Mithqal Al Fayez

Mithqal Sattam Fendi Al Fayez (Arabic: مثقال الفايز , (c. 1885 – 1967) was a historical Jordanian political and tribal figure whose work helped the establishment of The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. Mithqal was one of the two leading sheikhs of Bani Sakhr;[1] he took power in the early twentieth century, and headed the Bani Sakhr tribe generally and the Al-Twaga half of the tribe specifically, which consisted of the four major clans, Al Ghbeyen, Al Ghuful, Al A'lqam, and Al Tabab, which comprise of 32 sub-clans which further divide into more sub-clans. He also headed his own clan, Al-Fayez.[2]

Mithqal Sattam Al-Fayez
DiedApril 14, 1967(1967-04-14) (aged 86)
Resting placeUm Al-Amad, Amman, Jordan
Occupation(s)Political and tribal leader lieutenant general
Years active1921–1967
TitlePasha (Given by Mehmed V)
Sheikh of Sheikhs
Sheikh of Bani Sakher
ChildrenAkef Al-Fayez
Parent
RelativesFendi Al-Fayez (Grandfather)
Amer Al-Fayez (Grandchild)
Hakem Al-Fayez (Grandchild)
Faisal Al-Fayez (Grandchild)
Hind Al-Fayez (Great Grandchild)

Early life and children

Mithqal Sattam Al-Fayez was born into the family of the leading shaykhs of the Bani Sakhr tribal confederacy around the year 1885. By that point the tribe was already one of the largest and strongest nomadic tribal groups in the Syrian Desert, with an unbroken chain of leadership being passed down from father to son since his third great-grandfather Thiab bin Mohammad Al-Fayez in the 1760s.[3] Due to his father Sattam bin Fendi's death in 1891, Mithqal's childhood was spent with the Kawakbeh family of the Ruwallah tribe, his mother's tribe, where he learned to ride and battle. He also adopted their accent and it stuck with him his whole life. Mithqal would only come back to the Bani Sakher around the year 1900, and the first written evidence of him was in 1906 when he was already a prominent Sheikh in the family at the age of 21.[4] Like his grandfather Emir Fendi Al-Fayez, Mithqal would have 14 sons that had children of their own: Akef, Zayd, Talal, Tayil, Trad, Mohammad, Sultan, Mashour, Mansur, Sami, Ali, Nayif, Rakan, and Al Nashmi. He also had 7 daughters, most notably Al Sheikha Sultana.[5]

Rise to power
Mithqal riding in 1927, taken by W.B. Seabrook

Mithqal quickly made a name for himself as a leader of raids. His success in battle has quickly earned him a reputation which helped to provide him with the springboard to the position of leadership.

Mithqal's elder brother, Fawwaz Al-Fayez, was the leader of the Bani Sakher before him, however a newspaper report from 1913 implies that the two shaykhs were acting as partners in the leadership of the Bani Sakhr under Ottoman patronage. By that time, they were generally known for their friendship with the government and faced internal opposition for that reason.

Upon Fawwaz's death in the summer of 1917, Mithqal made a bid on becoming the next Sheikh of the Clan, however, Mithqal lost to his seventeen-year-old nephew, Mashour, Fawwaz's son. The tribal council preferred the young Mashhur, who was a graduate of a school in Damascus, to the illiterate Mithqal, even though the latter was more mature and experienced. Mithqal did not agree with his younger cousin taking the position, in return, he was given the title of Pasha by the sultan, and was the only Arabian Sheikh to ever get this title from the Ottomans.[6]

After Mashour's death four years later in a tribal conflict, Mithqal was an uncontested choice for the title.[7][8][9]

Adventures in Arabia
Emir Emin Arslan

In 1925, William Seabrook sought to meet Mithqal after he heard about him from Emir Emin Arslan, where the Emir sent him to Ali Rikabi Pasha, Jordan's third prime minister, so that he would relay him to Emir Abdullah I, who would "surely know where Mithqal is", as they "called each other cousins and were friends for years".[10] Emir Emin sent William with a letter in his name, which read

In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate. This man is in my face, and in the face of Mithkal Pasha el Fayiz, shiekh of shiekhs of the Beni Sakhr, with whom, if he is touched, will be a blood feud.”

William would soon use this letter as he was stopped by bedouin thieves who ordered of him all his and his guide's belongings, and at the reading of the letter they choose to apologize and let them pass.

William eventually reaches Mithqal's encampment, and writes his first impressions of him:

“So this was the man of whom my princely friend has told me so many fascinating things, which now flashed through my mind in a jumble as I stood facing him- the overlord of fifty thousand flocks and twelve thousand fighting-men, a multi-millionaire even in terms of American dollars- the owner of six villages and many miles of cultivated land, and a palace”

"In any company in the world Mithkal would have stood out as a born aristocrat. He was a man of scarcely forty, medium height, slender, with beautifully formed hands, smooth, olive-tanned complexion, features of classic regularity, small pointed black beard and a small moustache, with deep brown eyes remarkable for their kindliness and intelligence- but which I learned later could turn black and flash fire.”

William would spend months with Mithqal and the Bani Sakher, ride in battles with them, and retell famous tribal stories such as "The Eyes of Gutne" and Haditha's benevolence in his book Adventures in Arabia (1927).[11]

Relationships and Alliances

Mithqal himself was born from a calculated strategic alliance between the Beni Sakher and the Ruwalla, and over the course of his lifetime he built strong mutually beneficial relations with other important figures in Arabia and abroad.

King Abdullah I

Then Emir Abdullah I had a personal, political, and business relationship with Mithqal. Their first meeting was in 1920, when Mithqal accepted Abdullah's invitation to a meeting in Ma'an, agreeing to ally himself and his tribe with Abdullah and inviting him to Amman. With the support of Mithqal and his father-in-law Mayor Saeed Pasha Khayr, Amman turned into the Hashemites focal point in Jordan.[12] Mithqal was Abdullah's most important and powerful ally in Jordan, and in return Abdullah exempted Mithqal and his family from taxes and granted them the land that the Ottoman's confiscated to build the Hijaz railway and gifts such as the car he gave to Mithqal.[13][14]

In the summer of 1923, Mithqal conferred to him the rank of lieutenant general of the emirate's army. This was due to Mithqal's contribution and increasing involvement in protecting the emirate's borders from its eastern flank against the Wahhabi's expansionist aggression.[15]

When in 1930, Mithqal's eldest son Sultan died of illness, Mithqal refused to leave his grave after the funeral; only to be persuaded by Emir Abdullah.[5] In 1924, Mithqal and Emir Abdullah went together to Mecca to perform the Hajj.[14] Mithqal would publicly support Abdullah in his attempt to unify the country,[16] this helped cement the Emir's position in Jordan which was still governed tribally at the time.[17] Mithqal's support of Emir Abdullah (and later kings) is also noted as one of the reasons of Jordan's relative stability and its sovereign integrity as King Faisal Al Saud have noted that "if it wasn't for Beni Sakher, our borders would reach Palestine".[18] Emir Abdullah would help lend Mithqal money to cultivate his land,[19] and when the Emir's own funds were lacking, he and Mithqal would secure land deals and mortgage both of their lands to foreign bankers as the added size of both Mithqal's and the governments land helps leverage the deals to their favor.[20]

King Faisal I of Iraq

Mithqal maintained a friendly relationship with King Faisal I after 1919, he knew Faisal before he became King of Iraq and famously hosted him in Um Al-Amad in 1923, where Faisal stayed the night. Mithqal also attended the reception of Faisal in Alexandria, and the ceremony of the death of King Faisal's son Ghazi.[21]

Notable Regional Sheikhs and dignitaries

Saeed Pasha Kheir

Sheikh Haditha Al-Khraisha

Sheikh Shaher Sayel Al-Hadid

Abdul Hameed Shoman

Sheikh Fawaz Barakat Al-Zoubi

Sheikh Minwer Shtewi Al-Hadid

Hamad Pasha Al-Basel

Role in Jordan's agriculture

Mithqal inherited his father's, Sattam Al-Fayez, interest in agriculture, and further developed and cultivated the lands in Jordan for barely, wheat, lentils, olives, and other vegetables. Mithqal's role in Jordan's agriculture was crucial for the well-being of the country, as he was the first person to import a mechanical tractor and plough in the country's history. The effect of this purchase has helped the country out of a poverty-stricken famine in the mid-1930s as the production of wheat and barely has increased from 40,000 tons and 16,000 from 1936 to 113,000 tons and 53,000 tons in 1937;[22] this effectively tripled the food supply of the land and helped in feeding its inhabitants. This increase in production has also tripled Jordan's food exports during those years, which opened the much needed revenue for the poverty stricken Transjordan of that time.

Ambush of the 1930s
Mithqal Pasha smoking his waterpipe in 1939.

Mithqal was riding his mare in the desert accompanied by only one man. It was during the winter season, and the Bani Sakhr had migrated east towards Wadi Sirhan. Suddenly, Mithqal and his escort were surprised by an ambush set by members of an enemy tribe. A bullet grazed the side of Mithqal's head, almost killing him, and he was hit in the shoulder. Mithqal and his escort fired back and managed to drive off their attackers, but Mithqal was badly wounded. His escort tied a piece of cloth around his bleeding shoulder, pulled him over his mare, and rode on quickly to seek aid.

They arrived in the nearby camp of a Bani Sakhr tribesman and asked for his help in fetching a car to take Mithqal to a hospital. He sent one of his men by camel to the encampment of Shaykh Haditha Al-Khraisha, who in turn sent a messenger to Amman. A car finally arrived, but in the meantime, Mithqal was suffering from loss of blood and in great pain. Mithqal spent twenty days in an Amman hospital. He survived, but the damage was irreversible. For the rest of his life, he could hardly use that arm, which dangled nearly lifeless from his shoulder.[8]

Imprisonment of Major General Fredrick Peake
Mithqal in Jerusalem, 1933.

In 1919, over a decade long land dispute, Major General Fredrick Peake pursued a meeting with Mithqal to discuss the dispute. However, Mithqal choose to stay in his family's headquarters in Um Al Amad, which then prompted Peake to approach him unarmed to avoid a large conflict. Initially, Mithqal agreed to his request, however the day after Mithqal ordered the arrest of the Major General, which led to Peake to stay in the stables of the Al-Fayez for at least a day.[23][8] It is unclear why Mithqal ordered the arrest of Peake, and although Peake writes unfavorably of Mithqal in an undermining manner in his books, he reportedly "bore no grudge" according to C.S. Jarvis's biography of the Peake.

Last years

Mithqal's health soon began deteriorating soon after the death in 1962 of his favorite wife ‘Adul, which was a severe blow to Mithqal. In the last five years of his life, he suffered from progressively declining health. Though he was fortunate enough to receive superb medical treatment in Cairo, Beirut, and Europe, diabetes and other age-related illnesses brought about his death in his late eighties in April 1967.

Mithqal's Legacy

The mourning period was over and the dignitaries and ordinary people left Mithqal’s house. The bereaved family was left to deal with the huge void created by Mithqal’s demise. It was undisputed that the elder son, Akef Al-Fayez, would become the head of the family and the main bearer of his father’s legacy.

Al-Fayez with his favorited camel

On July 1, 1981, the Sheikh Mithqal Al Fayez mosque was opened by King Hussein in Um Al-Amad. The mosque was built by Akef, in commemoration of his late father. The opening was attended by, King Hussein, Akef Al-Fayez, Prince Raid Ibn Zaid, Islamic chief justice Sheikh Ibrahim Al Qatan, and Minister of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs Kamel Al Sharif. [24]

One of the first things the family did was to gather to distribute Mithqal’s huge landholdings. By the time of his death, Mithqal had accumulated at the very least 120,000 dunams (30,000 acres) in Jordan, mostly around south Amman and northern Madaba. Several years later, the family sold a large portion of that land to the Jordanian government. Today, Queen Alia International Airport stands on what used to be Mithqal’s fields.[3]

On May 25, 2021, Mithqal was posthumously awarded the Medal of the State Centennial, on the Kingdom's on the 75th Independence, his son H.E Trad Al-Fayez received the award on his behalf. Mithqal's son, Akef Al-Fayez was also posthumously awarded the medal, received by his Akef's son H.E Faisal Al-Fayez.[25]

Mithqal was a main character and the paramount character in the first half of William Seabrook's Adventures in Arabia when William sought to find Mithqal and experience the Arabian lifestyle in the late 1920s.

In early 2018, a TV Drama Series following Mithqal's life was announced to be in the works by the Al-Hijjawi production company.

On May 22, 2019, Al-Mamlaka broadcast a 50 minute documentary on their television channel that follows events from Mithqal's life. The documentary has also been uploaded to their Youtube channel

See also

References
  1. Kamāl Sulaymān, Aṣ-Ṣalībī (2010). The Modern History of Jordan. I.B. Tauris.
  2. Bin Muhammad, Ghazi (1999). The tribes of Jordan at the beginning of the twenty-first century. Amman, Jordan: Jamʻīyat Turāth al-Urdun al-Bāqī. ASIN B00069WNGO.
  3. Lieber, Dov (3 September 2016). "How Jordan's 'Sheikh of Sheikhs' Negotiated with Zionists, Founded a Kingdom". The Times of Israel.
  4. Lieber, Dov (3 September 2016). "How Jordan's 'sheikh of sheikhs' negotiated with Zionists, founded a kingdom". The Times of Israel.
  5. Alon, Yoav (2016). The Shaykh of Shaykhs. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press. p. 90. ISBN 9780804799348.
  6. Alon, Yoav (20 July 2016). The shaykh of shaykhs : Mithqal al-Fayiz and tribal leadership in modern Jordan. Stanford, California. p. 36. ISBN 978-0-8047-9934-8. OCLC 948961339.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  7. Peake, Pasha (1958). A History of Jordan and Its Tribes. University of Miami Press.
  8. Alon, Yoav (2016). T H E S H A Y K H OF SHAYKHS Mithqal al-Fayiz and Tribal Leadership in Modern Jordan. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press. p. 48. ISBN 9780804799348.
  9. Adair, John (2010). The Leadership of Muhammad. Kogan Page. p. 53. ISBN 978-0749460761.
  10. Seabrook, William (1927). Adventures in Arabia. London: George G. Harrap & Co. Ltd. p. 26.
  11. Seabrook, William (1927). Adventures in Arabia. London: George G. Harrap & Co. Ltd. p. 33.
  12. Alon, Yoav (20 July 2016). The shaykh of shaykhs : Mithqal al-Fayiz and tribal leadership in modern Jordan. Stanford, California. pp. 49–51. ISBN 978-0-8047-9934-8. OCLC 948961339.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  13. Untold histories of the Middle East : recovering voices from the 19th and 20th centuries. Singer, Amy., Neumann, Christoph K., 1962-, Somel, Selçuk Akşin. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge. 2011. pp. 98–99. ISBN 978-0-203-84536-3. OCLC 658189067.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  14. Alon, Yoav (20 July 2016). The shaykh of shaykhs : Mithqal al-Fayiz and tribal leadership in modern Jordan. Stanford, California. pp. 56–57. ISBN 978-0-8047-9934-8. OCLC 948961339.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  15. Alon, Yoav (2016). The shaykh of shaykhs Mithqal al-Fayiz and tribal leadership in modern Jordan. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press. p. 61. ISBN 9780804799348.
  16. Alon, Yoav (20 July 2016). The shaykh of shaykhs : Mithqal al-Fayiz and tribal leadership in modern Jordan. Stanford, California. p. 111. ISBN 978-0-8047-9934-8. OCLC 948961339.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  17. Untold histories of the Middle East : recovering voices from the 19th and 20th centuries. Singer, Amy., Neumann, Christoph K., 1962-, Somel, Selçuk Akşin. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge. 2011. p. 91. ISBN 978-0-203-84536-3. OCLC 658189067.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  18. Torczyner, Jim (2020). Rights-Based Community Practice and Academic Activism in a Turbulent World. London, United Kingdom: Routledge. ISBN 978-1000318524.
  19. Alon, Yoav (20 July 2016). The shaykh of shaykhs : Mithqal al-Fayiz and tribal leadership in modern Jordan. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press. p. 60. ISBN 978-0-8047-9934-8. OCLC 948961339.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  20. Israel's clandestine diplomacies. Jones, Clive, 1965-, Petersen, Tore T., 1954- (First ed.). Oxford. November 2013. ISBN 978-0-19-936544-9. OCLC 867049783.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: others (link)
  21. Alon, Yoav (20 July 2016). The shaykh of shaykhs : Mithqal al-Fayiz and tribal leadership in modern Jordan. Stanford, California. pp. 39, 141. ISBN 978-0-8047-9934-8. OCLC 948961339.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  22. Abu Nowar, Maan (2006). Development of Trans-Jordan 1929–1939. United Kingdom: Ithaca Press. p. 296. ISBN 978-0-86372-303-2.
  23. Abū Nūwār, Maʻn, 1922- (2006). The development of Trans-Jordan 1929-1939 : a history of the Hashemite kingdom of Jordan (1st ed.). Reading, U.K.: Ithaca. p. 8. ISBN 978-1-4294-7928-8. OCLC 156914596.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  24. "Jordan Times, 1981". 2 July 1981. Retrieved 5 October 2021.
  25. "King attends 75th Independence Day ceremony, bestows Order of State Centennial on leading figures". Jordan News Agency (Petra). 25 May 2021.
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