Icon of Evil: Hitler's Mufti and the Rise of Radical Islam (24 page)

1939–1941 Mufti in Iraq. Attempts to organize a pro-German coup.

1941 May 29—Flees Iraq.

June 1—Arrives in Tehran.

September—Flees Iran, arrives in Turkey, spending a month in the Italian embassy.

October 11—Arrives in Italy.

October 27—In Rome, the mufti meets with Benito Mussolini.

November 6—Arrives in Berlin.

November 28—Meets with German foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop.

November 28—Meets with Adolf Hitler.

1941–1945 Remains in Germany. Participates in and leads anti-Jewish meetings, broadcasts over German radio, encourages German anti-Jewish activity, and organizes the Arab Legion to fight alongside the Germans.

1945 May 7—Leaves Berlin and arrives in Bern, Switzerland.

May 19—Arrives in France, is arrested, and housed in villa at Rambouillet near Paris.

July—Officially placed on the United Nations list of war criminals.

1946 May 29—Arrives in Cairo.

June 20—Egypt announces that the mufti has been given refuge by King Farouk.

1948 March 30—The mufti, as president of the Arab Higher Committee, has “Arab Charter for Palestine” presented to the United Nations.

May 14—State of Israel established.

September 28—The mufti arrives in Gaza, entering Palestine for the first time in eleven years.

September 30—The mufti is unanimously elected president of the All-Palestine government by the Palestine National Assembly.

December 20—King Abdullah appoints a new mufti in place of al-Husseini.

1951 July 20—King Abdullah killed on orders from the mufti.

The mufti presides over World Islamic Congress in Karachi, West Pakistan.

1955 The mufti attends the Afro-Asian conference in Bandung, Indonesia.

1959 Settles in Beirut.

1967 March 1—Visits Jerusalem for the first time in thirty years.

Visits Riyadh as the guest of King Faisal.

1974 July 4—The mufti dies in Beirut.

July 5—The Supreme Muslim Council of Jerusalem asks to bring the mufti’s body back to Jerusalem for burial. Request denied by the Israeli government.

Appendix:
Correspondence and Documents

Mufti’s Letter to Hitler, 20 January 1941

Baghdad, 20 January 1941

Excellency:

England, that relentless and crafty enemy of the true liberty of peoples, has never tired of forging chains to enslave and subjugate the Arab people, sometimes in the name of a perfidious League of Nations and sometimes by flaunting false and hypocritical sentiments of humanity for the others, but always, in truth, for the most imperialistic designs camouflaged by the principles of democracy and of a mendacious internationalism.

By a geographic coincidence, the Arab people find themselves at the center of the land and sea crossroads, which form, according to the English, the principal hub of “Imperial British communications.” For this reason, no means were spared to create perpetual obstacles hampering the freedom and development of the Arab people. One might even say that the relative peace which has lasted for more than a century between France and England has been due in good measure to the tacit understanding between these two Powers to keep the Arab populations under their yoke, thus observing the law of an ignoble division, which in any case established an equilibrium of ambitions without touching the sensitive artery of “sacred” British communications! This division of influence between France and England, moreover, served to break the resistance and the reactions of the Arabs by leaving them to grapple with the various strong powers. But English policy could not for long defy the awakening of Arab nationalism; hence the incessant activity of England in creating new obstacles against the achievement of independence by the Arabs and against their liberty. And so it is the dismal history of the past decades, which offers to the eyes of the world the spectacle of a continuous and desperate struggle.

In Iraq, England, in her traditional policy of divide and rule, conceived the plan of settling several million Hindus brought over from British India side by side with the indigenous Arab population. The plan was foiled by a bloody revolution and so England has to submit to the fait accompli, and devote her attention to the immediate exploitation of Iraq petroleum. In a word, King Faisal I accepted a modus vivendi and, despite the opposition of the majority of the people, signed a treaty with England, thus purchasing the relative independence of the country at the price of petroleum concessions. The attitude of Turkey, favoring the annexation of Mosul to the territory, imposed on the late King the need for this policy.

As for Syria, she was handed over to France—this to break her national unity and impoverish her economically in order to be able the better to subdue her nationalist spirit. After 18 years of struggle, she was able to wrest from France the lame treaty of 1936, recognizing her independence, but at the price of concessions and unilateral reservations. And then England emerged to bar the road to liberty for Syria and came to an agreement with Turkey to neutralize the effect of the Franco-Syrian treaty; this was done in agreement with the Jews who feared an independent Syria next to her sister, Palestine, who was in a state of revolt. It was at this time that the Anglo-French-Turkish agreement against the Axis Powers came into being. Such was the prelude in 1938 to the question of Alexandretta and Antioch, which was to end in the cession by France of the said region to Turkey, on the one hand, and the abrogation, sine qua non of the Treaty of 1939 between France and Syria. Thus, it was another “very democratic” maneuver on the part of England at the expense of Syria—this despite the commissions and the reports of investigations of the League of Nations, all favorable to the Syrian thesis.

I pass in turn to Egypt. Now, since 1882, England has established herself there “temporarily!” because the people, in revolt, demanded of the Khedive a national constitution, which was to place a curb on the extravagance of the Prince and organize the budget according to the interests and the needs of the country. But so-called democratic England occupied the country in order to save the throne of the Khedive on the pretext of assuring order in Alexandria, while perfidious Albion with her own fingers spun intrigues and fomented troubles and disorders by means of her own agents-provocateurs. The truth is, what was involved was the Suez Canal and…imperial communications. Egypt waited until 1936 to obtain likewise her lame treaty with the familiar reservations. This fact was not due to British generosity—far from it—but quite simply to the breakdown of the balance of forces in the Mediterranean, since Italy was taking a stronger and more threatening stand against British “interests.”

Now, after so many other countries of the Arabian peninsula, there comes Palestine. Her case, Your Excellency, is well known to you because she, too, has had to suffer from the perfidy of the English. It is a case of creating an obstacle to the unity and independence of the Arab countries by pitting them directly against the Jews of the entire world, dangerous enemies, whose secret arms are money, corruption, and intrigues, in addition, moreover, to the bayonets of the British. For 20 years now we have been face to face with these various forces. Armed with an invincible faith in their cause, the Arabs of Palestine have fought with the most rudimentary means. The question of Palestine, moreover, has united all the Arab countries in a common hatred for the English and the Jews. If a common enemy is the prelude to the formation of national unity, one may say that the Palestine problem has hastened this unity. From the international point of view, the Jews of the entire world have given their allegiance to England in the hope that, if she is victorious, she will be able to make their dreams come true in Palestine and even in the neighboring Arab countries. If the Arabs are aided in defeating the Zionist aims, the Jews, and especially those of the United States, will be so demoralized at seeing the object of their dreams fade into nothingness that they will lose their enthusiasm for aiding Great Britain and will retreat before the catastrophe.

I beg Your Excellency not to be vexed with me for having related in summary fashion the history of Arab antagonism toward England, because it seemed to me necessary to throw into relief the fundamental causes which arouse the Arab world against the English. I have been anxious especially to state clearly that these causes have their deep roots in primordial interests and vital problems and not in futile questions with superficial and transitory effects. The warmest sympathy of the Arab peoples for Germany and the Axis is now and henceforth an established fact. No propaganda can change this truth. Freed from certain material impediments, the Arab peoples are everywhere prepared to act, as is proper, against the common enemy and to take their stand with enthusiasm on the side of the Axis to do their part in the well-deserved defeat of the Anglo-Jewish coalition.

Arab nationalism owes to Your Excellency a debt of gratitude and of recognition for having again and again brought up in ringing speeches the question of Palestine. I am anxious here to reiterate my thanks to Your Excellency and to assure Your Excellency of the sentiments of friendship, of sympathy, and of admiration which the Arab people pledges to Your Excellency, great Fuhrer, and to the courageous German people.

I take this occasion to delegate to the German Government my private secretary in order to initiate in the name of the strongest and largest Arab organization and in my own name the negotiations necessary for sincere and loyal cooperation in all fields.

I may add resolutely that the Arabs are disposed to throw their weight into the scales and to offer their blood in the sacred struggle for their rights and their national aspirations, provided that certain interests of a moral and material order are assured. It is a matter of taking the necessary precautions against a perfidious and powerful enemy; it is necessary to take into account the means and the strength in order to enter the fight with the greatest chance of success. This foresight is indispensable, especially since England is obliged to act and react with all her might in view of the strategic nature of the Arab countries, which could then endanger imperial communications and paralyze all connections between India and the Mediterranean and Turkey via the Persian Gulf, at the same time bringing about an end to the exploitation and sale of petroleum for the benefit of England.

I conclude by wishing Your Excellency a long and happy life and brilliant victory and prosperity for the great German people and for the Axis in the very near future.

I beg Your Excellency to believe in my sentiments of great friendship, of gratitude, and of admiration.

Grand Mufti of Palestine
Mohammed Amin El Husseini

Hitler’s Response to the Mufti, 8 April 1941, from Freiherr von Weizsacker

Berlin, 8 April 1941

To His Eminence

The Grand Mufti
M. Haj Amin al Husayni

Baghdad

Your Eminence:

The Führer has received the letter of January 20, which you sent him through your private secretary. He has noted with great interest and sympathy your statements about the national struggle of the Arabs and has been pleased with the friendly words that you addressed to him on behalf of Arab nationalism and on your own behalf. Through Foreign Minister von Ribbentrop he sends his regards and his thanks and best wishes for the continued success of the Arab cause.

Your private secretary has entered upon the conversations here mentioned in your letter. In accordance with the wish conveyed by him that German policy with request to the Arabs be clarified, I am authorized to inform you as follows:

Germany, which has never possessed Arab territories, has no territorial aims in the Arab area. She is of the opinion that the Arabs, a people with an old civilization, who have demonstrated their competence for administrative activity and their military virtues, are entirely capable of governing themselves. Germany therefore recognizes the complete independence of the Arab states, or where this has not yet been achieved, the claim to win it.

Germany and the Arabs have common enemies in the English and the Jews and are united in the struggle against them. In Germany’s traditional friendship for the Arabs and, in accordance with the wish which you had communicated through your private secretary, she is glad to cooperate in a friendly manner with the Arabs and, if they are forced to fight England in order to achieve their national aims, to grant them military and financial assistance in so far as is possible. In order to assist the Arabs in their preparations for a possible struggle against England, Germany is also prepared to supply them with war materials at once, in so far as a route for transporting it can be found.