MANAMA, Bahrain: Head of Shiite Muslim Council of Ulema in Bahrain has warned that violence could erupt in the Gulf Arab country if a proposed family law "meant to please the United States" was passed by the authorities.

Speaking to worshippers in the village of Daraz west of Manama, Sheikh Issa Qassem said: "If this law passes, it will not be possible to revoke it without blood ... And blood may be of no use, as the Iraq example shows."

"We do not want the country to shed one drop of blood, especially among its own people," said Qassem, whose community forms a heavy majority in Bahrain.

Qassem said a proposed law that would regulate family and other personal status matters in Bahrain should be drafted by clergymen and "approved by the marjaiya (Shiite religious authority) in (the Iraqi holy city of) Najaf."

Islamic Sunni and Shiite courts currently rule on family and other personal status cases. Bahraini women activists have long been demanding that a law regulating personal status issues be enacted and that related disputes be referred to civil courts.