From an Officer in the Ottoman Army to a Muslim Publicist and Armament Agent in Berlin

Abstract

During the colonial era, the Arab world witnessed a strong nationalist movement that called for the unification of the Arabs under common heritage — that all Arabs are united by a shared history, culture, and language and the elimination or minimization of direct Western influence.1) This movement, as integrated to Muslim religious ideas, was lead by many a great Muslim figure throughout the Muslim world, such as the Syro-Egyptian Muslim scholar Sheikh Muhammad Rashid Ridâ (1865-1935), the founder of the well-known journal AlManâr (‘The Lighthouse’, 1898-1940), the Lebanese Druze prince Shakib Arslân (1871-1946), who was later banished to Switzerland, and the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem Amin alHusayni (1897-1974), who was later exiled in Berlin (19411945) and became an ally of the Axis. Rashid Ridâ, for example, believed that the renaissance of Islam could be accomplished through Arab nationalism, for it was the only nationalism that seemed to be in harmony with Islam.2) He also succeeded in establishing a great network and extended the influence of his religious ideas over the Muslim World from North Africa to Russia and the Far East.3) After World War I, Arslân moved his efforts from reviving the last caliphate (or ‘Ottomanism’) to Arab nationalism and ‘Islamism’.4) As an exemplary activist, he in his anti-imperialist struggle was able to make his Geneva residence ‘the umbilical cord of the Islamic world’.5) His effectiveness as an exiled agitator rested with his ability to attract attention to his activities, to publish frequently in the Arabic press, and to maintain contact with influential groups within Arab [and Muslim] states.6) In North Africa, for example, he had a great influence on the nationalist Salafiyya movement and was ‘a mentor of a generation’.7) The religious and political ideas of such figures gained a wide circulation among Muslim elites in almost all Muslim regions. To get their aims done, Muslim nationalists attempted to establish connections and networks of the Muslims, who were of great significance for the mobilization of their efforts. This group of people were the ‘mediators’, who in many ways provided them with needed information, or gave them assistance in their relations with Arab leaders. During my research (summer 2004) on the papers of Rashid Ridâ, I came across 13 hitherto unstudied letters sent to Ridâ by a certain Dr. Zeki Hishmat-Bey Kirâm from Berlin. On further research, I was able to specifically identify the sender of the letters. Zeki Hishmat-Bey Kirâm (1886-1946) was a former Syrian officer in the Turkish army. He was transferred to Berlin for medical treatment after being wounded during World War I. After his settlement in Germany, he established himself as a Muslim publicist and took a prominent position in Berlin (1920s-1940s). The Berlin of Kirâm’s time witnessed a lengthy history of Muslim emigre activism, boasting numerous Muslim publications and established Muslim institutions.8) Besides, Kirâm played a rather significant role as an agent in Germany’s arms deals with the Muslim world through his mediation with the authorities of Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Iraq and Afghanistan. Zeki Kirâm’s name is to be found in a few secondary references. In works on the history of Muslims in Berlin, there is some information mentioned about him. In their studies on the history of Islam in Germany, Abdullah and Gerhard Hopp referred to Kirâm as a ‘Turkish captain’, who was a member of the committee in charge of reconstructing the Islamic cemetery in Berlin (1921), which was established by the Oriental Club after the burial of its founder Mehmet Talât (1874-1921), the former Turkish minister of Interior, 235 FROM AN OFFICER IN THE OTTOMAN ARMY 236