Abd ul-Ilah

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Abd ul-Ilah
Crown Prince Abd ul-Ilah (center) at the coronation of Abdallah ibn Husain I (right), May 25, 1946
July Revolution 1958: Republicans with the body of Abd ul-Ilah

Abd ul-Ilah of the Hejaz ( Arabic عبد الإله, DMG ʿAbdu l-Ilāh ; * November 24, 1913 in Ta'if ; † July 14, 1958 in Baghdad ) was regent from 1939 to 1953 and since 1943 Crown Prince of the Kingdom of Iraq .

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Abd ul-Ilah was a cousin and brother-in-law of King Ghazi I of the Kingdom of Iraq . He was the son of Hussein ibn Ali's eldest son Ali ibn Hussein and the brother of Princess Aliya, who was married to Ghazi, which made him the uncle of the Iraqi King Faisal II . In Mecca grew up, he accompanied his father in 1926 after it as King of Hejaz by Ibn Saud was overthrown in Iraq. He was tutored by private tutors and then studied at Victoria College in Alexandria . He was interested in polo and racing , among other things .

When King Ghazi I was killed in a car accident on April 4, 1939, Abd ul-Ilah acted as regent of Iraq for his underage nephew Faisal II until he came of age in May 1953. From October 1943 he was also Crown Prince of Iraq in the event that Faisal II would die without male offspring.

During the Second World War , Abd ul-Ilah was briefly deposed by former Prime Minister Rashid Ali al-Gailani in early April 1941 . Rashid Ali carried out a pro-German coup against the pro-British government of Abd ul-Ilah. After he fled the country, he was replaced by Sherif Sharaf , an elderly relative of Faisal II. The fallen regent spent his time with the former Prime Minister Nuri as-Said as a refugee in Amman . Abd ul-Ilah was a guest of Prince Abdallah ibn Husain I , the future ruler of Jordan . Great Britain began a war against Iraq ( British-Iraqi War ) on May 2, 1941 , with the aim of overturning the Iraqi government. From his exile, Abd ul-Ilah called on the Iraqis to resist the new rulers. One month after the start of the war, the Rasheed Ali al-Gailani government was defeated. After al-Gailani's flight to Iran , the British reinstated Abd ul-Ilah as regent on June 2, 1941. The four Arab-nationalist-minded colonels of the “ Golden Quartet ”, who played a key role in the coup, were tried, condemned and publicly hanged in Baghdad , apparently on the express instructions of Abd ul-Ilah and Nuri as-Said .

In close cooperation with Nuri as-Said and other pro-British politicians, Abd ul-Ilah continued to pursue a close alliance with the Western powers. In 1945 he visited the United States and was awarded the Military Legion of Merit by President Harry S. Truman . He renegotiated the Anglo-Iraqi treaty , which was signed in Portsmouth in January 1948 , but could not come into force due to massive demonstrations against it. The regent also tried to maintain close contacts with Turkey and Iran by going to Tehran around the end of June 1949 and negotiating the Iranian-Iraqi assistance pact.

On May 2, 1953, Abd al-Ilah resigned from his post as Iraqi regent, as King Faisal II had reached the age of majority. But even after this point in time, as a close advisor to the young king, he had great influence on state affairs and continued to advocate a pro-Western foreign policy. In 1955 Iraq joined the military alliance of the Central Treaty Organization (also known as the Baghdad Pact), the other members of which were the United Kingdom , Iran, Turkey and Pakistan . In February 1957, Abd ul-Ilah, who was third married to the Iraqi Senator's daughter Hijam Emir Rabijah, traveled to the United States because of conflicts between the Arab states, and then to Great Britain and Morocco .

On February 14, 1958, Faisal II founded the Arab Federation with King Hussein I of Jordan in order to counterbalance the recently established United Arab Republic of Gamal Abdel Nasser . But Iraqi officers, inflamed for Nasser's pan-Arab policy, were looking for a coup. Abd ul-Ilah and Nuri as-Said were hated for their pro-Western orientation. A military coup led by General Abd al-Karim Qasim and Colonel Abd al-Sallam Arif broke out on July 14, 1958. Insurgent troops appeared in Baghdad and attacked the royal palace. Faisal II, Abd ul-Ilah and most of the other members of the royal family were shot; Nuri as-Said died a violent death the following day. Rebels dragged the body of Abd ul-Ilah through the streets of Baghdad and mutilated it. The Iraqi monarchy came to an end.

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personal data
SURNAME Abd ul-Ilah
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Iraqi cousin and brother-in-law of King Ghazi I
DATE OF BIRTH November 24, 1913
PLACE OF BIRTH Ta'if
DATE OF DEATH July 14, 1958
Place of death Baghdad