PEACE Conference 1919 | Islamic History | Shaykh Dr. Yasir Qadhi | EPIC Masjid

The Peace Conference of 1919: A Painful Chapter in Islamic History

Today, inshAllah, we're resuming our regular weekly series that I give, and we typically talk about historical incidents, usually something of a positive nature. But once in a while, we also have to think of the other side of things, because our history has its ups and downs. And especially in light of what is going on in Gaza, I wanted to bring a very pertinent historical reality that is barely 100 years old. And it is something that we should be well aware of. And this is something well known in the books of history. It's a painful incident. To be honest, it hurts. It should hurt all of us of the humiliation and of the way that our Ummah was treated, some of our leaders of the Ummah, and also the way that some of our leaders themselves interacted and reacted with the broader world.

Post-World War I and the 1919 Peace Conference

What am I talking about? I'm talking about post-World War I. There's something that happened called the Peace Conference of 1919. The way that the world was changed in World War I is something that is the work of many dissertations, many PhDs, many books are written. And in 1919, the superpowers of the world gathered together in Paris to decide the future of the world. And it was a very pompous interaction. They felt they had solved all of the problems of humanity. They felt that, khalas, now there will be no more wars. We will now have a world of peace.

And of course, the superpowers of the time, in particular, France and England, and our country, America, was just beginning to be a superpower. You have to understand for the 1800s, early 1900s, America was not a global superpower. Now it's going to begin. And in World War II, it's going to go to a different level. So in 1919, there was a peace conference that took place in Paris, in which over 40 countries participated. Each one of them is begging the superpowers for independence in Africa, in Asia, and in Muslim lands.

So our topic is about the Muslim lands. Delegations are coming to beg from England, to beg from France, to beg from America, please give us a country, let us be free. This is the pattern being very simplistic, but obviously we have to be simplistic. I have to say this because protect us all, but my critics come and they take an ambiguous phrase like, "Oh, he doesn't know what he's talking about." When you teach at a basic level, you take some liberties. I have to say this that we're teaching you go and read and you give some more details inshAllah, you'll figure out more details in this regard.

The Ottoman Empire's Fatal Decision

Now, the Ottoman Empire, as we're aware, the Ottoman Empire sided with Germany against England, right? That was its fatal mistake. And of course, they lost Germany lost. So now in 1919, the big question, what do we do with Germany? How do we punish Germany? And the Ottomans were a footnote. The sad reality, we as the Ummah, our entire modern beginning is 1919. But from the Western perspective, go read any book about the entire process. Go read any document, go look at any documentary, and Arab and Islam and Muslims has just one chapter, one footnote, even though all of the problems of the Middle East began over there.

All of Israel, the Palestinian conflict began over there. Lebanon, what is happening in Lebanon began in 1919. All of it goes back over here. By the way, Yugoslavia as well, the civil war, Bosnia-Herzegovina, all of that civil war, it begins in 1919. When superpowers are pretending to play God, when superpowers think they have the knowledge and the right to carve up lands and give them to various people thinking is going to solve the problems, whereas in fact, it is creating the problems.

The Three Promises of England

Now, what is especially pertinent, I've said this many times, I'm going to say it again. During World War One, England was desperate, they needed to win. So England was making promises left and right. And when it comes to us as an Ummah, we have to know three promises that they made. Two of them secret, one of them public. I've said this before, we're going to quickly rehash.

The First Secret Promise: The Sykes-Picot Agreement

The first secret one is the Sykes-Picot agreement that was between especially England and France. How are we going to divide Arab lands when we conquer them? When the Ottomans fall, who's going to get what? Because England has to have a negotiation with France and with at the time Russia. Russia in World War One was on the side of England and then World War Two, it flips over to the other side. So the Bolsheviks revolution took place and that changed everything. At the time, there was an agreement. How do we divide the spoils of Arab lands? And of course, there is no promise to the Arabs. This is the promise between England and France. There's a cake, they want to divide it between themselves. The Arabs as if they don't exist, who's going to get what? And they promised France, Bilad al-Sham. They promised France, Syria, and that region. And England wanted Iraq in particular because at that time, oil was in Iraq. So this is the Sykes-Picot agreement.

The Second Secret Promise: The Balfour Declaration

The second secret promise is the Balfour Declaration, which we're all aware, 1917, the Balfour Declaration, where the foreign secretary, Lord Rothschild, Balfour, they have an agreement that if we support you, then you will carve out a Jewish state in Palestine. This is the second secret agreement. Both of these are secret.

The Public Agreement: The McMahon-Hussein Agreement

What is the public agreement? The public agreement, well known, you can look at the papers. This is called the McMahon-Hussein agreement. McMahon was the highest, you can call him the ambassador, but the term wasn't there at the time, like the highest British appointee in the Middle East. And he and the Sharif of Mecca were having a series of letters. This is called the McMahon-Hussein agreement. And in those letters, which you can read, there's no secret now, it's public now. In those letters, the Sharif of Mecca is told, if you break away from your Muslim brothers in Turkey, if you fight the Ottoman Khalifa, if you come on the side of the British, we promise you will be the next Khalifa. We will carve out an Arab caliphate like Baghdad, like Abbasid, like the Umayyads, come with us, and you will have an entire caliphate, North Africa, Hejaz, Sham, and Iraq will all be yours. They promised, if you betray your brothers and come to our side, we will give you the kingdom. So this is the McMahon-Hussein agreement, the Sharif of Mecca.

The Sharif of Mecca: A Noble Lineage

Who is the Sharif of Mecca? The Sharif of Mecca is the 38th descendant of the Prophet ﷺ, through Hasan, 38th descendant. And the Sharif of Mecca, his family had ruled Mecca for 900 years. The Sharif of Mecca's family was the governors, not the king, they were the governors. For 900 years, whoever came and went, they kept the Sharif of Mecca, khalas, you be the governor, out of respect. The descendants of the Prophet ﷺ, out of respect. So they kept the Sharif clan. The Sharif clan now wants power, like hey, we can become the Khalifa. Who cares about these Khulafa, let's become the Khalifa. So this is the McMahon-Hussein agreement.

Now, World War I ends, the Arabs did revolt, they sided with the British, the Arabs fought on the British side against the Ottoman side, they fought against the Ottoman side. And when the World War I ends, 1918 World War I ends, 1919 the peace treaties begin. So now, the pie is now going to be divided. Now who's going to, the spoils of victory going to be divided.

Amir Faisal's Mission to Paris

So a series of delegations came, and of them was one of the kings of the Sharif, one of the sons of the Sharif of Mecca. His story briefly we'll talk about today. And that son is Amir Faisal. Amir Faisal, not Faisal the king of the 70s. No, this is Amir Faisal, the son of the Sharif of Mecca. Okay, totally different person. Amir Faisal, the son of the Sharif of Mecca. So Amir Faisal leaves Mecca to go to Paris. And I want you to imagine, this person is the 39th descendant of the Prophet ﷺ. There's no question about this, his lineage is well known. He is great, great, great, great grandson of the Prophet ﷺ. And now he's going to the western superpowers to beg for his share of the prize. This whole debacle, it hurts my heart to even imagine it. Because it indicates the reality of our situation, even back then, even 100 years ago, this is 1919.

The London Meeting: A Fateful Encounter

On the way to Paris, he stops in London. And in London, and again, I'm going to tell you some very sad facts, guys, I'm not, don't get angry at me. This is history. You need to know this. And I'm not inventing this. Go study it. This is well known. In London, who does he meet? He meets Chaim Weizmann, the founder of Zionist lobby, the founder of the person whose idea it was to create Israel in Palestine, Chaim Weizmann. Chaim Weizmann and Faisal were friends from back in the 20s. And when he was in his 20s, sorry, back when he was in his 20s, they had met a few times, and they were friendly terms.

By the way, none of them spoke the language of the other. They met in a hotel in London. And there was one other person there, you all know his name, Lawrence of Arabia, T.E. Lawrence. And there, they crafted another agreement. Again, this is not conspiracy. We have the physical copy, we have his signature on it. You can find it on Google and Wikipedia, you can look it up.

The Faisal-Weizmann Agreement

And this is called the Faisal-Weizmann agreement between a descendant of the Prophet ﷺ and the founder of Zionism. Again, lineage means nothing, by the way. Lineage means nothing if you don't act it up to that. And what did they agree? They agreed, we will support each other's claims. I'll support your claim for having immigrants come from Europe of your background, as long as you support my claims for an independent Arab land with the conditions in the McMahon agreement. What are the conditions? I get to be the king, right? So you scratch my back, I scratch yours. And this agreement was signed and ratified.

Questions About Faisal's Understanding

Now, pause here, footnote, this is where it gets difficult. The problem comes, the only person who recorded what happened and told us the details is basically T.E. Lawrence. And we don't know, did Faisal fully understand the contract or not? There are those who defend him and say, he didn't know English, which is true. And he didn't read the contract. And there are those that say, well, if you're going to sign a contract, especially of this nature, you have better know what you're doing. And there are those that then counter back and say, of course he knew because in Arabic, in his handwriting, you can see this, you can find this on Google and Wikipedia. In Arabic, in his handwriting, he says, I will only agree to these conditions, if the conditions that have been agreed upon about Arab independence are fully met. If those are not met, then none of these conditions are going to be met as well.

So it does appear very frankly, that he understood what he's signing his signatures right there in Arabic. And he says in Arabic, this contract is only valid if I get what I was promised. If I don't get what I was promised, then nothing will be valid here. Now, to be precise, the contract didn't mention the land of Israel, it simply said, you will support immigration, and you will give not even the word independence, but you will let them rule over themselves, however, this worded, but no borders are demarcated. And in the contract, he also added, Faisal added, Muslim holy sites would be controlled by Muslims. The fact that he added that clause, to me clearly indicates he knows what he's signing, or else why would you say, Baitul Muqaddas is going to be ours? Why would you say that if you didn't understand land is being given over?

And one of the main criticisms is who does he think he is to negotiate Palestine, and he is the son of the mayor of Mecca. That's what his actual position is. He's the son of the mayor of Mecca. Who does he think he is to negotiate Palestine? But in any case, this agreement is done.

Journey to Paris: Seeking Power from the Powerless

Then they travel to Paris. So far so clear, am I confusing anybody, right? From London, now they go to Paris. Why do they go to Paris? Because neither Chaim Weizmann nor Faisal have any power. Who controls the land? England.

The Reality of Muslim Weakness at the Paris Peace Conference

England is the victor. England has army based in Baghdad, based in Damascus, based in Palestine. England controls all of these lands militarily, and now they have to decide who's going to get what.

Faisal's Humiliation in Paris

Long story short, this is a very, very embarrassing episode. Faisal was disrespected, treated as if he didn't exist. His name was not put on the roster of guests. Initially, they refused him entrance until T.E. Lawrence begged and negotiated that no, you have to have him an audience. And he got in all the months there, Germany got so many audiences, Japan, all of these countries got audiences, even Hawaii got an audience there. So many. Our guy, Faisal, he got maybe 20 minutes in front of the council.

He begged Woodrow Wilson so many times to meet him. Woodrow Wilson agreed on the way out of his hotel lobby, two minutes, they shook hands there, and he presented his case. Woodrow Wilson did not even make a single promise, like the amount of disrespect that he was given, even though he thinks he's going to be the king of the Arabs. In reality, the West did not care at all about him.

Competing Claims and Broken Promises

When he presented his case, and he said, "Hey, you guys promised me and this and that," he's presented his case. Eventually, Chaim Weizmann presented the Balfour Declaration. Lord Balfour was there. Chaim Weizmann was there. And the French are saying you promised us a Sykes-Picot agreement.

Lord Balfour has a diary. And in that diary, he has a long paragraph and I can read all of it. In that diary, he says that we are in serious trouble now. We made too many promises, and we cannot fulfill all of them. Now he realizes 1919 like we are in serious trouble. Too many people are asking for the same thing. And we've given too many promises in the last years, whatever happens is going to be problematic. He predicted this reality, which was obvious to everybody. He predicted it in 1919.

The Division of the Middle East

Eventually, France got its section of Syria, they carved out Lebanon. Lebanon was literally created as a gift to the France. I'm not trying to be disrespectful. I'm just being factual. Lebanon was created and carved out as a gift to the French to placate them. And Syria was given as a mandate to the French. England insisted on Iraq being because Iraq had oil back then, England insisted. And then Transjordan, which is Palestine area, they said it should be given as a mandate. It should be neutral at the time that no one person should have authority.

But here's the point, what did Faisal get? Nothing. Not even the crumbs falling from the table. Not even the crumbs falling from the table.

The Broader Muslim Humiliation

By the way, not just Faisal, sad reality. Every Muslim nation that came to that conference begging, begging, begging. This is a sad reality. What power did we have even 100 years ago, even as for the Ottoman Khilafah? The Khalifa was still alive. They didn't even - they weren't even given a delegation. You have no authority. You're the loser. We are going to dictate to you. So the Ottoman Khilafah, which was still around 1919, did not even get representation in this conference. We don't care what you want. We're going to do what we want to do.

Can you believe Indian Muslims sent a delegation on behalf of the Ottoman Khalifa? Literally, Indian Muslims had more concern. The Khilafat movement began as a result of the failures of 1919. Amongst them was Aga Khan III. Aga Khan III was a part of this in 1919. He went as well. And of course, they made demands for Indian Muslims as well. But they also made demands on behalf of the Ottoman Khilafah.

Indian Muslims were more sympathetic to the Khilafah with utmost respect than many of the Arabs were. By the way, there are reasons for this beyond this. I'm just being factual. This is very complicated. Please don't get angry. I'm telling you facts whether you like it or not. These are realities. Indian Muslims were not living under the Ottomans. So they were able to romanticize the Ottomans more. Arabs by and large were living under the Ottomans and they had a lot of complaints. The Arabs by and large did not like the Ottomans. I'm not saying who's right or wrong. I'm being factual here.

The Tragic Scene

So in the end of the day, all Muslim pleas fell on deaf ears. Not a single delegation of Muslim lands was given anything they asked for. And to me, just the scene is iconic. You have the Prime Minister of England, you have Woodrow Wilson, you have France, you have all of these superpowers, and you have one of the descendants of the Prophet ﷺ begging, begging, begging, give me what you promised me. You promised me power. Where is my kingdom? And absolutely nothing.

The Consolation Prizes

And as you know, eventually they said, you know what, we did make some promises. What can we do? So I'm not making this up. Look this up. All of you should know this. Sharif of Mecca had three sons. So they created their own governments, their own principalities, and the eldest son, the Brits, the English, the English government said to the eldest son, خلاص, we will make you the king of the Hijaz. Mecca and Medina, you are the king. So the eldest son of the Sharif of Mecca became the king of Mecca.

The second son, they created Transjordan. They said, we'll make you the king of Transjordan. And the third son, our guy Faisal, he was very angry, very bitter, went back home. And he says, okay, خلاص, we will give you not the massive khilafah. We created a new country called Iraq, and you are appointed the king of Iraq.

He had never traveled to Iraq in his whole life. The Iraqi people had never heard of this kid, never heard of this young man. They have no relationship. But this is when you're British, and you think you know the world. So they sent this young man to be the king of Iraq. How successful do you think that's going to be?

The Fate of the Three Brothers

So for a while, three brothers of the sons of the Sharif of Mecca were ruling in different parts of the world. Eventually, in Mecca and Medina, there was another dynasty that came and overthrew them. And that became the end of the Hashemite kingdom over there, you know, the new kingdom was created over there. And the second dynasty, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, ironically is the only one that remained. And currently, the king is the great grandson of that one who was sent by the British, the great grandson of that one. Faisal is that great grandson's brother.

And Faisal went to Iraq. It is said when he landed, nobody even recognized him. He's landing with the British. He has British people to install him as the king. It's a long story. Can you imagine coming to a new land? Slowly but surely, he gets the kingdom. It was a very contested rule. He dies in around 10 years in mysterious circumstances. They say heart attack. Others say he was poisoned. Allah knows what happened. His dynasty just fizzled out. There was a coup d'état in the 50s. And the grandson of this guy Faisal was shot in the back. His whole family massacred. And then the army came charge. And then Saddam came charge after that. That's how recent it is.

The Lesson of Powerlessness

Bottom line. And I know this is a sad history, but it needs to be studied and learned. Even 100 years ago, when we had the last of the Khilafah, we had Muslim mini dynasties, they actually didn't have any power. Such weakness that these people have to, you know, if you have to be installed as a king, if you have to beg somebody else to become a king, you are not a king.

If you have to travel to London, negotiate with the devil. If you have to travel to Paris and meet the superpowers, and then ask them for crumbs, no matter what you get, you are not actually in charge. And this is the reality, the legacy of this region. All of the problems that we have now goes back to the very people in that room thinking they can apportion they can assign.

The Path Forward

Bottom line with this, I conclude, there's no doubt we need independent power in the Muslim world. But how are we going to get independent power? Those who talk about it, I asked them, what is the way forward? Even those that were the kings and the princes of that time, what power did they actually have? When you have to go back to other people, we live in very difficult times.

سُبْحَانَ اللهِ, may Allah grant us عِزَّة. I want to see power established in Muslim lands. But I'm also cognizant that to get that is not an easy task. So in the meantime, we concentrate on ourselves, تَزْكِيَةُ النَّفْسِ, practice what we preach and spread the message of Islam.

You cannot have an independent king without an independent country and dynasty. And you cannot have an independent country if you have to beg superpowers to have an independent country. You just can't. So in the meantime, I know slogans make a lot of emotional appeal, but slogans don't solve problems.

So until actually change happens politically, let us concentrate on what we can change, which is ourselves and our families, our neighbors, our community, let us concentrate on building what we can. And if the small blocks are built slowly, but surely, those small blocks can become effective in a larger manner.

May Allah bring عِزَّة back in our lifetimes and see the glory in Palestine.