Prince Rashed Al Khuzai

The political history and struggle of Ajloun

Before the victory of Turkish Empire (Ottomans) over the Mamluks in the battle of Marj Dabek, Ajloun Mountain (or Jabal Ajloun as it was stated in Arabic language) was a center for leadership & base for emirates that held and controlled all areas of Jordan to some parts of Palestine. The status of the rule of Principality and the spirit of leadership in that area forced Ottomans to give Ajloun an advanced level with the formation of Emirates of Ajloun (Sanjak - Governor of Ajloun) since 1517. Kufranjah town is the home of tribal and emirates governance, which is a family of Al-Fraihat, who was cementing through a number of Commissioners Princes who ruled that region hundreds of years and managed the protection of convoys pilgrimage in the region of the Levant too, enjoying great support and love from nation at that time, and this has enabled these leaders to carry out its political, historical, time-related stages, which serve as the leaders of the civil society, and executive authority, in addition to the clan after the old.

The area of Ajloun and the name of its historical Prince Rashed Al Khuzai are well known to the historical archive of the British Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the leadership of the Palestine Liberation Organization, the archive home of King Abd al Aziz Al Saud, and all international organizations in the political history of the Arab region. The city of Ajloun in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan is currently one of the cities that have an arm in the supply of all liberation movements. The government of Ajloun, which was formed at the beginning of what was called the Emirate of East Jordan in 1920 was of prominence despite the unprecedented imposition of the blackout and change of the politicization of its history because of their national struggle against colonialism.

The government of Ajloun was an emirate formed before the year 1920 and was led by Prince Rashid bin Khuzai Alfraihat or Prince of Ajloun. It was adopted and approved by the Ottoman sultan, Prince Rashed - the ruler of South Levant area, which included all areas of Jordan and some parts of Palestine. Before the formation of the Government of Ajloun in 1920, Prince Rashid appointed Mr. Ali Niazi Al-Tal as governor for (Government of Ajloun) and assigned Lieutenant Abdullah Rehani as a head of security and police at the time while pointing out that Prince Rashid Al Khuzai was representing the Ottoman sultan as a Prince of Ajloun. At the beginning of Ottoman rule in the region of Sandjak, Ajloun was formed in 1517 and included the Houran plains, all the present territory of Jordan as well as the city of Nablus.

Prince Rashed Al Khuzai was called many names including the prince of Ajloun Mountain, Father of Ajloun, the father of the revolution of Ajloun which was launched in 1937, Sandjak Ajloun, as well as title of Godfather of Ajloun.

Emergence of a National Jordanian Prince

In 1850, the town of Kufranjeh center of Alfraihat tribe was gifted with the birth of Prince Rashed as documented at the Ottoman Sultan Court. He was born a descendant of princes with his father being Prince Khuzai bin Durgham bin Fayyad bin Prince Mustafa bin Salameh Al-Fraihat. His fathers and forefathers led a region called Worth the region from generation after generation. Soon enough it was his turn to take the reins and under his authority, Prince Rashed was able to make the Mountain of Ajloun a capital of extended area. The extension included the Houran plains, Dur’aa, Irbid, Jerash, Ajloun, and the city of Nablus.

Prince Rashed Al Khuzai ruled the southern region of the Levant before the advent of the King Abdullah I who established Transjordan by the support of the British Mandate and its allies. Prince Rashed Al-Khuzai was originated in a house that was the focus of leading the Ajloun clan, education in terms of basic reading, writing, and the preservation of the Quran led by a number of religious elders. The real education was received in the house of his father Prince Khuzai, which was a real university for life sciences; it has been the meeting place for ruling the region, house and government. It had provided a place for public meetings to take place where issues were put forward and decided on according to customs and traditions that apply to everyone. Prince Khuzai was able to prepare an army of thousands in a few hours and he was having a kind of collation with Al Adawn tribe, and Al-Fraihat Castle was under the sovereignty of that tribe and subject to their rule till the year 1922 then it had been taken by the Jordanian regime under the leadership of Crown Prince Abdullah I at that time, and was changed the name of the castle into Alrabad Castle then Ajloun Castle and it is still its name till now.

Accompanied by Prince Rashed Al Khuzai significant events, have been re-formed by the impact of the political geography of the region as a whole, which inherited the leadership of the region since the Ottomans until the founding of the Principality of East Jordan, therefore, has played a prominent role heroic beyond the boundaries of the Arab region, where he has made contributions in a clear in Syria, Palestine, Lebanon, and Libya.

Furthermore, Prince Rashed Al Khuzai was the only one from Jordan who provided direct support in the revolution of Sheikh Omar Al-Mouktar against Italian colonialism in Libya. Prince Rashed supported the Libyan struggle against Italian colonial by financing and provided Libyan revolution with ammunition and weapons through the mediators that he had met several times in Ajloun and Palestine. In addition to such visits, Prince Rashed had sent many Jordanian-Palestinian rebels to Libya which reveals the dimensions of national Arabian thoughts he envisioned - all Arab countries should be united. He took over the responsibility of leadership, appointed the Turkish Sultan, made connections with leaders in his surroundings, held meetings and exchanged messages with a number of men and leaders of the Hijaz, Syria, Palestine, Lebanon and Iraq, all in order to help.

The leadership of Prince Rashed Al Khuzai came as an extension of the ancestral history of his tribe warlords Alfraihat which the one in which several princes throughout history stemmed from. This included Prince Yusuf bin Barakat Alfraihat and those who ruled the region through their famous castle in Irbid city named "Saraya Irbid," and Prince Mustafa bin Salameh Al-Fraihat. Al-Fraihat armies participated in ending the siege of Acre in 1831, and they have been always represented by a member at the Ottoman Council which has increased the weight of the tribe and its leading role in managing the affairs of the Levant region, as well as the readiness of the organization of armies supported directly by the Ottoman sultan.

Prince Rashed Al Khuzai Stands from the Unity of Religions

Prince Rashed Al Khuzai was at the forefront of many regional events during his rein. When sectarian strife erupted in Lebanon, Syria, around the end of the Ottoman Empire, Prince Rashed Al Khuzai received refugees from the Christians from Levant who worked for his nation and provided protection of Christians in East Jordan at that time. This was the spark of sedition which began in 1860 and continued for many years and completed the role of Prince Abdel Khader Aljazaery, and Prince Rashed declared that any assault or abuse that was directed towards a Christian would be considered an attack on him, his tribe and all tribes under his rule and thus be a penalty.

Prince Rashed Al Khuzai noble stands with Christian communities from all parts of the Levant. His fruitful efforts to protect them from any harassment or killing, and calling for peaceful coexistence between religions and respect for all faiths directly contributed to extinguishing the fire of sedition. The gesture was the echo of the historical range of Christian denominations throughout the Levant region. The impact his actions made was demonstrated when Prince Rashed Al Khuzai was awarded the scarf sacred tomb from His Holiness the Pope "Bishop of Rome" in 1887, with Prince Rashed being the first leader to receive such a high holistic greeting from the entire Arab world at that time. Both Prince Rashed Al Khuzai and Muhammad Ali of Egypt were the only ones considered worthy of the title of Pasha, under the decree issued by Ottoman Sultan, which raised the envy of many leaders in that time.

Before the formation of the Emirate of East Jordan, and the emergence of local governments such as government of Ajloun in 1920, Prince Rashed Al-Khuzai Emirate ruled to cover wide areas ranging from the plains and the shield of Houran, Irbid, Ajloun, Jarash, and even the city of Nablus. It was known that Prince Rashed Al-Khuzai directly supported and was the main supporter for the Palestinian revolutions in 1935 and 1936, "Revolution of Izz el-Deen al-Qassam", by providing direct protection and fortifying the rebels with supplies and weapons through the region called "Makadet Kraymeh." Other actions include direct meetings with the struggling Sheikh Izz el-Deen al-Qassam and Hajj Amin al-Husseini from Palestine to provide the necessary funds for the Palestinian rebels through intermediaries, who were sending his aid to Palestinian revolution directly.

The result to the revolution of Sheikh Izz el-Deen al-Qassam in Palestine and the direct support of Prince Rashed Al-Khuzai, led most of the Jordanian national clans loyal to Prince Rashed for a direct confrontation with the Jordanian regime, especially Jordan's King Abdullah I and the British Mandate, who tried to liquidate Prince Rashed Al-Khuzai by bombing his positions and killing many of the rebels loyal to the Jordanian Prince Al-Khuzai at that time. Due to the pressure and fatigue the British Mandate and his aides in the Emirate of East Jordan caused, Prince Rashed and a group of his fellow elders and leaders of Jordan in 1937 left Jordan and went to Saudi Arabia where Prince Al-Khuzai lived there for several years in the hospitality of the late King Abd al Aziz Al Saud. After spending nearly eight years there with King Abdul Aziz Al-Saud, Prince Rashed Al-Khuzai’s returned from Saudi Arabia receiving national greetings and celebrations from all the Jordanian tribes, Arabian rebels, as well as the Arab nationalists. That moment was a turning point in the political history of Jordan.

Remarkably, even Prince Rashed also left Jordan to Saudi Arabia. He continued his leadership and guidance of the Arab nationalists and loyalists for the idea of struggle and launching the Ajloun Revolution. Although, there were difficulties of communication in that time and many people in Jordan and Ajloun followed the news of Rashed Al-Khuzai and his existence at Saudi Arabia, and that resulted in several popular revolts in Jordan leading to the "revolution of Ajloun." They blew up the line of oil (oil pipelines) coming from Iraq via the land Palestine and Jordan, who was a British mandate at that time and was adopted by Jordanian rebels. It was kind of a guerrilla war with the hopes of pressuring the British Mandate and his aides to accept the return of Prince Rashed Al-Khuzai to the land of Jordan. Prince Rashed came back to Jordan after living several years at Hijaz as a result of the tribal claims and Prince Rashed Al-Khuzai’s close tie with the nation of Jordan.

Most of the Palestinian militants believed in this Jordanian Prince. The majority of Palestinian fighters from the guerrilla during the 1982 war in Lebanon had pictures of Prince Rashed Al-Khuzai in their pockets, and ammunition.

National dimensions at Prince Rashed’s Vision

The idea of the Jordanian National Conference was suggested by Prince Rashed bin Khuzai Al-Fraihat. This of course was not mentioned in the history books of Jordan which try to conceal and almost deny the impact of this revolutionary Jordanian prince. The first national conference was held and led in 1928 under the patronage of Prince Rashed Al-Khuzai, with the main focus’ being a refusal of any kind of nationalization with the Jewish, to refuse giving Palestine to the Jews, resistance to the traitors in the east of Jordan and the Arab leaders that sold Palestine by any means. At the same time Prince Rashed Al-Khuzai was exposing and fighting against agents and brokers of the Jewish Agency in the east of Jordan, who, unfortunately sold some of Jordanian territory for the benefits of that Agency.

Prince Rashed Al Khuzai supported Arab liberation movements, such as the Syrian revolution, and he provided the town of Kufranjeh with financial needs/ support when hundreds of activists who have fled from Syria as of July 25, 1920. Prince Rashed Al-Khuzai made his birthplace "Kufranjeh" as a main station for members of the Independence Party while Syrian leaders of the Revolution were preparing for their revolution from Prince Rashed’s home which was a base for messaging and communications to the Syrians rebels. Prince Rashed had very distinguished relations/ cooperation with Prince Sultan Pasha Al-Atrash and leaders of Mount of Lebanon in addition to the unprecedented support of the Libyan revolution against Italian colonialism.

Prince Rashed Al-Khuzai was able to transform Kufranjeh and Ajloun as a base of struggle against colonialism, and became a member in a number of militant movements and parties, including Arab nationalists, and the Jordanian people party. He had led a number of manifestations of protest, such as the famous IRBID demonstration that ignited a protest against the executions of Palestinian activists Fuad Hijazi, Atta Al-Zeer, and Mohammad Khaleel Jamjoum by the British on June 17, 1930. After the Buraq revolution that erupted in the city of Jerusalem on August 9, 1929, Prince Rashed had a prominent role in the Islamic Conference held in Jerusalem which enhanced the Islamic influence in Jerusalem. The main goal of Prince Rashed Al-Khuzai was to accomplish unity among the Arabs and to free them from colonial systems and agents in the region. This was especially evident during his participation in the Bloudan Conference, held by a large number of leaders from the Arab Middle East in hopes of uniting Levant, which was presided over by Mr.Naji al-Suwaidi.

Outcome of the struggle of Prince Rashed Al-Khuzai

The revolution of Prince Rashed Al-Khuzai in 1937 came as a general outcome of Jordanian needs for freedom, democracy, and unity of Jordanian and Palestinian people. Much of the information related to Prince Rashed Al Khuzai had been hidden by the Jordanian regime; his pivotal role in the political history of Jordan, his highborn family, his struggle against colonialism all around the Arabic & Islamic world, as well as his political opposition against Jordanian regime during the establishment of the Emirate of East Jordan, and his vital role in supporting the Palestinian revolution in 1936.

Jordanian political system fought fiercely for the history of that Prince and his family. Furthermore, Prince Rashed's family and even his grandchildren were excluded from the receipt of any official position at the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and this came as a natural conclusion to conceal the history of that Prince, his family, and their pivotal role in the history of the Middle East.

Death and legacy

Prince Rashed Al Khuzai died in his birthplace Kufranjeh in Ajloun at 1957 after a life where many of its chapters were hidden by the Jordanian regime. Honorable stands of Prince Rashed Al Khuzai will never be forgotten or erased from the memory of the Arab and Muslim countries. Prince Rashed as well as his close comrades like Sheikh Izz el-Deen al-Qassam fighter in Palestine and Sheikh Omar Al-Moktar fighter in Libya were always a popular symbol for nations struggling to achieve freedom.

Memorials and honors