The Two Arab Clans of Ottoman Empire Jerusalem; Khalidi and al-Husayni Who Still Try to End Israel

 Nadene Goldfoot                                           

                                               

Yusuf Diya al-Din Pasha al-Khalidi, approximately in the 1890s. Photo: Khalidi Library

In 1899, the sentiment of the Mayor of Jerusalem, at age 57, Yusuf Diya ali Khalidi,  wrote a letter to the Zadok Kahn, the chief rabbi of France in which he stated:

"Who can challenge the rights of the Jews in Palestine?  Good Lord!  Historically it is really your country!"  He had seen the return of Jews starting in 1880 from Eastern Europe and Russia.  At the time, the Ottoman Empire ruled the land.  

            Rabbi Zadok Kahn, Chief rabbi of France, (18 February 1839-1905) in Mommenheim, Alsace – 8 December 1905 in Paris) was an Alsatian-French rabbi and chief rabbi of France. He combatted anti- Semitism during the Dreyfus Case.   

Al-Khalidi played a key role in the opposing political factions established to prohibit the Ottoman Empire's attempts to violate the constitution. He also wrote the first Kurdish-Arabic dictionary.  From about 1517 to 1917, the Ottoman Empire ruled much of the region. When World War I ended in 1918, the British took control of Palestine and held the 30 year mandate from the League of Nations over the land.                                                             

Prof. Rashid Khalidi b:1948, writer;  His father was Ismail Khalidi.  "Rashid Ismail Khalidi is a Palestinian American historian of the Middle East, the Edward Said Professor of Modern Arab Studies at Columbia University, and director of the Middle East Institute of Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs."  

I have Said's book and cry when I read it as there are so many errors in his knowledge.  We do not agree at all on facts.  

Editor’s Note: This excerpt from Columbia University historian Rashid Khalidi’s newly released book, “The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonial Conquest and Resistance, 1917-2017,” was scheduled to run in the Wall Street Journal this weekend in its Review section. On Thursday, about two months after the Journal accepted Khalidi’s excerpt for publication, an editor informed him the piece was being killed because it “felt too close to the op-ed end of the spectrum.” The Review section is part of the Journal’s newsroom, which is supposed to be independent of its opinion department, which maintains an unremittingly pro-Israel stance. Days before deciding not to publish Khalidi’s book excerpt, the Journal published an editorial that warmly praised the Trump administration’s one-sided plan for Palestine drafted by the president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner. Asked for comment, the Journal said, “Opinion Department staff have no input into the essays run by Review’s editors. In preparing each week’s issue of Review, News Department editors have ongoing discussions to ensure that the essays in the section are differentiated from the Journal’s Opinion Department editorials and op-ed pieces. This can entail difficult editorial decisions, sometimes late in the process, as occurs in any news organization. We are pleased that Prof. Khalidi’s piece is running in The Intercept.”

In “The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine,” historian Rashid Khalidi explores the early Zionists’ colonialist justifications for their claim to Palestine.

Following the Ottoman conquest in 1517, the Land was divided into four districts and attached administratively to the province of Damascus and ruled from Istanbul. 

At the outset of the Ottoman era, an estimated 1,000 Jewish families lived in the country, mainly in Jerusalem, Nablus (Shechem), Hebron, Gaza, Safed (Tzfat) and the villages of Galilee. The community was comprised of descendants of Jews who had never left the Land as well as immigrants from North Africa and Europe.

 However, Al-Khalidi then suggested that, since Palestine was already inhabited, the Zionists should find another place for the implementation of their political goals. " ... in the name of God," he wrote, "let Palestine be left alone." Kahn showed the letter to Theodore Herzl, the founder of political Zionism. 

On 19 March 1899 Theodor Herzl,  reporter and founder of Zionism who died in 1904, replied to al-Khalidi in French assuring him that, if the Zionists were not wanted in Palestine, "We will search and, believe me, we will find elsewhere what we need."  The Jewish leadership had been searching and even considered Africa.  They despaired and realized that only Israel's original site-Palestine-would do as that is what the Jewish people had been praying for 3 times a day for some past 1900 years.  

Khalidi  served as mayor of Jerusalem from the years 1870 to 1876, 1878 to 1879, and 1899 to 1906.

Al-Khalidi was born in Jerusalem in 1842 His father, Muhammad Ali al-Khalidi, served as the head of the sharia court in Jerusalem for about sixty years. Members of the Khalidi family, one of the two politically prominent, old families of the local nobility (the other being the al-Husayni clan), continuously held the office through the 18th and 19th centuries. Although the Husayni clan was larger and wealthier, the Khalidis were more united and noted for their intellect. As a teenager, al-Khalidi may have been influenced by the Ottoman Reform Edict of 1856. At the age of 17, he wrote of his thoughts about the state of the world, personal dignity and the individual's quest to become free. He viewed the Ottoman Empire as being increasingly surrounded by European powers pilfering the region of its wealth and identified the cause of the situation to be the disparity in knowledge between the region and Europe.  

Musa al-Husayni was the Mayor of Jerusalem and led the Palestinian national movement.  Musa al-Husayni was mayor of Jerusalem, 1918–1920, the time right after WWI.

                                                  

    Kamil al-Husayni was the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem  1908-1921, 

The Husaynis were a major force in rebelling against Muhammad Ali who governed Egypt and Palestine in defiance of the Ottoman Empire. This solidified a cooperative relationship with the returning Ottoman authority. The clan took part in fighting the Qaisi tribe in an alliance with a rural lord of the Jerusalem area Mustafa Abu Ghosh, who clashed with the tribe frequently. The feuds gradually occurred in the city between the clan and the Khalidis that led the Qaisis, however these conflicts dealt with city positions and not Qaisi-Yamani rivalry. The Husaynis later led opposition and propaganda movements against the Young Turks who controlled the Ottoman Empire.

By the time of the British Mandate the clan had hundreds of members and its several branches encompassed thousands. They were mostly concentrated in the Old City, however a large number of clan members also lived in the neighborhoods of Sheikh Jarrah, the German Colony, Katamon, Baka and Musrara. Several members of the clan were appointed to important political positions such as Mayor and Grand Mufti of Jerusalem.  Mohammed Tahir al-Husayni was Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, 1860s-1908, followed by his son Kamil al-Husayni, 1908-1921, and then another son Mohammad Amin al-Husayni, 1921-1937. The main political rivals for the clan was the Nashashibi clan of Jerusalem, especially during the Mandate period. 

                                                 

Abd al-Qadir al-Husayni led Palestinian irregular forces against the Haganah and other Jewish militias during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. He died in combat in al-Qastal.

Before the formal commencement of the British Mandate, Musa and Amin al-Husayni incited the 1920 Palestine riots, resulting in many deaths. As a result, Musa was replaced as mayor by the head of the rival Nashashibi clan. Amin al-Husayni and Aref al-Aref were arrested, but when they were let out on bail they both escaped to Syria. A military court sentenced Amin in absentia to 10 years imprisonment, and he failed to qualify for a general amnesty in early 1921 because of his absence.   

                      

Mohammad Amin al-Husayni(1893-1974)  was the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem and President of the Supreme Muslim Council.  Haj Mohammad Amin al-Husseini /Husayni was also the Sherif of Jerusalem and also called the "Grand Mufti from  1921-1937.  

In1921, the  High Commissioner, Sir Herbert Samuel, an English Jew, appointed him as mufti of Jerusalem and head of the Supreme Moslem Council.  In 1936, as chairman of the Arab Supreme Council, he organized the Palestine disturbances for which he was sentenced to exile in 1937.  He fled to  Lebanon and during WWII, participated in Rashid Ali's pro-Axis coup in Iraq before going to Europe, where he assisted Hitler and was largely responsible for the liquidation of the Jews in the Moslem areas of Bosnia.  In 1946, he escaped to Egypt.  After 1948 and the birth of Israel, he set up a short-lived "Palestine Government in Gaza, and then later in Cairo.  

This same Husayni (Arabic: الحسيني‎ also spelled Husseini) is of a prominent Palestinian Arab clan formerly based in Jerusalem, which claims descent from Husayn ibn Ali (the son of Ali).  

Husayn ibn Ali ibn Abi Talib (Arabic: ٱلْحُسَيْن ٱبْن عَلِيّ ٱبْن أَبِي طَالِب‎, romanized: Al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlīy ibn ʾAbī Ṭālib‎; 10 January AD 626 – 10 October 680) was a grandson of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and a son of Ali ibn Abi Talib (the fourth caliph of Sunni Muslims and the first imam of Shia Muslims) and Muhammad's daughter Fatimah. He is an important figure in Islam as he was a member of the Household of Muhammad (Ahl al-Bayt) and the People of the Cloak (Ahl al-Kisā'), as well as the third Shia Imam.

                                                       

      Battle of Karbala, (October 10, 680 [10th of Muḥarram, AH 61]), brief military engagement in which a small party led by al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī, grandson of the Prophet Muhammad and son of ʿAlī, the fourth caliph, was defeated and massacred by an army sent by the Umayyad caliph Yazīd I.

The deep history of the family and Muhammad goes like this:  Prior to his death, the Umayyad ruler Mu'awiya appointed his son Yazid as his successor, contrary to the Hasan-Muawiya treaty. When Muawiya died in 680, Yazid demanded that Husayn pledge allegiance to him. Husayn refused to pledge allegiance to Yazid, even though it meant sacrificing his life. 

As a consequence, he left Medina, his hometown, to take refuge in Mecca in AH 60. There, the people of Kufa sent letters to him, asking his help and pledging their allegiance to him. So Husayn  traveled towards Kufa along with a small caravan of his relatives and followers, after getting some favorable indications, but near Karbala his caravan was intercepted by Yazid's army. He was killed and beheaded in the Battle of Karbala on 10 October 680 (10 Muharram 61 AH) by Yazid, along with most of his family and companions, including Husayn's six-month old son, Ali al-Asghar, with the women and children taken as prisoners. Anger at Husayn's death was turned into a rallying cry that helped undermine the Umayyad caliphate's legitimacy, and ultimately its overthrow by the Abbasid Revolution.

The story of Husayn has been a strong source of inspiration for Shi'i revolutionary movements, justifying their own resistance against unjust authority. In the course of the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran against the Pahlavi dynasty, Shi'i beliefs and symbols were instrumental in orchestrating and sustaining widespread popular resistance with Husayn's story providing a framework for labeling as evil and reacting against the Pahlavi Shah.

Religion matters very much even among the many followers of Muhammad in that they don't all agree in the protocals, anymore than all Christians are in agreement or even all Jews.  The Khalidi and Husayn clans in Palestine were like 2 competitor royalty lines for power.  

The Husaynis follow the Hanafi school of Sunni Islam, in contrast to the Shafi school followed by most of the Arab Muslim population of Palestine.Jordan also follows the Sunni-Shafti'i besides Djibouti, Brunei and the Maldives.

Lebanon follows Sunni Hanafi/Jafari;  Egypt is Sunni/Shafti'i, Iraq is mixed 

Shi'a/Sunni-Jafari/Hanafi; and Syria is mixed Sunni/Shi'a-Hanafi/Alevi

In order to know what makes the Palestinian mind tick, we need to know their back-

ground as much as possible; family history, religion, education, the works.  These 2

clan families held some power over the Palestinians, and they enjoyed it.  When we

Jews entered the field of their great opportunity, that was someone to fight, and 

they haven't yet stopped.  Mohammad Amin al-Husayni was the worst.  

Resource:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yousef_al-Khalidi

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Husayn_ibn_Ali

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Husayni_family

https://theintercept.com/2020/02/01/hundred-years-war-palestine-book-rashid-khalidi/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zadoc_Kahn

https://www.history.com/topics/middle-east/palestine#:~:text=From%20about%201517%20to%201917,British%20took%20control%20of%20Palestine.

2016: Year Judaism and Islam Get Together at Sundown, October 11th

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                      

Our Book of Life where everything we do is written down:
Only we ourselves are responsible, and no one else pays for our sins but us,
so we ask forgiveness and better mean it, for G-d will know.  "The Talmud,  (Rosh Hashana 32b),  says that on Rosh Hashana, God inscribes everyone's name into one of three books. The righteous go into the Book of Life, the evil go into the Book of Death, and those in-between have judgment suspended until Yom Kippur."

Blowing the Shofar on Rosh Hashana and Yom KippurThe shofar blast marks the beginning of a period of amnesty which is known as The Ten Days of Repentance. Repentance is based on the fact that since humanity has been given free-will, and our actions are not pre-determined, we must take responsiblity for our actions. The ability to repent teaches us that our future is not bound by our past and that by changing our behaviour we have the ability to change our past.

 Yom Kippur, the Jewish day of Atonement, falls on October 11, 2016 at sundown.  It's a remembrance day that starts with a special large dinner with the family and friends in preparation for the next 25 hours of fasting and being in the synagogue asking  for forgiveness for our sins against G-d..  Jews were directed by Moses to hold this holiday in perpetuity. ...In the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall afflict your souls, and you shall not do any work ... For on that day he shall provide atonement for you to cleanse you from all your sins before the L-RD. -Leviticus 16:29-30 This is our most holy and  important holiday of the year.

This year, a holiday I did not know about, Ashura, is also celebrated by Muslims at the very same hour, sundown of October 11th.  This is celebrated differently by Sunnis and Shiites.  With Sunnis,   (who refer to it as The Day of Atonement) as the day on which the Israelites were freed from the Pharaoh (called 'Firaun' in Arabic) of Egypt.   
                                                                               

Celebration of Shiite Muslims during Ashura showing extremes of the day. "Ashura is an islamic holiday that only the Shi’ites celebrate like this. Ashura is the day in which the Shi’ites repent for the loss of Husayn, Muhammad’s grandson." This is something they cannot pin on the Jews.  Ashura is also a day of fasting for some Sunni Muslims. The basis for Ashura in Sunni Islam, according to tradition, is the prophet Muhammad's adoption of this practice after observing Jews in Medina fasting on this day. 
However,Shi'a Muslims who are mainly found in Iran,  reject these stories and maintain that Ashura is a day of great sorrow due to the tragic events of Karbala so atone for letting Husayn get killed in battle.  .

  The Battle of Karbala took place on Muharram 10, in the year 61 AHof the Islamic calendar (October 10, 680 CE)  in Karbala, in present-day Iraq.  The battle took place between a small group of supporters and relatives of Muhammad's grandson, Husayn ibn Ali, and a larger military detachment from the forces of Yazid I, the Umayyad caliph.  
                                                                          

A revered Torah, a scroll

It is important to remember at this point that Judaism is far far older than Islam.  We attribute our Torah being written by Moses, who was already 80 years old when he trekked back to Egypt to talk to the Pharoah, his relative by adoption, about freeing the Israelite slaves.  That would have been in about 1311 BCE, and he wrote down his messages from G-d for the next 40 years, and died in 1271 BCE.  So our Yom Kippur day of atonement is 3,326 years old, and Jews still abide by this day.  
                                                                            

Middle Ages-in the Synagogue on Yom Kippur,
Carrying the Torah for everyone to see and touch

Mohammad lived in the vicinity of Jews in Arabia, who resided in Medina.  Amazingly, here are Muslims now celebrating on this special day, something they learned from him who learned some of our Jewish history when it was already 1,942 years old, for he was born in 570 CE and died in 632 CE.  They are not celebrating the same holiday, however.  They have mixed this day with our Passover (Pesach) celebrated in the early Spring. 
                                                                                    

Jews praying on Yom Kippur in Israel

Yom Kippur on October  11th is the Jewish day of Atonement, but to G-d for sins. 

Passover was this past April 22nd at sundown when the Israelites were freed from the Pharaoh.  

Then again, the Shiites have a different concept. " Shiite commemorations of the Day of Ashura have traditionally included rituals which have been condemned by many Shia religious authorities recently under the claim that such practices are wrong or unislamic."   
                                                                                  

Karbala was a time of a great battle.  "The Battle of Karbala took place on Muharram 10, in the year 61 AHof the Islamic calendar (October 10, 680 AD)^a in Karbala, in present-day  Iraq.  The battle took place between a small group of supporters and relatives of Muhammad's grandson, Husayn ibn Ali, and a larger military detachment from the forces of Yazid I, the Umayyad caliph."  There were 3 of them.  Yazid I (680-683) of the Sufyan Branch, and ; Yazid II (720-724) of the Marwan Branch, and Yazid III (744) of the Marwan Branch.  

What they are remembering is an ambush of Husayn ibn Ali where he was killed.  In 680, when Yazid became caliph, Husayn refused to acknowledge him and secretly left Medina to join his own followers in Kufa, who had already proclaimed him caliph.  Unfortunately for Husayn, the plot was discovered and the small band, including women and children, was ambushed in Karbala, and oasis south of modern Baghdad.  Most of the men were killed.  Husayn, the grandson of the Prophet, was beheaded;  and the women and children were taken captive.  

This was the culmination of a series of unsuccessful political moves on the part of the partisans of Ali to secure the caliphate.  The ambush could have been recorded as another political failure, and at the time it did not create much excitement.  Later, it assumed important religious significance.  Ali and Husayn became more formidable foes of the established caliphate through their deaths than through their lives.  Husayn was considered the prince of martyrs, and his death in 680 became a rallying time for opponents of the caliphate.  The followers of Ali separated themselves from the main body of Islam and formed their own theology and philosophy of its own.  

Interestingly, Marwan, founder of the Marwanid branch of the Umayyads, came to power in Damascus with the help of the southern Arabs.  
                                                                          

The Umayyads expanded Islam throughout the world from 661 to 750 CE.  Then the Abbasids took over.  Perhaps they all learned from the Byzantine Empire previously who did the same thing.  "It's riches beckoned the fighters of Islam, and the possibility of its conversion kindled the hopes of many Muslims."  

Resource:  CE (Common Era) and AHof =AD (anno domini.from (year 1-2016)
http://www.jewfaq.org/holiday4.htm  Yom Kippur
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Day_of_Ashura
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Karbala
http://classroom.synonym.com/significance-ashura-sunni-islam-8916.html
http://www.aish.com/atr/Book_of_Life.html
http://www.chabad.org/holidays/JewishNewYear/template_cdo/aid/3061833/jewish/Why-Do-We-Blow-Shofar-at-the-End-of-Neilah-After-Yom-Kippur.htm
College text: MIDDLE EAST-PAST & PRESENT, by Yahya Armajani, Thomas M. Ricks, pp 55-58.