Page 21 - Records of Bahrain (4) (i)_Neat

Appointment of Shaikh Hamad b.'Isa A l Khalifah, 1923 11
4
possible extent and we have no wish to fetter litigants or
those who seek arbitration, from free recourse to Shara but
any Qazi who permits the interference or advocacy of influent­

ial persons or their submitted cases to Shara will be dis­
missed from his appointment, be he Sunni or Shiah, The only
persons who have the power to commit cases to Shara are
Shaikh Hamad and the Political Agent, Bahrain, or their reg-
ularly appointed deputies, Qazis are expected to be vigil-
ant against these abuses and to defeat these attempts by sus­
pending cases and reporting to Shaikh Hamad or the Political

Agent, Bahrain, as may seem most convenient or expedient in
the particular case. I repeat that the free intercourse of
litigants themselves direct to Shara is a right which, God
forbid! I or anyone else should interfere with.
Attempts by unauthorised persons to usurp executive
or judicial authority will be resented and punished, partic­

ularly attempts by persons who constitute themselves leaders
of any community as has been done in the past.
Gentlemen of the Al-Khalfia!
I am afraid that looking to the past it is my duty
to warn you that you must not expect that because you have
taken the trouble to be born you have therefore a right to

live on the rest of the community, whether by allowances
from the revenues of these Islands or by preying on the
poor and helpless. "He who will not work, neither shall
he eat" is a good motto and you had better apply it to your
own case. Those of you who lend your energies to assisting

Shaikh Hamad in his thankless task of raising the Government
of these Islands to the plane of modern civilization will be
liberally rewarded and given opportunities of exercising such
talents as God has given you. Those who sit still and do
nothing must be content with a bare pittance for subsistence.
Those who do mischief will be cut off absolutely and punish­

ed accordingly. In any case it is Shaikh Hamad to whom all
classes must now look for reward and punishment and he
British Government, here by my mouth, promises him full
support