THE IRAQ - IRAN CONFLICT
CHAPTER 3
HISTORICAL CAUSES OF THE CONFLICT:
THE ANCIENT PERIOD
Three thousand years before Christ the lands of Arabistan emerged from the sea (1). A Semitic population settled there, and later on, Arab tribes called the Bani al'Am. Amidst the Bani al-'Am existed an important branch, the Bani Tamim, whose descendants still inhabit the south of Arabistan today.
The Acadian kingdom, located in Iraq, had submitted these populations to its authority. This region was then subjected to the aggressions of the Elameans (2) having come from the East. The Babylonians ended these attacks under the reign of Hammurabi, who conquered the aggressors. Afterwards, the Assyrian State was created which, despite its ephemeral duration, safeguarded the independence of the region till the arrival of the Chaldeans. It was then the Chaldeans who Underwent aggressions from the outside, that is, from the Ahminid Kingdom having appeared around 550 B.C. Notwithstanding these attacks, the Chaldeans preserved their autonomy and their laws inherited from Babylonia. The country endured another attack in 241 A.D., when the Sasanid Dynasty of Persian origin attempted to conquer Arabistan. The resistance of the population was such that the Sasanids finally gave up. Realizing the strength of these tribes, they came to a compromise with them and recognized the independent principalities composing the region.
In spite of many attempts on the part of the Sasanids to subject this region, it kept its Arab character until the beginning of the 4th century A.D. This Arabness involved customs, practices and a way of life that are specific to the Arab Bedouin culture. All researchers specialized in ancient history and who have visited the region concur in recognizing its Arab character. They consider that with lower Mesopotamia, modern Arabistan forms a geographical and cultural unity. This region successively withstood several ancient civilizations, namely, the Sumerians, the Acadians and the Babylonians.
From its birth, the Arab civilization assimilated the bases of all the preceding ones before more profoundly taking root in its Arab specificity. This process went on until the emergence of Islam, which gained Persia and then spread abroad (3). Jacqueline Berryne has written the following on the Arabian Gulf:
The Arabs have remained the masters of the Arabian Gulf coastline. The Persian Kings were afraid of the sea and never became its masters. They found it quite intolerable that the Arabs assert themselves on that coast (4).
Sir Percy Sykes, a well-known historian on Persia, explained the cause of the inaptitude of the Persian navigator:
Nothing better exemplifies the influence of natural phenomena upon the character and behavior of a people than the repulsion of the Persians for the sea, from which they are separated by gigantic mountains (5).
This demonstrates that there is a clear difference between Arabia and Persia with regard to their relationship with the marine element. The fact that the Arab is attracted by water is directly connected to the severe Conditions of life in the Bedouin environment, to dryness, and to life in the desert. It is for this reason that he desperately seeks water. He does not give up for fear of any danger and tries to see the freshness of a spring in the lull water of the sea. He has forever lived in a desert surrounded by the sea. His history is therefore that of a flight from the desert towards water. The migrations of the Arab tribes of the south towards the northern coasts were thus related to an instinct of conservation. And so the attachment of the Arabs to Arabistan can be explained throughout the first phase of their history: this region was indeed reputed for its fertility.
Climatic conditions in Persia were not the same. Even though some regions of Persia have a desert like climate, this country is watered by both streams and rivers, which explains the slight attraction of the Persians towards the sea. Thus, it remained a universe unknown to them, and they did not set out to explore it. In fact, it was the appearance of life and civilization that incited the Persians to cross the Zagros Mountains and head down towards the coast.
The civilizations of that region, born from the waters, had given water an unequalled importance. Edouard Dhorme, Professor at the College de France, has described this special relationship, which existed between the peoples of the region and water:
The Sumerians and Acadians imagined that under our earth at the limits of the median land (Arabistan) there was a great sheet of fresh water, which was like the reservoir from which the sources of brooks and rivers burst forth. This water, upon which floated our earth, stretched beyond the horizon and formed a circle analogous to the Okeanos river of the Greeks.... (6).
The most important divinities of the immense pantheon of Sumer, Akkad, Babylonia and Assyria... offered themselves to the adoration of the riverine dwellers of the Euphrates and the Tigris... (7).
Concerning ancient history, this analysis is of interest because of its psychological implications. Further on, it will be seen that the arrival of Persians in Arabistan marked the beginning of a perennial interference in the internal affairs of this region, leading to innumerable conflicts with its inhabitants.
ARABISTAN AFTER THE ISLAMIC CONQUEST
The presence of the Arabs in this territory is hence multi-secular and dates back well before Jesus Christ. After the Bani Tamim, who came to look for water, other tribes settled in Arabistan prior to and following the emergence of Islam (8). Turning to Maxime Rodinson, he has ascertained the supremacy of the nomadic Arab tribes over this region: "The Arab penetration is ancient. It certainly must have begun before Islam, notably when the Arab tribes were occupying a great part of Mesopotamia... in the 6th century B.C." (9)
The Arab presence took on its present-day political and administrative dimensions "when the Arabs conquered this region in 640 A.D. under the caliphate of Omar Ibn ul-Khattab". (10) Arabistan from then on remained an Arab province, administratively attached to 'Bahrain after having been put under the rule of Harqus Ben Zuhair. During certain periods, however, it was attached to Basra. This explains why Arabistan was exposed to numerous crises under the Umayyads and the Abbasids, the most important of which were provoked by the Kharijites, the Qarmatians and the Zanjs. The latter destroyed a great number of cities in Arabistan in 874 A•D.
Historians claim that the revolt of Sahib al-Zanj lined al-Ahwaz. The Orientalist L. Massignon has spoken of the numerous attacks by the Zanjs that the Arabs of this area had to bear: "The country greatly suffered from the Kharijite revolt in the 8th century, the Hindu Jats or Zoot in the 9th and especially from the movement of the Bani Bridi..." (11)
In 935, the governors of the peripheral provinces became more autonomous from the central powers. Under the caliphate of Abul- Abbas al-Muqtadir, the Bani
Hamdan took Mosul along with the territories of Bakr, Rabi'ah and Modar. Ibn Wathiq seized Basra and Arabistan was given over to the domination of al-Bridi. The territory of the caliphate was then reduced to Baghdad and its province.
In 936, Mohammed Ibn Wathiq sent an army to combat al-Bridi in order to re-conquer Arabistan. However, he sought the protection of the Buwayhids, who, after having helped him, imposed their rule, so that this territory together with Baha'ud-Dawla became an essential part of their state. This continued until the end of the Buwayhid period in 1055, and then it was the turn of the Seljuqs to occupy the region (12).
To summarize, it can be said that despite the political crises this region experienced, it belonged to an Arab empire that had no boundaries between its provinces. Arabistan was therefore integrated into a larger entity bestowed with political and religious unity under the reign of the Rachidoun Caliphs (13) of the Umayyads and the Abbasids.
Arabistan maintained its Arab character until the fall of the Abbasid caliphate. Later on, in 1258, the Mongols vanquished and destroyed the Abbasid state. Arabistan, like the neighboring territories, then went through a period of decadence even while being coveted by the states of Genghis Khan, Tamerlane and other conquerors.
RETURN TO ARAB POWER
In 1436, the Arab dynasty of the Moucha'chi'iyah regained mastery over Arabistan under its founder Mohammed Al-Moucha'chi'i (14) that Longrigg described as a descendant of the Rabi'ah. He selected the city of Hawizah as capital of his emirate. Following his death in |438, his son Mohsen took over and constructed a new capital, al-Mohseniyah. He issued money, consolidated relations with Iraq and spread his rule throughout Arabistan.
In 1501, Isma'il as-Safawi founded the Safawid state in Persia, while the Moucha'chi'ins governed Arabistan. Thus, another historical phase commenced such that the Safawids appeared as a new force counterbalancing that the Ottomans. Between the two empires a ferocious struggle started and Arabistan became one of its battle-grounds. After a Safawid attack, Dezful and Tustar were conquered for a brief period.
Subsequently, Mubarak Ben Abdul-Muttaleb Ben Badran came to power, and his reign (1588 to 1616) was to be known as a flourishing epoch: he re-conquered the cities of Dezful and Tustar and imposed himself throughout the province. The Portuguese traveler, Pedro Teiskeira, who visited the region in 1604, wrote:
The entire province situated to the east of Shatt-al-Arab formed an Arab emirate governed by Mubarak Abdul-Muttaleb, who remained independent from both Persians and Turks, concluding a military agreement with Portugal, the penetration of which into the Arabian Gulf dates from this period 15). Another voyager, Pietro Della Valle, who navigated down the Karun River to where it empties into the Shatt-al-Arab, furnished other details:
Mansur..., who governed from 1634 to 1643, dominated Shatt-al-Arab. He permitted no vessel to pass without paying him duties... He was in permanent connection with the Governor of Basra. He obstinately resisted the attempts of Shah 'Abbas to intrude upon the internal affairs of Arabistan. (16)
From the above, it can be concluded that:
1. Besides its well Known fertility, Arabistan was bestowed with an ancient history substantially enriched by the contributions of several civilizations, notably that of the Arabs.
2. The Persians, as well as other foreign states, were aware of the strategic importance of this Arab region. For that reason they coveted it and wished to subject it to their domination since ancient times. In spite of repeated attempts, provoking hundreds of battles and thousands of victims the Persians were never able to appropriate this region which preserved its Arab character.
It still may be asked why conflict between the population of Arabistan and the Persians has persisted from before the 16th century. What had been the economic importance of this region? The Orientalist Louis Massiignon analyzed its attraction in the above-cited article:
The two chief waterways, the Shatt and the Karun, command an entire network of natural routes of economic exchanges the center of which is presently found between Mohammarah in the east and New Basra in the west, as it ten centuries ago between Old Basra (Zubayr) and Ubullah. These half-water, half-land routes are also used for the export of products harvested and manufactured in the country, like silk cloth from Tustar and, in former times, sugar from Shush. (17)
European vessels had penetrated into the Gulf with the intention of monopolizing the trade as well as the afore-mentioned products. As G. Curzon has written in his known book:
The Western forces have recourse to methods similar to those which existed in the relations between Arab tribes: maritime alliances, then war; Portugal, Holland, France England all used these methods. (18)
Thus, the conflict between Arabs and Persians very quickly became international once the Western powers taken the offensive in the Arabian Gulf region, as we shall see.
* * *
Notes
1 - Parrot. A., in Mesopotamian Archeology in Stages, Paris, 1946, Butten.M. Babylonia, Paris, 1848
2 - Elam was an ancient state adjacent to Chaldea.
3 - Berryne, J., The Discovery of the Arabian Peninsula (V.A.) Beirut, 1963, p. 98.
4 - Berryne, i.Ibid. p. 166.
5 - Sykes, Sir Percy. A History of Persia,ll. London. 1921. p. 366.
6 - Dhorme, Edouard, The Religions of Babylonia and Assyria, P.U.F., 1949, p. 32.
7 - Ibid., p. 138.
8 - The largest tribes that Arabistan welcomed are the following: the Bani al-Am, the Bani al-Hanzala, the Ka'ab tribes, the Bani Rabi'ah, the Bou-Kasseb (including the Bu-Gbis, ad-Dris, al Hanafira, 'an-Nassar, Kabu ad-Dabis, 'al-Hilalat, ad-Dawalim BaytGanim, Kanan, 'al Bu-maruf, 'al-'Idan, 'al-I-fawaja, 'Ahlul-'Arid, 'al-Bagagira, 'az-Zuwaydat, Bayt Hag Faysal and 'al-'Atab)and the Bani Tarf. Yet, the greatest branches of the Arabistan tribes up to this day are 'al-Bawiya, original branch of the Rabi'ah tribe and which is subdivided into ten other branches, such as Bayt-Khazaal, Bani Lam, descending from the Bani Tarf and having five branches: 'al-'Ana-figa (9 branches), Kutayr (3 branches), 'an-Nassar (2 branches) and Bani Sala descending from Bani Tamin (9 branches). Salamat is one of the branches of 'al-Bawiya (3 branches), Bayt Sa'd (9 branches), Hamid (7 branches), as-Sarifaat (2 branches), Bani Tamim (13 branches), 'az-Zarkan (5 branches), 'al-'Akras (3 branches) and over 24 Arab tribes dispersed among the 13 mentioned above.
9 - Rodinson, M., The Arabs. P.U.F., Paris, 1979, p. 76.
10 - Dairat al-Ma'arif al Islam/yah, (Islamic Encyclopedia), I. Khuzestan Article, page 38
11 - Massignon, Op.Cit., p. 388
12 - Massignon, Op.Cit..p.388
13 - Called the :enlightened Caliph”.
14 - Shibr, Jasem Hassan. Tarikh al-Moucha'chi'in (History of the Moucha'chi'in) Baghdad, 1954.
Khazaal, Khalaf Tarikh Kuwait as-siyasi, (Political History of Kuwait)III, Beirut,1963,p.90
15 - The Travels of Pedro Teiskeira: "Kings of Harmuz" and excerpts from "Kings of Persia" Hakluyt Society, 1902.
16 - The Trvels of Sig. Pietro Della Valle to the East Indies and the Arabian Desert, Hakluyt Society, 1902.
17 - Massignon, L.Op.Cit.
18 - Curzon, Georges N. Persia and the Question.LL. London. 1892.p.323.
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The Iraq-Iran Conflict
Chapter 1
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Chapter 2
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