Ali Rıza Pasha (governor of Baghdad)
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Ali Rıza Pasha (sometimes spelled Ali Ridha Pasha) led the Ottoman army in 1831 against the ''mamluk'' governor in Baghdad after
Dawud Pasha Dawūd Pasha ( ar, داود باشا '; ka, დაუდ ფაშა; tr, Davud Pasha) (c.1767–1851), who was born in Tbilisi, Georgia, of Georgian Christian origin, His full name was ( ka, დავით მანველაშვილი; ...
refused to give up his office. Ali Rıza Pasha captured the city and Dawud ending the ''mamluk'' rule in Baghdad. Baghdad fell in September 1831 after a ten-week-long blockade of the city which caused mass famine. While Ali Rıza Pasha was able to capture
Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon ...
and unseat Dawud Pasha, he still had to deal with the ''mamluks'' who remained in Baghdad. In order to preserve his power and pacify the ''mamluks'', he gave many of them positions in his government. In the days following his conquest of Baghdad, Ali Rıza Pasha published a ''
firman A firman ( fa, , translit=farmân; ), at the constitutional level, was a royal mandate or decree issued by a sovereign in an Islamic state. During various periods they were collected and applied as traditional bodies of law. The word firman com ...
'', or decree, which made him the governing authority over the cities of: Baghdad, Aleppo, Diyarbakr, and Mosul. The ''firman'' eventually covered all cities in Iraq. Ali Rıza Pasha then marched his army south to
Basra Basra ( ar, ٱلْبَصْرَة, al-Baṣrah) is an Iraqi city located on the Shatt al-Arab. It had an estimated population of 1.4 million in 2018. Basra is also Iraq's main port, although it does not have deep water access, which is hand ...
where he occupied the province ending ''mamluk'' rule in 1834. Ali Rıza Pasha's conquest of Baghdad and Basra brought the provinces under direct rule from Istanbul and subjected them to ''
Tanzimat The Tanzimat (; ota, تنظيمات, translit=Tanzimāt, lit=Reorganization, ''see'' nizām) was a period of reform in the Ottoman Empire that began with the Gülhane Hatt-ı Şerif in 1839 and ended with the First Constitutional Era in 1876. ...
'' reforms. Ali Rıza Pasha replaced ''mamluk'' governor Dawud Pasha and exiled him to Brusah. After Dawud's departure from the city, Ali Rıza was credited with the return of trade and end to crime. For a short time he was able to control the mafia that was able to control these regions and especially
Karbala Karbala or Kerbala ( ar, كَرْبَلَاء, Karbalāʾ , , also ;) is a city in central Iraq, located about southwest of Baghdad, and a few miles east of Lake Milh, also known as Razzaza Lake. Karbala is the capital of Karbala Governorat ...
in the vacuum of a region without government. He promised appointments and estates to ''mamluk'' notables and continued past privileges of the
East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...
. In the summer of 1835, Ali Rıza Pasha attempted to attack the town of Karbala with an army of 3,000. Karbala is an important shrine town in Iraq because Imam
Husayn Hussein, Hussain, Hossein, Hossain, Huseyn, Husayn, Husein or Husain (; ar, حُسَيْن ), coming from the triconsonantal root Ḥ-S-i-N ( ar, ح س ی ن, link=no), is an Arabic name which is the diminutive of Hassan, meaning "good", " ...
, the grandson of the Islamic prophet
Muhammad Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد;  570 – 8 June 632 Common Era, CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Muhammad in Islam, Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet Divine inspiration, di ...
, is buried there. Karbala is also economically significant because it may levy taxes on pilgrims and earns a significant profit for the local government. Ali Rıza Pasha was unable to keep control of Karbala however. Although he was a member of a
Shiite Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that the Islamic prophet Muhammad designated ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his successor (''khalīfa'') and the Imam (spiritual and political leader) after him, most ...
-influenced Bektashi order and sympathized with Iraqi Shiites generally, Rıza Pasha was opposed by the so-called Shiite mafia in Karbala over the appointment of the towns governor. The problems in Karbala were heightened by pressure from the British Empire, who wanted to remain the imperial power of the Awadh government, and the essential link in the Iraqis' communication to the outside world. The serial governor
Izzet Ahmed Pasha Izzet Ahmed Pasha (1798 – 20 February 1876), also known as Ahmed Izzet Pasha or Hacı Izzet Pasha or Hakkı Paşazâde Izzet Pasha, was an Ottoman statesman who held a lengthy series of provincial governorships from 1841 to 1870. He was also a ...
married his daughter, becoming his son-in-law. Ali Rıza Pasha appointed ‘Abdu’L-Wahhab in charge of the city of Baghdad. In 1842, after eleven years of governing, Ali Rıza Pasha was replaced by
Mehmed Necib Pasha Mehmed Necib Pasha (died 1851), also known as Muhammad Najib Pasha or Gürcü Mehmet Necip Paşa or Necib Pasha, was an Ottoman statesman and governor of Georgian origin. He was the governor of Baghdad Eyalet, succeeding Ali Ridha Pasha (who had ...
. Ali Rıza Pasha was transferred from Baghdad to Syria. Ali Rıza Pasha's personality is more of a mystery than his political and military achievements. His personality is recounted in a Judeo-Iraqi folksong as very courageous and is even likened to that of a lion, but he was most likely admired by Jews because he replaced Dawud Pasha and redistributed land to people living in Karbala. A different account of Ali Rıza Pasha is given by a traveler named J.B. Fraser who visit Iraq in the mid-1800s. Fraser describes Ali Rıza Pasha as “a fat man about fifty years of age, clad in a fur beneesh, with a fez upon his head.” The description of Ali Rıza Pasha continues with Fraser explaining "His mind is not more attractive than the casket which enshrines it. He is weak of judgment, infirm of purpose, irresolute in action, gross in his appetites, selfish and avaricious.The Jewish Quarterly Review, New Series, Vol. 67, No. 2/3 (Oct., 1976 - Jan., 1977), pp. 131


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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ali Riza Pasha (governor of Baghdad) Ottoman Army generals Iraqi pashas Ottoman governors of Baghdad