Page 163 - Histories of City and State in the Persian Gulf_Neat

Restructuring city and state 143

rents and taxes, which continued to be levied as a percentage of the value
of sales. In theory, the employees of the Al Khalifah were also in charge of
collecting baladiyyah dues. In practice, the municipality was progressively
forced to buy old tax-farming rights from Shaykh ‘Isa and his relatives in
order to collect revenue and to assuage the sensibilities of Baharna
retailers who increasingly resorted to the majlis to voice their grievances
against the ruling family.
The meat market became the centre of fierce disputes. In an unprece-
dented move in 1921, a group of butchers (al-qassabun) raised the price of
meat. They appealed to the municipal council, complaining that the
margin of profit was too narrow to make ends meet as a result of the
high rent of market stalls. They also voiced their dissatisfaction against
Shaykh ‘Isa, still the ruler of Bahrain, who imposed excessive taxation
upon the butchers working in the slaughterhouse (al-muhawsi). 76 After a
municipal delegation entered negotiations with the ruler, Shaykh ‘Isa
lowered the tax on meat imports in order to ease the burden of the
butchers, and granted the municipality the rights to enforce collections
on sheep skins and leather, which was the main bone of contention in the
slaughterhouse. 77 This episode is significant as the first documented
instance of the appropriation on the part of the baladiyyah of the custom-
ary system of taxation enforced by the Al Khalifah. A poignant statement
recorded by the secretary sealed the decision of the majlis: ‘after having
removed the causes of dissent and injustice the interests of the ruler
continue to be respected while the municipality gains material benefit
and moral reward.’ 78
This rhetoric of common good sealed the new partnership between the
ruler and municipal councillors, particularly notables like ‘Abd al-Nabi
Bushehri and Ahmad ibn Sallum who were still serving as tax-farmers and
contractors for Shaykh ‘Isa. Eleven years later fresh complaints from
al-qassabun suggest that municipal authority had not yet become fully
established. The Al Khalifah, the butchers claimed, were still sending
their own employees to the meat market and forced many of them to
hand over a quarter of their profit on meat sales. When the case was
brought again to the attention of the council in March 1933, the majlis
firmly upheld its exclusive rights to appoint brokers. Yet the councillors
turned a deaf ear to the activities of the ruler’s collectors as long as the

76
MMBM, 2 and 17 Muharram and 24 Jumada al-Thaniyyah 1340/5 and 20 September
1921 and 21 February 1922, R/15/2/1921 IOR.
77
R/15/2/1921 IOR: MMBM, 15 and 29 Rajab 1340/17 and 31 October 1921 and 12 and 27
Sha‘ban 1340/10 and 25 April 1922; Secretary of Manama Municipality to Shaykh ‘Isa
bin ‘Ali Al Khalifah, 28 Sha‘ban 1340/26 April 1922.
78
MMBM, 27 Sha‘ban 1340/25 April 1922, R/15/2/1921 IOR.