Faisal I of Iraq
Faisal I فيصل الأول | |||||
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King of Iraq | |||||
Reign | 23 August 1921 – 8 September 1933 | ||||
Predecessor | Military occupation | ||||
Successor | Ghazi I | ||||
Prime Ministers | See list | ||||
King of Syria | |||||
Reign | 8 March 1920 – 24 July 1920 | ||||
Predecessor | Military occupation | ||||
Successor | Monarchy abolished | ||||
Prime Ministers | See list
| ||||
Born | 20 May 1885 | ||||
Died | 8 September 1933 Bern, Switzerland | (aged 48)||||
Burial | Royal Mausoleum, Adhamiyah | ||||
Spouses | Huzaima bint Nasser Latifa bint Hamed | ||||
Issue |
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Hussein bin Ali, King of Hejaz | |||||
Mother | Abdiyah bint Abdullah | ||||
Religion | Sunni Islam[3] |
Faisal I bin Al-Hussein bin Ali al-Hashemi (
The third son of Hussein bin Ali, the Grand Emir and Sharif of Mecca, Faisal was born in Mecca and raised in Istanbul. From 1916 to 1918, with British assistance, he played a major role in the revolt against the Ottoman Empire. He helped set up an Arab government in Syria, based in Damascus, and led the Arab delegation at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919. In 1920, the Syrian National Congress proclaimed Faisal king, rejecting the French claim to a Mandate for Syria. In response, France invaded a few months later, abolished the kingdom and forced him into exile.
In August 1921, in accordance with the decision made at the
Early life
Faisal was born in
Following the Ottoman Empire's declaration of war against the Entente in December 1914, Faisal's father sent him on a mission to Constantinople to discuss the Ottomans' request for Arab participation in the war. Along the way Faisal visited Damascus and met with representatives of the Arab secret societies al-Fatat and Al-'Ahd. After visiting Constantinople Faisal returned to Mecca via Damascus where he again met with the Arab secret societies, received the Damascus Protocol, and joined with the al-Fatat group of Arab nationalists.[citation needed]
World War One and the Great Arab Revolt
On 23 October 1916 at
In his book Seven Pillars of Wisdom, Lawrence sought to put the best gloss on Faisal's double-dealing as it would contradict the image he was seeking to promote of Faisal as a faithful friend of the Allies betrayed by the British and the French, claiming that Faisal was only seeking to divide the "nationalist" and "Islamist" factions in the ruling Committee of Union and Progress (CUP).[10] The Israeli historians Efraim Karsh and his wife Inari wrote that the veracity of Lawrence's account is open to question given that the major dispute within the CUP was not between the Islamist Djemal Pasha and the nationalist Mustafa Kemal as claimed by Lawrence, but rather between Enver Pasha and Djemal Pasha.[11]
In the spring of 1918, after Germany launched
Post World War I
Participation in peace conference
In 1919, Emir Faisal led the Arab delegation to the
Greater Syria
British and Arab forces took Damascus in October 1918, which was followed by the Armistice of Mudros. With the end of Turkish rule that October, Faisal helped set up an Arab government, under British protection, in Arab controlled Greater Syria. In May 1919, elections were held for the Syrian National Congress, which met the following month.
Faisal–Weizmann Agreement
On 4 January 1919, Emir Faisal and Chaim Weizmann, President of the Zionist Organization,[12] signed the Faisal–Weizmann Agreement for Arab-Jewish Cooperation, in which Faisal conditionally accepted the Balfour Declaration, an official declaration on behalf of the British government by Arthur Balfour, promising British support to the development of a Jewish homeland in Palestine.[13] Once Arab states were granted autonomy from the European powers, years after the Faisal-Weizmann Agreement, and these new Arab nations were recognized by the Europeans, Weizmann argued that since the fulfillment was kept eventually, the agreement for a Jewish homeland in Palestine still held.[14] In truth, however, this hoped-for partnership had little chance of success and was a dead letter by late 1920. Faisal had hoped that Zionist influence on British policy would be sufficient to forestall French designs on Syria, but Zionist influence could never compete with French interests.[citation needed] At the same time Faisal failed to enlist significant sympathy among his Arab elite supporters for the idea of a Jewish homeland in Palestine, even under loose Arab suzerainty.
Following the decisions taken by the
King of Syria
This section needs additional citations for verification. (June 2014) |
On 7 March 1920, Faisal was proclaimed
King of Iraq
Accession to the Iraqi throne
In 1920, Iraqis gathered in sociable meetings in coffeehouses and tents during the winter of 1920 to discuss which form of government and leader the new Iraqi state should have.[18] The British government, mandate holders in Iraq, were concerned at the unrest in the colony. They decided to step back from direct administration and create a monarchy to head Iraq while they maintained the mandate.[19] The idea was to set up a native leader who would be popular among the Iraqi people while still maintaining close relations with the British government.[18]
In March 1921, at the Cairo Conference, the British decided that Faisal was a good candidate for ruling the British Mandate of Iraq because of his apparent conciliatory attitude towards the Great Powers and based on advice from T. E. Lawrence (more commonly known as Lawrence of Arabia). But, in 1921, few people living in Iraq even knew who Faisal was or had ever heard his name. With help of British officials, including Gertrude Bell, he successfully campaigned among the Arabs of Iraq and won over the popular support of the minority Sunni. However, the Shia majority were at first lukewarm about Faisal, and his appearance at the port of Basra was met with indifference.[20] From 23 April to 8 May 1921, Iraqis including most notably Nuri Pasha al-Sa'id would send telegrams to Faisal, inviting him to Iraq as its prospective king. Between May and June, Faisal sent representatives to confirm his election.[21]
On 12 June 1921, Faisal left Jeddah for Iraq alongside several Iraqi nobles and Sir Kinahan Cornwallis on the RIMS Northbrook, and on 23 June, Faisal first landed in Iraq on the main port of Basra.[22] Faisal's arrival was met with a mixed response, while most Iraqis welcomed him in large numbers and groups, some people, especially the Ulama' at Najaf and the tribesman of Southern Iraq, including Samawah, were either disappointed or hostile which shocked Faisal. Despite this, the Mayor of Baghdad at the time sent a telegram to greet Faisal. The city of Hillah also welcomed him. When Faisal arrived in Baghdad on 26 June, he was widely welcomed by Baghdadis. The next day, an ovation was given to him in al-Kadhimiyya, where he prayed at its main mosque and was welcomed.[23]
Faisal became a candidate for King of Iraq alongside other candidates such as the
Reign
During his reign as King, Faisal encouraged pan-Arab nationalism that envisioned ultimately bringing the French mandates of Syria and Lebanon together with the British mandate of Palestine under his rule. Faisal was keenly aware that his power-base was with the Sunni Arabs of Iraq, who comprised a minority.[25] By contrast, if Syria, Lebanon and Palestine were incorporated into his realm, then the Sunni Arabs would comprise the majority of his subjects, making the Arab Shiites and the Kurds of Iraq into minorities.[25] Furthermore, the Arab Shiites of Iraq had traditionally looked towards Persia for leadership, and the rallying cry of Pan-Arabism might unite the Arab Sunnis and Shiites around a common sense of Arab identity.[26] In Iraq, the majority of the Arabs were Shiites who had not responded to the call for Sharif Hussein to join the "Great Arab Revolt" as the Sharif was a Sunni from the Hejaz, thus making him a double outsider.[10] Rather than risk the wrath of the Ottomans on behalf of an outsider like Hussein, the Shia of Iraq had ignored the Great Arab Revolt.[10] In the Ottoman Empire, the state religion was Sunni Islam and the Shiites had been marginalized for their religion, making the Shia population poorer and less educated than the Sunni population.[citation needed]
Faisal himself was a tolerant man, proclaiming himself a friend of the Shiite, Kurdish and Jewish communities in his realm, and in 1928 criticized the policy of some of his ministers of seeking to fire all Jewish Iraqis from the civil service, but his policy of promoting pan-Arab nationalism to further his personal and dynastic ambitions proved to be a disruptive force in Iraq as it drew a wedge between the Arab and Kurdish communities.[27] Faisal's policy of equating wataniyya ("patriotism" or in this case Iraqiness) with being Arab marginalized the Kurds who feared that they had no place in an Arab-dominated Iraq, indeed in a state that equated being Iraqi with being Arab.[27]
Faisal also developed desert motor routes from
During the
Faisal saw the
Public relationship with Iraqis
When Faisal first came to Iraq, he was a stranger to the cultural and social life. Due to this, throughout his reign, he tried his best to immerse himself in understanding the ways of his new country. A few weeks after he arrived in Iraq, he was greeted by the respected Islamic scholar Mahmud Shukri al-Alusi, and met with several educated Iraqis to learn of their perspectives and conditions. Even becoming a patron in several clubs such as the 1920s Baghdadi "Irshad Club." Faisal started a tradition of receiving several writers and poets regularly.[32] Among these poets was Ma'ruf al-Rusafi, who wrote poems praising the King.[33] Another poet that Faisal received and made a part of his royal court was al-Jawahiri, who was made a member after Arab Nationalist Sati' al-Husri falsely accused him of being an Iranian.[34][35]
Another group that Faisal held greatly were teachers as he saw them as important figures to encourage and cultivate. Accompanied by Rustam Haidar, he regularly toured Baghdadi schools, including Christian and Jewish, and inspected their conditions as part of his agenda. He met with several teachers, both male and female, to motivate them to work as he considered teachers to be more significant than a king's or minister's work.[32]
However, the poets had also caused Faisal trouble in the matter of education. An example was when Faisal opened the first girls' school in Najaf and received backlash from the conservative groups in the traditionalist city. In response during the opening occasions, al-Jawahiri, who was a Najafi himself, wrote scathing lines criticizing the conservative nature of the city's people in his poem named "The Reactionaries" which was published in several newspapers. This would cause a large outcry in the city which reached Faisal's attention. Faisal would confront al-Jawahiri reportedly saying "Are you aware of the calls and cables I have received that all say that this is the work of your "son, Muhammad," who works under your auspices and protections? And do you know how much grief this has caused me?" In response, al-Jawahiri apologized and offered to resign, but Faisal decided to forgive al-Jawahiri and decided to keep him in his royal court.[35]
Relations with religious groups
Faisal regularly attended Friday prayers as it helped him meet with the public Iraqi people more.[32] Faisal was noticeably unaffected by sectarian considerations, and was noted by al-Rihani to have a faith that reflected all Islamic dominations, which made him respect, and be tolerant to all world religions. Abbas Baghdadi, a young writer, recounted how Faisal would pull up in the Arab attire to the al-Sarai Mosque for Friday Prayers, which was decided to be the main Friday Prayers mosque. Faisal has also ordered the reconstruction of Sufi shrines in Mosul such as the tekke of the Shadhili Order.[36] Faisal also met with leaders of smaller religious communities such as chief Rabbis from both Baghdad and Mosul.[37]
Faisal had great tolerance for Shi'i Muslims and was a component of inter-faith.
In March 1932, just months before independence, Faisal wrote a memorandum where he complained about a lack of Iraqi national identity, writing:
Iraq is a kingdom ruled by a Sunni Arab government founded on the wreckage of Ottoman rule. This government rules over a Kurdish segment, the majority of which is ignorant, that includes persons with personal ambitions who lead it to abandon it [the government] under the pretext that it does not belong to their ethnicity. [The government also rules over] an ignorant Shiite majority that belongs to the same ethnicity of the government, but the persecutions that had befallen them as a result of Turkish rule, which did not enable them to take part in governance and exercise it, drove a deep wedge between the Arab people divided into these two sects. Unfortunately, all of this made this majority, or the persons who harbor special aspirations, the religious among them, the seekers of posts without qualification, and those who did not benefit materially from the new rule, to pretend that they are still being persecuted because they are Shiites.[41]
Foreign relations
Faisal encouraged an influx of Syrian exiles and office-seekers to cultivate better Iraqi-Syrian relations. In order to improve education in the country Faisal employed doctors and teachers in the civil service and appointed Sati' al-Husri, the ex-Minister of Education in Damascus, as his director of the Ministry of Education. This influx resulted in much native resentment towards Syrians and Lebanese in Iraq.[42] The tendency of the Syrian emigres in the education ministry to write and issue school textbooks glorying the Umayyad Caliphate as the "golden age" of the Arabs together with the highly dismissive remarks about Ali gave great offense in the Shi'i Muslim community in Iraq, prompting protests and leading Faisal to withdraw the offending textbooks in 1927 and again in 1933 when they were reissued.[42]
Palestinian issue
In 1929, when bloody rioting broke out in Jerusalem between the Arab and Jewish communities, Faisal was highly supportive of the Arab position and pressured the British for a pro-Arab solution of the Palestine crisis.[43] In a memo stating his views on Palestine submitted to the British high commissioner Sir Hubert Young on 7 December 1929, Faisal accepted the Balfour Declaration, but only in the most minimal sense in that the declaration had promised a "Jewish national home".[30] Faisal stated he was willing to accept the Palestine Mandate as a "Jewish national home" to which Jews fleeing persecution around the world might go, but he was adamant that there be no Jewish state.[30] Faisal argued that the best solution was for Britain to grant independence to Palestine, which would be united in a federation led by his brother, the Emir Abdullah of Trans-Jordan, which would allow for a Jewish "national home" under his sovereignty.[44]
Faisal argued that what was needed was a compromise under which the Palestinians would give up their opposition to Jewish immigration to Palestine in exchange for which the Zionists would give up their plans to one day create a Jewish state in the Holy Land.[30] Faisal's preferred solution to the "Palestine Question", which he admitted might not be practical at the moment, was for a federation that would unite Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Palestine under his leadership.[30]
Independence and last years
In 1932, the British mandate ended and Faisal was instrumental in making his country independent. On 3 October, the Kingdom of Iraq joined the League of Nations.
In August 1933, incidents like the
In July 1933, right before his death, Faisal went to London where he expressed his alarm at the current situation of Arabs that resulted from the Arab-Jewish conflict and the increased Jewish immigration to Palestine, as the Arab political, social, and economic situation was declining. He asked the British to limit Jewish immigration and land purchases.
Death
King Faisal died of a heart attack on 8 September 1933 in Bern, Switzerland.[2] He was 48 years old at the time of his death. Faisal was succeeded on the throne by his eldest son, Ghazi.
A square is named in his honor at the end of
Marriage and children
Faisal was married to Sharifa Huzaima bint Nasser and had with her one son and three daughters, and to Latifa bint Hamed and had with her one son.
- Princess Azza bint Faisal.
- Princess Rajiha bint Faisal.
- Princess Rafia bint Faisal.
- King Ali of Hejaz.
- Prince Mohammed bin Faisal.[46]
Film
Faisal has been portrayed on film at least three times: in David Lean's epic Lawrence of Arabia (1962), played by Alec Guinness; in the unofficial sequel to Lawrence, A Dangerous Man: Lawrence After Arabia (1990), played by Alexander Siddig; and in Werner Herzog's Queen of the Desert (2015), played by Younes Bouab. On video, he was portrayed in The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: Chapter 19 The Winds of Change (1995) by Anthony Zaki.
Ancestry
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See also
- Faisal–Weizmann Agreement
- List of Syrian monarchs
- Timeline of Syrian history
- Battle of Maysalun
- Ali of Hejaz
- Abdullah I of Jordan
- Ghazi of Iraq
- Hussein of Hejaz
References
- ^ a b c "rulers.org". rulers.org. Retrieved 2 January 2012.
- ^ a b c d e f "britannica.com". britannica.com. 8 September 1933. Retrieved 2 January 2012.
- ^ IRAQ – Resurgence In The Shiite World – Part 8 – Jordan & The Hashemite Factors, APS Diplomat Redrawing the Islamic Map, 14 February 2005
- ^ Allawi 2014.
- ISBN 9780810864566.
- ^ Lawrence 1997, p. 76.
- ^ Faisal of Arabia, The Jerusalem Post
- ^ a b Karsh, Efraim Islamic Imperialism A History, New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006 pages 137–138
- ^ Karsh & Karsh 2022, p. 195.
- ^ a b c Karsh & Karsh 2022, p. 196.
- ^ a b Karsh & Karsh 2022, p. 197.
- JSTOR 40105338.
- ^ United Nations (8 July 1947). "Official records of the Second Session of the General Assembly". Archived from the original on 7 May 2015. Retrieved 20 October 2018.
- ^ Official records of the Second Session of the General Assembly (A/364/Add.2 PV.21), United Nations, 8 July 1947 Archived 7 May 2015 at the Wayback Machine
- OCLC 1004745577. Retrieved 17 May 2021. (PhD thesis)
- ^ Hardi, Mahdi Abdul (2017). Documents on Palestine. Vol. I. Jerusalem: PASSIA. p. 78.
- ^ Justin Marozzi: the High Commissioner,Baghdad - City of Peace, City of Blood, (2014).
- ^ a b Ireland 1936, p. 303.
- ^ a b Allawi 2014, pp. 339–340.
- ^ "Letters from Baghdad" documentary (2016) Directors: Sabine Krayenbühl, Zeva Oelbaum.
- ^ Ireland 1936, p. 318.
- ^ a b Ireland 1936, p. 326.
- ^ Ireland 1936, pp. 327–328.
- ^ Rezonville (17 February 1931). "VI. King Faisal I - First Issue, 1927 & 1932 - rezonville.com". Rezonville.com. Retrieved 26 September 2018.
- ^ a b Masalha 1991, p. 679.
- ^ Masalha 1991, pp. 679–680.
- ^ a b Masalha 1991, pp. 690–691.
- ^ Masalha 1991, p. 681.
- ^ Masalha 1991, p. 682.
- ^ a b c d e Masalha 1991, p. 684.
- ^ Masalha 1991, pp. 689–690.
- ^ a b c Allawi 2014, p. 499.
- ^ a b Allawi 2014, p. 370.
- ^ a b Allawi 2014, p. 493.
- ^ a b Allawi 2014, p. 494.
- ^ Allawi 2014, p. 500.
- ^ Allawi 2014, p. 502.
- ^ Allawi 2014, p. 379.
- ^ Allawi 2014, p. 386.
- ^ Allawi 2014, p. 387.
- ^ Osman, Khalil Sectarianism in Iraq: The Making of State and Nation Since 1920, London: Routledge, 2014 page 71
- ^ a b Masalha 1991, p. 690.
- ^ Masalha 1991, pp. 683–684.
- ^ Masalha 1991, pp. 684–685.
- ^ Time, 28 August 1933
- ^ Rasit
- ISBN 9781860643316. Retrieved 7 February 2018.
- ^ "Family tree". alhussein.gov. 1 January 2014. Retrieved 8 February 2018.
Works cited
- ISBN 978-0-300-12732-4.
- Lawrence, Thomas Edwards (1997). The Seven Pillars of Wisdom. Wordsworth Editions.
- Karsh, Efraim; Karsh, Inari (2022). Empires of the Sand: The Struggle for Mastery in the Middle East, 1789-1923. ISBN 9780674039346.
- Ireland, Philip (1936). Government and administration of Iraq: A study in political development. University of London (London School of Economics and Political Science). OCLC 1006212063.
- Masalha, N. (October 1991). "Faisal's Pan-Arabism, 1921-33". Middle Eastern Studies. Vol. 27, no. 4. pp. 679–693. ISSN 0026-3206.
Further reading
- Simon, Reeva S. (June 1974). "The Hashemite 'Conspiracy': Hashemite Unity Attempts, 1921–1958". International Journal of Middle East Studies. 5 (3): 314–327. S2CID 162677596.
- Tripp, Charles (2007). A History of Iraq (3 ed.). New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-87823-4.
External links
- "Border Massacre". Time. 28 August 1933. Archived from the original on 22 November 2010. Retrieved 18 August 2009.
- "Death of Feisal". Time. 18 September 1933. Archived from the original on 9 October 2010. Retrieved 18 August 2009.
- "Dreaming in Arabic" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 January 2010. Retrieved 27 January 2010.
- "King Faisal of Iraq". Archived from the original on 25 October 2011. Retrieved 30 June 2011.
- Newspaper clippings about Faisal I of Iraq in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW