The Guardians of Independence (Arabic: حارس الاستقلال; ''Haras al Istiqlal'') were a secretive, clandestine political group established in early 1919 to oppose the
British occupation of Iraq following
World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
.
Ja'far Abu al-Timman was its main organizer and leader. The Guardians of Independence used both nationalist and religious rhetoric against the British presence and contributed greatly to the rise of emotions that led to the
1920 revolt. It called for Iraqi and
Syria
Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...
n independence, the establishment of a constitutional monarchy, and the rejection of technical or economic assistance from the British. It concentrated most of its activities in the central
Euphrates
The Euphrates ( ; see #Etymology, below) is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of West Asia. Tigris–Euphrates river system, Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia (). Originati ...
and in
Baghdad
Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...
. Its leadership included a number of prominent religious and political figures:
Sayyid Muhammad al-Sadr,
Sayyid Muhammed Ali Bahrululoom, Shakir Mahmud, Hikmat Shawkat,
Jalal Baban, and Muhamman Baqir al-Shabibi.
See also
*
Ja'far Abu al-Timman
*
RAF Iraq Command
Iraq Command was the Royal Air Force (RAF) commanded British Armed Forces, inter-service Command (military formation), command in charge of United Kingdom, British forces in Iraq in the 1920s and early 1930s, during the period of the British Man ...
References
* Ghareeb, Edmund A. ''Historical Dictionary of Iraq'', p. 78. Scarecrow Press, 2004, {{ISBN, 0-8108-4330-7.
Political history of Iraq
20th century in Iraq