Ismail al-Atrash
Ismail al-Atrash (
Beginnings
Ismail was born to Muhammad al-Atrash. The latter was deaf, hence the family's name, "al-Atrash", which means "the deaf" in Arabic. Ismail's grandfather, also named Muhammad, migrated to the Hauran region south of Damascus in the early 19th century. Ismail was first mentioned in the historical record in the early 1840s when he joined Shibli al-Aryan, the Druze leader of Wadi al-Taym, in his efforts to intervene on behalf of the Druze of Mount Lebanon against the Maronites. Ismail gained a repute among the Druze for his battlefield performance and following al-Aryan's death, succeeded him as the virtual military chieftain of the Druze.
Ismail based himself in the village of al-Qurayya in the southern fringe of Jabal Hauran, the eastern mountainous region of Hauran, and was independent from the traditional ruling Druze sheikhs of the region.[1] He encouraged the settlement of al-Qurayya by Druze and Christian peasants and gradually formed his own sheikhdom.[1] Between the 1840s and the 1850s, he led the Druze in their conflicts with the local Bedouin tribes and the Ottoman authorities.[1] He eventually established alliances with the Bedouin tribes,[1] who paid him for access to water sources in his sheikhdom.[2] Many of his encounters with Bedouin tribal chiefs were recorded in the poems of his son Shibli; the poems became well-known among the Bedouin, and tribesmen as far as the Sinai Peninsula recited them.[1] He became an intermediary between the Bedouin and the Druze on the one hand and the authorities on the other.[1]
In 1852, he led the Druze sheikhs and their peasants in a revolt against Ottoman conscription orders.
Consolidation of power
During the
Druze migrants from Mount Lebanon arriving to Jabal Hauran between 1860 and 1867 boosted Ismail's strength and increased his leverage against his chief rivals, the Druze Bani Amer clan.[5] By 1867, he expanded his sheikhdom to include Mujaymir, Dhibin, Urman, Umm al-Rumman, Malah and Salkhad.[5] Moreover, the villages of Sahwat Balatah (controlled by Bani al-Hinnawi), al-Ruha and Kanakir (controlled by Abu Ras), Jubayb (controlled by Bani Sayf) and Khirbet Awad (controlled by Bani Sharaf al-Din) formed part of his zone of influence.[6]
Ismail was pardoned by the authorities for his role in the 1860 civil war in early 1866.
In 1868, Ismail and Hazima Hanaydi were accused of involvement in the death of Faris Amer, prompting Faris's successor Asad and Wakid al-Hamdan to join forces with the Bedouin Sulut tribe in their war against Ismail.[9] Rashid Pasha sought to avert a further deterioration in the province and invited the Druze sheikhs for reconciliation talks in Damascus.[9] In the subsequent agreement, Ismail was replaced as mudir by his son Ibrahim. Furthermore, Jabal Hauran was reorganized to be administered by a majlis (council) consisting of the Druze sheikhs and overseen by a qaimmaqam.[9] The area was divided into four nawahi (subdistricts; sing. nahiyah) based on the boundaries of the existing Druze sheikhdoms.[9] Ismail had eight sons and installed each of them to head a major village controlled by the clan; the lesser villages were overseen by the al-Atrash sheikh of Salkhad.[10]
Death
Ismail died in November 1869 and was succeeded by his son Ibrahim.[11] Rumors circled that Ismail died of poisoning and that Wakid of the Bani Amer was responsible.[12] After Ismail's death a power struggle ensued between his sons Ibrahim and Shibli, which ended when the latter recognized his elder brother as Ismail's successor. Shibli eventually assumed his father's role following Ibrahim's death.[12]
References
- ^ a b c d e f Firro 1992, p. 186.
- ^ Firro 1992, p. 188.
- ^ Firro 1992, p. 187.
- ^ a b c d Firro 1992, p. 189.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Firro, p. 190.
- ^ Firro 1992, pp. 190–191.
- ^ a b c d Firro, p. 191.
- ^ Firro 1992, pp. 191–192.
- ^ a b c d Firro 1992, p. 192.
- ISBN 9780932885265.
- ISBN 9781136162985.
- ^ a b Firro 1992, p. 194.
Bibliography
- Farah, Caesar E.; Centre for Lebanese Studies (Great Britain) (2000). Politics of Interventionism in Ottoman Lebanon, 1830–1861. I. B. Tauris. ISBN 9781860640568.
- Fawaz, L.T. (1994). An Occasion for War: Civil Conflict in Lebanon and Damascus in 1860. University of California Press. p. 190. ISBN 9780520087828. Retrieved 2015-04-16.
Isma'il al-Atrash.
- Firro, Kais (1992). A History of the Druzes. Vol. 1. BRILL. ISBN 9004094377.