Page 343 - Bahrain Gov Annual Reports (III)_Neat

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inspecting wakf property, matems and mosques in different parts of the islands. The committee
members gave their services freely but the staff of the department and the cost of the administration
wbre paid by the State.

In 1350 (1932-33) it was decided that the committee members should be changed and an election
was held in all the Shia villages and in Manama, voting was by ballot and the villagers took an enthu­
siastic interest in the election. Afterwards a new committee was elected every four years but the
President, a leading Shia, was appointed by the Government. For many years Saycd Ahmed bin
Sayed Alawi, of Manama, held this post and on his retirement in 1364 Haji Mohsen-al-Tajar, one of
the most active Manama Shia notables took over the presidency of the majlis. By 1351 (1932-33)
the department was dealing with over 1800 separate properties which involved many and complicated
accounts, these were audited every year by the Government auditors.
During the first ten or twelve years of its existence there were occasional half-hearted attempts,
organised by the Shia Qadis, to overthrow the department. The Sunni Qadis, who still controlled
the Sunni wakf property, went so far as to link themselves with the Shia Qadis, with whom they were
normally on terms of somewhat frigid friendship in an attempt to assist their Shia colleagues to recover
the control of wakf affairs knowing that the Sunni Arabs would eventually follow the example of the
Shias. The Sunni Qadis ran an organisation,, which they referred to as the Sunni Wakf Department,
consisting of the three Qadis themselves, two clerks and an overseer. It was only in 1365, during the
absence of Shaikh Abdul-latif bin Saad, the most forcible of the Sunni Qadis, that the Government
was able to insist on the appointment of a committee of leading Arabs to look into the administration
of the Sunni wakf properties.

Among its activities the Shia Wakf Department deals with the« repair and upkeep of mosques
and matems, as far as its funds will allow. There are in Bahrain many thousands of. Shia mosques ;
in almost every garden mosques have been built and in the smallest villages there are at least three
or four, but only a small proportion of them possess any income. The- department's representative
appears in the court when cases are heard which involve wakf property, such cases are very numerous.
The department is by degrees obtaining Government title deeds for all wakf land in Bahrain but
this is a lengthy work as counter claims against wakf property, are frequent. The committee is a useful
institution in matters other than wakf affairs and it is often consulted by the.Government about
questions of general interest, the municipal councils represent public opinion in the towns and similarly
the Shia Wakf Committee represents to a certain extent the people of the villages. The committee
co-operated with the Government when the first census was made and during the war it assisted in the
distribution of poor relief among the people of the country villages.

Most of the wakf property consists of date gardens whose revenue varies in good and bad seasons,
the following figures show the revenue collections since the department, was first organise^.
Year. Amount.
Rs.
1349 18.700
1350 17.700
1351 21.000
1352 24.000
1353 28.600
1354 18,300
1355 18,100
1356 26.000
1357 18,300
1358 24,400
1359 17,800
1360 22.700
1361 25.200
1382 37.600
1363 52.000
1364 69.000
1365 71.200