Rashid Ali al-Gaylani

Rashid Ali was the son of Sayyid Abdul Wahhab al-Gaylani and born into the prominent Baghdad-based Gaylani family. He also had origins in the circassian governors of the Ottoman Vilayet. Members of the Gaylani family were known as sayed, as the family’s ancestry can be traced back to the Islamic prophet Muhammad.[1] Rashid Ali enrolled in law school in Baghdad and was a lawyer until his political career.[2]

In 1924, Rashid Ali al-Gaylani began his career in politics in the first government led by Prime Minister Yasin al-Hashimi. Yasin al-Hashimi appointed Gaylani as the Minister of Justice. The two men were ardent nationalists and were opposed to any British involvement in the internal politics of Iraq. They rejected the Anglo-Iraqi Treaty signed by the government of Prime Minister Nuri as-Said in 1930. They formed the Party of National Brotherhood to promote nationalist aims. Gaylani served as Prime Minister for the first time in 1933 but held office for less than eight months. In 1938 he was seized and exiled to 'Ana for his suspected role in the Baghdad bomb-throwing of November and the general political upheaval.[3]

He was elected as the president of the Chamber of Deputies in 1925 and 1926.[4]

During the Hashimi government, Gaylani served as Minister of Interior with the additional benefit of the lucrative trusteeship of the Qadiri Awqaf. Later, as prime minister, he would retain the interior portfolio as public works projects progressed, including the laying of the foundations for a mosque to be named the Faysal Mosque.[5]

On 31 March 1940, when Gaylani was again appointed Prime Minister, World War II had started and Iraq had just experienced the premature death of King Ghazi. Ghazi's reign was followed by a Regency for his four-year-old son who was now the new King Faisal II. Faisal's Regent was Ghazi's uncle, Emir Abdul-Illah. Abdul-Illah supported Britain in the war, but he was unable to control Gaylani, who used the war to further his own nationalist goals by refusing to allow Allied troops passage through Iraq to the front. He also rejected calls for Iraq to break its ties with Fascist Italy and sent his Justice Minister, Naji Shawkat, to Ankara to meet with Germany's ambassador to Turkey, Franz von Papen, to win German support for his government. German Foreign Ministry archives record that Shawkat met von Papen on July 5, 1940, and he carried a letter of introduction from Mohammad Amin al-Husayni, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, expressing a desire for a treaty of friendship and collaboration.[6] Baghdad was the early base for Nazi Middle East intelligence operations during World War II.[7]

1941 Iraqi coup d'état

Main article: 1941 Iraqi coup d'état

Rashid Ali al-Gaylani and Haj Amin al-Husseini, speaking at the anniversary of the 1941 Iraqi coup in Berlin

Britain responded with severe economic sanctions against Iraq. Meanwhile, news of British victories against Italian forces in North Africa weakened support for Gaylani. On 31 January 1941, under pressure from Regent Abdul-Illah, he resigned as Prime Minister. This only exacerbated his mistrust of Britain and its supporters in the government. Together with the members of the Golden Square, Gaylani made plans to assassinate Regent Abdul-Illah and seize power. On 31 March, Abdul-Illah discovered the plot to assassinate him and fled the country.

On April 1, the Golden Square executed their coup d'état; on April 3, the "National Defence Government" replaced the government of the Regent with Gaylani as Prime Minister. As one of his first acts, Gaylani sent an Iraqi artillery force to confront the RAF base in Habbaniya. By the end of April, Iraqi forces held in strong positions on the escarpment above the base, and a siege began.

Iraq had been a major supplier of petroleum to the Allied war effort and represented an important landbridge between British forces in Egypt and India. To secure Iraq, Prime Minister Winston Churchill ordered General Archibald Wavell to protect the air base at Habbaniya. On 18 April, British forces from India landed in Basra, Sabine Force. In the British Mandate of Palestine, another force was created to enter Iraq from the west and relieve RAF Habbaniya, Habbaniya Force.

Iran, Italy, Germany and Saudi Arabia

Al-Gaylani with Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser in Cairo, August 1958

Gaylani was not to stay long in Iran. On 25 August 1941, British and Soviet forces invaded Iran and removed Reza Shah from power. Gaylani then fled to Italy.[8] Later he was received by German dictator Adolf Hitler in Berlin, and he was recognized as the leader of the Iraqi government in exile. Upon the defeat of Germany, Gaylani again fled and found refuge, this time in Saudi Arabia.

Gaylani did not return from exile until after the revolution that overthrew the Iraqi monarchy, in 1958. Once again, he attempted to seize power; he plotted a revolt against Abdul Karim Qasim's government. The revolt was foiled and Gaylani was sentenced to death, but later pardoned, allowing him to live in Lebanon until 1965 at the age of 72.

• Fritz Grobba
• Nazi relations with the Arab world

• Newspaper clippings about Rashid Ali al-Gaylani in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW