House of Al Khalifa
| Al Khalifa | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Country | Bahrain |
| Parent house | `Anazzah |
| Titles | King of Bahrain |
| Founded | 1766 |
| Founder | Khalifa bin Mohammed |
| Current head | Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa |
The House of Khalifa (Arabic: آل خليفة Āl Khalīfah) is the royal family of Bahrain. The Al Khalifas profess Sunni Islam of the Maliki sect. The current head is Hamad bin Isa, who became the Emir of Bahrain in 1999 and via the National Action Charter which obtained the support of 98.4% of the people. Bahrain was declared a Kingdom and Hamad bin Isa became the King of Bahrain in 2002.
Decisions pertaining to the Al Khalifa family, as well as disputes between family members are arbitrated by the Ruling Family Council (Arabic: مجلس العائلة الحاكمة). The council attends to internal family disputes particularly those related to appropriation of land, sale of real estate and other properties. Members of the ruling family are not allowed to refer these or other disputes to ordinary law courts.
Relations between the political leadership and the rest of the "rank and file" members of the Al Khalifa ruling family have been formally managed by the council since 1932. However, on the eve of the 1973 parliamentary elections, then the Amir Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa issued a decree restructuring the Ruling Family Council to become a formal organ of the state, and giving the administrative head of the council the rank of minister.
The Ruling Family Council is currently chaired by King Hamad, its Deputy Chairman is Mohammed bin Khalifa bin Hamad Al Khalifa, and the Director General is Ibrahim bin Khalid bin Mohammed Al Khalifa.
The King appoints the members of the board of the Ruling Family Council as recognised representatives of various kingship lines and factional alliances within the Al Khalifa family.
Al Khalifa is commonly mistranscribed al-Khalifa. The Al (آل) written with the long (madda) alif is unconnected to the following word and means house, in the sense of family or dynasty, and is not the definite article particle al- 'Al' can also mean 'of'.
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