian Gulf (RLE Iran A); Routledge
Dr Amal al-Zayyani: Bahrain; from political independence to international projection
About Muharraq pdf: http://eprints.port.ac.uk/7687/4/Ch-2_AboutMuharraq.pdf
Bahrain Wikileaks:
Reform in Bahrain: Mansour al-Jamri (re. Abdulhadi al-Khawaja)
Wafaa: New Shia rejectionist movement
Bahrain’s Shia opposition: Managing sectarian pressures
Some potential new leaders in Al-Wefaq
Bahrain al-Wefaq hails Iran Supreme Leader’s support