Hassan Nasrallah (businessman)

Sayyid Hassan Hammoud Nasrallah (Arabic: حسن حمود آل نصر الله; December 27, 1881 – October 8, 1959) was an Iraqi nobleman, activist, and businessman.[1][2]

Hassan Nasrallah
السيد حسن نصر الله
Born
Hassan Muhammad Sultan Nasrallah

(1881-12-27)December 27, 1881
DiedOctober 8, 1959(1959-10-08) (aged 77)
Children
RelativesMohammed Hussain Nasrallah (great nephew)
Aref Nasrallah (great nephew)
Mohammed Hassan Dhiya al-Din (brother-in-law)

Early life

edit

Nasrallah was born into an aristocratic family, that had held a high status in Karbala. His father, Muhammad (Hammoud) Nasrallah (d. October 27, 1901), was the head of the traders of Karbala, in the late Ottoman era, and his mother, Amina Thabit (d. 1919), was the granddaughter of Muhammad-Ali Thabit (d. 1817), the 10th saden of the Al-Abbas Shrine, as well as the great-granddaughter of Dowlatshah.[3] He was the fourth of ten siblings. His parents respectively hail from the noble families of Al Faiz and Al Zuhayk, and both claim agnatic descent from Musa al-Kadhim, the seventh Shia Imam.[4] His ancestors on both sides, on some occasions ruled Karbala, and held custodianship of its holy sites.[5][6]

Business career

edit

Nasrallah's father died in 1901, and his older brother, Sultan, assumed the family business, and inherited the status of the head of traders. However, Sultan died four years later, and Nasrallah in turn took over. He continued his father's business, and established his own company, selling agricultural products and appliances, some imported from the US and Europe. After his death in 1959, his sons became chairmen of the company and began to further expand the business.[7]

Political activism

edit

Nasrallah was involved in a number of political movements in Karbala during the first third of the 20th century, being at the forefront of activism, namely against British occupation. In July 1920, he was among other noblemen that revolted against the British and seized the city of Karbala, which was later split into councils, Nasrallah being part of the High Council of Military Affairs.[8] The councils were then disbanded after the death of Mirza Taqi al-Shirazi in August of that year, and a mutasarrif was assigned.[9] However, the local government was short-lived, with the British ending the revolt in October 1920.

Nasrallah continued his activism, by joining his cousin, Muhsin al-Tawil Nasrallah, who lead the Karbala branch of the Iraqi Renaissance Party–a party also made up of noblemen who had been active in their resistance to British occupation. Yet, due to the power this party amassed, they were outlawed and closed down by British High Commissioner, Percy Cox, in the late 1920s.[10]

Personal life

edit

Nasrallah was married to Muluk Dhiya al-Din (d. 1968), daughter of Murtadha Dhiya al-Din (d. 1938), the 19th saden of the al-Abbas shrine. He had three sons, Nathum, Hashim and Adnan.

He republished the diwan of his great ancestor, Nasrallah al-Haeri in 1954.[1]

Death

edit

He died on the evening of Thursday, October 8, 1959. He was buried in one of the Nasrallah family crypts in the al-Abbas shrine, which was inside the second and third room to the right of the Sahib al-Zaman door.[11]

References

edit
  1. ^ a b Tu'ma, Salman Hadi (1998). 'Asha'ir Karbala Wa Usarha [Tribes and Families of Karbala] (in Arabic). Beirut, Lebanon: Dar al-Muhja al-Baydha'. p. 231.
  2. ^ Ṭuʻmah, Salmān Hādī (2003). al-Mowroothat wal-Sha'aer Fi Karbala (in Arabic). Beirut, Lebanon: Dar al-Mahaja al-Baydhaa. p. 134.
  3. ^ Husami, Mehdi (November 16, 2017). "Akasi Va Zanan Akas Dar Dowrah Qajar" [Women Photographs and Female Photographers during the Qajar era] (PDF). shamseh.aqr-libjournal.ir/ (in Persian). Retrieved November 27, 2020.
  4. ^ Tu'ma, Salman Hadi (1998). 'Asha'ir Karbala Wa Usarha [Tribes and Families of Karbala] (in Arabic). Beirut, Lebanon: Dar al-Muhja al-Baydha'. p. 229.
  5. ^ Sadr, Sayyid Hassan (1965). Nuzhat Ahl al-Haramayn Fi 'Imarat al-Mashhadayn [A Stroll into the Sights of the Shrines] (in Arabic). Lucknow, India. p. 21.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  6. ^ Shams al-Din, Sayyid Ibrahim. al-Buyutat al-'Alawiya Fi Karbala [The Alid Households in Karbala] (in Arabic). Karbala, Iraq: Matba'at Karbala. p. 12.
  7. ^ Nasralla, Lawrence (2020). Life on a Knife Edge. Manchester, UK: I2I PUBLISHING. pp. 24–5. ISBN 978-1-8380464-6-0. OCLC 1179286508.
  8. ^ Zmezim, Saeed (2018). Karbala Tarikhan Wa Turathan [Karbala, History and Heritage] (in Arabic). Karbala, Iraq: Karbala Centre for Studies and Research. p. 263.
  9. ^ Zmezim, Saeed (2010). Tarikh Karbala Qadiman Wa Hadeethan [History of Karbala, Classical and Contemporary] (in Arabic). Beirut, Lebanon: Dar Alkari. p. 197.
  10. ^ Isakhan, Benjamin (May 13, 2016). Democracy in Iraq: History, Politics, Discourse. Routledge. p. 88. ISBN 978-1-317-15310-8.
  11. ^ al-Kathemi, Sami (2015). Raqidun 'Ind al-Abbas [Buried near al-Abbas] (in Arabic). Karbala, Iraq: Dar al-Kafil. p. 109.