THE POLITICAL AND INTELLECTUAL HISTORY OF NAJAF AL-ASHRAF (1909-1925 AD(
The first section dealt with: Najaf Al-Ashraf’s position on the British invasion The city of Najaf was known for its many national stances rejecting the occupation, whether it was Ottoman or British. These positions began to appear directly at the beginning of the twentieth century after British forces began to occupy Iraq, following the outbreak of World War I (1914 AD), which coincided with the collapse of the Ottoman Empire militarily and administratively. The Ottomans’ interest was also primarily focused on convincing the Shiites to declare a fatwa for jihad. Their first step was to send a high-level delegation to the city of Najaf commensurate with the size of the mission entrusted to them. It included a number of Baghdadi and government figures and clerics, including Muhammad Fadil al-Daghistani, Shawkat Pasha, and Sheikh Hamid al-Kulaidar (custodian of the sanctuary of the two Imams al-Kazimin). An extensive meeting was held in one of the mosques, attended by scholars, leaders, sheikhs of the Middle Euphrates tribes, and clerics, including Sayyed Muhammad Saeed Al-Haboubi, Sheikh Abdul Karim Al-Jazairi, and Sheikh Jawad - the owner of Al-Jawahir - who stressed the necessity of standing with the Muslim government (meaning the Ottoman government) to push the infidels from their lands. Muslims, as some tribal sheikhs spoke, including Mubarak Al Pharaoh (Sheikh of Al Fatla), who said: (The Turks are our brothers in religion, and it is our duty to help them expel the enemies from our country). Accordingly, the religious scholars in Najaf issued a fatwa stating the necessity of defending Islam and its homeland. The religious scholars in Najaf declared jihad, and the duty to defend Islamic countries. The jihadist calls against the British continued, and the most famous of these calls was the one that carried the slogan “The Noble Haidari Flag,” which began in November 1915. The most prominent organizer of this call was Sayyed Muhammad Hibat al-Din al-Shahristani, so the Ottoman government launched a propaganda campaign in which the Najafi reformers had the share of contributing. In stoking nationalist positions in the Baghdad newspaper Sada alIslam, which was published in Arabic and Turkish and was managed by Raouf al-Jad Raji; It published patriotic articles by the reformer Ali Al-Sharqi, and it played a role in mobilizing the general public against the new occupier. The second section dealt with: Najaf Al-Ashraf’s position on Arab issues. The countries of the Maghreb fell under the control and occupation of some European powers during the nineteenth century, and the path of popular resistance began in those countries against the colonial powers. The countries of the Maghreb had been subject to French and Spanish occupation and colonial policy for many decades. However, the French vision in particular, and the Western vision in general in the Maghreb, aimed to achieve a long-term future strategy that served the principles and motives of the colonial movement towards the Arabs and Islam. This policy, in its non-economic dimensions, aimed to dismantle and fragment the general social, cultural, religious and civilizational structure, and attempt gradual containment and achieve complete subordination. The beginning of French policy in Algeria and then in the Maghreb countries it occupied was to work to combat the Arabic language and the Islamic religion. France's politicians, its military commanders, religious missionaries, and other men of thought and culture have unanimously agreed to advance their aggressive policy on "identity" to Christianize the country and its people. The racist, fanatical act did not stop there, but rather moved to take on its social dimension by separating the people of one nation, by practicing the policy of apartheid between Arabs and Amazigh. This is a policy that began in Algeria and matured in Morocco. The writers and intellectuals of Najaf Al-Ashraf were interested in Arab and regional issues, so that their writings were not limited to the issues of their country because the Arab countries also suffer from colonial policies, which are similar to Iraq, even if the colonizer differs, the result is the same, and thus they feel what the Arabs, their fellow countrymen, suffer in terms of aggressions and occupation.
Keywords: Economic Importance of Iraq, Najaf, British Invasion, Scientific and Religious Authority, Thinkers