Muhammad Fadhel al-Jamali

Muhammad Fadhel al-Jamali (April 20, 1903 – May 24, 1997) was an Iraqi politician, Iraqi foreign minister, and prime minister of Iraq from 1953 to 1954. In 1945, al-Jamali, as Iraqi Minister of Foreign Affairs, signed the United Nations Charter on behalf of his country.
Al-Jamali is considered one of the most prominent figures in politics and education in Iraq and the Arab World along with being one of the most notable and well-known prime ministers during the Monarchy Era of Iraq, his academic excellence qualified him to obtain the most prestigious scientific degrees in the most prestigious universities in the world despite his upbringing in a conservative and religious environment.
Early life and education
Muhammad Fadhel al-Jamali was born in Kadhimiya, near Baghdad, the son of a Shi'a Muslim cleric, Sheikh Abbas al-Jamali. He belongs to a religious family that participates in the custodianship of the shrine of al-Kadhimiya Mosque and originally came from Bani Shaiba. His early education was a religious one, attending the religious seminary of Sheikh Mehdi Al-Khalissi. He used to go to the Alliance School every Friday to acquire French books and learn the French language. He practiced the profession of teaching in Iraqi schools for four years. After graduating from the American University in Beirut, and Teachers College of Columbia University in New York City, he taught for some time in Iraq before entering public life. He obtained the degree of Professor of Arts in Education from Teachers College at Columbia University in 1930, after which he obtained a doctorate in philosophy in 1934, and the topic of the thesis he submitted for obtaining his doctorate was called "New Iraq", then Columbia University awarded him an honorary doctorate in law in 1954. Boston University awarded him an honorary doctorate in 1956.
Al-Jamali would later describe the habits and attitudes he learned in Childhood which he had to overcome later in life as he grew up, these included: "A negative attitude toward Sunni Muslims, believing that God would send them to Hell; the feeling that he had to go daily to Kadhimiya Mosque to pray; that he must not look at women's faces or even listen to their voices except for members of his own family; the obligation to pay respect to great religious personalities, kissing their right hands on meeting; a negative attitude toward government officials, believing that, since they were Sunnis, they could not be honest people."In 1944, he joined the Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Later he served as Director General of Education. Although he was a Shi'a Muslim, he promoted harmony and educational equality with the minority Sunni Muslims when he was Director General of Education. He also undermined the power of the ancient Shi'a in the shrine cities of Kadhimiya, Najaf and Karbala. Due to being an Arab nationalist, he constantly urged Sunni Muslims and Shi'a Muslims to identify themselves with Iraq rather than with sectarian communities or tribes. But it was noted that he appointed many more Shi'a teachers than Sunni teachers.
Political career
In 1943, under the orders of Nuri al-Said, al-Jamali was appointed the Director General of Foreign Affairs because al-Said saw him as qualified for the role. This did not please al-Jamali at first but grew to the role. At the time, he was one of the only educated Iraqis with overseas experiences which further supported this career switch although there were rumors that al-Jamali had Axis leanings. Nevertheless, al-Jamali spared no opportunity to urge the need for the independence of Lebanon and Syria from the French mandates. Following the fall of Vichy France, Lebanon and Syria gained their independence.
Career in the United Nations
He was a member of both houses of the old Iraqi Parliament and was Minister of Foreign Affairs eight times in six ministries between 1946 and 1953. He was twice the president of the Chamber of Deputies between October 1950 and September 1953. He was chosen by the Iraqi government to sign the United Nations Charter in the name of Iraq and became the representative of Iraq at the founding ceremony of the United Nations Organization in 1945. He also participated in the maintenance of the International Charter through his participation in two important committees of the conference, namely the committee that drafted the Security Council.
Because of the communist threat from the Soviet Union along Iraq's northeastern border, he advocated for a strong affiliation with the United States and the United Kingdom, at a time when the United States of America seemed to be a good ally for the Arab world, but he later confessed his disappointment at the way America treated his country, the Arab world, and the problems in the middle east in general. Al-Jamali contributed to the development of modern national education in Iraq, as he prompted the Iraqi government to bring in the "Dabul Monroe Committee" from Columbia University in order to study the reality of education in Iraq.
Palestine
Muhammad Fadhel al-Jamali was known for defending Palestine in his speeches, writing, articles, and international forums. Whenever he was at a United Nations conference, he would mention Palestinians and their struggles, and spoke highly of their heritage. In a speech at the General Assembly Hall at Flushing Meadow, New York, on Friday, 28 November 1947, Muhammad Fadhel al-Jamali included the following statement on the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine:Partition imposed against the will of the majority of the people will jeopardize peace and harmony in the Middle East. Not only the uprising of the Arabs of Palestine is to be expected, but the masses in the Arab world cannot be restrained. The Arab-Jewish relationship in the Arab world will greatly deteriorate. There are more Jews in the Arab world outside of Palestine than there are in Palestine. In Iraq alone, we have about one hundred and fifty thousand Jews who share with Muslims and Christians all the advantages of political and economic rights. Harmony prevails among Muslims, Christians and Jews. But any injustice imposed upon the Arabs of Palestine will disturb the harmony among Jews and non-Jews in Iraq; it will breed inter-religious prejudice and hatred.
Career as Prime Minister of Iraq
On September 17, 1953, King Faisal II of Iraq entrusted Muhammad Fadhel al-Jamali with the task of forming a new government. Al-Jamali appointed mainly young officials, including people who had already proposed land reform, social security, and the organization of the government itself. Al-Jamali also intended to improve state structures and increase their authority. More than half of the ministers were Shi'a Muslims, and the interior ministry was taken over by a Kurd. The new cabinet was received positively as until than, most of the Iraqi elite was dominated by Sunni Muslims. He was further supported by Nuri al-Said who hoped that al-Jamali would promote the development of the country and stop the development of the Iraqi Communist Party.
That same month, al-Jamali abolished press censorship and ended the state of emergency in the country which was introduced a year earlier, lifting restrictions on the activities of political parties. Al-Jamali made sure to control the Iraqi Communist Party and trade unions. He declared a state of emergency in the provenance of Basra when oil workers working in Basra declared a strike. On December 1954, al-Jamali presented proposals to moderate reforms of the taxation system and limited land reform. These reforms were opposed by landowners and meant breaking up the traditional networks of Clientelism that have persisted since independence. Al-Jamali's government also worked to establish an anti-communist alliance between Iraq, Iran, Türkiye and Pakistan which it announced to the public on February 1954. Although there were many protests against Iraq joining an anti-Communist alliance. Due to this, al-Jamali wanted to step down as Prime Minister on March 7, 1954, but Nuri al-Said convinced him to stay.
In the spring of 1954, large landowners, including both Sunni and Shi'a Muslim landowners, opposed rural reforms of the government. Some of the al-Jamali's associates, disappointed with the impossibility of implementing any changes, left the cabinet. Nuri al-Said eventually stopped supporting the new government and al-Jamali decided to resign from being Prime Minister.
Bandung Conference
After the end of World War II and the process of decolonization, new Asian and African countries needed a basis of association with each other and the Arab World was among them. At the time, Africans and Asians represented a minority in the United Nations. Al-Jamali would meet with several delegations such as Asaf Ali that concerned the Palestinian question and the founding stones of the Afro-Asian conference. In the late 1940s and the 1950s, al-Jamali would work with figures such as Charles Malik of Lebanon, Faris al-Khoury of Syria, and Mahmud Fawzi of Egypt in consultation concerning the future of former colonies in Africa such as Libya and Eritrea. When the question of Morocco and Tunisia came up, Habib Bourguiba and other Tunisian leaders asked al-Jamali to pursue the Tunisian case during a luncheon for the heads of the Arab delegations. Al-Jamali first met Bourguiba in Cairo in April of 1946 and their friendship really began in 1951 in Paris at the General Assembly meeting. The Tunisians had failed in their own negotiations with France for independence so al-Jamali helped advise Bourguiba on the case in which he brought up King Faisal I's independence policy. The two didn't meet until 1956 when Tunisia got its independence and al-Jamali brought Iraq's congratulations on their achievement of independence and al-Jamali was made an honorary citizen of Tunisia.
In April 1955, less than four months away from the agreed meeting, the meeting was agreed to be in Bandung, Indonesia. Many nations of Africa and Asia including Iraq were invited for the discussion of Africa and Asia in the new setting of world politics and of the Cold War. Nuri al-Said as the incumbent Prime Minister was naturally expected to lead the Iraq delegation. However, al-Said was preoccupied with domestic problems and with setting up the mechanism of the Baghdad Pact, so he requested King Faisal II to order al-Jamali to lead the delegation. Al-Jamali made his own delegation and invited former cabinet colleagues such as Hashim Hilli.
Before the conference, al-Jamali attended Friday prayers at Bandung's Great Mosque and visited a few schools. He also enjoyed watching Indonesian land when he was on car trips. When President Sukarno opened the meeting, Nehru urged that there be no opening speeches but that, if any delegations had statements to make, they could be printed and circulated. Al-Jamali objected strongly as did others, and they proved to be the majority. Al-Jamali wanted a half-hour limit, but a fifteen-minute limit was decided. Al-Jamali's opening statement nevertheless took twenty-three minutes. Al-Jamali, as well as other delegations, wanted to discuss the Palestinian problem, however, Burma's prime Minister U Nu threatened to withdraw Burma from the conference. Despite this, al-Jamali talked about the threats of Western colonialism, Zionism, and communism to world peace and discussed the importance of Western values and the values of large Spiritual religions. The New York Times reported the conference fully and remarked that al-Jamali's speech received more applause than that of any other delegate, noting that it was "a vigorous anti-communist attack."
A popular recent rumor concerning al-Jamali and Bourguiba concerns that in 1954, al-Jamali met and gave Bourguiba an Iraqi passport to enter the UN headquarters in New York City in order to give a speech on behalf of Tunisia which resulted in the French delegation leaving and helping Tunisia's independence. However, there's no evidence of such an event happening or al-Jamali carrying extra Iraqi passports casually. Al-Jamali also did not have permission for citizenship or an Iraqi passport for anyone he pleased. Even if such an event happened, it would likely get Iraq into an international crisis and controversy. Although this rumor helped al-Jamali become a national hero.
14 July Revolution
By the time al-Jamali left office, he was extremely unpopular with the elite and eventually was virtually eliminated from the power elite. After the Iraqi monarchy was overthrown in the 14 July Revolt, al-Jamali was pursued and arrested at a friend's home. During his imprisonment in which he faced various accusations of treason and conspiracy against Palestine despite defending Palestine throughout his life, al-Jamali wrote and published five articles that he published in newspapers in which he defended himself using historical facts and talked about his patriotism. Egyptian newspapers during the Gamal Abdel Nasser regime have also accused al-Jamali of treason. Abd al-Karim Qasim sentenced him to death, but this was later commuted to 10 years imprisonment; he was released in 1961 after serving three years where he lived as a political refugee in Switzerland. His release came after the demands of many important international figures such as King Muhammad V of Morocco, Dag Hammarskjold and Pope John XXIII.
While in prison, al-Jamali delved deeply into the study of the Qur'an and the rituals of Islam. While al-Jamali was a devout Muslim and believed in the religion's principles, his time in prison increased his faith even more. Al-Jamali wrote letters to his son in prison about Islam which later got published in a book.
Later life
After his exile, he was granted Tunisian citizenship by Tunisia's President Habib Bourguiba, whom he helped Tunisia become independent. Before that, he was also invited by King Hussein of Jordan and King Hassan of Morocco. Starting in the 1960s until 1988, he taught as Professor of Philosophy of Education, at the University of Tunis. Although the age of retirement in the university was 60, that was the age al-Jamali started to teach. There he was able to spread the Islamic beliefs that he had developed in several books. Al-Jamali, since he was an international diplomate, was rewarded with a lot of medals and honors. Those include ones from countries such as Iraq, Jordan, Morocco, Iran, Republic of China, Tunisia, Spain, the Vatican City among more.
Al-Jamali passed away in 1997 at the age of 94, he was buried in Tunisia.
Personal life
Marriage
In 1932, al-Jamali was married to Sarah Powell (February 22, 1908—March 3, 2000), who was born in Saskatchewan, Canada to American parents. They met while studying at the Teachers College of Columbia University in the late 1920s. She moved to Iraq with Fadhel and they had three sons: Laith, Usama, and Abbas. At a young age, Laith was stricken with encephalitis, which arrested his mental development. From her experience in caring for Laith, Sarah promoted public awareness of intellectual disability and wrote a book of her movement: The Story of Laith and His Life After Encephalitis. She also wrote Folktales from the City of the Golden Dome, a compilation of Iraqi folktales.
Writings
While in prison he wrote a series of letters to his son setting out the teaching and practice of Islam and its relevance to the problems and experience of the modern world. Following his release from prison, he compiled those letters into a book Letters on Islam. In one of his memoirs, he stated:"The great shortcoming in the Iraqi state is: We did not educate the Iraqi people as it should be. As responsible for education, I bear part of the responsibility for the deterioration of education in Iraq. We adopted secularism in the state curricula and this was a grave mistake, it was assumed Education should be Islamic, as most Iraqis are Muslims."The book's topics are man's need for religious faith; the Qur'an as guidance; the significance of fasting; science and faith; the nature of religious experience; the meaning of Islam; science, philosophy, and religion; the Islamic creed; Islamic rituals; the social system of Islam (legislation, the family, characteristics, economic principles, social, and government); and morality in Islam. In the book, al-Jamali detailed his beliefs: "My faith calls for scientific research, especially in the field of natural science and social studies and the acceptance of the concept of evolution. I believe in the freedom of thought, and my faith in it is deep, provided it is associated with intellectual honesty."
Legacy
The academic and researcher in political science, Dr. Yasser Abd al-Hussein, described al-Jamali as "the immortal icon of Iraqi diplomacy." Muhammad Fadhel Al-Jamali is remembered for his ethics compared to other politicians in which al-Jamali showed respect to his opponents.
Following the overthrow of Saddam Hussein in 2003, al-Jamali's writings became more popular throughout Iraq. His books appealed to the Iraqis: urged Muslims to comply with the Qur'an, but appealed to them to study modern science to keep pace with the West.
References
Bibliography
Harry Almond, "Iraqi Statesman: A Portrait of Mohammad Fadhel Jamali".
Sara P. Jamali, Folktales from the City of the Golden Dome.
Mohammad Fadhel Jamali, Letters on Islam, Oxford University Press, London, 1965.
Alan Rush, "Obituary Mohammad Fadhel Jamali", The Independent (London), June 3, 1997.
Charis Waddy, "Obituary Sarah Parker Jamali", The Independent (London), March 27, 2000.
Sarah P. Jamali, The Story of Laith and His Life after Encephalitis, Amman, 2000.
Mohammad Fadhel Jamali, "Experiences in Arab Affairs: 1943-1958" available on the Internet at
1903 births
1997 deaths
Teachers College, Columbia University alumni
Prime Ministers of Iraq
Presidents of the Chamber of Deputies of Iraq
Iraqi Shia Muslims
Academic staff of Tunis University
American University of Beirut alumni
Foreign ministers of Iraq
Anti-communism in Iraq
People from Baghdad