Abdul Rahman Hassan Azzam

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Abdul Rahman Hassan Azzam (Arabic: عبد الرحمن حسن عزام) ‎ (1893 - 1976) was an Egyptian diplomat, with family origins in Egypt[1] He served as the first secretary-general of the Arab League between 1945 and 1952.

Azzam also had a long career as an ambassador and parliamentarian. He was an Egyptian nationalist and one of the foremost proponents of pan-Arab idealism – viewpoints he did not see as contradictory - and was passionately opposed to the partition of Palestine.[2]

One of Azzam's first acts as secretary-general was to condemn anti-Jewish rioting in Egypt of November 2-3, 1945 during which Jewish and other non-Muslim owned shops were destroyed and the Ashkenazi synagogue in Cairo's Muski quarter was set aflame.[3]

On March 2, 1946, in an address to The Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry into the Problems of European Jewry and Palestine, Azzam explained the Arab League’s attitude towards the Palestinian question and refuted the Zionist claim to Palestine:

“ Our brother has gone to Europe and to the West [and] come back a Russified Jew, a Polish Jew, a German Jew, an English Jew. He has come back with a totally different conception of things. Western and not Eastern… but Jew old cousin, coming back with imperialistic ideas, with reactionary or revolutionary ideas… he is not the old cousin and we do not extend to him a very good welcome.[4] ”

On May 11, 1948 Azzam warned the Egyptian government that owing to public pressure and strategic issues it would be difficult for Arab leaders to avoid intervention in the Palestine War, and that Egypt could find itself isolated if it did not act in concert with its neighbors. Azzam believed that King Abdullah of Jordan had decided to move his forces into Palestine on 15 May regardless of what the other Arabs did and would occupy the Arab part of Palestine whilst blaming other Arab states for failure. King Farouk of Egypt resolved to contain Abdullah and prevent him from gaining further influence and power in the Arab arena.[5]

One day after the State of Israel declared itself as an independent nation (May 14, 1948), Lebanese, Syrian, Iraqi, Egyptian, and Transjordanian troops, supported by Saudi and Yemenite troops, attacked the nascent Jewish state, triggering the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. On that day, Azzam Pasha announced:

“ This will be a war of extermination and a momentous massacre which will be spoken of like the Mongolian massacres and the Crusades".[6] ”

Vincent Sheean points out in his introduction to the book The Eternal Message of Muhammad, (published by Azzam in Arabic in 1938 under the title The Hero of Heroes or the most Prominent Attribute of the Prophet Muhammad), "In Damascus as well as in Djakarta, Istanbul and Baghdad, this man is known for valour of spirit and elevation of mind... he combines in the best Islamic mode, the aspects of thought and action, like the Muslim warriors of another time who are typified for us Westerners by the figure of Saladin." In the book Azzam extols the Prophet’s virtues of bravery, love, the ability to forgive, and eloquence in pursuit of the diplomatic resolution of conflict and argues that Islam is incompatible with racism or fanatical attachment to "tribe, nation, color, language, or culture".[7]

Malcolm X’s reading of The Eternal Message of Muhammad and his meeting with Azzam Pasha are vividly recounted in his autobiography. These events marked the point in his life at which Malcolm X turned towards orthodox traditional Islam.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^  Nisan, 2002
  2. ^  Louis, 1986
  3. ^  Beinin, 1998, pp. 64-65
  4. ^  quoted in Louis, 1986, pp. 145-146
  5. ^  Gerges, 2001, pp. 154-155
  6. ^  Benny Morris, Righteous Victims, p. 219, also Sachar, 1979, p. 333
  7. ^  Torstrick, 2000, pp. 55-56
  8. ^  Rippin, 2000, pp. 197-198

[edit] References

  • Beinin, J. (1998). The Dispersion Of Egyptian Jewry. Culture, Politics, And The Formation Of A Modern Diaspora. University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-21175-8
  • Gerges, F. A. (2001). Egypt and the 1948 War: Internal conflict and regional ambition. In E. L. Rogan, A. Shlaim, C. Tripp, J. A. Clancy-Smith, I. Gershoni, R. Owen, Y. Sayigh & J. E. Tucker (Eds.), The War for Palestine: Rewriting the History of 1948 (pp. 151-177). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-79476-5
  • Louis, W. R. (1986). British Empire in the Middle East, 1945-1951: Arab Nationalism, the United States, and Postwar Imperialism. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-822960-7
  • Morris, B. (2003). The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-81120-1
  • Nachmani, A. (1988). Great Power Discord in Palestine: The Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry into the Problems of European Jewry and Palestine, 1945-1946. London: Routledge. ISBN 0-7146-3298-8
  • Nisan, M. (2002). Minorities in the Middle East: A History of Struggle and Self-Expression. McFarland & Company. ISBN 0-7864-1375-1
  • Rippin, A. (2000). Muslims: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices. London: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-21782-2
  • Torstrick, R. L. (2000). The Limits of Coexistence: Identity Politics in Israel. University of Michigan Press. ISBN 0-472-11124-8
  • Morris, Benny (2001). Righteous Victims: A History of the Zionist-Arab Conflict, 1881-2001. Vintage. ISBN 0-679-74475-4
  • Sachar, Howard M. (1979). A History of Israel, New York: Knopf. ISBN 0-679-76563-8

[edit] External links

Preceded by
(none)		 Secretary-General of the Arab League
1945–1952		 Succeeded by
Abdul Khlek Hassouna