Bahrain Mirror (Exclusive): In an article, Abdullah Al-Madani, an Al-Ayyam newspaper journalist, who specializes in Middle East-Asian affairs, wrote on how a Bahraini of Persian descent once protested against his family name being listed under the Ajam (Persians/foreigners) of Bahrain. Al-Madani had devoted one of his articles to talk about Persian Bahrainis, particularly Shiites. In his article titled "The Senior Ajami in Bahrain," he named the Akbari family as one of the most famous Ajam families in Bahrain among the names of many other families. This prompted Ismail Akbari (husband of writer Sawsan Al-Shaer and father of Bahraini Shura Council member Bassam Ismail Al-BinMohammad "Akbari") to protest. In his opinion, the title Ajam only applies to Shiites of Persian origin; not Sunnis, and that his family is "Bastaki" not "Ajami".

Al-Madani explained the circumstances of his phone call with him, saying: "My dear brother Ismail Akbari called me protesting against the inclusion of his family name with the Ajam of Bahrain (...) saying that the Akbari family is a Sunni Bastaki family. My response [to him] was that there is no reason to apologize, because there are Akbaris who are Ajam, including our friend Dr. Jaafar Akbari, and Sunni Akbaris as well like the family of our brother Ismail. The same applies to Ansar», and some like our friend Ghaloom Mohammed Abdul Ghani Al-Ansari are Sunni and some of them are Ajam."

This story reveals a form of identity disorder based on denial of origin. It is a disorder that makes one believe that in order to integrate into a new identity, he needs to create a new origin for himself or reinvent his origin with something not related to his origin. It's as if his origin is a stigma and that he must always repent from him. As such, Ismail Akbari does not feel that he is a complete Bahraini unless he denies his "Ajam" descent. Akbari's surname was dropped and replaced with "BinMohammad."

The study of cultural identities has made significant progress in recent decades. The concept of identity itself has become complex, fluid and capable of bringing together many elements, components and cultures without having to delete any of them. There is absolutely no problem in being both Bahraini and non-Bahraini.

Ismail Akbari and his son Bassam, like his mother Sawsan, can all become full-fledged Bahrainis without having to make up a rivalry with their origins. Ismail Akbari and his son Bassam should be proud of their Bahraini citizenship of Ajami Bastaki origin as a Briton of Indian descent would be proud of his origin, a Hispanic US citizen would be proud of his culture and an African Canadian would be proud of his origin.

The Akbari family emigrated with other Persian families during various periods from the Bastak county located between towering mountains in the depths of Persia and settled in Manama, Dubai and other Gulf cities for commercial reasons or to escape the Safavid state's oppression. But these migrations are now a part of history. There is no need to live in the past and dwell in the outdated wars of ethnic purity that produced Nazism and fascism. In one of his poems, poet Mahmoud Darwish wrote a genius description of identity. "Identity is the daughter of birth, but in the end it is the creativity of its owner, not an inheritance of the past," he said. Ultimately, identity is "the creation of its owner" - innovation towards the future and adaptation to the challenges of the times and modernity, not the past that has faded.

Arabic Version