The House of Khalifa ( ar, آل خليفة, translit=Āl Khalīfah) is the ruling family of the
Kingdom of Bahrain. The Al Khalifas profess
Sunni Islam
Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word '' Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a disag ...
and belong to the
Anizah tribe, some members of this tribe joined the
Utub alliance which migrated from
Central Arabia to
Kuwait
Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to Iraq–Ku ...
, then ruled all of
Qatar
Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it sh ...
, more specifically
Al Zubarah, which they built and ruled over before settling in
Bahrain
Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and a ...
in the early 17th century. The current head of the family is
Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa
Hamad bin Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa ( ar, حمد بن عيسى بن سلمان آل خليفة '; 28 January 1950) is King of Bahrain since 14 February 2002, after ruling as Emir of Bahrain from 6 March 1999.
He is the son of Isa bin Salm ...
, who became the Emir of Bahrain in 1999 and proclaimed himself King of Bahrain in 2002, in fact becoming a constitutional monarch.
As of 2010, roughly half of the serving
cabinet ministers of Bahrain were members of the Al Khalifa royal family,
[Bahrain Shia demand cabinet change]
Aljazeera.net, 5 March 2010 while the country's
Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...
,
Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa
Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa ( ar, سلمان بن حمد آل خليفة; born 21 October 1969) is the Crown prince and the Prime Minister of Bahrain. He is also the deputy supreme commander of the Bahrain Defence Force.
Early life and educa ...
, is also from the Al Khalifa family and is the son of the current King.
History
Bahrain fell under the control of
Ahmed ibn Muhammad ibn Khalifa
Ahmed ibn Muhammad ibn Khalifa ( ar, أحمد بن محمد بن خليفة) was the progenitor of the ruling Al Khalifa family of Bahrain and the first monarch or '' hakim'' of Bahrain. All of the Al Khalifa monarchs of Bahrain are his descend ...
in 1783, following the defeat of
Nasr Al-Madhkur
Sheikh Nasr Al-Madhkur ( ar, الشيخ نصر آل مذكور) was the 18th-century Arab governor from a Huwala clan under Karim Khan Zand of the Zand dynasty of what was described by a contemporary account as an "independent state" in Bushehr ...
who ruled the archipelago as a dependency of
Persia
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
(see
Bani Utbah invasion of Bahrain
The Bani Utbah invasion of Bahrain led to the end of Persian rule in Bahrain and the annexation of Bahrain by the Arabs.
Background
After the fall of the Safavid dynasty, Bahrain went through a period of anarchy, dismay, and self-rule in villages ...
). Ahmed ruled Bahrain as
hakim until 1796, but was based in
Zubarah (in modern-day
Qatar
Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it sh ...
) and spent summers in Bahrain. Ahmed was the first hakim of Bahrain and the progenitor of the ruling Al Khalifa family of Bahrain. All of the Al Khalifa rulers of Bahrain are his descendants.
Ahmed had four children. Following his death in 1796, two of Ahmed's sons Salman and Abdulla moved to Bahrain, and co-ruled it as feudal estates and imposed taxes on the indigenous
Baharnah
The Baharna ( ar, بحارنة) are the indigenous Shia Muslim inhabitants of Bahrain who inhabited the area before the arrival of Sunni Muslim Arab tribes from Najd, particularly by Banu Utbah in the 18th century which the Bahraini royal fam ...
population. Salman settled in
Bahrain Island and Abdulla in
Muharraq Island
Muharraq Island (), formerly known as Moharek, is the second largest island in the archipelago of Bahrain after Bahrain Island. It lies east of the capital, Manama, on Bahrain Island.
History
It is named after Muharraq City, the former capital ...
, each ruling independently. The Al Khalifa soon became split into two branches, Al-Abdulla and Al-Salman that engaged in open conflict between 1842 and 1846. Al-Salman branch was victorious and enjoyed complete rule of Bahrain. Until 1869, Bahrain was under threat of occupation by various external powers including the
Wahhabis,
Oman
Oman ( ; ar, عُمَان ' ), officially the Sultanate of Oman ( ar, سلْطنةُ عُمان ), is an Arabian country located in southwestern Asia. It is situated on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and spans the mouth of ...
is,
Ottomans
The Ottoman Turks ( tr, Osmanlı Türkleri), were the Turkic founding and sociopolitically the most dominant ethnic group of the Ottoman Empire ( 1299/1302–1922).
Reliable information about the early history of Ottoman Turks remains scarce, ...
, Egyptians and Persians, yet the Al Khalifa managed to keep it under their control. The Al-Abdulla branch continued to be a cause of threat until 1895. Today, Abdulla ibn Ahmad Al Khalifa descendants live in Qatar, while Salman ibn Ahmad Al Khalifa's descendants live in Bahrain.
List of Al Khalifa rulers of Bahrain
Since 1783, the Al Khalifa have been
rulers of Bahrain:
Family Tree
Ruling Family Council
Decisions pertaining to the Al Khalifa family, as well as disputes between family members are arbitrated by the Ruling Family Council ( ar, مجلس العائلة الحاكمة).
The council attends to internal family disputes particularly those related to appropriation of land, sale of real estate and other properties. Members of the ruling family are not allowed to refer these or other disputes to ordinary law courts.
[
Relations between the political leadership and the rest of the "rank and file" members of the Al Khalifa ruling family have been formally managed by the council since 1932. However, on the eve of the 1973 parliamentary elections, then the Amir Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa issued a decree restructuring the Ruling Family Council to become a formal organ of the state, and giving the administrative head of the council the rank of minister.][
The Ruling Family Council is chaired by King Hamad, its deputy chairman is Mohammed bin Khalifa bin Hamad Al Khalifa, and the director general is Ibrahim bin Khalid bin Mohammed Al Khalifa.
The King appoints the members of the board of the Ruling Family Council as recognised representatives of various kingship lines and factional alliances within the Al Khalifa family.]
Transcription
''Al Khalifa'' is commonly mistranscribed ''al-Khalifa''. The ''Al'' (آل) written with the long ('' madda'') alif is unconnected to the following word and means ''house'', in the sense of ''family'' or ''dynasty'', and is not the definite article
An article is any member of a class of dedicated words that are used with noun phrases to mark the identifiability of the referents of the noun phrases. The category of articles constitutes a part of speech.
In English, both "the" and "a(n)" a ...
particle ''al-
( ar, ٱلْـ), also Romanized as ''el-'', ''il-,'' and ''l-'' as pronounced in some varieties of Arabic, is the definite article in the Arabic language: a particle (''ḥarf'') whose function is to render the noun on which it is prefixed def ...
'' 'Al' can also mean 'of'.
Cabinet ministers
As of 2010, roughly half of the serving cabinet ministers of Bahrain were members of the Al Khalifa royal family.[
* Prince ]Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa
Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa ( ar, سلمان بن حمد آل خليفة; born 21 October 1969) is the Crown prince and the Prime Minister of Bahrain. He is also the deputy supreme commander of the Bahrain Defence Force.
Early life and educa ...
, Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...
, The Crown Prince, and Deputy Supreme Commander
* Shaikh Muhammad ibn Mubarak ibn Hamad Al Khalifah, Deputy Prime Minister
* Shaikh Ali bin Khalifa Al Khalifa, Deputy Prime Minister
* Shaikh Khalid bin Abdullah Al Khalifa, Deputy Prime Minister
* Lt-General Shaikh Rashid bin Abdulla Al Khalifa, Minister of Interior
An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...
* Shaikh Khalid bin Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Khalifa, Minister of Foreign Affairs
A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between co ...
* Shaikh Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Khalifa, Minister of Finance
A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation.
A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", ...
* Shaikh Khalid bin Ali bin Abdulla Al Khalifa, Minister of Justice, Islamic Affairs and Endowment
* Shaikh Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Khalifa
Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa bin Faisal Al Jumaili Al Khalifa Al Thalabi ibn Wa'il ( ar, الأمير محمد بن خليفة بن فيصل الجميلي التغلبي الوائلي, was an Emir of Qatar and founder of the city of Zubarah as ...
, Minister of Oil
Notable people
* Shaikha Dheya bint Ebrahim Al Khalifa, royal family member and President of the Riyada Group of Companies
Controversies
The King of Bahrain, King Al Khalifa was responsible for attacks on protesters during the Arab Spring. He and the Bahraini government were condemned both locally and overseas. He later enlisted the help of nearby Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
See also
* List of Arabian Houses
This is a list of the major royal families and their allies in the Arabian Peninsula in the 20th century.
* Al Saud, Rulers of Nejd from the 18th century. Now rulers of Saudi Arabia
* House of Rashīd, the House of Rasheed were a historic Arabian ...
Notes
References
External links
Bahrain: The Ruling Family of Al Khalifah
A. de L. Rush, Archive Editions, 1991
*Cabinet of Bahrain
The Cabinet of Bahrain is the chief executive body of the Kingdom of Bahrain. According to Article 32 (b) of the 2002 Constitution, "executive authority is vested in the King together with the Council of Ministers and Ministers". The Council of ...
Genealogy of the Al Khalifa
List of rulers for Bahrain
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Family, Al Khalifa
Rabi`ah
Bahraini monarchs
Arab dynasties