THE GRAND MUFTI

Evening Star, Issue 22805, 13 November 1937, Page 21

THE GRAND MUFTI

POLITICS AND RELIGION MIXED Behind the present Arab disorders iu Palestine is the powerful, but now somewhat elusive, figure of Haj Amin Elf El Husseini, Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, chairman of tho Arab Higher Committee, and, until deprived of the office a few weeks ago by tho British Administration, President of the Supreme Moslem Council (writes a contributor to tho ‘ Sydney Morning Herald ’). Haj Amin has now left Palestine, and his movements and intentions are shrouded to some degree iu mystery. With his departure, however, there can no longer bo criticism of the Palestine Administration for its failure to give effect to the plain hints of tho Royal Commission on Palestine about the liquidation of his influence. Tho Mufti of Jerusalem was described by the Royal Commission fts the “ third Government ” of Palestine.

Notwithstanding his subversive activities, the Grand Mufti was, until a few weeks ago, still consulted by tho High Commissioner. He was still able to control the funds of the Supreme Moslem Council and to direct the propaganda organisation which was perfected during last year’s strike. A special correspondent of ‘ Tho Times,’ who visited Palestine in July last, considered that these facts had had a paralysing effect on Arab opinion in Palestine.- Now, at last, ho has gone, and will, presumably, in future direct the Arab activities from outside the territories of Palestine.

A man of about 45, Haj Amin was hardly heard of before 1920, which his Press_ articles and speeches brought him into the public eye. Before the Great War ho was an officer in the Turkish Army. Later he had a minor intelligence—or secret service—post. In 1920 ho was sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment, in absentia, for an inflammatory speech at the time of the Jerusalem riots. During that year, however, the military regime was superseded by a civil administration, with Sir Herbert Samuel as High Commissioner. Sir Herbert Samuel was bent on conciliation. Haj Amin benefited by an amnesty. He returned to Palestine, from which ho had fled, and shortly afterwards was appointed Mufti of Jerusalem.

RIVAL FACTIONS. Why, it may be asked, was he over appointed to the_ post? Arab internal affairs in Palestine have been largely dominated and influenced by the rivalry between the members of the Husseini and the Nashashibi factions, though both factions have been united iu hostility to the Jews. The most important posts in the Palestinian Arab world under the Turks were the Mayor of Jerusalem and the Mufti, and both had been held by the Husseini faction. The mayor was Musa Kazem Pasha El Husseini, and a cousin of his, Kamel Eff El Husseini, 0.M.G., was the Mufti. The mayor had been dismissed by the British military_ authorities, and Ragheb Bey Nashasifi had been installed as-mayor. There was, therefore, a Nashashifi as mayor and a Husseini as Mufti. The Mufti died in 1921 and the problem of choosing his successor was very difficult. . The Administration had recourse to the Turkish system, under which a certain number of Moslem' leaders chose a panel of three names from which the Government selected a candidate. Haj Amin was a half-brother of the Mufti. He had been on a pilgrimage and had also studied at the Azbar University in Cairo, where he had received a _ Moslem theological training with a view to representing the Husseini family in tho post. Tho Royal Commission stated that competent authorities had informed ft that Haj Amin was tho only man in Palestine at'the time having the necessary qualifications for the post. Other less generous-minded observers, however, declare that the Mufti is neither learned nor pious. When he found that he was in the running for the post of Mufti, they state, ho went for a few months to the Azhar University at Cairo, but never obtained a diploma. Nevertheless, he grew a beard, wound a whit© cloth (Ramami) round his tarboosh, and developed all the outward signs of being a holy man. At any rate, after an attempt by the Nashashibi faction to capture the post, he was appointed as Grand Mufti in 1922. An election was held in the same year for the Supreme Moslem Council which controls the public and private endowments for Moslems, and Haj Amin became its president.

COMBINED OFFICES. Since 1922 Haj Amin has combined tho two offices. But there has been yet a third office. During the disorder last year it was decided to establish a Supreme Arab Committee (subsequently styled - tho Arab Higher Committee) to control Arab national activities during tho emergency. Haj Amin, the Mufti, became its president. Thus, politics and religion became so intermingled in the person of Haj Amin that it was impossible to say where one began and the other left off. Haj Amin has great personal ambitions and is said to have visions of becoming Caliph. Until his deposition ho controlled personally great funds. These funds represented political and religious influence. They can ensure the maintenance in the mosques of any particular political gospel the leaders may wish to disseminate. “ Outside the mosques,” it has been said, “ it puts those who control the fund into a position akin to that in which Lawrence found himself in organising the Arab guerrillas during Allenby’s campaign.” No wonder Haj Amin has been described as the “ third Government ” of Palestine.