Sayyid ''Sayyid'' is an honorific title of Hasanid and Husaynid lineage, recognized as descendants of the Islamic prophet Muhammad through his daughter Fatima and Ali's sons Hasan ibn Ali, Hasan and Husayn ibn Ali, Husayn. The title may also refer ...

Dr. Muhammad-Ibrahim Bahr al-Uloom (; born 1954) is an Iraqi politician, academician, and petroleum expert. He has served twice as the

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

i Minister of Oil. He first took the ministerial role as part of the cabinet appointed by the

Interim Iraq Governing Council The Iraqi Governing Council (IGC) was the provisional government of Iraq from 13 July 2003 to 1 June 2004. It was established by and served under the United States-led Coalition Provisional Authority The Coalition Provisional Authority ( ...

in September 2003 until June 2004. Bahr al-Uloom went on to serve a second term as the minister in 2005 where he then submitted his resignation in protest against a governmental decision to increase the

price of oil The price of oil, or the oil price, generally refers to the spot price of a barrel () of benchmark crude oil—a reference price for buyers and sellers of crude oil such as West Texas Intermediate (WTI), Brent Crude, Dubai Crude, OPEC ...

products five-fold.

Early life and education

Bahr al-Uloom was born in 1954 in Najaf to Mohammad Bahr al-Uloom. From both sides, he hails from prominent scholarly families. From his paternal side he is from the Bahr al-Uloom family. From his mother's side, he hails from the Shirazi family. He claims

agnatic Patrilineality, also known as the male line, the spear side or agnatic kinship, is a common kinship system in which an individual's family membership derives from and is recorded through their father's lineage. It generally involves the inheritanc ...

descent from

Muhammad Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. Muhammad in Islam, According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the tawhid, monotheistic teachings of A ...

's daughter

Fatimah Fatima bint Muhammad (; 605/15–632 CE), commonly known as Fatima al-Zahra' (), was the daughter of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and his wife Khadija bint Khuwaylid, Khadija. Fatima's husband was Ali, the fourth of the Rashidun caliphs and ...

and her husband,

Ali Ali ibn Abi Talib (; ) was the fourth Rashidun caliph who ruled from until his assassination in 661, as well as the first Shia Imam. He was the cousin and son-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Born to Abu Talib ibn Abd al-Muttalib an ...

, the first

Shia Imam In Shia Islam, the Imamah () is a doctrine which asserts that certain individuals from the lineage of the Islamic prophet Muhammad are to be accepted as leaders and guides of the ummah after the death of Muhammad. Imamah further says that Imam ...

. Bahraluloom was educated in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, earning a Ph.D. in

Petroleum Engineering Petroleum engineering is a field of engineering concerned with the activities related to the production of hydrocarbons, which can be either crude oil or natural gas or both. Exploration and production are deemed to fall within the ''upstrea ...

from the

New Mexico Tech The New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology (New Mexico Tech or NMT), formerly New Mexico School of Mines, is a public university in Socorro, New Mexico, United States. It offers over 30 Bachelor of Science degrees in technology, the scien ...

. He previously worked for the Kuwaiti Oil Ministry after graduating from the

University of Baghdad The University of Baghdad (UOB) (, also known as Baghdad University) is a public university, public research university in Baghdad, Iraq. It is the largest university in Iraq and the tenth largest in the Arab world. History The College of Isl ...

in BSc Petroleum Engineering. He worked for the Petroleum Recovery Research Center in

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

, and later as an oil and gas consultant in

London, United Kingdom London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

Political career

Bahraluloom ran for parliament by forming his own independent political group, the Future Iraq Grouping. He was elected as a member of the National Iraqi Assembly in 2005, and was elected for another term as a member of parliament from 2014 - 2018. He was a member of the Oil & Energy Parliamentary committee where he headed the committee in forming the legislation for the Iraqi National Oil Company Law. The law was passed in March 2018. He is a founding member of the Alalamain Institute for Higher Education. The first and only private higher education institute specialising in law and political science for postgraduate studies in Iraq. Bahraluloom is the chairman of the Iraqi Energy Academy, a scientific establishment whose mission is to develop human resources for the energy sector through the process of training and qualification. He survived an assassination attempt in Iraq in 2003 and another in 2005.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bahr Al Ulloum, Ibrahim 1954 births Living people University of Baghdad alumni New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology alumni Oil ministers of Iraq Iraqi Shia Muslims