Page 437 - Bahrain Gov Annual Reports (IV)_Neat

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Payments to officials of mosques which possessed income from Waqf property was
Rs. 84,097 and Rs. 21,000 was paid by the Department to officials of mosques which had no
income. The cost of the Religious School, for 11 months, was Rs. 7,904.
Expenditure on Waqf property, mosques and gardens was Rs. 90,564 and Rs. 4040 was
given in alms to the poor. At the end of the year the Department had a bank balance of
Rs. 1,19,382.

Included in the work which was carried out during the year was the construction of a two
storied house, for letting, on the Manama Sea Road on the north-eastern side of the land owned
by and opposite to theJuma Mosque. This valuable property was previously in the hands of one
of the Kadis and for many years it remained empty. Latterly the department took it over and
proceeded to build on it. About a dozen new shops and a number of rooms above shops were
built in the bazaar. An artesian well was drilled to irrigate a Waqf garden at Karzakan,
13 mosques in Manama were repaired, one was demolished and rebuilt at Hidd and a large
mosque in Manama was supplied with electric light, which was paid for by His Highness.
The old wells in several mosques were filled in and connections were obtained from the town
water supply.
The following were the members of the committee which manages the Waqf Department :
Haj Khalil Ebrahim A1 Moayad.
Haj A. Aziz Al Ali A1 Bassam.
Haj A. Rehman A. Wahab Al Zayani.
Haj Mohamed Mubarak Al Fadel.
Haj Sulman bin Ahmed Kamal.
Haj Mohamed Hassan A. Hassan.
At the end of the year a statement of accounts was published in the Government Gazette
for the information of the public.

PASSPORT DEPARTMENT

(From the Report of Mr. Kadhim Al Asfoor, Passport Officer)
Revenue.—The revenue collected by the department in 1371 was Rs. 72,771/-, the main
source of income being book passports, Rs. 15,385/-, Travel Passes, Rs. 24,104/- and Entry
Forms Rs. 9,202/-. Last year the total collections amounted to Rs. 52,600/-. If the revenue
continues to increase at the present rate the department will soon be self-supporting.
Pilgrims.—During the year under review the Government of Saudi Arabia abolished the
f fees for Moslem pilgrims coming from any part of the world to Mecca. This was probably
the cause of the considerable increase in the number of Bahrain Arabs who performed the
Pilgrimage, in 1370 only 34 persons carried out the Pilgrimage but in 1371 there were over 450
pilgrims from Bahrain. The number of Shia pilgrims who visited the Holy Cities of Iraq was
over 3,000, an increase of about 900 over the previous year. Most of these pilgrims belonged
to the working classes and many were from the villages; the fact that they possessed the funds
for this long and expensive expedition is an indication of their financial position. The Shia
pilgrims spend about two months on the journey staying in Basra, Baghdad, Najaf and Kerbala.
Frequently they spend all their savings on these expeditions and it is not unusual for one
individual to perform the Pilgrimage several times in a lifetime.
Over 400 Bahrain Arabs, merchants, clerical employees, Shaikhs and shopkeepers spent
the summer months in the Lebanon. Although the Lebanon is probably the most expensive
country in the Middle East yet it is becoming moro and more popular as a summer resort
among the people of Bahrain. In the past Bahrain Arabs used to go to India or Pakistan for
their holidays ; the fashion has now changed and everybody who can afford it, as well as many
who should not afford it, spend part of the summers in the Lebanon.