Deconstructing Minorities/Majorities in Parliamentary Gulf States (Kuwait and Bahrain)

Protecting the World’s Shia: Where’s the International Community?

إسقاط الجنسية عن الشيخ عيسى قاسم: السعودية تهدد بإشعال البحرين

See also al-Quds al-Arabi

Bahrain’s Unending Repression: Enough Already!

See also Financial Times editorial: ‘Bahrain crackdown fans the sectarian flames‘ which concludes:

‘The disturbing turn of events threaten Bahrain’s long-term stability.
That should worry Washington and London. The UK wants to avoid
jeopardising a recent deal for the expansion of an existing naval base
that is being financed by the Bahraini government. American officials
have also long argued that a policy of engagement tempers hardliners
within the regime and encourages reform. Clearly this is not the case.

Washington should reimpose the ban on arms sales to Bahrain lifted last
year. The UK should follow suit. Mere statements of concern are deeply
unconvincing. The time has come for tougher measures.’

See also statement from Human Rights Watch: ‘Bahrain: Senior Cleric Faces Deportation‘

and statement from Amnesty International: ‘Bahrain: Authorities must halt repression after week of intensified clampdown on human rights‘

Contested modernity: divided rule and the birth of sectarianism, nationalism, and absolutism in Bahrain

Sheikh Isa Qassim: What lies behind Bahrain’s latest opposition crackdown? – BBC News

Time to Move the 5th Fleet? How US Appeasement Is Undermining Bahrain’s Stability

[This article takes on added meaning after Bahrain’s move against Sheikh Isa – Ed.]

Bahrain strips religious leader of nationality

See also: BBC News: ‘Bahrain revokes top Shia cleric Isa Qassim’s citizenship’

Bahrain: Order to Dissolve Key Opposition Group

‘Sunni-Shi’i Rapprochement:
Internal Contradictions’

Hamid Mavani

Abstract
Ecumenical initiatives to promote Sunni-Shi’i reconciliation and
mutual respect have failed to take root because they do not tackle
the incendiary issues that prompt each branch to view the other with
disdain, if not as outright apostates or unbelievers. I argue that this
will not change until the main fault lines in their worldviews, communal
self-understanding, sacred narratives, history, theology, and
philosophy are confronted head-on.

If this cannot be done, then all proclamations of Muslim unity and
brotherhood/sisterhood under one ummah will remain hollow and
lack substance, because each side’s internal discourse would remain
unchanged. Any type of mutual tolerance and coexistence prompted
by expediency and power dynamics cannot be expected to be deeprooted
and long-lasting. The United States, along with such other
local and foreign players as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Iran, Iraq, and
Syria, have instrumentalized Sunni-Shi’i sectarianism to promote
their own myopic vested interests. The result is clear for all to see:
an exponential increase in Sunni-Shi’i antagonism.

The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences 33:1 (2016), 133-47