Life
Al-Mallah was born in Aleppo. He graduated from the Galatasaray Mekteb-i Sultanisi (Galatasaray Imperial School) in Constantinople, in 1876.
Al-Mallah held major positions in Aleppo under the Ottoman (Turks), including:
- President of the Mixed Commercial Court (1885–1897);
- Mayor of Aleppo (1899–1900);
- District Attorney (1905–1906);
- Chairman of the Agro-Bank (1906–1907);
- Director of Endowments (1909–1911).
And he was Privy to Sultan Abdulhamid II.
He represented Aleppo in the Ottoman Parliament of 1908, and served as the last Ottoman Interim Governor of the Province of Aleppo. Following the Ottoman collapse, al-Mallah contributed to the foundation of the first modern Arab state in Syria under King Faysal I, and was elected Deputy Speaker of the Syrian National Congress (1919–1920). Finally, he was named Governor General of the State of Aleppo (1924–1926) under the French Mandate of Syria .
Al-Mallah acquired the rank of Beylerbey, which corresponds to the rank of "Lieutenant General," from Sultan Abdulhamid II and was awarded several Ottoman, French and Syrian decorations.
Al-Mallah was a man of liberal views, open to western ideas and thought, proficient in Turkish, Persian, Arminian and French. He particularly loved photography, and used to keep massive albums featuring Ottoman and European royalty, politicians, writers and musicians. He was also noted for his collection of rare and antiquarian books and manuscripts, which he made available to scholars and researchers by dedicating them to the "Islamic Endowments Library of Aleppo," and the "Library of the Arab Academy" in Damascus.
Al-Mallah was described by a fellow historian Sheikh Kamil al-Ghazzi as "the leading notable of Aleppo". Moreover, his biography appeared in a number of books, and was also cited in a dozens of historical works on Aleppo and modern Syria written by noted Arab and western scholars. His name also appeared in the memoirs of Syrian politicians as well as the accounts of Arab and western travelers, including the late Crown Prince Mohammed Ali Tewfik of Egypt, who visited Syria before the outbreak of World War I, and the memoirs of Lady Gertrude Bell.
Read more about this topic: Mar'i Pasha Al Mallah
Famous quotes containing the word life:
“O, reason not the need! our basest beggars
Are in the poorest thing superfluous.
Allow not nature more than nature needs,
Man’s life is cheap as beast’s.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“If, then, we would indeed restore mankind ... let us first be as simple and well as Nature ourselves, dispel the clouds which hang over our own brows, and take up a little life into our pores. Do not stay to be an overseer of the poor, but endeavor to become one of the worthies of the world.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Look at your [English] ladies of quality—are they not forever parting with their husbands—forfeiting their reputations—and is their life aught but dissipation? In common genteel life, indeed, you may now and then meet with very fine girls—who have politeness, sense and conversation—but these are few—and then look at your trademen’s daughters—what are they?—poor creatures indeed! all pertness, imitation and folly.”
—Frances Burney (1752–1840)