Son of the Prophet's Daughter

Abdullah-ibn-Husein, Emir of Trans-Jordan, is a short, plump, jovial fighting man who comes from a long line of noble fighting men. His father was Husein-ibn-Ali, onetime King of Hejaz, and he traces his ancestry in the male line straight back to the son of the daughter of Mohammed. He likes to drive in swift motorcars, breed fancy camels and play chess all night.

When Abdullah (as the British call him) went to see Colonel T. E. Lawrence in 1916 about the Arab war against the Turks, the canny Colonel sized him up as follows: "I began to suspect him of a constant cheerfulness. ... He jested with all comers in most easy fashion: yet, when we fell into serious talk, the veil of humor seemed to fade away as he chose his words, and argued shrewdly. ... As our conversation continued, I became more and more sure that Abdullah was too balanced, too cool, too humorous to be a prophet. . . . His value would come, perhaps, in the peace after success."

Lawrence was right. Abdullah fought well for the British in World War I, but his brother Faisal was a more brilliant leader. After the war the entire family was established in new Eastern kingdoms: Father Husein in Hejaz (whence his son AH was chased by that tough man Ibn Saud), Faisal in Syria (whence he was chased by the French), Abdullah in Trans-Jordan, which was set up by the British as a link between Egypt and Iraq and a potential threat to French-mandated Syria. Through the process of raiding his treasury and letting the British bail him out, Ab dullah presently found himself completely under the thumb of Great Britain. Last week the British used Abdullah and his kingdom for the purpose they had fore seen long ago: as a nucleus for an Arab front against the Axis and as a threat to French-held Syria.

As German troops moved up to the frontier of Turkey, 150 miles northeast of Istanbul, the whole Near East, as well as Greece, was threatened by the Axis. If Adolf Hitler fails to take Britain this year, he will have to go east for oil. If he does take Britain, there will be a scramble for Britain's Eastern protectorates and possessions. Last week General Maxime Weygand hurried to Vichy to see Marshal Henri Philippe Petain and discuss, among other things, Syria. Last week, coincident with the German move through Bulgaria, Russia sent troops into the Caucasus, from which point they could either help to protect Turkey or join in the Near Eastern scramble.

Turkey, which with the British Navy blocks any German drive into the Near East, showed no signs of wobbling into the Axis camp as Yugoslavia did (see p. 26). Turkish Cabinet members refused a German invitation to see the newsreel Victory in the West and civilians were ordered evacuated from Istanbul. To back up Turkey with what they hope will develop into a pan-Arab front, the British used as their mouthpiece the reliable Emir of Trans-Jordan, who likes the new Turkey as much as he disliked the old Ottoman Empire. From his winter camp at Eshuneh, Abdullah sat down to the international chessboard and proclaimed to the world:

"If the Germans attack Turkey, or the zone of Turkey's security, they will face a real catastrophe. Turkey is the strong front of the Islamic East. Any attack against Turkey would provoke all Orientals and lead them to defend Turkey with their lives and their money. The fall of Turkey, which Allah forbid!--would mean the fall of the Eastern Front and a loss of prestige for Islam. The new Turkey, with her ally, Britain, forms a tremendous power in the East competent to resist any aggression."

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