This article records tradition as it has been passed down and reported. Its sources are not yet part of the atlas's verified catalogue.
Bahrain regulated its Sunni and Jaafari Shia waqf endowments through two separate administrations for decades, a division that mirrored the kingdom's own sectarian demographic mix rather than any doctrinal disagreement over how endowments themselves should work. King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa ended that separation by Royal Order No. 18 of 2026, creating the Council of Islamic Endowments Affairs to unify oversight of both communities' endowments under one institutional framework.
The Council is chaired by Nawaf bin Mohammed Al Maawda, Minister of Justice, Islamic Affairs and Endowments, with a twelve member board serving a four year term, a governance shape that places both communities' endowment oversight under a single ministerial chair rather than under two separate directorates reporting independently.
Unification did not mean absorption. The pre-existing Sunni Endowments Administration and Jaafari Endowments Administration continue beneath the Council as separate executive bodies, managing mosques, prayer halls and endowed property for their respective communities, so the 2026 reform coordinates the two administrations from above rather than merging their day to day work into one undifferentiated body.