21
may 2006
Obituary of Meir Basri & Khadoorie
The loss of Baghdad and your loss
By Rashid AlKhayoun
Some
weeks ago we saw the loss of Shaoul
Sasson Khadoorie,the son of of the President of the Baghdad Jewish
Community,which was followed soon after by the additional loss of the
intellectual Meir Basri, the last President of that same Community. The
deceased remained loyal to their memories of their sojourn on the shores of the
Tigris River. That was the dream of the exiles from a land in which they lived
for nearly three thousand years.
Government
decrees were passed against employing Jews, and against educating their
children. They were also constantly harassed into leaving their homes and their
country.
The
Government sided with Nazi forces against them, in particular the Istiqlal
Party, which culminated in the mayhem pf the Farhood in 1941, when their homes
and businesses were looted by the mob. Legislation was passed to strip them of
their citizenship. Contrary to the wishes of the public, the national
government had the support of the higher Moslem Clergy .
The late Mohammad Al Sadr [d.1956] the Prime Minister at the time issued
decrees requiring responsible parties to distinguish between Zionists and
Iraqui Jews.
The
Shiite leader Muhsin Al Hakeem [d.1970] and the Sunni Mufti Najm El Deen
Alwaeth [d.1976] issued fatwas against giving assistance to the Iraqui Jews.
The
Iraqui Communist Party stood against their harassment and
promoting the hatred of the Jews, who had formed a committee to fight
against Zionism, in 1945.
This
was encouraged by the Minister of the Internal Affairs, Saad Saleh [1950]. The
committee was later disbanded and its members sent to trial for ostensibly
supporting the Balfour Declaration which wanted to " solve the Jewish
problem by committing itself to the Zionist ideal which was to be realized at
the expense of the Palestinian Arab population. It wanted more than that in its
intention to invade all the Arab homeland"
[Al
Safi, 'our struggle against Zionism'].
The
leaders of the Iraqui Jewish Community said to the representative of the
British Governor who gave them the 'good' news of the Balfour declaration
[1917]. " Our country is this land. We have lived in it for thousands of
years. We have benefited from it and enjoyed its resources. If you wish to help
this land, and to revive its economy and to help its finances, then you should
not promote the emigration of the Iraqui Jewish Community. The Sharq Al Awsat
periodical of 17 elul 1999 described them as ' a strong foreign, Zionist and
Iraqui force.'
After
their emigration, their property was frozen, and Palestinian refugees were
allowed to use the abandoned Jewish homes, which was managed by Meir Basri in
order to help them. He fulfilled his duty by continuing the supply of water and
electricity to these homes. Is spite of all that happened, his position
remained secure.
To
show again the difference of the Iraqui Jews, some of them displayed the
picture of the Palestinian actor Naji aL Ali in their offices in London to
emphasize that not all Jews are Zionists.
The
real beneficiary of the expulsion of the Jews of Iraq was Zionism itself, which
used the opportunity to destabilize the Jewish Community. When the Mufti of
Jerusalem, Al Haj Amin Al Husseini [d.1975] stated that 'the enemy of my enemy
is my friend' at the wrong occason as he got involved with Palestinian and
Syrian teachers in Baghdad, and encouraging the robbing of Jews and promoted
their hatred [reminders of the
1941fiasco].
Meir
Basri [95] and Shaul Khadoorie [91] tried to prevent calamities by staying in
their respective positions in Baghdad, which they did into the seventies, but calamities descended
on them by the hanging of Jewish detainees in public in Baghdad, on which
occasion the periodical Al Thawra published the heading 'Execution of a new
batch of spies, and hanging their bodies
in Independence Square' [21 Shbat 1969] . The group included Jews, Christians and Moslems.
Two
were imprisoned, Shaul Naji in the Nihaya Palace, and Meir Basri in the
directorate of Public Security. The lawyer Anwar Shaul tried to get Basri freed
by calling on the help of a friend, Mustapha Jawad, who did not acknowledge the
friendship in such stressful times.
The
secretary of the Minister of Internal Affairs at the time, sent a few lines to
the Minister Saleh Mahdi Ammash [d.1985] about the friend of his brother, Anwar
Shaul [d 1984] saying:
If
you got a daughter-in-law from the Mussawi {Jews}
The
shadow remains in the religion of Muhammad
The
generosity of Islam was my refuge
The
eloquence of the Kur'an was my resource
My
love for the nation of Ahmad
You
worship in the religion of the universe
Must
continue the loyalty of the Samaw'al
I
was pleased with Baghdad, or I was not pleased.
Al
Samw'al [6th century AD] a Jewish poet, sacrified his son to keep his word, and
he became famous for his poetry, which included the well know stanza:'If a
person is not soiled by blame, then everything he wears is beautiful'.
The
poem was published, on the orders of the
Minister of Internal Affairs, in the Iraqui periodical "Al
Jumhuriyah" [19
Shbat
1969], and he ordered the release of Meir Basri, except that a Lebanese
periodical published the story but changed "acted on my Faith" to
'Evil is my Faith'{Shaul 'the Story of my Life'].
We
will never know why the Republican Authorities asked for the garments of the
Hakam Sassoon Khadoorie after his death.[1971]which were
delivered by his grandson, Zuhair Shaul, Contrary to tradition, in the era of
the Baath Party.
The
day of the funeral of the Hakham was well attended in Baghdad, which was
probably done to improve the local image
in the world, after the hangings and the expulsions.
After
the death of King Faisal l, the general attitude towards the Jews of Iraq
deteriorated, until this attitude was reversed by Abd AlKarim Kassem who was an
Iraqui free from racial and religious
hatreds, who revoked all discriminatory decrees, including the loss of
citizenship imposed upon the Jews, at which Meir Basri said "the Jews can
enjoy all their religious and other rights [From the shores of the Tigris to
those of the Thames].
Discrimination
returned after power was assumed by Abd Al Salam Aref and the Baath Party.
There
were not many Fatwas against the Jews of Baghad, who lived a comfortable life
in a mixed society. A neighbour did not inquire about the religious affiliation
of his neighbour. The jews worked in all fields, including the army and the
police, including the ministerial level.
Thanks
to them Iraq benefited, when the Minister of Finance Sassoon Heskel [d.1932]
insisted that Iraq retaines a position of partner in the development of its
petroleum resources, and the royalties were to be paid in gold bullion,.which established a stable income to the country. Israel
benefited from their immigration.
Al
Masoudi remembered that the Imam Ali Ibn Abi Taleb relied on an ancestor of
Basri and Khadouri whom he sent on a mission to the exterior of the country,and said 'he was a Jew of golden value'.
Moslem
Iraquis, among them turbained gentlemen, resident in Lndon came to pay respect
to Basri, and quoted Arabic sayings, a language that continued to be used by
Basri,Khadoorie, Nakkash, Sumaikh, Paulus and others.
Moslems
were present under appreciative looks of men and women. All these memories
reminded people of the saying of Jamil Sudki Al Zahawi [d 1936]
"The
Christians and the Jews lived in the area, and the Moslems, and they were all
brothers."
A
remark was made by a reader [durgham] that said : "This a story full
of the Iraqui spirit".
Thu, 25 May 2006 07:07:11 -0400 (Eastern
Daylight Time)
From: "Naim S. Mahlab"
<nsm@videotron.ca>
I sent this article to a friend of
mine who lives in London. He informs me that he attended the funerals and was
gratified to
see the large
number of Iraqui Moslems who were present.
This is an indication that some of
the old friendships that existed between the different religious communities in
Iraq
has survived
the irrational behaviour of this century.
I sincerely hope that this may augur
well for the future.
Naim S. Mahlab
Montreal.