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184 Histories of City and State in the Persian Gulf

observer, there was a fine line between ‘old fashioned riots’ and the new

nationalist demonstrations. 89

Activists were divided with regard to the issue of civil unrest, although

they often had no means of imposing order during marches. After a crowd

of protesters assaulted the convoy of Selwyn Lloyd, the British Foreign

Secretary, during an official visit to Bahrain in March 1956, al-Bakir

publicly denounced some of these actions as ‘hooliganism’. ‘Abd al-

‘Aziz Shamlan, in contrast, was reported to have delivered inflammatory

90

anti-imperialist speeches to the mob. Demands from the popular

base created a rift between al-Bakir and al-‘Alawayt which was accentu-

ated by the evo lution of opposing ideological positions. While al-Bakir

had become the custodian of Pan-Arabism by pursuing contacts with

Nasserist Egypt, and was a staunch supporter of the peaceful credentials
of al-Hay’ah as a populist organisation, al-‘Alawayt had to come to terms

with the turbulence of many followers of Manama’s ma’tams who repre-

sented his power base (see Figure 12). 91
The potential for political dissidence embedded in Shi‘i political cul-
ture and ritual resurfaced under the shadow of the new nationalist rhet-
oric. Many of the young, the unemployed and the disaffected used
Muharram celebrations to mobilise against the government, the support-
ers of the Arabist secular line promoted by al-Bakir and, in some cases,
even against the old notable class. By 1956 many of the followers of al-
‘Alawayt, often inflamed by ma’tam preachers, started to support a ‘right-
eous’ revolution against the Al Khalifah, Belgrave, British imperialism
and the urban ‘reactionaries’. The turbulence of devotees started to define
the nationalist credentials of houses of mourning such as Ma’tam al-
Qassab, Hajj ‘Abbas, al-Madan and Ras Rumman, which were drawn
into the nationalist orbit by the activism of their followers. 92 Only in a few
cases were old merchant families still able to influence the political ori-
entation of congregations. The most notable were the Ibn Rajabs, who
sided with the government following a tradition which dated back to the
second half of the nineteenth century. 93
Three days of intense rioting which engulfed Manama in November
1956 marked the breakdown of the idea of peaceful civil protest advocated
89
R. A. Read, ‘Report on Strikes and Riots in Bahrain’, 12 March 1956, FO 371/120545
PRO.
90
Belgrave Diaries, 2 March 1956, AWDU; Khuri, Tribe and State in Bahrain, pp. 207–8;
al-Bakir, Min al-Bahrayn, p. 105.
91
al-Bakir, Min al-Bahrayn, pp. 58–9; Khuri, Tribe and State in Bahrain, pp. 210–13.
92
Interviews with Muhammad Ja‘far Muhsin al-‘Arab and ‘Abdallah Sayf, Manama, 10 and
20 April 2004; al-Bakir, Min al-Bahrayn, pp. 54–5.
93
See p. 100.