The Founder

The late Sheikh Isa bin Mohammed Al Khalifa, may Allah have mercy on him, was the spiritual father of ElEslah. He returned after he had finished his study in Cairo in 1962 to join AlEslah Club, and became its president in 1968. From then until his death on August 13, 2015 he was the chairman of the Board of Directors of the Society. He won uncontested in December 2014 for the last time before his death as Chairman of the Board for the eighteenth session for the years 2015-2016.

The late began, since he took over the presidency of the Club, with his brothers in the board of directors to communicate with his Gulf environment and the Islamic world. One of the outcomes of that communication was mentioned by Sheikh Isa concerning the attitude of Sheikh Abdulaziz bin Baz, the former Mufti of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, towards raising funds for building the current headquarters of the AlEslah Society, as he recommended the Society to the Saudi leadership that offered a large donation at the time.

There are many achievements of the late with his brothers in AlEslah Club including establishment of the Social Committee in 1970 and the establishment of the first center for the memorization of the Holy Quran in 1975 which was considered the first step in building a broad base of young people who will manage Islamic and charity work of the Society in the future. The third step aimed to establish the correct Islamic culture through organizing the first Islamic exhibition in the country in 1979 which was opened by His Royal Highness Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, Prime Minister, may Allah protect him.

The 1980s culminated in the great efforts of the deceased and the members of AlEslah Club as the Society inaugurated its permanent headquarters under official auspices and encouragement to be a new start in which the Society led a broad trend in the community. The late Shaikh and his companions realized that the Society is distinguished by its interest in educating its young male and female members, benefiting from their energies and experiences and educating them to serve the religion and build their homeland through standards of the moderate approach to Islam away from extremism. This interest was expressed through providing outstanding students with scholarships in distinguished universities under the direct supervision of the Society, organizing ongoing exhibitions and holding a series of weekly lessons in the mosques of Bahrain. The year 1996 witnessed the birth of the General Assembly conferences. The First AlEslah Conference was organized under the title "Towards a Closer Connection with the Community." These conferences continued to this day with the aim of exploring, developing and framing the future of Islamic work to cope with the recent changes and developments.

The giving of our late Sheikh continued hand in hand with the members of this blessed Society which started in the third millennium to complete and develop its work through adopting institutional work through the launching of several projects serving large sectors of society. The most important of these sectors is the youth sector. The Society provided a sophisticated model in charitable work. As a result, it achieved quality standards and the ISO certification in 2006. At the student working level, the Society established projects dealing with youth and youngsters affairs such as the good seeds, the holy Quran oases, Alm’ali, university Graduates forum and Girls Club. All of these institutions of the Society witness continuous developments and quality shifts recognized by all. With God’s grace, Sheikh Issa had on 12th May 2015 before his death sponsored the launch of a book dating the history of AlEslah Society on the occasion of the 75th anniversary ceremony of the Society.

To quote late Sheikh Isa in this context: "The future cannot be confined in today’s thought, but we at least aspire that the level of performance of AlEslah Society and the quality of cadres doing the activities of the Society are role models in terms of science, knowledge and experience so that we can insure that they are the best successors to the best predecessors."

The late Sheikh, besides his role in this good and blessed message through his management of AlEslah Society is considered a role model of moderate thought and is known for his situations in support of all constitutional rights and national action, and his quest for national unity among different groups of the community.

• Sheikh Isa bin Mohammed bin Abdullah Al Khalifa was born in Muharraq on 10 Ramadan 1355 AH corresponding to 25 November 1936. He died on 23 Shawwal 1436 H corresponding to 13 August 2015 and was buried in the cemetery of Henaniya.

• His father is Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdullah bin Isa Al Khalifa, founder of literary club in Muharraq during the period from 1920 to 1930 and his mother is Sheikha Nila bint Khalid Al Khalifa. He has five brothers and one sister. He is the seventh and youngest of them.

• The deceased had married and had three children; Mohammad, Abdullah, and Salman.

• Sheikh Issa studied at Al-Hidaya Al-Khalifa School and graduated in 1950. He continued his studies at Helwan Secondary School in Egypt where he received the secondary school certificate in 1956. Then he studied law at Cairo University in the Arab Republic of Egypt and received a bachelor's degree in public law in 1962.

• The positions held by the late Sheikh Isa bin Mohammed:
- Judge in the courts of Bahrain (1963 - 1968)
- President of the Supreme Court (1968-1973)
- Member of the Supreme Court of Appeal and the undersecretary of the Ministry of Justice (1973 - 1974)
- Minister of Justice and Islamic Affairs (1974-1975)
- Minister of Labor and Social Affairs (1975 - 1980)

• Bodies and Societies headed by the late Sheikh Isa bin Mohammed:
- The most important of these bodies was AlEslah Society, from 1967 until his death.
- Chairman of the Bahrain Lawyers Society (1980).
- Chairman of the Board of Directors of Ibn Khaldun National School (1985 - 1994).
- President of Anti-Smoking Society.
- Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Ibn al-Haytham Islamic Private School.
- Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Al-Falah Private Schools.
- Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Middle East private schools.

• The late Sheikh was also a member in various bodies and Societies:
- International Bar Society.
- Arab Society for the Protection of Intellectual Property.
- Gulf advisers.
- A Founding member and secretary of the International Islamic Charity Organization in Kuwait Islamic Da’wa Organization in Khartoum (Sudan).
- Member of Al-AlBayt Foundation (Jordan).

• The late received a number of honors as follows:
- The Order of Shaikh Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa (Bahrain).
- The order of Al-Hussein Bin Ali (Jordan).
- Order of Merit (Egypt).
- The "Himeon" Medal (Iran).

• The author Dr. Hisham AlSheikh documented the biography of the late Sheikh Isa bin Mohammed in a book entitled, "Isa bin Mohammed, A Success story of the pioneer of ElEslah". The book was issued in 2012, and included about 200 photographs and historical documents.