Mohammed Hasan Kamaluddin (Arabic: محمد حسن كمال الدين, born 1941) is a Bahraini former cabinet minister, member of parliament, ex-diplomat, poet, historian, writer and researcher. He is best known for having published the first Encyclopedia of Bahraini History, stretching from 3000 B.C. to the modern Bahraini state. It is the largest and first work of its kind in the GCC region.
Early life
Born in 1941 in Noaim district, Manama, his father Syed Ali Kamaluddin was a revolutionist and a political activist against the British colonial influence in Bahrain, and the head of the National Union Committee, a nationalist political organization formed in the 1950s. At the age of 7, Mohammed was forced to work in his uncle's shop, who treated him harshly. However, upon hearing of the commencement of the registration in elementary schools, he secretly registered his name in the applying student's list, only to escape from working with his uncle. He was therefore officially enrolled in the Western Primary School in Manama. During his school life, he participated in several competitions and received awards in public speaking and poetry. He was also awarded for academic excellence throughout his school years.
Creation of a Literacy School
At the age of 16, Syed Ali Kamaluddin, the father of Mohammed, was deported for 14 years by the British authorities in Bahrain headed by Charles Belgrave, along with the other 7 members of the National Union Committee, upon declaring the committee illegal by the British for its activities against the British colonial influence and its presence in Bahrain.
In 1956, Kamaluddin created the first private literacy school in Bahrain, as a personal contribution to his society, aiming to fight illiteracy that was spread in Bahrain during the 1950s, and provide an opportunity of education for the illiterate adults, as no official schools existed in Bahrain before the year 1919. With the help of local elderly men who supported and encouraged the idea, the starting location of the school was at Noaim's Western Matam (Hussainia), where Kamaluddin personally taught private lessons of the basics of reading and writing the Arabic language. The number of students soon expanded, as a great number of elderly men and women of the area attended the school. Soon after, the department of education in Bahrain acknowledged his personal yet highly cultural and advanced contribution as the first of its kind in Bahrain, and decided to expand the school by providing additional teachers and supplying the students with great number of educational books, and opened a section for women. At that time, Noaim’s area witnessed a huge trend towards education, and therefore Kamaluddin raised a demand to the department of education in Bahrain to open two official public schools in the area, a school for boys and another for girls. The suggestion was accepted, and so the department officially announced the opening of two new schools in the area of Noeim in the 1960s, making Noaim one of the few areas in Bahrain to have educational schools at that time.
Establishing Noaim's Cultural Club
As the creation of the Literacy School was widely successful and acknowledged by the official authorities of the state, Kamaluddin created the first social, cultural, and sports club in the Noaim area in 1959. Again, the elderly notables applauded the idea, and therefore Kamaluddin communicated with the Secretary of the Bahraini Government at that time, to officially approve the establishment of the club, and the club was therefore officially established in 1959. The club held several cultural, sports, and social events and activities that were acknowledged at a national level. The first soccer team of the club was formed in 1959. A local theatre was also established, and a number of high quality plays were performed by actors from the area. The club still operates as one of the well known cultural clubs in the Kingdom of Bahrain under the name of "The Cultural Center of Noaim Youth", and Kamaluddin is currently its honorary president.
Education and studies
Kamaluddin studied Arabic literature and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Arabic language and literature from the University of Damascus, Syria in 1969. He then received a master's degree in history from the University of Mysore in India. He also received an honorary doctoral degree in history from the Institute of Arabian History in Baghdad, Iraq.