Faiz El-Ghusein ( ar, فايز الغصين) (1883–1968) was a
sheikh
Sheikh (pronounced or ; ar, شيخ ' , mostly pronounced , plural ' )—also transliterated sheekh, sheyikh, shaykh, shayk, shekh, shaik and Shaikh, shak—is an honorific title in the Arabic language. It commonly designates a chief of a ...
from the
Hauran
The Hauran ( ar, حَوْرَان, ''Ḥawrān''; also spelled ''Hawran'' or ''Houran'') is a region that spans parts of southern Syria and northern Jordan. It is bound in the north by the Ghouta oasis, eastwards by the al-Safa (Syria), al-Safa ...
, and a former official of the Turkish Government.
[
]
He is most widely remembered as the author of ''
Martyred Armenia'', an alleged eyewitness account of
Armenian genocide.
[
][The Armenian Genocide: Wartime Radicalization Or Premeditated Continuum, edited by ]Richard G. Hovannisian
Richard Gable Hovannisian ( hy, Ռիչարդ Հովհաննիսյան, born November 9, 1932) is an Armenian American historian and professor emeritus at the University of California, Los Angeles. He is known mainly for his four-volume history o ...
. p.270 Transaction Publishers, 2006
Early life
El-Ghusein was the son of one of the heads of the tribe of
El-Sulût who lived in the
Haurân
The Hauran ( ar, حَوْرَان, ''Ḥawrān''; also spelled ''Hawran'' or ''Houran'') is a region that spans parts of southern Syria and northern Jordan. It is bound in the north by the Ghouta oasis, eastwards by the al-Safa field, to the so ...
territory. He attended the
Mekteb-i Aşiret-i Humayun
Mekteb-i Aşiret-i Humayun (Imperial Tribal School) or Aşiret Mektebi (عشيرت مكتبي) ( ar, عشيرة مكتبي) was an Istanbul school founded in 1892 by Abdulhamid II to promote the integration of tribes into the Ottoman empire throu ...
(Tribal School) at Constantinople, and continued on to the
Royal College
A royal college in some Commonwealth countries is technically a college which has received royal patronage and permission to use the prefix ''royal''. Permission is usually granted through a royal charter. The charter normally confers a constituti ...
. After being attached to the staff of the
Vali of Syria, he held the position of
Kaimakâm
Kaymakam, also known by many other romanizations, was a title used by various officials of the Ottoman Empire, including acting grand viziers, governors of provincial sanjaks, and administrators of district kazas. The title has been retained an ...
of
Mamouret-el-Azîz for three and a half years. He practised law at Damascus with partners
Shukri Bey El-Asli
Shukri ( ar, شكري) ( tr, Şükrü), alternatively Shoukri, Shoukry, Shokri, Choukri, Choucri, Chokri etc., is an Arabic language, Arabic name for males/females meaning "thankful". It is the masculine active participle of the Arabic verb, شَ ...
and
Abdul-Wahhâb Bey El-Inglîzi, and went to be a member of the General Assembly representing
Haurân
The Hauran ( ar, حَوْرَان, ''Ḥawrān''; also spelled ''Hawran'' or ''Houran'') is a region that spans parts of southern Syria and northern Jordan. It is bound in the north by the Ghouta oasis, eastwards by the al-Safa field, to the so ...
, and subsequently became a member of the Committee of the General Assembly.
Exodus
Due to being accused of being involved in a plan to obtain independence for the Arab people under the protection of Britain and France, and of inciting the tribes against the Turkish Government, El-Ghusein was arrested by the Government, thrown into prison, and later taken to
Aalîya to be tried for political offences. He was acquitted, but the Government disregarded the decisions and escorted him to
Erzurum, however he was detained at
Diarbekir by its
Vali due to the Russian presence preventing them from reaching Erzurum.
Initially he was imprisoned at Diarbekir for twenty-two days, after which he remained at Diarbekir for six and a half months, witnessing and hearing of the atrocities committed by the Turks against the Armenian people. El-Ghusein then fled as described in ''
Seven Pillars of Wisdom'', written by the British soldier
T. E. Lawrence
Thomas Edward Lawrence (16 August 1888 – 19 May 1935) was a British archaeologist, army officer, diplomat, and writer who became renowned for his role in the Arab Revolt (1916–1918) and the Sinai and Palestine Campaign (1915–1918 ...
:
Martyred Armenia
Faiz El-Ghusein was exiled to
Diyarbakir under the suspicion of supporting the
Arab Revolt.
While in Diyarbakir, El-Ghusein witnessed the massacres of Armenians in and around the area.
El-Ghusein wrote much of what he witnessed in his book ''
Martyred Armenia'' which provides an eyewitness account of the massacres and exposes its systematic nature.
The account was originally published in Arabic in 1916 under the title "Massacres in Armenia" but was changed to Martyred Armenia under its English translation.
In the
foreword
A foreword is a (usually short) piece of writing, sometimes placed at the beginning of a book or other piece of literature. Typically written by someone other than the primary author of the work, it often tells of some interaction between the ...
of the book, El-Ghusein states, "The war must needs come to an end after a while, and it will then be plain to readers of this book that all I have written is the truth, and that it contains only a small part of the atrocities committed by the Turks against the hapless Armenian people."
He wrote of the massacres and their opposition to Islamic principles as follows:
The mistreatment of the Armenians in the name of Islam distressed him greatly, and he expressed concern about how his faith was being used to justify the brutality:
He is buried in
El Sharaeh
EL, El or el may refer to:
Religion
* El (deity), a Semitic word for "God"
People
* EL (rapper) (born 1983), stage name of Elorm Adablah, a Ghanaian rapper and sound engineer
* El DeBarge, music artist
* El Franco Lee (1949–2016), American po ...
, a village in
Ottoman Syria
Ottoman Syria ( ar, سوريا العثمانية) refers to divisions of the Ottoman Empire within the region of Syria, usually defined as being east of the Mediterranean Sea, west of the Euphrates River, north of the Arabian Desert and south ...
.
See also
*
Witnesses and testimonies of the Armenian genocide
Witnesses and testimony provide an important and valuable insight into the events which occurred both during and after the Armenian genocide. The Armenian genocide was prepared and carried out by the Ottoman government in 1915 as well as in the ...
References
External links
Historical quotations inhomage.com (photo)
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ghusein, Faiz El-
1883 births
1968 deaths
Arabs from the Ottoman Empire
20th-century Syrian writers
Witnesses of the Armenian genocide
Politicians of the Ottoman Empire