Page 177 - Histories of City and State in the Persian Gulf_Neat

‘Disorder’, political sociability and the urban public sphere 157

national community in response to the new challenges and opportunities
offered by municipal reform and by the reorganisation of Bahrain’s state
administration under the aegis of the British agency.

The baladiyyah affair: the emergence of Arab sentiment
The 1923 clashes between Persians and Arabs form the centrepiece of the
early nationalist mythology of Bahrain. At the end of the hostilities Shaykh
‘Isa was deposed by the Government of India so that the agency could
pursue the institutional reforms initiated with the establishment of the
baladiyyah. The official announcement of the formal abdication of the
ruler triggered competing political visions for the future of Bahrain.
Loyalists of Shaykh ‘Isa, including a group of young Sunni intellectuals
and aristocrats from Muharraq, affirmed the legitimacy of his government
and started to promote new ideas of self-determination against British
rule. In contrast, the plans for administrative modernisation pursued by
the Government of India relied on the cooperation of the regent Shaykh
Hamad, Shaykh ‘Isa’s eldest son and successor. 16 As Muharraq became
the stronghold of the supporters of Shaykh ‘Isa, they started to see it as the
centre of a new ‘Arab national’ government in opposition to Manama,
whose ‘foreign’ settlers and municipality became construed as the lynch-
pin of British domination. In other words, under the escalating threat of
British imperialism Bahrain began to be imagined as a political and
territorial entity, united by Arab solidarities, by the very elites who con-
stituted the pillars of the old tribal regime.
During the 1923 disturbances one episode in particular became bitterly
contested: the confrontation between the municipal police and Najdi
rioters in the markets. The bone of contention was the composition of
the police forces, mostly Persians, who opened fire in the market, killing
several rioters. The involvement of the newly established baladiyyah
placed the agendas of urban factions within a new framework. ‘Abdallah
al-Qusaybi, the brother of ‘Abd al-‘Aziz, rushed to the British agency,
accusing the security forces of having targeted his followers at the instiga-
tion of the Persian secretary of the municipality, Muhammad Sharif. The
secretary, himself an immigrant who had arrived in Bahrain around 1915,
became the self-appointed defender of Persian interests. He launched a
campaign against the al-Qusaybis in the municipal council, accusing
the family of having instigated the riots in order to undermine civic

16
For a detailed account of the events which led to the deposition of Shaykh ‘Isa and its
aftermath see Rumaihi, Bahrain, pp. 176–80 and al-Tajir, Bahrain 1920–1945, pp. 42–6.