Michel Aflaq
Encyclopedia
Michel Aflaq was a Syrian philosopher, who is credited with being the ideological founder of ba'athism
, a hybrid of Arab nationalism
and Arab socialism
.
to a middle class Greek Antiochian Orthodox Christian
family, Aflaq was first educated in the westernized schools of French Mandate of Syria
. In 1929 Aflaq left Syria to study philosophy
abroad at the Sorbonne
in Paris. During his stay Aflaq was influenced by the works of Henri Bergson
, and became an admirer of the National Socialist German Workers Party and Nazi Germany
. It was during his stay in Paris that Aflaq met his longtime collaborator Salah al-Din al-Bitar
, a fellow Syrian nationalist. Aflaq founded a Arab Student Union at the Sorbonne, and discovered the works and writings of Karl Marx
for the first time. He returned to Syria in 1932, and became active in communist politics, but left the movement when the government of Léon Blum
, supported by the French Communist Party
(FCP), continued France's old politics towards it's colonies. Aflaq, like many likeminded individuals, believed that the FCP followed a pro-independence policies towards the French colonies
. It did not help that the Syrian Communist Party
(SCP) supported FCP's decision, from then on Aflaq saw the communist movement as a tool of the Soviet Union
. He was impressed by the organisation and ideology of Antun Saadeh
's Syrian Social Nationalist Party
.
Upon their return back to Syria, Aflaq and al-Bitar became teachers at Tajhiz all'-Ula, "the most prestigious secondary school in Syria". Aflag taught history, while al-Bitar taught maths physics. By 1940 Aflaq and al-Bitar had managed to set up a student circle, which usually met on Fridays. In 1940 the Movement for Arab Revival
, a political party, was established by Aflaq and al-Bitar. They used most of their spare in 1941 to agitate for the party, in 1942 both Aflaq and al-Bitar quit their jobs as teachers to focus on politics. It was around this time when Aflaq showed his skills as "a compelling speaker" who was able to the "theatrical pause" almost cunningly. The party changed it's name to Arab Ba'ath Movement to signify the radical changes which was sweeping the Middle East; Rashid Ali al-Gaylani, the Prime Minister of Iraq
, had challenged Britain's domination over Iraq. The replacement of the word "Revival" with "Ba'ath" (literally means rebirth) was to signify that Arab revival had been replaced ideologically by the need of an Arab rebirth. The change of names led to Zaki al-Arsuzi
, leader of the Arab Ba'ath Party
, to accuse Aflaq and al-Bitar of stealing his party's name from him. With both men promoting a party platform on an Arab nationalist stance, Aflaq and al-Arsuzi became bitter rivals.
On 24 October 1942 both Aflaq and al-Bitar resigned from their teaching positions, now determined to devote their full efforts to the political struggle. They slowly gained supporters, and in 1945 the first elected Bureau of the Arab Ba'th Movement was formed, including both of them. The following year, the organisation gained a substantial number of new members when most of the former supporters of Zaki al-Arsuzi, led by Wahib al-Ghanim, joined it.
In 1952 Syria's military dictator, Adib al-Shishakli, banned all political parties. Aflaq took refuge in neighboring Lebanon
, along with Al-Bitar. There they came into contact with Akram al-Hawrani
, a far more seasoned politician who had recently established the Arab Socialist Party and boasted a considerable following among the peasantry of the Hama
region in central Syria as well as a valuable foothold in the military
officer corps. The three politicians agreed to unite their parties, and co-operated in the overthrow of al-Shishakli in 1954, following which a congress ratified the merger of the two parties into the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party. The rules and constitution of Aflaq and al-Bitar's party were adopted unchanged. All three were elected to the party's new National Command, along with a supporter of al-Hawrani.
's Egypt
, and when unification took place in 1958 he became Minister for Guidance of the new United Arab Republic
(UAR). Like many of the other Syrian politicians who had initially supported unification, he found the experience disenchanting, and resigned his position the following year.
When a right-wing coup in Syria put an end to the UAR, al-Bitar was one of sixteen prominent politicians to sign a declaration in support of the secession. Al-Hawrani also signed, but al-Bitar was still known as a Ba'athist whereas al-Hawrani's secessionist position was well-known. Much of the party's base was outraged by al-Bitar's action, although he quickly retracted his signature. The Ba'ath splintered in the aftermath of the secession, with a large part of its base turning to Nasserism
. Al-Bitar remained close to Aflaq, who retained the party leadership with a pro-reunification line, albeit a more cautious one than that of the Nasserists or the Arab Nationalist Movement
(ANM), and indeed a more cautious one than much of the party's membership wished for.
Despite being co-founder of the Ba'ath party, Michel Aflaq had little affinity with the government that took power in Syria under that name in 1963. Eventually, the government and he had a falling out and he was forced to flee to Iraq where another Ba’ath Party had taken power. Although this party also failed to follow most of ‘Aflaq's teachings, he became a symbol for the regime of Saddam Hussein
, according to whom Iraq was in fact the true Ba’athist country. In Iraq he was given a token position as head of the party, while his objections to the regime were silenced and ignored.
On the other hand, al-Bitar was offered the position of prime minister at the head of a coalition cabinet made up of the various pro-reunification forces. Al-Bitar took up the appointment, and was later appointed to the NCRC as well.
However, the military Ba'athists who had taken control were not in tune with Aflaq and al-Bitar. They were of a younger generation, and a more radical disposition, traits they shared with an increasingly influential element of the civilian party membership in both Syria and Iraq
. Later that year, the radical elements gained control of the party at the Sixth National Party Congress. The Congress approved a far-left programme, evidently inspired by Soviet socialism, and condemned what it termed "ideological notability" inside the party - an implicit attack on Aflaq and al-Bitar. The latter resigned the premiership, which passed to a military moderate Ba'athist officer, Amin Hafiz
. Al-Bitar was restored to the position the following year when the ruling group decided to adopt a more conciliatory approach following massive riots in Hama, which the army had to suppress.
In his writings Aflaq had been stridently in favor of free speech and other human rights and aid for the lower classes. He stated that the Arab nationalist state to be created should be a democracy. These ideals were never realized by the regimes that used his ideology. Most scholars see the Assad regime in Syria and Saddam's regime in Iraq to have only employed Aflaq's ideology as a pretense for dictatorship. John Devlin in his "The Baath Party: Rise and Metamorphosis" outlines how the parties became dominated by minority groups who significantly influenced their society. Elizabeth Picard takes a somewhat different approach, arguing both Assad and Hussein used Ba’athism as a guise to set up what were in fact military dictatorship
s.
In short, Aflaq and al-Bitar were clearly not in any sense in charge of Syria - rather, they were acting as the face of a regime with which they had major ideological and personal differences.
led by a radical Ba'athist faction headed by Chief of Staff Salah Jadid
, overthrew the Syrian Government. A late warning telegram of the coup d'état
was sent from President Gamal Abdel Nasser
to Nasim Al Safarjalani
(The General Secretary of Presidential Council), on the early morning of the coup d'état. The coup sprung out of factional rivalry between Jadid's "regionalist" (qutri) camp of the Ba'ath Party, which promoted ambitions for a Greater Syria
and the more traditionally pan-Arab, in power faction, called the "nationalist" (qawmi) fraction. Jadid's supporters were also seen as more radically right-wing.
Members of the party's other fractions fled; Aflaq was captured and detained, along with other members of the party's historic leadership, in a government guest house. When the new rulers launched a purge in August that year, Aflaq managed to make his escape, with the help of Nasim Al Safarjalani
and Malek Bashour, both close trusted friends and colleagues, and hence was able to flee to Beirut
.
Aflaq accepted the post of secretary-general of the Baghdad-based Baath party in 1968. He visited Iraq for short stays until taking residence there in the 1980s. He retained his post as secretary-general, although it was largely a formality, as real power was in the hand of assistant secretary-general Saddam Hussein
. Aflaq died in Paris on June 23, 1989, following heart surgery.
, he asserted that "religion entered Europe from the outside, therefore it is alien to its character and history." Europeans and Americans, he believed, cannot really be Christian or religious or highly spiritual in the rich way that Arabs can.
Upon his death in 1989 he was given a great Muslim funeral. The government of Iraq claimed upon his death that Aflaq converted to Islam
. They also stated that the conversion had not been made public during Aflaq's lifetime because both he and party leaders did not want it to be interpreted politically. A tomb was built for him in Baghdad
designed by Chadagee, which is now the site of US military barracks.
However, at the time of his death, Aflaq's family was unaware of his purported conversion. Furthermore, in his book "Sandcastles: The Arabs in Search of the Modern World", the American journalist Milton Viorst
mentions that he was told by some Arabs that they were convinced that the Iraqi president, Saddam Hussein had fabricated his conversion, and had inflicted on Aflaq a posthumous humiliation. This was allegedly done under the pretext that by Islamizing Aflaq, Saddam would avoid reminding Iraqis of Baathism's Christian roots.
(In memory of the Arab Prophet, 1 April 1943)
"The connection of Islam to Arabism is not, therefore, similar to that of any religion to any nationalism. The Arab Christians, when their nationalism is fully awakened and when they restore their genuine character, will recognize that Islam for them is nationalist education in which they have to be absorbed in order to understand and love it to the extent that they become concerned about Islam as about the most precious thing in their Arabism. If the actual reality is still far from this wish, the new generation of Arab Christians has a task which it should perform with daring and detachment, sacrificing for it their pride and benefits, for there is nothing that equals Arabism and the honor of belonging to it."
(In memory of the Arab Prophet -April, 1943)
Ba'athism
Ba'athism is an Arab nationalist ideology that promotes the development and creation of an Arab nation through the leadership of a vanguard party over a progressive revolutionary state. The ideology is officially based on the theories of Zaki al-Arsuzi , Michel Aflaq and Salah al-Din al-Bitar...
, a hybrid of Arab nationalism
Arab nationalism
Arab nationalism is a nationalist ideology celebrating the glories of Arab civilization, the language and literature of the Arabs, calling for rejuvenation and political union in the Arab world...
and Arab socialism
Arab socialism
Arab socialism is a political ideology based on an amalgamation of Pan-Arabism and socialism. Arab socialism is distinct from the much broader tradition of socialist thought in the Arab world, which predates Arab socialism by as much as fifty years...
.
Early life
Born in DamascusDamascus
Damascus , commonly known in Syria as Al Sham , and as the City of Jasmine , is the capital and the second largest city of Syria after Aleppo, both are part of the country's 14 governorates. In addition to being one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Damascus is a major...
to a middle class Greek Antiochian Orthodox Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
family, Aflaq was first educated in the westernized schools of French Mandate of Syria
French Mandate of Syria
Officially the French Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon was a League of Nations mandate founded after the First World War and the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire...
. In 1929 Aflaq left Syria to study philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
abroad at the Sorbonne
University of Paris
The University of Paris was a university located in Paris, France and one of the earliest to be established in Europe. It was founded in the mid 12th century, and officially recognized as a university probably between 1160 and 1250...
in Paris. During his stay Aflaq was influenced by the works of Henri Bergson
Henri Bergson
Henri-Louis Bergson was a major French philosopher, influential especially in the first half of the 20th century. Bergson convinced many thinkers that immediate experience and intuition are more significant than rationalism and science for understanding reality.He was awarded the 1927 Nobel Prize...
, and became an admirer of the National Socialist German Workers Party and Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
. It was during his stay in Paris that Aflaq met his longtime collaborator Salah al-Din al-Bitar
Salah al-Din al-Bitar
Salah ad-Din al-Bitar , was a Syrian politician who, with Michel Aflaq, founded the Arab Ba'th Party in the early 1940s. During their student days in Paris in the early 1930s, the two worked together to formulate a doctrine that combined aspects of nationalism and socialism...
, a fellow Syrian nationalist. Aflaq founded a Arab Student Union at the Sorbonne, and discovered the works and writings of Karl Marx
Karl Marx
Karl Heinrich Marx was a German philosopher, economist, sociologist, historian, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. His ideas played a significant role in the development of social science and the socialist political movement...
for the first time. He returned to Syria in 1932, and became active in communist politics, but left the movement when the government of Léon Blum
Léon Blum
André Léon Blum was a French politician, usually identified with the moderate left, and three times the Prime Minister of France.-First political experiences:...
, supported by the French Communist Party
French Communist Party
The French Communist Party is a political party in France which advocates the principles of communism.Although its electoral support has declined in recent decades, the PCF retains a large membership, behind only that of the Union for a Popular Movement , and considerable influence in French...
(FCP), continued France's old politics towards it's colonies. Aflaq, like many likeminded individuals, believed that the FCP followed a pro-independence policies towards the French colonies
French Colonies
"French Colonies" is the name used by philatelists to refer to the postage stamps issued by France for use in the parts of the French colonial empire that did not have stamps of their own...
. It did not help that the Syrian Communist Party
Syrian Communist Party
The Syrian Communist Party was a political party in Syria, founded in 1944. It became a member of the National Progressive Front in 1972...
(SCP) supported FCP's decision, from then on Aflaq saw the communist movement as a tool of the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
. He was impressed by the organisation and ideology of Antun Saadeh
Antun Saadeh
Antun Saadeh was a Lebanese Syrian nationalist philosopher, writer and politician who founded the Syrian Social Nationalist Party.-Life:...
's Syrian Social Nationalist Party
Syrian Social Nationalist Party
The Syrian Social Nationalist Party , is a secular nationalist political party in Lebanon and Syria. It advocates the establishment of a Syrian nation state spanning the Fertile Crescent, including present day Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan, the Palestinian Territories, Israel, Cyprus, Kuwait,...
.
Upon their return back to Syria, Aflaq and al-Bitar became teachers at Tajhiz all'-Ula, "the most prestigious secondary school in Syria". Aflag taught history, while al-Bitar taught maths physics. By 1940 Aflaq and al-Bitar had managed to set up a student circle, which usually met on Fridays. In 1940 the Movement for Arab Revival
Arab Ba'ath Movement
The Arab Ba'ath Movement , also literally translated as Arab Resurrection Movement or Arab Renaissance Movement, was the Ba'athist political movement and predacessor of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party...
, a political party, was established by Aflaq and al-Bitar. They used most of their spare in 1941 to agitate for the party, in 1942 both Aflaq and al-Bitar quit their jobs as teachers to focus on politics. It was around this time when Aflaq showed his skills as "a compelling speaker" who was able to the "theatrical pause" almost cunningly. The party changed it's name to Arab Ba'ath Movement to signify the radical changes which was sweeping the Middle East; Rashid Ali al-Gaylani, the Prime Minister of Iraq
Prime Minister of Iraq
The Prime Minister of Iraq is Iraq's head of government. Prime Minister was originally an appointed office, subsidiary to the head of state, and the nominal leader of the Iraqi parliament. Under the newly adopted constitution the Prime Minister is to be the country's active executive authority...
, had challenged Britain's domination over Iraq. The replacement of the word "Revival" with "Ba'ath" (literally means rebirth) was to signify that Arab revival had been replaced ideologically by the need of an Arab rebirth. The change of names led to Zaki al-Arsuzi
Zaki al-Arsuzi
Zakī al-Arsūzī born Latakia June 1899, died Damascus July 1968) was a Syrian political activist and writer, and is widely regarded as a main inspiration for the Ba'ath Party...
, leader of the Arab Ba'ath Party
Arab Ba'ath Party
The Arab Ba'ath Party of Zaki al-Arsuzi was a political party founded in 1940. It is not to be confused with the Arab Ba'ath Movement of Michel Aflaq founded in the same year. It merged into the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party....
, to accuse Aflaq and al-Bitar of stealing his party's name from him. With both men promoting a party platform on an Arab nationalist stance, Aflaq and al-Arsuzi became bitter rivals.
On 24 October 1942 both Aflaq and al-Bitar resigned from their teaching positions, now determined to devote their full efforts to the political struggle. They slowly gained supporters, and in 1945 the first elected Bureau of the Arab Ba'th Movement was formed, including both of them. The following year, the organisation gained a substantial number of new members when most of the former supporters of Zaki al-Arsuzi, led by Wahib al-Ghanim, joined it.
On the leadership of the Ba'ath Party
In 1947 the first party congress was held in Damascus, Aflaq took the pre-eminent position of amid, sometimes translated as "doyen"; under the constitution adopted at the congress, this made him effective leader of the party, with sweeping powers within the organization and al-Bitar was elected secretary general.In 1952 Syria's military dictator, Adib al-Shishakli, banned all political parties. Aflaq took refuge in neighboring Lebanon
Lebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
, along with Al-Bitar. There they came into contact with Akram al-Hawrani
Akram al-Hawrani
Akram al-Hawrani |transcribe]]d Hourani or Hurani) , was a Syrian politician who played a prominent role in the formation of a widespread populist, nationalist movement in Syria and in the rise of the Ba'th Party...
, a far more seasoned politician who had recently established the Arab Socialist Party and boasted a considerable following among the peasantry of the Hama
Hama
Hama is a city on the banks of the Orontes River in west-central Syria north of Damascus. It is the provincial capital of the Hama Governorate. Hama is the fourth-largest city in Syria—behind Aleppo, Damascus, and Homs—with a population of 696,863...
region in central Syria as well as a valuable foothold in the military
Military
A military is an organization authorized by its greater society to use lethal force, usually including use of weapons, in defending its country by combating actual or perceived threats. The military may have additional functions of use to its greater society, such as advancing a political agenda e.g...
officer corps. The three politicians agreed to unite their parties, and co-operated in the overthrow of al-Shishakli in 1954, following which a congress ratified the merger of the two parties into the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party. The rules and constitution of Aflaq and al-Bitar's party were adopted unchanged. All three were elected to the party's new National Command, along with a supporter of al-Hawrani.
Power politics in Syria, 1954–1963
Following the overthrow of al-Shishakli, Syria held its first democratic elections in five years. al-Bitar was elected as a deputy for Damascus, defeating the secretary general of the Syrian Social National Party, one of the Ba'ath's bitterest ideological enemies. He became Minister for Foreign Affairs in 1956 and held the post until 1958. Along with other Ba'athists, he agitated in favour of the unification of Syria with NasserGamal Abdel Nasser
Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein was the second President of Egypt from 1956 until his death. A colonel in the Egyptian army, Nasser led the Egyptian Revolution of 1952 along with Muhammad Naguib, the first president, which overthrew the monarchy of Egypt and Sudan, and heralded a new period of...
's Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
, and when unification took place in 1958 he became Minister for Guidance of the new United Arab Republic
United Arab Republic
The United Arab Republic , often abbreviated as the U.A.R., was a sovereign union between Egypt and Syria. The union began in 1958 and existed until 1961, when Syria seceded from the union. Egypt continued to be known officially as the "United Arab Republic" until 1971. The President was Gamal...
(UAR). Like many of the other Syrian politicians who had initially supported unification, he found the experience disenchanting, and resigned his position the following year.
When a right-wing coup in Syria put an end to the UAR, al-Bitar was one of sixteen prominent politicians to sign a declaration in support of the secession. Al-Hawrani also signed, but al-Bitar was still known as a Ba'athist whereas al-Hawrani's secessionist position was well-known. Much of the party's base was outraged by al-Bitar's action, although he quickly retracted his signature. The Ba'ath splintered in the aftermath of the secession, with a large part of its base turning to Nasserism
Nasserism
Nasserism is an Arab nationalist political ideology based on the thinking of the former Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser. It was a major influence on pan-Arab politics in the 1950s and 1960s, and continues to have significant resonance throughout the Arab World to this day. It also...
. Al-Bitar remained close to Aflaq, who retained the party leadership with a pro-reunification line, albeit a more cautious one than that of the Nasserists or the Arab Nationalist Movement
Arab Nationalist Movement
The Arab Nationalist Movement , also known as the Movement of Arab Nationalists and the Harakiyyin, was a pan-Arab nationalist organization influential in much of the Arab world, most famously so within the Palestinian movement.-Origins & Ideology:The Arab Nationalist Movement had its origins in a...
(ANM), and indeed a more cautious one than much of the party's membership wished for.
In government with the Ba'ath
In 1963, a military coup by pro-reunification officers removed the secessionist regime from power. The officers included many Ba'thists, but initially also Nasserists and other elements. They established a National Revolutionary Command Council (NCRC) as the supreme organ of power in the land.Despite being co-founder of the Ba'ath party, Michel Aflaq had little affinity with the government that took power in Syria under that name in 1963. Eventually, the government and he had a falling out and he was forced to flee to Iraq where another Ba’ath Party had taken power. Although this party also failed to follow most of ‘Aflaq's teachings, he became a symbol for the regime of Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the fifth President of Iraq, serving in this capacity from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003...
, according to whom Iraq was in fact the true Ba’athist country. In Iraq he was given a token position as head of the party, while his objections to the regime were silenced and ignored.
On the other hand, al-Bitar was offered the position of prime minister at the head of a coalition cabinet made up of the various pro-reunification forces. Al-Bitar took up the appointment, and was later appointed to the NCRC as well.
However, the military Ba'athists who had taken control were not in tune with Aflaq and al-Bitar. They were of a younger generation, and a more radical disposition, traits they shared with an increasingly influential element of the civilian party membership in both Syria and Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
. Later that year, the radical elements gained control of the party at the Sixth National Party Congress. The Congress approved a far-left programme, evidently inspired by Soviet socialism, and condemned what it termed "ideological notability" inside the party - an implicit attack on Aflaq and al-Bitar. The latter resigned the premiership, which passed to a military moderate Ba'athist officer, Amin Hafiz
Amin Hafiz
Amin al-Hafiz was a Syrian politician, general and member of the Ba'th Party.-Early life:Al-Hafiz was born in the city of Aleppo....
. Al-Bitar was restored to the position the following year when the ruling group decided to adopt a more conciliatory approach following massive riots in Hama, which the army had to suppress.
In his writings Aflaq had been stridently in favor of free speech and other human rights and aid for the lower classes. He stated that the Arab nationalist state to be created should be a democracy. These ideals were never realized by the regimes that used his ideology. Most scholars see the Assad regime in Syria and Saddam's regime in Iraq to have only employed Aflaq's ideology as a pretense for dictatorship. John Devlin in his "The Baath Party: Rise and Metamorphosis" outlines how the parties became dominated by minority groups who significantly influenced their society. Elizabeth Picard takes a somewhat different approach, arguing both Assad and Hussein used Ba’athism as a guise to set up what were in fact military dictatorship
Military dictatorship
A military dictatorship is a form of government where in the political power resides with the military. It is similar but not identical to a stratocracy, a state ruled directly by the military....
s.
In short, Aflaq and al-Bitar were clearly not in any sense in charge of Syria - rather, they were acting as the face of a regime with which they had major ideological and personal differences.
Downfall, exile and death
On 23 February 1966 a bloody coup d'étatCoup d'état
A coup d'état state, literally: strike/blow of state)—also known as a coup, putsch, and overthrow—is the sudden, extrajudicial deposition of a government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another body; either...
led by a radical Ba'athist faction headed by Chief of Staff Salah Jadid
Salah Jadid
Salah Jadid was a Syrian general and political figure in the Baath Party, and the country's de facto leader from 1966 until 1970.- Rise to power :...
, overthrew the Syrian Government. A late warning telegram of the coup d'état
Coup d'état
A coup d'état state, literally: strike/blow of state)—also known as a coup, putsch, and overthrow—is the sudden, extrajudicial deposition of a government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another body; either...
was sent from President Gamal Abdel Nasser
Gamal Abdel Nasser
Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein was the second President of Egypt from 1956 until his death. A colonel in the Egyptian army, Nasser led the Egyptian Revolution of 1952 along with Muhammad Naguib, the first president, which overthrew the monarchy of Egypt and Sudan, and heralded a new period of...
to Nasim Al Safarjalani
Nasim Al Safarjalani
Nasim Al Safarjalani comes from a prominent Arab Syrian family from Damascus, Syria.-Origins and youth:...
(The General Secretary of Presidential Council), on the early morning of the coup d'état. The coup sprung out of factional rivalry between Jadid's "regionalist" (qutri) camp of the Ba'ath Party, which promoted ambitions for a Greater Syria
Greater Syria
Greater Syria , also known simply as Syria, is a term that denotes a region in the Near East bordering the Eastern Mediterranean Sea or the Levant....
and the more traditionally pan-Arab, in power faction, called the "nationalist" (qawmi) fraction. Jadid's supporters were also seen as more radically right-wing.
Members of the party's other fractions fled; Aflaq was captured and detained, along with other members of the party's historic leadership, in a government guest house. When the new rulers launched a purge in August that year, Aflaq managed to make his escape, with the help of Nasim Al Safarjalani
Nasim Al Safarjalani
Nasim Al Safarjalani comes from a prominent Arab Syrian family from Damascus, Syria.-Origins and youth:...
and Malek Bashour, both close trusted friends and colleagues, and hence was able to flee to Beirut
Beirut
Beirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon, with a population ranging from 1 million to more than 2 million . Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's Mediterranean coastline, it serves as the country's largest and main seaport, and also forms the Beirut Metropolitan...
.
Aflaq accepted the post of secretary-general of the Baghdad-based Baath party in 1968. He visited Iraq for short stays until taking residence there in the 1980s. He retained his post as secretary-general, although it was largely a formality, as real power was in the hand of assistant secretary-general Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the fifth President of Iraq, serving in this capacity from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003...
. Aflaq died in Paris on June 23, 1989, following heart surgery.
Aflaq and Islam
Though born a Christian, Aflaq believed that Islam provides Arabs with "the most brilliant picture of their language and literature, and the grandest part of their national history." He did not see the confrontation with the West in Muslim versus Christian terms. Arguing that all three great religions originated from Southwest AsiaSouthwest Asia
Western Asia, West Asia, Southwest Asia or Southwestern Asia are terms that describe the westernmost portion of Asia. The terms are partly coterminous with the Middle East, which describes a geographical position in relation to Western Europe rather than its location within Asia...
, he asserted that "religion entered Europe from the outside, therefore it is alien to its character and history." Europeans and Americans, he believed, cannot really be Christian or religious or highly spiritual in the rich way that Arabs can.
Upon his death in 1989 he was given a great Muslim funeral. The government of Iraq claimed upon his death that Aflaq converted to Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
. They also stated that the conversion had not been made public during Aflaq's lifetime because both he and party leaders did not want it to be interpreted politically. A tomb was built for him in Baghdad
Baghdad
Baghdad is the capital of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Governorate. The population of Baghdad in 2011 is approximately 7,216,040...
designed by Chadagee, which is now the site of US military barracks.
However, at the time of his death, Aflaq's family was unaware of his purported conversion. Furthermore, in his book "Sandcastles: The Arabs in Search of the Modern World", the American journalist Milton Viorst
Milton Viorst
Milton Viorst is an American journalist.He studied history at Rutgers University. In 1951, he was a Fulbright scholar in France. He returned and attended Harvard University and Columbia University, where he graduated in 1956 in journalism....
mentions that he was told by some Arabs that they were convinced that the Iraqi president, Saddam Hussein had fabricated his conversion, and had inflicted on Aflaq a posthumous humiliation. This was allegedly done under the pretext that by Islamizing Aflaq, Saddam would avoid reminding Iraqis of Baathism's Christian roots.
Quotes
"A day will come when the nationalists will find themselves the only defenders of Islam. They will have to give a special meaning to it if they want the Arab nation to have a good reason for survival."(In memory of the Arab Prophet, 1 April 1943)
"The connection of Islam to Arabism is not, therefore, similar to that of any religion to any nationalism. The Arab Christians, when their nationalism is fully awakened and when they restore their genuine character, will recognize that Islam for them is nationalist education in which they have to be absorbed in order to understand and love it to the extent that they become concerned about Islam as about the most precious thing in their Arabism. If the actual reality is still far from this wish, the new generation of Arab Christians has a task which it should perform with daring and detachment, sacrificing for it their pride and benefits, for there is nothing that equals Arabism and the honor of belonging to it."
(In memory of the Arab Prophet -April, 1943)
Further reading
- Al-Baath wal Watan Al-Arabi [Arabic, with French translation] ("The Baath and the Arab Homeland"), Qasim Sallam, Paris, EMA, 1980. ISBN 2-86584-003-4
- Al-Baath wa-Lubnân [Arabic only] ("The Baath and Lebanon"), NY Firzli, Beirut, Dar-al-Tali'a Books, 1973
- The Iraq-Iran Conflict, NY Firzli, Paris, EMA, 1981. ISBN 2-86584-002-6
- History of Syria Including Lebanon and Palestine, Vol. 2 Hitti Philip K.Philip Khuri HittiPhilip Khuri Hitti ,, born in Shimlan, Ottoman Syria, now modern day Lebanon), was a scholar of Islam and introduced the field of Arab culture studies to the United States. He was of Maronite Christian religion....
(2002) (ISBN 1-931956-61-8)
Sources
- Al-Baath wal Watan Al-Arabi [Arabic, with French translation] ("The Baath and the Arab Homeland"), Qasim Sallam, Paris, EMA, 1980. ISBN 2-86584-003-4
- Al-Baath wa-Lubnân [Arabic only] ("The Baath and Lebanon"), NY Firzli, Beirut, Dar-al-Tali'a Books, 1973
- The Iraq-Iran Conflict, NY Firzli, Paris, EMA, 1981. ISBN 2-86584-002-6