Sheikh Adel Al Mouwda was the second deputy chairman of

Bahrain Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and a ...

's parliament of 2002, the

Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourbon Res ...

, and the former leader of salafist party,

Asalah The Al-Asalah Islamic Society ( ar, جمعية الأصالة الإسلامية) is the main Sunni Salafist political party in Bahrain. The party is the political wing of the Islamic Education Society (''Al-Tarbiya Al-Islamiya'') which funds ...

. Sheikh Al Mouwda is considered the leading spokesman for political Islam in Bahrain and is known for his forthright views, which has seen him often quoted in the international press. In March 2011, Mouwda was expelled from the Asalah bloc for boycotting an extraordinary meeting of parliament voting on Al Wefaq's en-masse resignation.

Political positions

Sheikh Al Mouwda has been at the forefront of criticism of government plans to build a new national museum to showcase the ancient

Dilmun Burial Mounds The Dilmun Burial Mounds ( ar, مدافن دلمون) are a UNESCO World Heritage Site comprising necropolis areas on the main island of Bahrain dating back to the Dilmun and the Umm al-Nar culture. Bahrain has been known since ancient times ...

, telling MPs that the money should be used to construct housing over the extensive mounds, saying
We must have pride in our Islamic roots and not some ancient civilisation from another place and time, which has only given us a jar here and a bone there.
Along with

Al-Menbar Islamic Society The Al-Menber National Islamic Society ( ar, جمعية المنبر الوطني الإسلامي, ) is the political wing of the Sunni Islamist Al Eslah Society in Bahrain and Bahrain's branch of the Muslim Brotherhood. The president and p ...

's Sheikh

Mohammed Khalid Sheikh Mohammed Khalid Ibrahim ( ar, محمد خالد إبراهيم , born 2 November 1964) is a Bahraini Islamist politician and a member of the Al-Menbar Islamic Society in Bahrain. He was an MP in the lower house of the Bahraini parliament, ...

, Sheikh Al Mouwda has clashed repeatedly with government ministers in parliament over alcohol sales and claimed credit for enforcing a ban on alcohol in five star hotels over Ramadan 2006. He has vowed to "Clean Bahrain's tourism sector from its alleged dependence on this poison

Although he has sought to reach out to Shia leaders in Bahrain, Sheikh Al Mouwda has been critical of Iranian influence in the region, telling ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'': "If Iran acted like an Islamic power, just Islam without Shiism, then Arabs would accept it as a regional Islamic power. But if it came to us with the Shia agenda as a Shiite power, then it will not succeed and it will be powerful, but despised and hated

Like other Bahraini Islamist leaders such as

Ali Salman Ali Salman Ahmed Salman ( ar, علي سلمان أحمد سلمان) is a Bahraini Twelver Shi'a cleric and the Secretary-General of the Al-Wefaq political society. In January 1995, the Bahraini government forcibly exiled him to Dubai for leadi ...

, Sheikh Al Mouwda formerly lived in London. The radicalization of his political views is said to have occurred whilst studying at the

University of North London The University of North London (UNL) was a university in London, England, formed from the Polytechnic of North London (PNL) in 1992 when that institution was granted university status. PNL, in turn, had been formed by the amalgamation of the No ...

(now

London Metropolitan University London Metropolitan University, commonly known as London Met, is a public research university in London, England. The University of North London (formerly the Polytechnic of North London) and London Guildhall University (formerly the City ...

References

External links

Interview with Salafi Sheikh Adel al- Moawda (English)
Asharq Alawsat, 17 September 2006
Members of the Chamber of Deputies with links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mouwda, Adel Members of the Council of Representatives (Bahrain) Alumni of the University of North London Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Bahraini Islamists Sunni Islamists Al Asalah politicians