[1]: 73 It was formed by 'Abd al-Fattah Ibrahim and Mohammed Hadid, both law students whom had studied abroad and adopted socialism, and though the latter came from a wealthy Mosulite family most of its ranks were from an expanding middle class of youth with no hope of participating in formal politics.
It saw itself as a "school for the people,"[3] and focused on bringing about an expansion of civil society through pushes for enhanced democratic rights and something akin to British Fabian socialism—all based in non-sectarian cooperation.
[4]: 116–123 In general, it emphasized equal rights regardless of social status (and democratic representational governance), welfare reform on a sort of collectivist model, and their growth from traditional institutions like family, religion, and patriotism.
However, it is important to note that despite its ostensible goal of educating Iraqis and home-growing a civil society the Ahali group was hindered by its intellectualist bent and the fact that it focused more on Western than indigenous culture.
In September 1933 they formed the Association for Combatting Illiteracy and thereby converted individuals not only in Baghdad to their cause, but members from Basrah, Nasiriyyah, Kufah, Ba'qubah, and Hillah—that is, more "provincial" locales that were notoriously hard to access.
Yasin al-Hashimi and Ali al-Rashid had established the harshest restrictions on freedom of the press and political activity of any prior cabinet under the monarchy, and Hashimi had intimated that he sought to stay in power beyond his tenure (albeit not explicitly).
[5] In April 1936 the Ahali group published one issue of a paper titled al-Bayan accusing the administration of neglecting promises for reform, and instead selling control of the Iraqi economy to the British with a railway agreement.
Rather, Hikmat Sulayman had developed a close relationship with Sidqi owing to their mutual admiration of Mustafa Kemal's reforms in Turkey, and foisted the connection upon the rest of the al-Ahali group.