Remembering & Honouring
Emir AbdelKader
(The Algerian)
Part II

Before delving into the nobility, humanity, heroism, and courage of AbdelKhadir it is worthwhile to make brief mention of the sectarian conflict that had been raging off and on in Lebanon since 1843. To my mind the very root and essence of this conflict lays in the fact that El Shihabi Family conversion from Sunni Moslem to Maronite Christian. Like El Hashemite Family that ruled Saudi Arabia before Ibn Saud, hence (Saudi Arabia) they are thought to be descendants from the Prophet Mohammad. Thus conversion to Christianity, let alone Maronite version, was nothing short of anathema. The Shihabi managed to get the blessing of the Turkish Sultan and ruled their Christian followers from Beit El Din in the Chouf Mountain in Lebanon. Beit El Din is short few kilometers away from the Druze feudal Lords, Amir El Maan in Deir El Qamar, and Jumblaat in Mukhtarah. Whenever it suited the Ottoman interest they stirred up the bee hives and ‘small scale’ massacres followed. The smallest of these massacres took place in 1843 where several hundred men, women and children had their throats slit and small exodus from several villages in the Chouf Mountains took place. The next, significantly bigger massacre took place in 1856. But the greatest massacre which almost had the effect of wiping out Christians (particularly Maronite) presence in Mount Lebanon, and the potential of wiping out Christian presence in Lebanon took place in 1860 and saw the Victorious Druze stir up the fervour of the Druze stronghold in Huran and Swaida districts in Syria. Here comes heaven sent Emir AbdelKader and his few battle hardened surviving followers.

It should be noted that despite the so called bravery, the Christian route by the Druze was only achieved by the duplicitous double-crossing by Ottoman rulers instructing their soldiers to assure the armed Christians that they guaranteed their safety thus taking away their arms, when in fact they were sending them to their slaughter. The other factors were the deliberately false assurances about fulfilling their obligation of protecting Christians, repeatedly given by Sultan Abdelhamid Mehmet II in Istanbul to the French, Russian and the British.

 AbdelKadir, having few weeks earlier opened his residence as a safe house to frightened Christians in Syria and Lebanese Mountains. He warned Christian and Mulsim leaders and Heads of Christian communities of the impending massacre. Initially hundreds of Christians took up the offer of safety and as news of the marauding killers heading towards Damascus became imminent, thousands flocked to the safety quarters secured by AbdelKadir and his seasoned 29 warriors. AbdelKadir personally faced the marauding killers and addressed them in no uncertain language about the sanctity of human life and the religious tenets enshrined in the Holy Koran, other books of Islam, particularly that of Sufism and Fatimism. Perhaps the more important aspect of AbdeKadir to the marauding murders was the awareness of the likely backlash from Europe. Whilst AbdelKadir spoke his 29 warriors stood on their horses a cordon ready to take on the marauders.

Abdelkader saving Christians during the Druze/Christian strife of 1860. Painting by Jean Baptiste Huysmans.

The wisdom and influence of AbdelKadir prevented the certain outcome of a massacre that would have wiped out the Christian presence, particularly that of the Maronite community in Syria. Somewhat comparable to what 155 years later (2014-2015), is taking place to Christians and other minorities in Iraq and Syria in areas under the control Islamic State (IS).

When the facts of the Christians massacres became know in Europe France, Russia, and Britain sent troops that arrived belatedly to Beirut. The heroic deeds of AbdelKadir and his 29 Algerian worriers became known and flood of accolade followed. Amongst those accolades were the following:

On 2 August 1869 the French Age newspaper wrote:

"We were in consternation, all of us quite convinced that our last hour had arrived [...]. In that expectation of death, in those indescribable moments of anguish, heaven, however, sent us a savior! Abd el-Kader appeared, surrounded by his Algerians, around forty of them. He was on horseback and without arms: his handsome figure calm and imposing made a strange contrast with the noise and disorder that reigned everywhere."

The French government increased his pension to 150,000 francs and honoured him with the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour. He also received the honour of the Grand Cross of the Redeemer from Greece, the Order of Pius IX from the Vatican. Pair of inlaid pistols from Abraham Lincoln, gold inlaid shotgun from Great Britain, and ironically, not to be outdone Order of the Medjidie First Class from the Turkish Sultan, Abdelhamid, in Istanbul!