Ali ibn Sulayman al-Assad (
''né'' al-Wahhish; 18751963) was a Syrian farmer and tribal leader who was respectively the father and grandfather of Syrian Presidents
Hafez al-Assad
Hafez al-Assad (6 October 193010 June 2000) was a Syrian politician and military officer who was the president of Syria from 1971 until Death and state funeral of Hafez al-Assad, his death in 2000. He was previously the Prime Minister of Syria ...
, in power from 1971 to 2000, and
Bashar al-Assad
Bashar al-Assad (born 11September 1965) is a Syrian politician, military officer and former dictator
Sources characterising Assad as a dictator:
who served as the president of Syria from 2000 until fall of the Assad regime, his government ...
, in power from 2000 to
2024
The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...
.
Personal life
Ali ibn Sulayman al-Wahhish was the son of Sulayman ibn Ahmed ibn Ibrahim ibn Sulayman al-Wahhish. The
al-Assad family
The Assad family ruled Syria from 1971, when Hafez al-Assad became President of Syria, president under the Ba'ath Party (Syrian-dominated faction), Ba'ath Party following the Corrective Movement (Syria), 1970 coup, until Bashar al-Assad was Fal ...
lived in
Qardaha, an
Alawite
Alawites () are an Arabs, Arab ethnoreligious group who live primarily in the Levant region in West Asia and follow Alawism, a sect of Islam that splintered from early Shia as a ''ghulat'' branch during the ninth century. Alawites venerate A ...
town in the mountainous
Latakia Sanjak of the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...
. They were members of the Alawite
Kalbiyya tribe.
Ali was known for protecting the weak and in the 1920s had assisted refugees fleeing the former province of Aleppo when
France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
gave parts of it to Turkey. He was one of the few literate Alawites in his village and the only man in the village to subscribe to a newspaper. For his accomplishments, Ali was called ''al-Assad'' ("the Lion") by his fellow Alawites, and made the nickname his surname in 1927.
Ali married two times and over three decades had eleven children. His first wife, Sa'ada Falfal, was from the district of
Haffeh. They had three sons and two daughters. His second wife Na'isa Shalish was twenty years his junior. She was the daughter of Uthman Abbud from the village of
Qutilba, about 12 kilometres (7 miles) further up the mountain. They had one daughter and five sons. The fourth child, Hafez, was born on 6 October 1930.
Political influence
Ali ibn Sulayman al-Assad was one of the signatories of a supposed letter "No. 3547" addressed to
French Prime Minister
The prime minister of France (), officially the prime minister of the French Republic (''Premier ministre de la République française''), is the head of government of the French Republic and the leader of its Council of Ministers.
The prime m ...
Léon Blum
André Léon Blum (; 9 April 1872 – 30 March 1950) was a French socialist politician and three-time Prime Minister of France. As a Jew, he was heavily influenced by the Dreyfus affair of the late 19th century. He was a disciple of socialist l ...
on 15 June 1936, which implored the French not to abandon Syria. However, historian
Stefan Winter argues that this letter is a forgery.
Historian Yaron Friedman located a copy of the original Alawi petition to Léon Blum, preserved under catalog number SDN 242QO Petition 598 in the French diplomatic archives. It is suggested that this petition was written by a single Alawi poet,
Badawi al-Jabal, rather than being signed by notable Alawi leaders or ancestors of the al-Assad family. The disputed letter states:
The letter praises the Jews in Palestine and includes them among the groups that are persecuted by the Muslims. It is possible that this aspect of the letter was not sincere but was intended to curry favor with
Léon Blum
André Léon Blum (; 9 April 1872 – 30 March 1950) was a French socialist politician and three-time Prime Minister of France. As a Jew, he was heavily influenced by the Dreyfus affair of the late 19th century. He was a disciple of socialist l ...
, the French Prime Minister to whom it was addressed, who was a Jew.
On 31 August 2012, the permanent representative of France to the United Nations
Gérard Araud mentioned the letter in response to the Syrian diplomat
Bashar Jaafari.
See also
*
Al-Assad family
The Assad family ruled Syria from 1971, when Hafez al-Assad became President of Syria, president under the Ba'ath Party (Syrian-dominated faction), Ba'ath Party following the Corrective Movement (Syria), 1970 coup, until Bashar al-Assad was Fal ...
Notes
References
Bibliography
*
Stefan Winter: ''The Asad Petition of 1936: Bashar’s Grandfather Was Pro-Unionist'', in: Syria Comment, 14 June 2016.
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Assad, Ali Sulayman al
1875 births
1963 deaths
People from Latakia Governorate
Ali Sulayman
Syrian Alawites