The Guardians of Independence (Arabic: حارس الاستقلال; ''Haras al Istiqlal'') were a secretive, clandestine political group established in early 1919 to oppose the
British occupation of Iraq
The Kingdom of Iraq under British Administration, or Mandatory Iraq ( ar, الانتداب البريطاني على العراق '), was created in 1921, following the 1920 Iraqi Revolt against the proposed British Mandate of Mesopotamia, ...
following
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
.
Jafar abu al-Timman was its main organizer and leader. The Guardians of Independence used both nationalist and religious rhetoric against the British presence and contributed greatly to the rise of emotions that led to the
1920 revolt. It called for Iraqi and
Syria
Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
n independence, the establishment of a constitutional monarchy, and the rejection of technical or economic assistance from the British. It concentrated most of its activities in the central
Euphrates
The Euphrates () is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of Western Asia. Tigris–Euphrates river system, Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia ( ''the land between the rivers'') ...
and in
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 ...
. Its leadership included a number of prominent religious and political figures:
Sayyid Muhammad al-Sadr
''Sayyid'' (, ; ar, سيد ; ; meaning 'sir', 'Lord', 'Master'; Arabic plural: ; feminine: ; ) is a surname of people descending from the Islamic prophet Muhammad through his grandsons, Hasan ibn Ali and Husayn ibn Ali, sons of Muhammad' ...
,
Sayyid Muhammed Ali Bahrululoom
''Sayyid'' (, ; ar, سيد ; ; meaning 'sir', 'Lord', 'Master'; Arabic plural: ; feminine: ; ) is a surname of people descending from the Islamic prophet Muhammad through his grandsons, Hasan ibn Ali and Husayn ibn Ali, sons of Muhammad' ...
, Shakir Mahmud, Hikmat Shawkat,
Jalal Baban Jalal (Arabic: جلال) is a masculine given or family name. The name or word Jalal means majesty and is used to honor and venerate.
When the Arabic language spread across non-Arabic regions, Jalal has also become a name for some Arabic-speaking C ...
, and Muhamman Baqir al-Shabibi.
See also
*
RAF Iraq Command
Iraq Command was the Royal Air Force (RAF) commanded British Armed Forces, inter-service Command (military formation), command in charge of United Kingdom, British forces in Iraq in the 1920s and early 1930s, during the period of the British Man ...
References
* Ghareeb, Edmund A. ''Historical Dictionary of Iraq'', p. 78. Scarecrow Press, 2004, {{ISBN, 0-8108-4330-7.
Politics of Iraq
20th century in Iraq