Muhmul Al Qussum

**Muhmul Al Qussum daa'l al-Muhmul al-Sheikh bin Salah** (29th December 1867 – 3rd August 1960) was the founder of the Ahmedese Republic.

He was born 29th December 1867, in Sheikhville, South of Ahmed Villag. He was born to a poor fisherman father and his mother worked at a local market, selling fruit.

On 24th October, 1906, he founded the Ahmedese Republic, or Ahmedland. The society, which flourished over time, has become one of the richest countries in the world. It is currently lead by his grandson, Ahmed bin Qussum.

## Birth and Childhood

Al-Qussum was born in Sheikhville, then Santis, in the Pulu Republic on 29th December 1867, the second of seven children, four of which died in infancy. His father was a poor fisherman who fished for fish in the River Bankask and his mother sold pomegranates and mangoes at Bishkek market.

On 6th January 1881, the Bishkek market explosion killed both of his parents. The explosion was caused by an underground trap of TNT and a tripwire that a local boy tripped over. 185 people were killed in the tragedy.

Him and his two surviving siblings, Dingu (1871-1947) and Maka (1878-1933), were raised by their uncle, Ahmed al-Sheikh daa'l Qussum.

His school was closed down in 1885 after a lack of students.

## Founding the Republic

In 1906, the Ahmedese Civil War came to an end, after 5 years of bitter fighting between the royal forces of the monarchy and the republican rebels. Qussum led the rebels to victory and established the Ahmedese Republic on 24th October 1906. He established himself as supreme leader but would hold elections every four years for President, the second most powerful position.

## The Ahmedese Famine of 1915

In 1915, widespread drought destroyed numerous farms in Ahmed Villag and the Republic. Since the government had refused to give up control of the farming system and anyone who farmed crops in their own homes had their crops confiscated, burned, and were executed the people starved. The government farms failed spectacularly and Al-Qussum tried to block all media coverage. After rainfall began again farmers could plant their seeds and farm crops. The famine killed 5 million Ahmedese and halved the population of the capital from 2 million to 1 million. Al-Qussum refused to claim responsibility for the tragic famine throughout his presidency, blaming the communist politicians which had snuck into the Ahmedese Democratic Party.

## The Communist Shutdown

After the famine of 1915, support for the communist politicians, including President Dirak Al Qalak had fallen by 70%. The people were brainwashed by propaganda claiming that the communist party had forced the massive famine that destroyed the lives of so many. In 1917 the people were encouraged to commit crimes against the communist politicians and communist party supporters. by destroying their homes, publicly humiliating them, murdering them and mocking them. 35 major politicians were killed along with over 80,000 communist party supporters. The damage caused was massive and the city of Riya, which had over 803,000 residents, lost over 11,000 residents. This lasted up until 1920.

## Economy Build-Up

Muhmul Al Qussum soon realised that the people would get behind anything he said. In 1934 he announced "The Great Economic Construction Program" Which aimed to triple the Ahmedese GDP within 5 years. The methods used would be to build massive community factories and farms, providing jobs to villages and towns with over 100,000 residents. The scheme was welcomed by the Ahmedese people as it meant they could begin to recover from the Great Depression. The whole scheme was a huge lie and it turned out it was a way to get cheap labour out of almost 40 million people. The community farms had up to 80,000 people working on them at one time, while the factories had cheap equipment and little safety measures. The first disaster of the Economic Build Up was the Ahrar Glass factory explosion on 1 December 1934, just 5 months after the scheme began, in which a huge glass factory with over 15,000 workers in the city of Ahrar exploded after a fire began in one of the furnaces and spread to a huge store of explosives in a warehouse in the factory. Over 800 people were killed. Then, in 1936, a massive drought caused the entirety of the community farms to die out in 4 regions, which caused huge famines. Since the government had banned all forms of private farming before the scheme had started, the only farms were the community farms. 11 million people died as a result of the famine, and at the time this was one of and still is one of the deadliest famines ever.

## The Personality Cult

Ahmedland had a huge personality cult surrounding Muhmul Al-Qussum. His portrait was required to be in every building in the country and in some buildings like libraries, schools and offices today the paintings can still be seen. Any building without a portrait in it was burnt to the ground. All children were taught about the great leader and his parliament. It caused massive waves of support for Al-Qussum as his opponents were tortured, murdered and humiliated. It damaged the Republic and lasted up until his death in 1960, when new leader, his son Ahmed Bin-Sheikh ordered the "De-Qussumization" period, which tried to return the nation to normalcy after the years of chaos.

## Death

On 3rd August 1960, Ahmed al-Qussum died from old age, at the age of 92. His death was mourned all over the country and millions of people watched the announcement on TV. All programs were suspended temporarily and the announcement was made. 3 years of national mourning were declared before it was brought to an end just 5 months later by his son, Ahmed Bin Sheikh during the De-Qussumization period.