Faisal I of Iraq

Faisal bin Al Hussein Bin Ali El-Hashemi (Arabic: فيصل بن حسين Fayṣal ibn Ḥusayn; May 20, 1883 – September 8, 1933) was for a short time king of Greater Syria in 1920 and king of Iraq from August 23 1921 to 1933. He was a member of the Hashemite dynasty, a descendant of the tribe of Muhammad.

Early life

He was born in Ta'if (in present-day Saudi Arabia) in 1883, the third son of Hussein bin Ali, Sharif of Mecca, the Grand Sharif of Mecca. In 1913 he was elected as representative for the city of Jeddah for the Ottoman parliament. In 1916, on a mission to Istanbul, he visited Damascus twice. On one of these visits he received the Damascus Protocol, joined with the Al-Fatat group of Arab nationalists, and his father became king of Hijaz.

First World War

Faisal sided with Great Britain in World War I and with the help of T. E. Lawrence organised a revolt against the Ottoman Empire and this way helped ending the Caliphate. He conquered Medina after a long siege, after defeating the defense organized by the Ottoman Fakhri Pasha. Some of Faisal's critics considered fighting along side Christians as a betrayal to Islam. This motivated Iqbal to write against him. Though Faisal was a descendant of the Prophet Mohammad, Arab nationalism and independence, not religion, was his main motivation. Faisal also worked with the Allies during World War I in their conquest of Greater Syria and the capture of Damascus, where he became part of a new Arab government in 1918. He led the Arab delegation to the Paris Peace Conference of 1919 and, with the support of the knowledgeable and influential Gertrude Bell, argued for the establishment of independent Arab emirates for the area previously covered by the Ottoman Empire. His role in the Arab Revolt was described by T.E. Lawrence in Seven Pillars of Wisdom, although the accuracy of that book has been criticized by historians. On January 3, 1919 Faisal and Dr. Chaim Weizmann, President of the World Zionist Organization signed the Faisal-Weizmann Agreement, in which Faisal conditionally accepted the Balfour Declaration based on the fulfillment of British wartime promises of independence to the Arabs. These were not kept.^[1][2] Weizmann argued that the fulfillment was kept eventually and therefore the agreement still held.^[2]

King of Iraq

On March 7, 1920 he was made king of Greater Syria by the Syrian National Congress.

The Ephemeral Hashemite Kingdom of Syria

However, in April 1920 the San Remo conference gave France the mandate for Syria, which led to the battle of Maysalun on July 24, 1920. Faisal was expelled from Syria by the French and went to live in the United Kingdom in August of that year. 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. Following a plebiscite showing 96% in favor, Faisal agreed to become king. In August 1921 he was made king of Iraq. He was instrumental in making his country nominally independent in 1932. He died on September 8, 1933 when he had a heart attack whilst he was staying in Berne, Switzerland. He was succeeded on the throne by his oldest son Ghazi.

Film

He has been twice portrayed on film: in David Lean's epic Lawrence of Arabia (1962), played by Alec Guinness, and in the unofficial sequel to Lawrence, A Dangerous Man: Lawrence After Arabia (1990) by Alexander Siddig.

References

•  • e Heads of state of Iraq
Kingdom of Iraq (1921-1958) (under British mandate, 1920-1932) Kings of Iraq	Faisal I · Ghazi · Faisal II
Republic of Iraq (since 1958) Presidents of Iraq	Muhammad Najib ar-Ruba'i† · Abdul Salam Arif† · Abd ar-Rahman al-Bazzaz*†  · Abdul Rahman Arif† · Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr† · Saddam Hussein · occupation  · Ghazi Mashal Ajil al-Yawer  · Jalal Talabani
* acting     † military