Mu'in al-Madi | |
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 Portrait of Mu'in al-Madi | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Unknown Ijzim,OttomanPalestine |
| Died | 1957 Damascus,Syria |
| Political party | al-Istiqlal |
| Occupation | Head of Acre Municipality (1914) al-Istiqlal Leadership Committee member (1932-48) Arab Higher Committee member (1936-37; 1947) |
| Committees | Arab Higher Committee |
Mu'in al-Madi (Arabic:معين الماضي) (died 1957) was aPalestinian Arab politician and member of theArab Higher Committee. He was one of the founders of theal-Istiqlal (Independence) party, which espousedArab nationalism. Al-Madi helped organize the1936–39 Arab revolt in Palestine.
Mu'in was born to the large landowningPalestinian Arab family, al-Madi, in the town ofIjzim west of theJezreel Valley. The al-Madi family rose to prominence in the first half of the 19th century under SheikhMas'ud al-Madi, originating from Ijzim where they owned considerable amounts of land. They expanded their holdings to the city ofHaifa and dominated swathes of territory along theMediterranean coast ofPalestine, stretching fromJaffa to villages north of Haifa. Mu'in's father, Abdullah al-Madi, was a member of Haifa's municipal council from 1902–05 and 1912.[1]
Mu'in received his primary education at the government-run al-Rushdiyya School in Haifa, finishing in 1908.[2] He later enrolled in the al-Mulkiyya School (Royal College) inIstanbul where he learned theTurkish language. After graduating in 1912, he began his career as anOttoman clerk in the town of Kashmuna inAnatolia.[3]
In 1914, al-Madi was elected head ofAcre's municipality and then leader ofBaysan.[3][1] On August 1, 1915, upon suspicion of helpingArab nationalists, he was transferred toBeirut (the Ottoman governor there,Jamal Pasha, had already hanged a number of Arab nationalists in the city) to serve as governmental employee. Following this demotion, he was tried by a military tribunal on charges of "conspiracy against the Ottoman state," but the charges were acquitted when his father interfered on his behalf. Al-Madi's demotion and trial left him embittered with the Ottoman authorities and after his release, he took up an alias and hid in the house of anArab Christian, Najib al-Hakim, inDamascus.[3]
From 1918, al-Madi was among the focal members of an emerging group of Arab nationalists based in Haifa and linked to the pan-Arab movement ofSyria which also includedRashid al-Haj Ibrahim, a prominent businessman and local Haifan leader. He had previously joined the nationalist underground organization,al-Fatat. Initially, al-Madi's activities centered on theHashemites, who led theArab Revolt against the Ottoman Turks in 1917. He served under the short-lived Damascus-based government ofKing Faisal ibn al-Hussein, a Hashemite, in 1920. During this period, he was appointed governor ofal-Karak inTransjordan,[4] as well as the Director of Intelligence.[5]
After the dissolution of the pan-Arab government in May 1921, al-Madi returned to Ijzim. His background in addition to his education, allowed him to take controversial stands without affecting his position as an Arab nationalist. He was one of the few members in this movement to make compromises with the question of establishing an Arab Legislative Council.[4] By 1924, he began to gain influence in Ijzim and formed a base of support in Haifa.[6] He and Najib al-Hakim joined and offered their services without charge to the Haifa branch of thePalestine Arab Workers Society (PAWS) upon its founding in 1925, in order to counter the influence of theJewish labor organization,Histadrut.[7]
On August 2, 1932, al-Madi became one of nine Palestinians who founded theal-Istiqlal (Independence) party which espoused pan-Arabism, independence fromGreat Britain, and the assertion of the Palestinian Arab identity within theregion of Syria. He was one of the organizers of the 1933 anti-British demonstrations inJaffa.[8]
He was later appointed to theArab Higher Committee (AHC), established in early 1936 by theGrand Mufti of Jerusalem,Mohammad Amin al-Husayni. In June, he was dispatched toBaghdad where he was "enthusiastically" received. He successfully managed to convinceYasin al-Hashimi, thePrime Minister of Iraq, to releaseFawzi al-Qawuqji from the army to lead an Arab volunteer army against the British inPalestine. He was again sent to Iraq (withIzzat Darwaza and al-Haj Ibrahim) in January 1937, as well as toRiyadh, to garner support for theArab revolt in Palestine that was initiated the year prior.[9] He was exiled with most of the Palestinian Arab leadership and was one of the first leaders to meet with al-Husayni inLebanon to discuss a new Arab strategy.[10] In January 1938, theFrench Mandate authorities had al-Madi banished toAlexandretta in northern Syria.[11]
Al-Madi received amnesty in 1946. The re-established AHC again appointed him a member in January 1947. He could not attend the London Conference that year due to an illness and was temporarily replaced bySami Taha.[12] Because of al-Husayni's unwillingness to include wider representation in the AHC, al-Madi resigned in mid-1947.[13] After the1948 Arab-Israeli War, al-Madi fled his native village for Damascus where he died in 1957.[14]
Izzat Darwaza.
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