Home › Multilingual Archive Index › Al Khalifa family

Al Khalifa family

The Al Khalifa (Arabic: آل خليفة) dynasty is the ruling Sunni family of Bahrain. The Al Khalifa clan belongs to the Anizah tribe that migrated from Najd to kuwait in the early Eighteenth Century. After ariving at Kuwait, they entered under the umbrella of the Bani Utbah at Kuwait. The current head of the family is Hamad ibn Isa Al Khalifa who became the emir in 1999 and gained the title of king in 2002.

List of the emirs of Bahrain from the Al Khalifa dynasty

• Ahmed Al Fateh: ? - 1795 (shaikh 1783 - 1795)
• Abdullah ibn Ahmad Al Khalifa: ? - 1843 ( shaikh 1820 - 1843)
• Salman ibn Ahmad Al Khalifa: ? - 1825 ( shaikh 1820 - 1825)
• Khalifah ibn Salman Al Khalifa: ? - 1834 ( shaikh 1825 - 1834)
• Muhammad ibn Khalifa Al Khalifa: ? - 1869 ( shaikh 1834 - 1842, 1843 - 1868 )
• Ali ibn Khalifa Al Khalifa: ? - 1869 ( shaikh 1868 - 1869)
• Muhammad ibn Khalifa Al Khalifa: ? - 1897 ( shaikh Sept. 1869 - Dec. 1869) - second reign
• Muhammad ibn Abdullah Al Khalifa: 1813 - 1890 ( shaikh Dec.1869)
• Isa ibn Ali Al Khalifa: 1848 - 1933 ( shaikh 1869 - 1933)
• Hamad ibn Isa Al Khalifa (1872-1942): 1872 - 1942) ( shaikh 1932 - 1942)
• Salman ibn Hamad Al Khalifa (1895-1961): 1895 - 1961 ( shaikh 1942 - 1961)
• Emir Isa ibn Salman Al Khalifa: 1933 - 1999 ( shaikh 1961-1971 emir 1971 - 1999)
• King Hamad ibn Isa Al Khalifa: 1950 ( emir 1999-2002 King 2002 - Present )

Other notable members

• Khalifa ibn Sulman Al Khalifa, Prime Minister of Bahrain and considered the backbone of the country. He is the son of late Hakim Salman ibn Hamad Al Khalifa (1895-1961) and brother of late Emir Sheikh Isa; the current King Sheikh Hamad is his nephew.
• Mohammed bin Salman Al Khalifa
• Salman Ebrahim Mohamed Ali Al Khalifa, captured in Afghanistan, held in extrajudicial detention by the USA in Guantanamo for four years.
• Meriam Al-Khalifa, the daughter of Sheikh Abdullah bin Ibrahim Al-Khalifa; married Jason Johnson, a United States Marine and a Mormon, against her family's wishes and moved to the United States. They subsequently filed for a divorce on November 17, 2004, one day after their fifth anniversary.
• Sheikh Salman bin Hamad Al-Khalifa, crown prince and chief of defense force.

See also

• History of Bahrain
• 1783 Al Khalifa invasion of Bahrain
• Utub
• Bani Utbah

External links

• Bahrain: The Ruling Family of Al Khalifah, A. de L. Rush, Archive Editions, 1991
• History and genealogy of the Al Khalifa
• Genealogy of the Al Khalifa
• Rulers.org — Bahrain List of rulers for Bahrain