Izz Al-Dīn Al-Qassām, 1883-1935
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Lightning through the clouds: Islam, community, and anti-colonial rebellion in the life and death of ‘Izz al-Dīn al-Qassām, 1883-1935. Mark Sanagan Department of History and Classical Studies McGill University, Montreal April, 2016 A thesis submitted to McGill University in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Mark Sanagan, 2016 “Brothers! Have you seen the dark clouds on the horizon, and the lightning that shines through and disperses them? Yes, those clouds are the British forces, and this lightning is our martyr al-Qassām! There is no doubt that your hearts have been touched by this lightning too, and that they produce lightning to disperse the enemy’s clouds.” Ajāj Nuwayḥid in al-Difā‘, 6 January, 1936, p. 4. 2 Table of Contents Acknowledgments 8 List of Figures 14 List of Abbreviations 15 Chapter 1: Introduction 17 Chapter 2: Jabla, 1883: The Coast of Bilad al-Sham in the late Ottoman Period 46 Chapter 3: Student, Soldier, Shaykh, 1900-1919 81 Chapter 4: Exile to Haifa, 1920-1929 121 Chapter 5: A Turn to Arms, 1929-1933 179 Chapter 6: To the Hills, 1933-1935 232 Conclusions 272 Appendix 285 Glossary 290 Bibliography 292 3 English Abstract This dissertation is a social biography of ‘Izz al-Dīn al-Qassām, a preacher, teacher, soldier and anti-colonial rebel of Ottoman-Syrian origin who has become a symbol of Palestinian nationalism since his death in 1935. By assuming a micro-historical perspective, this study explores the nuances that are often missing in the historiography of the modern Middle East. Al-Qassām’s life is particularly suited for this approach, straddling as he did the late Ottoman and nascent nation-state periods. He was born into an Ottoman province in the midst of an administrative reorganization from the imperial centre that impacted his family in particular ways. He was educated at al-Azhar at the height of the modernist reform movement and returned to Ottoman Syria deeply affected by the intellectual atmosphere he had found in Cairo. He fought in the Ottoman Army in the First World War, then against the French occupation in 1919-1920, before escaping to Haifa and a new life in Palestine. There he developed a reputation as a forceful advocate for Palestinians adversely affected by the dual colonial projects of the British mandate and Zionism. Al-Qassām’s life story can be found in condensed passages in numerous works on anti-colonial rebellions, Islam in the Middle East, and the history of the Arab-Israeli Conflict. Yet in the very act of retelling his story in what appear as appendages to larger studies, al-Qassām is repeatedly fixed into a discrete set of categories that fail to capture the complications and contingencies of his life. His example challenges many of the categories applied to the period: he practised a syncretic Islam that combined the principles of salafism with the ritual and organization of 4 legalistic sufism; his work in Palestine and his secret organization expose the messiness of the supposed urban-rural divide in mandate Palestine; often described as the harbinger of a populist turn in Palestinian nationalist politics, his organization welcomed those marginalized by traditional politics but was both a redemptive and explicitly elitist movement. This dissertation uses narrative history to explore the influences, experiences and thoughts of an individual who witnessed first-hand the dramatic refashioning of societies in the Middle East during this formative period. 5 Abrégé Français Cette thèse est une biographie sociale d'‘Izz al-Dīn al-Qassām—prêtre, maître, soldat et rebelle anticolonial d'origine ottomane-syrienne, devenu un symbole du nationalisme palestinien depuis sa mort en 1935. Adoptant une optique micro-historique, cette étude explore les nuances qui sont souvent absentes dans l’historiographie du Moyen-Orient moderne. La vie d'al-Qassām convient très bien à cette approche, comme il chevauchait l’époque ottomane prenant fin et l’époque état-nation naissante. Al-Qassām est né dans une province ottomane au milieu d'une réorganisation administrative par le centre impérial ayant eu un impact particulier sur sa famille. Il a fait sa scolarité à al-Azhar au point culminant du mouvement de réforme moderniste et il est rentré en Syrie ottomane très affecté par l'ambiance intellectuelle qu'il a trouvée au Caire. Il a combattu au sein des forces armées ottomanes dans la Première Guerre mondiale, puis en 1919-1920 contre l'occupation française avant de s’échapper pour Haïfa et une nouvelle vie en Palestine. Là, Il a développé une réputation d’un fervent défenseur des Palestiniens touchés par les projets coloniaux duaux : du mandat britannique et du sionisme. L'histoire de la vie d'al-Qassām se trouve en résumé dans nombreuses œuvres qui traitent les rébellions anticoloniales, l'Islam au Moyen-Orient, et l'histoire du conflit arabo- israélien. Cependant, lorsque les détails de sa vie sont donnés dans le contexte des études étendues, al-Qassām se trouve comme personnage figé dans un ensemble de catégories qui n'arrivent point à reflétées les complications et les particularités de sa vie. Son exemple remet plusieurs catégories qui s'appliquent à cette ère en question: il pratiquait un islam syncrétique qui combinait les principes du salafisme avec les rituels et 6 l'organisation du sufisme légaliste; son travail en Palestine et son organisation secrète découvrent le désordre de la soi-disant division urbaine/rurale en Palestine; souvent décrit comme le signe avant-coureur d'une tournure populiste dans la politique nationaliste de la Palestine, son organisation accueille ceux qui se sentent marginalisés par la politique traditionnelle avec un mouvement à la fois rédempteur et explicitement élitiste. Cette thèse utilise l'histoire narrative pour examiner les influences, les expériences et la pensée d'un individu qui a été témoin de la refonte dramatique des sociétés dans le Moyen-Orient pendant cette période formatrice. 7 Acknowledgments For a relatively short dissertation, I have a disproportionate number of acknowledgements that I really need to make. This is the cost of drawing on so many people for so many things, professionally and personally. I’m not sure if I’ll have a chance to thank these people again so allow me to be thorough. First, in term of scholarship, no one has been more important to me than Laila Parsons, with whom I started working more than a decade ago as an MA student at McGill’s Institute of Islamic Studies. From my first seminar, to the submission of this dissertation, Laila had been a tremendous influence on me, as anyone who reads this thesis and is familiar with her work can attest. She's been wise and patient with me when a complicated life got in the way, and willing to put a foot down when it was required. She’s been a tremendous supervisor. Brian Lewis agreed to be an advisor through my comprehensive exams and met with me once or twice a month as I fumbled my way through a topic that lay just beyond my ken. He was kind, read this dissertation closely, and gave me encouragement when I had doubts. Malek Abisaab has been a scholarly fixture in my life since I started graduate school. He’s taught me Arabic, given me parenting advice, offered me teaching experience and most of all pushed me to expand my ways of thinking about the history of the modern Middle East. 8 As a social biography this dissertation covers multiple eras as well as political and geographic spaces. Martin Bunton, who graciously agreed to be on my dissertation committee, has a breadth of knowledge that few can claim. His insightful comments on this dissertation has improved it significantly and I'm grateful for his help. In Palestine many people helped me think through ‘Izz al-Dīn al-Qassām’s life as best we could, 80 years after his death. Most important was ‘Izz al-Dīn’s grandson Ahmad al-Qassam, with whom I walked the grove of Ya‘bad and spent hours discussing his grandfather. Abu Muhammad al-Wasfi of Ya‘bad welcomed me in his home and I was assisted throughout by my friend Hijazi Eid. Professor Samih Hammuda has been an invaluable source and is without question the most knowledgeable person on al-Qassām anywhere. Birzeit University, and the town of Birzeit, has been a welcoming place and I’m indebted to everyone who has helped me at various points since I arrived as a Palestinian dialect student a decade ago. Finally, in Cairo, the Ghabrial and Hanna families were gracious hosts and facilitated my visit to al-Azhar. A special set of thanks must be reserved for those archivists and librarians who were particularly helpful at the numerous institutions I visited. Debbie Usher at the Middle East Centre Archives at St. Antony’s College Oxford, was my first stop and was most welcoming. The staffs at the National Archives, the British Library, and the Imperial War Museum archives in London; in France, the Centre des archives diplomatiques in Nantes and the Service historique de la défense at Vincennes, were all very helpful. In Israel, Miriam Turel at the Central Zionist Archives in Jerusalem; Orly Levy and in particular Dorit Hermann at the Haganah Archives in Tel Aviv were especially welcoming. At the Israeli 9 State Archives in Jerusalem, Alice Baron helped retrieve important sources despite the Archives being closed during a move. And in Haifa, Michal Henkin and her colleagues at the Haifa Municipal Archives, with what I suspect to have been curiosity mixed with pity, worked closely with me to find sources - some uncatalogued - from their boxes to help me make this dissertation stronger.