Cover Page The handle http://hdl.handle.net/1887/82480 holds various files of this Leiden University dissertation. Author: Baarda, T.C. Title: Arabic and Aramaic in Iraq: Language and Syriac Christian Commitment to the Arab Nationalist Project (1920-1950) Issue Date: 2020-01-08 arabic and aramaic in iraq ARABIC AND ARAMAIC IN IRAQ Language and Syriac Christian Commitment to the Arab Nationalist Project (1920–1950) Proefschrift ter verkrijging van de graad van Doctor aan de Universiteit Leiden, op gezag van Rector Magnificus prof.mr. C.J.J.M. Stolker, volgens besluit van het College voor Promoties te verdedigen op woensdag 8 januari 2020 klokke 15.00 uur door Tijmen Christiaan Baarda geboren te Haarlem in 1990 Promotor: Prof. dr. H.L. Murre-van den Berg (Universiteit Leiden, Radboud Universiteit) Co-promotor: Dr. K.M.J. Sanchez-Summerer Promotiecommissie: Prof. dr. A.F. de Jong Prof. dr. J. Frishman Prof. dr. H.G.B. Teule (em. Radboud Universiteit, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven) Prof. dr. P. Wien (University of Maryland) Dr. A. Schlaepfer (Université de Genève) Foto voorzijde: klooster van Notre-Dame des Semences, Alqosh, Irak Dit werk maakt deel uit van het onderzoeksprogramma Arabic and its Alternatives: Religious Minorities in the Formative Years of the Mod- ern Middle East (1920–1950) met projectnummer 360-63-090 dat gefi- nancierd is door de Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (nwo). Contents Acknowledgements vii Note on transcription ix Introduction 1 Iraq and Arab nationalism .................. 7 Iraq and the Syriac Christians . 14 Identification, nation, ṭāʾifa and millet ............ 22 Arabic and its alternatives .................. 27 Previous research ....................... 38 Sources and methodology .................. 41 Chapter overview ....................... 44 1 Iraq and Syriac Christianity 47 Creating the state of Iraq ................... 49 The Chaldean Catholic Church ................ 60 The Assyrians ......................... 63 The Syriac Catholic and the Syriac Orthodox Churches . 77 Western missions ....................... 80 Educational policies ..................... 86 2 Continuation of a tradition: manuscript production 91 An inventory of manuscripts ................. 94 Manuscript colophons: Bartallah and Baghdeda . 97 Alphonse Mingana’s collection of manuscripts and his scribe Mattai bar Paulus . 106 Conclusion .......................... 116 v vi CONTENTS 3 Identifying as Assyrians: printing Syriac and Neo-Aramaic 119 19th-century beginnings ................... 120 Joseph de Kelaita and Syriac and Swadaya printing . 125 Assyrian education ...................... 132 Conclusion .......................... 138 4 For the ṭāʾifa and for the country: Chaldean and Syriac Or- thodox journalism 141 Journals from the patriarchates . 143 The Chaldean ṭāʾifa ...................... 146 Service to the nation ..................... 148 The Chaldeans and Arabic as their national language . 154 Political issues ........................ 157 The Syriac Orthodox: part of a Syriac nation . 160 The Syriac Orthodox as a transnational umma . 165 The Syriac Orthodox as part of Iraq and the Arabic language 166 Conclusion . 167 5 Across communal lines: secular journalism 171 The circle around Anastās al-Karmilī . 173 Rafāʾīl Buṭṭī: identification as an Arab . 178 In conflict with the clergy .................. 182 From Assyrianism to radical Arab nationalism . 187 Paulina Ḥassūn: early Iraqi feminism ............ 192 Conclusion .......................... 197 Conclusion 199 A The Syriac Churches in Iraq 209 B Timeline 215 Bibliography 217 Index 233 Samenvatting 241 Curriculum vitae 253 Acknowledgements My supervisors, Professor Heleen Murre-van den Berg and Dr. Karène Sanchez-Summerer, are the most important people to thank for making this research possible. Right after the start of the project, the Leiden Institute for Religious Studies reorganized. Despite this ex- tremely challenging time and her service as vice dean of the Faculty of Humanities, Heleen always had full attention for my work. This is also true for Karène, who, despite her enormous teaching load, always did everything she could to support me. Professor Bas ter Haar Romeny, who now works at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, introduced me to Syriac studies and I will always be grateful for his help. Some of the most memorable experiences I had during the time of my research were on trips abroad to libraries and archives. In Iraq, I was warmly welcomed and guided by Dr. Robin Beth Shamuel, Ben- jamin Haddad and Fr. Shlimon I. Khoshaba. In Chicago, I was gener- ously hosted by Joseph Hermiz—without his help my visit would have been pointless. In Beirut, the doors of the Jesuits’ residence were al- ways open to me. I would also like to thank the anonymous people who came to help me in the most unexpected situations during my time abroad, especially in Iraq, without expecting anything in return. A special word of thanks goes to Alain Corbeau, who conducted language editing of my work in the last phase of this project, and to Dr. Martin Baasten, who gave me valuable typographical advice right before this dissertation went to the printer. Eftychia Mylona, Dr. Mah- mood Kooriadathodi and Marcela Garcia Probert were constant fac- tors of encouragement at Leiden University, as well as the members of Concordia Res Parva Crescit and sss. Finally, this research would not have been possible without the continuous support of my friends, my housemates and above all my family. vii Note on transcription Maintaining a consistent way of transcribing the Arabic, Syriac, and Neo-Aramaic terms and names was not an easy task, because many names have both an Arabic and Syriac spelling, and because of the difference between the West and East Syriac phonological systems, which both occur in Iraq. For names that have commonly appeared in English, I use the most common spelling in English, such as King Faisal or Patriarch Ig- natius Ephrem I Barsoum. For other Christian names, I use the En- glish version of these names (such as Joseph) instead of the Arabic or Syriac ones (Yūsuf and Yawsef). For other names that appear both in Arabic and Syriac I use the most frequently attested version. The Arabic transcription system I use is the one prescribed by the International Journal of Middle East Studies. For Syriac, I use a system based on the ijmes system for Arabic. I follow either the West or East Syriac phonological systems, depending on the context in which I en- countered the terms or names. Long vowels are only indicated where they contrast corresponding short vowels. Begadkefat consonants are represented as soft or hard corresponding to current practice in the West and East Syriac pronunciation traditions of the Middle East. ix Introduction There is nothing in the custom of patriotism named Mus- lim, Christian or Israelite, but there is something called Iraq. —Faisal i, King of Iraq (1920–1933) These words were reportedly uttered by King Faisal in 1921 during a visit to leaders of the Jewish community of Baghdad.1 The quota- tion has become a famous symbol of Faisal’s ideals for the state of Iraq, which had been established under a British mandate a year earlier. In the new country of Iraq, all citizens regardless of religion were sup- posed to be equal under the umbrella of Iraq as an Arab state, which Faisal embodied because of his major role during the Arab revolt in the Hijaz. This included the small but significant two to four percent of Christians, the great majority of whom belonged to one of the four churches of the Syriac tradition. After Faisal’s death, Chaldean Chris- tians proudly repeated the words together with a number of other quotations in an obituary in the Chaldean Catholic journal al-Najm (The Star).2 The Chaldean Catholic Church, which had its patriar- chate in Mosul, was the largest of the four Syriac churches in Iraq and staunchly supported the fact that Iraq was an Arab state. Al-Najm was the Chaldean patriarchate’s official mouthpiece in the years 1928–1938 and throughout its years of publication we find words of support for the new state and its king, as well as expressions of belonging to the Arab nation. In line with these ideas, the journal was published in the 1Rashīd al-Khayyūn, “Mīr Baṣrī yuʾarrikh li-yahūd al-ʿIrāq ayyām al-waḥda al- waṭaniyya,” al-Sharq al-awsaṭ, 14 Safar 1427/March 15, 2006, http://archive.aawsat. com/details.asp?article=353029&issueno=9969. All translations from Arabic, Syriac and French in this dissertation are mine. 2Al-Najm 5:7 (1933): 329–30. 1 2 introduction Arabic language only and Arabic was propagated as the language of the Chaldeans, in complete harmony with the state’s official ideas. When taking the current situation of Iraq into account, the appar- ent optimism of the Chaldean Patriarchate about their future in the country seems remarkable. In addition to that, the 20th-century his- tory of Iraq is full of dark episodes concerning the treatment of its non- Muslim communities. For the important community of Jews of Iraq, the 1940s and the 1950s even led to an end of their presence, starting with a pogrom in Baghdad in 1941 known as the Farhūd and culmi- nating in mass emigration to the newly founded state of Israel during the years 1949–1951. At the Christian side, trust in the state of Iraq underwent a major blow in 1933, when more than 600 Assyrian Chris- tians lost their lives in the Simele massacre. Nevertheless, the first couple of decades after World War i were characterized by a great op- timism