Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa, GCB, GCMG (Arabic: عيسى بن سلمان آل خليفة‎; 3 June 1933 – 6 March 1999) was the 1st emir of Bahrain from 1961 until his death. Born in Jasra, he became emir upon the death of his father, Salman ibn Hamad.

Reign

Isa's reign began in December 1961 since his father Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa died in November. His mother was Mouza bint Hamad Al Khalifa. Isa visited Ayetollah Mohsin Al Hakim İn Najaf in 1968 to indicate his keenness to reinforce relationships with the Shia.

His term saw Bahrain gain its independence from the United Kingdom in 1971. While the government initially considered joining the United Arab Emirates, Isa had his country withdraw (along with Qatar) over his dissatisfaction with the proposed constitution . He then attempted to introduce a moderate form of parliamentary democracy, and men (though not women) were given the vote in parliamentary elections in 1973. In August 1975, however, he dissolved Parliament because it refused to pass the government-sponsored State Security Law of 1974. The parliamentary system was never restored and forced the emir to contend with occasional protests from the leftist and Islamist camps, which reached their peak in 1994 (see: History of Bahrain).

The House of Khalifa (Arabic: آل خليفة‎ Āl Khalīfah) is the royal family of Bahrain. The Al Khalifas profess Sunni Islam. The current head of the family is Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, who became the Emir of Bahrain in 1999 and via the National Action Charter which obtained the support of an overwhelming majority 98.4 of the people, Bahrain was declared a Kingdom and Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa the King of Bahrain in 2002.

List of monarchs of Bahrain of the Al Khalifa family

Ruling Family Council

Decisions pertaining to the Al Khalifa family, as well as disputes between family members are arbitrated by the Ruling Family Council (Arabic: مجلس العائلة الحاكمة‎). The council attends to internal family disputes particularly those related to appropriation of land, sale of real estate and other properties. Members of the ruling family are not allowed to refer these or other disputes to ordinary law courts.

Relations between the political leadership and the rest of the "rank and file" members of the Al Khalifa ruling family have been formally managed by the council since 1932. However, on the eve of the 1973 parliamentary elections, then the Amir Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa issued a decree restructuring the Ruling Family Council to become a formal organ of the state, and giving the administrative head of the council the rank of minister.