File 3156/1918 Pt 4 ‘MESOPOTAMIA: ADMINISTRATION- PUBLICATION OF A BLUE BOOK’ [‎132r] (272/545)

in, amounted to about Rs. 1,21,000 a year, bad been bequeathed by Ghazi-ud-Din
Haidar, King of Oudh, to be expended in benefactions to deserving persons in the
two lioly cities, and the Government of India, inheriting the responsibilities of the
Hast India Company, found itself in the position of trustee. The distribution of the
monies was the source of many difficulties, but in 1910 it was regulated by an
arrangement according to which the British Resident at Baghdad disbursed the
bequest through Charitable Committees of mujtahids and other respectable persons,
one in each town.
Prior to the Constitution of 1908 the Ottoman Government had recognised that
radical differences separated the holy towns from the rest of their dominions and had
accorded them some privileges, the most prized being that of exemption from military
conscription, it was, indeed, only reasonable that Persians should not be enrolled in
the Turkish army, and the Arab population of the cities slipped through the fingers of
the recruiting sergeant by a natural extension of the principle. But the doctrine of
equality on the lips of the Committee of Union and Progress meant the levelling down
of privilege so far as it touched non-Ottoman subjects, and even before the war the
Turkish Government showed a tendency to ride roughshod over the susceptibilities of
Najaf and Karbala. After the battle of Shu’aibah a number of fugitives from the
regular army sought sanctuary at Najaf. The Turks announced their intention of
hunting them down and threatened to impose conscription on the local population.
It was reported, also, that they intended to appropriate the treasure belonging to the
shrine for the purposes of Jihad. They proceeded to impress young men for military
service, raided the houses at night, molested the women on the pretext that men were
disguising themselves as women to escape conscription,-and extorted large sums as
the price of immunity from conscription. The people rose, barricaded streets and
houses, and garrisoned the precincts of the shrine. The Turks turned their guns on
the rebels, and, either by intention or accident, damaged the minarets of the shrine.
Saiyid Muhammad Kadhim Yazdi sent a telegram of protest to Constantinople, and
was told in reply to mind his business as a darwish and not to interfere in Govern
ment affairs. Three days’ fighting ensued, after which the Turkish troops surrendered
and were disarmed by the mob. The Government buildings were pillaged and burnt,
the Turkish Qaimmaqam’s house demolished and he himself expelled.
Secular Najaf is divided into two tribal factions, mainly Arab by race, the Zuqurt
and the Shumurt. In 1916 the leading men of the Zuqurt were Saiyid Mahdi ibn
Saiyid Salman, whose father had occupied the same position, Haji ’Atiyah abu Qulal
and Kadhim Subhi, both self-made men, Haji ’Atiyah being ex-smuggler and brigand,
Kadhim Subhi, ex-coffee maker to Haji ’Atiyah in the early days of the latter’s
prosperity. The Shumurt followed Haji Sa’ad ibn Haji Radhi, who had begun life as
a butcher and exhibited in his person and manners unmistakable evidence of low
birth. These four men had authority respectively over the four quarters into which
Najaf is divided, Saiyid Mahdi ruling the Huwaish quarter, Haji ’Atiyah the ’Amarah,
Kadhim Subhi the Buraq, and Haji Sa’ad tlm Mishraq. After the disturbances in
April the four shaikhs took over the control of the town in consultation with Saiyid
Muhammad Kadhim Yazdi, who was represented by his son, Saiyid Muhammad Ali.
A month later, in June 1915, open dissensions broke out in Karbala. They seem
to have originated in an attack on the town by the neighbouring tribe of the Bani
Hasan, between whom and the citizens of Karbala there exists a jealous hostility
which the Ottoman Government, on the principle of playing off faction against
faction, did nothing to allay. On this occasion they reaped no profit out of hostilities
which they probably provoked. The Bani Hasan burnt and looted the Sarai, the mob
rose and turned out the Government, and the town shaikhs, led by the Kammunah
family, assumed the direction of affairs. Similar disturbances occurred at Kufah,
Billah and Tuwairij, and everywhere the Turkish garrisons and Government officials
were forced to leave.
The situation on the Euphrates had become so serious that the Turkish authorities
took another tack and resorted to conciliation. A commission of leading men was
organised to settle affairs at Najaf, and brought about an agreement by which the
Qaimmaqam was allowed to return, with an infinitesimal bodyguard. The honours
remained with the insurgents. The Qaimmaqam was a puppet in the hands of the
town shaikhs, and the soldiers of his bodyguard were openly mocked in the streets.
At Karbala the Turks managed to re-establish themselves. At Hillah the townsfolk
refused to pay taxes until the Ottoman Government brought reinforcements and
obliged them to submit.