Monday, September 4, 2023

2023: 'Abdul Rahman - Abhomeron

 


'Abdul Rahman
'Abdul Rahman (Raja Jumaat or Si Komeng).  Sultan of Johor (Lingga) (r.1812-1830).   Younger of the two sons of Sultan Mahmud III of Johor and Riau.  In 1819, the English recognized 'Abdul Rahman’s elder brother, Hussein, as sultan of Johor and Singapore.  The existence of two “rival” sultans symbolized the effective breakup of the old Johor/Riau state into what became British and Dutch spheres and, ultimately, the states of Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia.  'Abdul Rahman was proclaimed sultan on the death of Mahmud by the Bugis Yamtuan Muda Raja Jaafar.  Since he maintained a residence on the island of Lingga, 'Abdul Rahman became known as the sultan of Lingga after 1819.  The famous Malaysian chronicle the Tufhat al-Nafis credits him with a reputation for piety and claims that he did much to make Riau and Lingga centers of Islamic study. 
Raja Jumaat  see 'Abdul Rahman
Si Komeng see 'Abdul Rahman
Rahman, 'Abdul see 'Abdul Rahman
Jumaat, Raja see 'Abdul Rahman
Komeng, Si see 'Abdul Rahman


'Abdul Rahman
'Abdul Rahman (Amir 'Abdul Rahman) (Abdur Rahman) (Abdur Rahman Khan) (b. between 1840 to 1844 - d. October 1, 1901).  Amir of Afghanistan who assumed the Kabul throne at the end of the Second Anglo-Afghan War and reigned from 1880 to 1901.  'Abdul Rahman was the third son of Afzul Khan, and grandson of Dost Mohammad Khan, who had established the Barakzai dynasty in Afghanistan.  'Abdul Rahman was considered a strong ruler who re-established the writ of the Afghan government in Kabul after the disarray that followed the second Anglo-Afghan war.

Before his death at Herat, on June 9, 1863, Dost Mohammad had nominated as his successor Shir Ali, his third son, passing over the two elder brothers, Afzul Khan and Azim Khan.   At first, the new amir was quietly recognized.  However, after a few months Afzul Khan raised an insurrection in the northern province, between the Hindu Kush mountains and the Oxus River, where he had been governing when his father died.  This began a fierce contest for power between Dost Mohammad's sons, which lasted for nearly five years.

In this war, 'Abdul Rahman became distinguished for ability and daring energy.  Although his father, Afzul Khan, who had none of these qualities, came to terms with the Amir Shir Ali, the son's behavior in the northern province soon excited the amir's suspicion, and 'Abdul Rahman, when he was summoned to Kabul, fled across the Oxus into Bukhara.  Shir Ali threw Afzul Khan into prison, and a serious revolt followed in southern Afghanistan. 

The amir had scarcely suppressed the rebellion by winning a desperate battle when 'Abdul Rahman's reappearance in the north was a signal for a mutiny of the troops stationed in those parts and a gathering of armed bands to his standard.  After some delay and desultory fighting, 'Abdul Rahman and his uncle, Azim Khan, occupied Kabul (March 1866).  The amir Shir Ali marched up against them from Kandahar.  However, in the battle that ensued at Sheikhabad on May 10, he was deserted by a large body of his troops. After Shir Ali's signal defeat, 'Abdul Rahman released his father, Afzul Khan, from prison in Ghazni, and installed him upon the throne as amir of Afghanistan.

Notwithstanding the new amir's incapacity, and some jealousy between the real leaders, 'Abdul Rahman and his uncle, they again routed Shir Ali's forces, and occupied Kandahar in 1867.  When Afzul Khan died at the end of the year, Azim Khan became the new ruler, with 'Abdul Rahman as his governor in the northern province.  However, towards the end of 1868, Shir Ali's return, and a general uprising in his favor, resulted in 'Abdul Rahman and Azim Khan's defeat at Tinah Khan on January 3, 1869.  Both sought refuge in Persia, where 'Abdul Rahman placed himself under Russian protection at Samarkand.  Azim died in Persia in October 1869.

'Abdul Rahman lived in exile in Tashkent, then part of Russian Turkestan, for eleven years, until the 1879 death of Shir Ali, who had retired from Kabul when the British armies entered Afghanistan.  The Russian governor-general at Tashkent sent for 'Abdul Rahman, and pressed him to try his fortunes once more across the Oxus.  In March 1880, a report reached India that 'Abdul Rahman was in northern Afghanistan.  The governor-general, Lord Lytton, opened communications with him to the effect that the British government were prepared to withdraw their troops, and to recognize 'Abdul Rahman as amir of Afghanistan, with the exception of Kandahar and some districts adjacent to it.  After some negotiations, an interview took place between him and Lepel Griffin, the diplomatic representative at Kabul of the Indian government.  Griffin described 'Abdul Rahman as a man of middle height, with an exceedingly intelligent face and frank and courteous manners, shrewd and able in conversation on the business in hand.

At the durbar on July 22, 1880, 'Abdul Rahman was officially recognized as amir, granted assistance in arms and money, and promised, in case of unprovoked foreign aggression, such further aid as might be necessary to repel it, provided that he align his foreign policy with the British.  The British evacuation of Afghanistan was settled on the terms proposed, and in 1881, the British troops also handed over Kandahar to the new amir.

However, Ayub Khan, one of Shir Ali's sons, marched upon that city from Herat, defeated 'Abdul Rahman's troops, and occupied the place in July.  This serious reverse roused the amir, who had not at first displayed much activity.  He led a force from Kabul, met Ayub's army close to Kandahar, and the complete victory which he won there forced Ayub Khan to fly into Persia.  From that time, 'Abdul Rahman was fairly seated on the throne at Kabul, and in the course of the next few years he consolidated his dominion over all Afghanistan, suppressing insurrections by a sharp and relentless use of his despotic authority.  The powerful Ghilzai tribe revolted against the severity of his measures, but they were crushed by the end of 1887.  In that same year, Ayub Khan made a fruitless inroad from Persia.  In 1888, the amir's cousin, Ishak Khan, rebelled against him in the north.  However, these two enterprises came to nothing.

In 1885, at the moment when the amir was in conference with the British viceroy, Lord Dufferin, in India, the news came of a skirmish between Russian and Afghan troops at Panjdeh, over a disputed point in the demarcation of the northwestern frontier of Afghanistan.  'Abdul Rahman's attitude at this critical juncture is a good example of his political sagacity.  To one who had been a man of war from his youth, who had won and lost many fights, the rout of a detachment and the forcible seizure of some debatable frontier lands was an untoward incident.  However, it was not a sufficient reason for calling upon the British, although they had  guaranteed his territory's integrity, to vindicate his rights by hostilities which would certainly bring upon him a Russian invasion from the north, and would compel his British allies to throw an army into Afghanistan from the southeast.  His interest lay in keeping powerful neighbors, whether friends or foes, outside his kingdom.  He knew this to be the only policy that would be supported by the Afghan nation.  Although for some time a rupture with Russia seemed imminent, and while the Indian government made ready for that contingency, the amir's reserved and circumspect tone in the consultations with him helped to turn the balance between peace and war, and substantially conduced towards a pacific solution.  'Abdul Rahman left on those who met him in India the impression of a clear-headed man of action, with great self-reliance and hardihood, not without indications of the implacable severity that too often marked his administration.  His investment with the insignia of the highest grade of the Order of the Star of India appeared to give him much pleasure.

From the end of 1888, the amir spent eighteen months in his northern provinces bordering upon the Oxus, where he was engaged in pacifying the country that had been disturbed by revolts, and in punishing with a heavy hand all who were known by revolts, and in punishing with a heavy hand all who were known or suspected to have taken any part in rebellion.

Shortly afterwards (in 1892), 'Abdul Rahman succeeded in finally beating down the resistance of the Hazara tribe, who vainly attempted to defend their independence, within their highlands, of the central authority at Kabul.  In the late 1880s, many of the Hazara tribes revolted against 'Abdul Rahman, the first ruler to bring the country of Afghanistan under a centralized Afghan government.  Consequent on this unsuccessful revolt, numbers of Hazaras fled to Quetta in Baluchistan and to the area around Mashhed in northeastern Iran.  Most active in the revolt were the Uruzgani, the southernmost of the Hazara tribes.  Following their defeat, a considerable number of Uruzgani left the country, as did many Jaghuri, their nearest neighbors to the northeast.  The territory, which they abandoned, was occupied by Afghans of the Ghilzai tribe, supported by the Amir as a plan for Pashtunization of Afghanistan.

By sending Sunni clerics to every village in Hazarajat, 'Abdul Rahman forced the Hazaras to attend Sunni mosques and abandon Shiism.  He imposed tougher regulations on Hazaras by forcing them to pay heavy taxes.  In Daya Fulad, Zawuli and Sepai districts, the state forced the Hazara girls into marriage.  In the Shikhali district an estimated 7,000 head of cattle were taken away from Hazaras and 350 men and women of the Jaghori district were sold at Kabul markets.  As 'Abdul Rahman's brutal suppression compelled a large number of Hazaras to seek refuge in Iran, India and Russia.  'Abdul Rahman could only succeed in subjugating Hazaras and conquering their land when he effectively utilized internal differences within the Hazara community, co-opting sold out Hazara chiefs into his bureaucratic sales of the enslaved Hazara men, women and children in 1897, the Hazaras remained de facto slaves until King Amanullah declared Afghanistan's independence in 1919.

In 1893, Mortimer Durand was deputed to Kabul by the government of India for the purpose of settling an exchange of territory required by the demarcation of the boundary between northeastern Afghanistan and the Russian possessions, and in order to discuss with the amir other pending questions.  The amir showed his usual ability in diplomatic argument, his tenacity where his own views or claims were in debate, with a sure underlying insight into the real situation.  The territorial exchanges were amicably agreed upon; the relations between the Indian and Afghan governments, as previously arranged, were confirmed; and an understanding was reached upon the important and difficult subject of the border line of Afghanistan on the east, towards India.  In 1895-96, he conquered Nuristan province (formerly called Kafirstan) and using the sword he forcedly converted the people to Islam.  In 1895, the amir found himself unable, by reason of ill-health, to accept an invitation from Queen Victoria to visit England, but his second son Nasrullah Khan went to his stead.

'Abdul Rahman concluded an agreement with the British government, in which Britain guaranteed him protection from unprovoked Russian aggression, provided he permitted Great Britain to conduct his foreign relations.   He obtained a subsidy in money and materiel to strengthen the defenses of his country.  'Abdul Rahman considered this treaty an alliance between equals and, having protected his northern borders, he kept the British at arms length, never allowing them to gain any influence in the country under the aegis of their common defense.  He formulated a “buffer-state policy” which aimed at playing off Afghanistan’s imperialist neighbors against each other.  This policy served Afghanistan well until the end of World War II, when changed conditions required new approaches in the conduct of Afghan foreign policy.  Afghanistan’s northern and eastern boundaries were demarcated during the Amir’s tenure, including the Durand Line (1893), which he accepted under “duress” in the Durand Agreement.  He built the Bagh-i Jahan Noma in Khulm, the Salam Khana castle in Mazar-i Sharif, in Kabul the Masjid-i Idgah, the Arg, the Shahrara tower, and the Bagh-i Bala castle.  In 1896, he adopted the title of Zia-ul-Millat-Wa-ud Din (Light of the nation and religion); and his zeal for the cause of Islam induced him to publish treatises on jihad.  'Abdul Rahman's two eldest sons, Habibullah Khan and Nasrullah Khan, were born at Samarkand.  His youngest son, Mahomed Omar Jan, was born in 1889 of an Afghan mother, connected by descent with the Barakzai family.

'Abdul Rahman died on October 1, 1901, being succeeded by his son Habibullah.  He had defeated all enterprises by rivals against his throne.  He had broken down the power of local chiefs, and tamed the refractory tribes, so that his orders were irreversible throughout the whole dominion.  His government was a military despotism resting upon a well-appointed army.  It was administered through officials absolutely subservient to an inflexible will and controlled by a widespread system of espionage.  Additionally, the exercise of 'Abdul Rahman's personal authority was often stained by acts of unnecessary cruelty.  'Abdul Rahman held open courts for the receipt of petitioners and the dispensation of justice.  In the disposal of business, 'Abdul Rahman was indefatigable.  He succeeded in imposing an organized government upon the fiercest and most unruly population in Asia.  He availed himself of European inventions for strengthening his armament, while he sternly set his face against all innovations which, like railways and telegraphs, might give Europeans a foothold within his country.  'Abdul Rahman's adventurous life, his forcible character, the position of his state as a barrier between the Indian and the Russian empires, and the skill with which he held the balance in dealing with them, combined to make 'Abdul Rahman a prominent figure in contemporary Asian politics and would mark his reign as an epoch in the history of Afghanistan.      

'Abdul Rahman was buried in Bustan Saray in Kabul. 

Rahman, 'Abdul  see 'Abdul Rahman
Amir 'Abdul Rahman see 'Abdul Rahman
Abdur Rahman see 'Abdul Rahman
'Abdul Rahman Khan  see 'Abdul Rahman
Amir of Kabul and its Dependencies see 'Abdul Rahman
Abdur Rahman Khan see 'Abdul Rahman


'Abdul Rahman Akhtar Khan
'Abdul Rahman Akhtar Khan. Director general of the Pakistani military’s Inter-Services Intelligence organization (1980-1987).  Akhtar Khan was said to have coordinated with William Casey, the director of the United States Central Intelligence Agency (the CIA), to support the operations and supply network for the Afghan mujahedin.  Brigadier Muhammad Yousaf, Akhtar’s deputy and head of the Afghan Bureau, controlled the flow of thousands of tons of arms into the hands of the mujahedin and directed every aspect of military activities from training of Afghan guerrillas and logistics support to the planning of ambushes, assassinations, and raids and rocket attacks against the Soviet/Kabul forces.  Akhtar was promoted to chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee and replaced by General Hamid Gul when the mujahedin started carrying attacks into Soviet Central Asia.  Akhtar perished in a plane crash on August 17, 1988, together with Pakistani President Zia-ul-Haq, the American Ambassador Arnold Raphel, Brigadier-General Herbert Wassom, the United States defense attache in Islamabad, and eight Pakistani generals.  American sources attributed the crash to engine failure, but most Pakistanis believe it was a result of sabotage, variously blaming the KGB, the WAD, or the CIA.
Akhtar Khan see 'Abdul Rahman Akhtar Khan.


'Abdul Rahman Alhaj
'Abdul Rahman Alhaj (Tengku 'Abdul Rahman) (Tunku [Prince] 'Abdul Rahman Alhaj) (Bapa Merdeka -- “Father of Independence”) (February 8, 1903 - December 6, 1990).  First prime minister of the Federation of Malaya (1957-1963) and of Malaysia (1963-1970). 

'Abdul Rahman was born in Istana Pelamin, Alor Star, Kedah.  He was the fourteenth son and twentieth child of Sultan 'Abdul Hamid Halim Shah, the twenty-fourth Sultan of Kedah.  His mother, Cik Menjalara, was the Sultan's sixth wife and the daughter of Siamese nobleman, Luang Naraborirak (Kleb), a Thai district officer (Nonthaburi Province) during the reign of King Rama V of Thailand.

'Abdul Rahman had a interesting story about his birth.  In 1902, the Keeper of the Ruler's Seal was exposed as a man who had misused the trust placed in him and had sold state land for his own gain.  Punishment lay with the Sultan, who ordered death for the Keeper, and decreed that the right thumb of the Keeper's wife as well as those of his children should be chopped off as a taint they would carry on for the rest of their lives.

The Keeper's wife rushed to Menjalara, then known to be the Sultan's favorite and implored her intervention.  Menjalara, following her maternal instincts, agreed to intercede.  She had an audience with her husband, the Sultan and told him that she was pregnant again, but feared her child might be seriously affected if the punishment on the Keeper and his family were to be carried out.

Menjalara was a clever woman.  There is a Malay superstition that a husband should do nothing evil during the period of his wife's pregnancy, otherwise a dark spirit would enter the child in the womb.

Sultan 'Abdul Hamid was so elated at the news that his favorite wife was presenting him with another child, and so anxious that nothing unfortunate should happen that he ordered the Keeper to prison instead and cancelled the punishment on his family.

The truth, however, was that Menjalara was not pregnant at that time.  But she conceived soon afterwards, and the child born was 'Abdul Rahman.

'Abdul Rahman began his education in 1909 at a Malay Primary School, Jalan Baharu, in Alor Star and was later transferred to the Government English School, now the Sultan 'Abdul Hamid College, Alor Star, where he studied during the day and read the Qur'an in the afternoon.

When he first went to school in Alor Star, Kedah, little 'Abdul Rahman railed against what he considered was the indignity of being carried to and from by a court retainer.  At that time, little princes were not suppose to dirty their feet, so instead they were carried everywhere.  'Abdul Rahman rejoiced the day he did not have to be carried to school.

Two years later, in 1911, when he was eight, 'Abdul Rahman was sent to study at Debsirin School in Bangkok along with his three brothers.  In 1915, he returned and continued his studies at Penang Free School.

In 1918, 'Abdul Rahman was awarded a Kedah State Scholarship to further his studies at Saint Catherine's College in the University of Cambridge, where he obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1925.  He was the first student from Kedah to study in the United Kingdom under the sponsorship of the Kedah State Government.

Upon his return home, 'Abdul Rahman worked in the Kedah public service and was appointed as District Officer of Kulim and Sungai Petani.  In colonial Malaya, almost all the District Officers were British.  'Abdul Rahman, who was the only Malay District Officer at that time, had the people's interest at heart.  This made him cross swords with the British Administration many times.  However, the British Administration in Kedah could not do anything as he was a prince and the son of the Sultan. 

'Abdul Rahman began his public career in 1931 as an administrative officer in the Kedah state government and continued in this role throughout the Japanese occupation of the area.  Toward the end of the occupation, he participated in the formation of an incipient nationalist political party called Saberkas, or Unity, but later withdrew his support because of the group’s demand for immediate postwar independence, which 'Abdul Rahman thought impracticable, and because of its confrontational, socialist rhetoric.  His nationalism was further boosted by the ill-conceived British proposals for a Malayan Union, which led him, as a leader of the newly formed United Malays National Organization (UMNO), to campaign actively and successfully for their rejection.  'Abdul Rahman’s rise to primacy within UMNO -- he was elected its president in 1951 -- was partly a consequence of the exit of Dato Onn bin Ja’afar, who left to form the multi-racial Independence of Malaya Party.  'Abdul Rahman opposed Ja’afar’s move, believing that Malaya would best be served at this stage of its development by permitting each ethnic community to organize according to its own needs.  Only then, he argued, would the resultant Malay, Chinese, and Indian parties reconcile their differences and form a multi-ethnic coalition.  Setting the stage for a system of politics that still persists, 'Abdul Rahman inspired the Selangor branches of UMNO and the Malayan Chinese Association to announce in January 1952 that the two would contest the Kuala Lumpur municipal election in coalition.  This political merger, first called the Alliance Party and then, after embracing other parties much later, the National Front, has ruled the country ever since.

As head of the United Malay National Organization, 'Abdul Rahman became chief minister of Malaya after an election victory in 1955, and when Malaya attained sovereignty in 1957, the tengku -- the prince -- became its prime minister. 

In May 1961, 'Abdul Rahman broached the concept of merging Malaya, Singapore, Brunei, North Borneo, Sabah and Sarawak into a single political federation.  At first the idea aroused vociferous opposition in Singapore and in the Borneo territories, but with British backing 'Abdul Rahman was able to preside over the birth of the new country -- less Brunei -- in 1963, earning him yet another triumphant honorific: Bapa Malaysia -- “The Father of Malaysia” --, a title marred only by the acrimonious departure of Singapore two years later.

In May 1969, following an election in which the Chinese had increased their political strength, riots broke out in Kuala Lumpur between the Chinese and the Malays.  These disturbances led directly to 'Abdul Rahman’s resignation in 1970.  Although 'Abdul Rahman initially claimed that the Communists had backed them, the riots had been brought about by Malay frustrations over lack of economic benefits and by the quantum increase in non-Malay political power that seemed to be implied by the 1969 election results.  Militant young Malay ultra-nationalists, who believed 'Abdul Rahman and his government had been overly tardy in promoting Malay interests, campaigned remorselessly for 'Abdul Rahman’s resignation.  Although he remained prime minister for another fifteen months, 'Abdul Rahman’s power effectively ended with the declaration of a national emergency in May 1969.  After his resignation on September 22, 1970, 'Abdul Rahman remained active, both as secretary general of the International Islamic Secretariat and, more typically, as an entertaining newspaper columnist (part moralist, part gadfly, and part elder statesman). 

'Abdul Rahman died on December 6, 1990 at the age of eighty-seven.  He was laid to rest at the Langgar Royal Mausoleum in Alor Star.

Contemporary historians opine that 'Abdul Rahman represents the best of his generation. As the father of his country’s independence, he successfully spanned the transition from colonial rule to the important first years of independence.  He was the right man at the right time, a pragmatic democrat who distilled the heady brew of independence into values of ethnic tolerance and democracy that are still idealized, if not always pursued.  That he was able to preside over such momentous change for so long a period with only one eruption of major violence -- in a country where ethnic differences pervade all political, social, and economic life -- secures 'Abdul Rahman’s place in history. 


Tengku 'Abdul Rahman see 'Abdul Rahman Alhaj
Tunku [Prince] 'Abdul Rahman Alhaj see 'Abdul Rahman Alhaj
Bapa Merdeka  see 'Abdul Rahman Alhaj
The Father of Malaysia see 'Abdul Rahman Alhaj
Alhaj, 'Abdul Rahman  see 'Abdul Rahman Alhaj
Bapa Malaysia see 'Abdul Rahman Alhaj


'Abdul Rauf
'Abdul Rauf (‘Abd al-Ra’uf) (Abdurrauf) of Singkei (c.1615-1690 [1693?]). Sumatran theologian and Muslim mystic. 'Abdul Rauf was born in Sumatra.  After extensive travel and study in the Hijaz and Yemen, 'Abdul Rauf worked and taught in Acheh under royal patronage from 1661 onwards.  'Abdul Rauf made a Malay translation of Baidawi’s commentary on the Qur’an and his best-known works are Mir’at a’t-Tullah fi Tashil Ma’rifat al-Ahkam a’sh Shar’iyyah li Malik a’l-Wahhab and Umdat al-muhtajia, the latter with autobiographical details.  Mir’at a’t-Tullah fi Tashil Ma’rifat al-Ahkam a’sh Shar’iyyah li Malik a’l-Wahhab is a book of Shafiite jurisprudence, but also deals generally with social, political and religious life.  In theology, 'Abdul Rauf was an orthodox mystic with views similar to those of Nuruddin Ar-Raniri.
Rauf, 'Abdul see 'Abdul Rauf
‘Abd al-Ra’uf see 'Abdul Rauf
Abdurrauf see 'Abdul Rauf


'Abdul Razak
'Abdul Razak ('Abdul Razak bin Haji Dato' Hussein al-Haj) (March 11, 1922 - January 14, 1976).  The second prime minister of Malaysia (1970-1976).  'Abdul Razak was the Prime Minister responsible for setting up Barison Nasional, the ruling coalition of political parties that hold power in Malaysia.  He is also renowned for launching the Malaysian New Economic Policy (MNEP).

The son of a major chief, 'Abdul Razak was born in Pahang and educated locally at a Malay language school, then at the exclusive Malay College in Kuala Kangsar.  In 1939, 'Abdul Razak joined the Malayan Administrative Service, and after serving with distinction with the British sponsored resistance forces during World War II, he read law in England. During his studies in England he became active in Malayan student politics and was a loyal supporter of 'Abdul Rahman, under whose aegis he would later prosper.  Returning to Malaya, Razak joined the United Malays National Organization (UMNO) while it was still in its infancy and was made head of UMNO Youth in 1950 and deputy president in 1951.  He was appointed deputy prime minister under 'Abdul Rahman after independence in 1957 and succeeded to the premiership and UMNO presidency when 'Abdul Rahman resigned in September 1970.  

In 1956, Razak’s Committee on Education produced guidelines (known as the Razak Plan) that integrated Malaya’s various ethnic groups under a single educational system designed to promote a common Malayan awareness without sacrificing ethnic identity.  After becoming prime minister following the devastating riots between Malays and Chinese in May 1969, 'Abdul Razak was able to return stability to the land.  At the same time, he reintroduced democracy -- despite reports of its death -- following the National Operations Council interregnum of 1969-1970 by persuading a number of former opposition groups to join the ruling coalition.  He helped control simmering Malay dissatisfaction by implementing the Second Malaysia Plan (Malaysian New Economic Policy - MNEP), a new economic program designed to restructure society and correct the economic disparity between Malays and Chinese.  Finally, he was the architect of a new foreign policy that recognized the People’s Republic of China, promoted Southeast Asia as a “zone of peace, freedom, and neutrality,” and supported regionalism within the ambit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. 

'Abdul Razak died on January 14, 1976 from leukemia, a disease he had carefully kept hidden from public attention.  He was posthumously granted the sobriquet Bapa Pembangunan (Father of Development).   He was laid to rest in the Heroes Mausoleum near Masjid Negara, Kuala Lumpur.  


Razak, 'Abdul see 'Abdul Razak
'Abdul Razak bin Haji Dato' Hussein al-Haj see 'Abdul Razak
Bapa Pembangunan see 'Abdul Razak
Father of Malaysian Development see 'Abdul Razak


'Abdul Salami
'Abdul Salami ('Abdussalami) (d.c.1830).  The first Fula emir of the state of Ilorin (Nigeria) (r.1824-1830).  In 1817, his father, Alimi, a Fula Muslim cleric, had aided Afonja, then the Yoruba ruler of Ilorin, in an independence struggle against the neighboring Oyo kingdom.  Afterward Afonja’s foreign troops revolted and 'Abdul Salami seized power.  He was recognized by Muhammad Bello (who was then building the Fula Islamic empire to the north) as an emir within the new Fula state.  'Abdul Salami was succeeded by his brother, Shitta. 
'Abdussalami see 'Abdul Salami
Salami, 'Abdul see 'Abdul Salami


'Abdul Samad Azhar
'Abdul Samad Azhar.   A member of the Parcham faction of the PDPA who was appointed ambassador to Belgrade in 1989 and defected in 1990.  'Abdul was a Pashtun from Laghman Province who was trained as a police officer in Kabul and Egypt.  A member of President Muhammad Daud’s investigation team of the Maiwandwal “affair” in 1973, 'Abdul is believed to have been the assassin of the former prime minister.  He was arrested in May 1979 by the Khalqi government of Hafizullah Amin and held until January 1980.  The Karmal government appointed him commander of police (Sarandoy) in January 1980 and an alternate member of the central committee.  He became a full member in 1986.  He served as ambassador to Cuba from 1983 to 1986 and to India (in Delhi) from 1986 to 1989. 


'Abdul Wahhab
'Abdul Wahhab.  See Wahhab, 'Abdul.
Wahhab, 'Abdul see 'Abdul Wahhab.


'Abdul Wali
'Abdul Wali (b. 1924).  Commander-in-chief of the Central Forces of Afghanistan until 1973 when he was imprisoned as a result of the coup by his cousin Muhammad Daud.  'Abdul Wali was born in 1924, the son of Marshal Shah Wali and cousin of the ex-King Zahir.  He was educated in France and England where he attended Sandhurst as well as the Command and General Staff College at Camberley.  'Abdul Wali married Princess Bilqis, the daughter of the former King Muhammad Zahir.  He followed the king in exile and lived in Italy after 1976 where he served as Zahir’s spokesperson.  In August 1995, Abdul went to Pakistan where he was received by large crowds.  He talked with high-ranking Pakistani officials and conferred with leading Afghans.  
Wali, 'Abdul see 'Abdul Wali


Abdurahman, 'Abdullah
Abdurahman, 'Abdullah ('Abdullah Abdurahman) (December 18, 1872 - February 2, 1940).  The most important “Coloured” political leader of early twentieth century South Africa.  'Abdullah Abdurahman served as president of the African People's Organization (African Political Organisation) from 1905 until his death.  The grandson of freed slaves, he trained as a medical doctor in Glasgow, Scotland, before returning to Cape Town to practice medicine and participate in political life.  The first Coloured person to serve on the Cape Town City Council (1904-1940) and on the Cape Provincial Council (1914-1940), he was much criticized in the late 1930s by a new, more militant generation of Coloured activists.

'Abdullah Abdurahman was born in Wellington, South Africa.  He was the son of relatively affluent Muslim Cape Malays, and his grandparents were slaves who had bought their freedom.  After receiving a good British education in Wellington and Cape Town, he went to Glasgow to study medicine in 1888, qualifying as a doctor in 1893.  Upon returning to South Africa, he set up a thriving private practice in Cape Town.  In 1904, he was elected Cape Town's first non-European city councillor, a position he held almost uninterrupted until his death.  As city councillor, he worked to improve the conditions of the Coloured community, especially within the field of education.  He helped set up the first secondary schools for Coloureds in Cape Town.

The greatest political achievements, however, of Abdurahman's political life, were connected to his involvement with the African Political Organisation.  Elected president in 1905, his contribution to the party's success was so great that the party was often jokingly referred to as Abdurahman's Political Organisation.  The party's goal was to fight the increasing racial oppression in the country, initially only on behalf of non-African Coloured.  Abdurahman unsuccessfully led two delegations to London to secure franchise rights for Coloured before the creation of the Union of South Africa.  Later, between 1927 and 1934, Abdurahman and his party would start working closer with black African political leaders, in an attempt to create a united front, but this came to little.  By the late 1930s, other political parties, such as the more radical National Liberation League, had taken the initiative. 

On February 2, 1940, Abdurahman died of cardiac arrest.  His funeral was attended by over 30,000 people.  After his death, the party he had built up went into rapid decline.  His political legacy is a mixed one.  Modern, more radical commentators view him as overly accommodating to the white authorities, and as far as practical results are concerned, the achievements of his political career were limited. On the other hand, there is little doubt that he was the most powerful South African Coloured politician of his time, and his popularity in the non-European community was immense, as was the respect he enjoyed with the white elite.  In 1999, Nelson Mandela posthumously awarded Abdurahman the Order of Meritorious Service: Class I (Gold) for his work against racial oppression.

Abdurahman was married twice: first to the British Helen (Nellie) Potter James, whom he met in Glasgow.  They had two daughters and divorced in 1923.  The youngest daughter from this marriage, Zainunissa (Cissy) Gool (1900-1963), became an important political figure in her own right, as a municipal councillor in Cape Town.  Abdurahman's second marriage was in 1925 to Margaret May Stansfield, who bore him two daughters and a son.
'Abdullah Abdurahman see Abdurahman, 'Abdullah


Abdur Rahim
Abdur Rahim (1867-1947 [1952?]).  A prominent Bengali Muslim political and legal figure.  He was born in Midnapur where his father was posted as deputy collector.  He attended Presidency College and later was called to the bar from the Middle Temple in 1890.  Abdur Rahim specialized in Muslim law, and his Principles of Muhammadan Jurisprudence (first published in 1911) is considered a classic on the subject.  He practiced law and became involved in politics, being one of the founding members of the Muslim League in 1906.  Abdur Rahim was also a member of the delegation of Muslim leaders that met with the viceroy, Lord Minto, at Simla earlier in the same year.  It was this delegation that proposed the creation of separate electorates for Muslims.  In 1908, he was appointed a justice of the Madras High Court, where he served until 1920.  During his service there he was twice officiating chief justice.  Also during that period, Abdur Rahim was a member of the Royal Commission on Public Service (1912-1915) and achieved recognition for a strong dissenting minute in which he urged the rapid appointment of Indians to the highest levels of the civil service.  He was a member of the executive council of the governor of Bengal (1921-1925), holding the portfolio of justice, and then a member of the legislative council (1926-1930).  In 1931, Abdur Rahim was elected as an independent to the Central Legislative Assembly and presided over that body (1935-1945).  He also was a member of the Muslim portion of the Indian delegation to the Round Table Conferences in the early 1930s.  He is reported to have been opposed to the partition of Bengal, but moved to East Bengal after partition.  Abdur Rahim’s daughter was the first wife of Hussain Shahid Suhrawardy who supported the creation of a separate dominion for Bengal and Assam.
Rahim, Abdur see Abdur Rahim


Abdur Rashid
Abdur Rashid (Kazi Abdur Rashid) (d.1944).   A pioneer in Muslim publishing in Bengal.  He founded the Bengal Moslem Provincial Library and a number of associated publishing firms.  He was born in the Dhaka district and represented that district in the Bengal Legislative Council (1937-1944). 
Rashid, Abdur see Abdur Rashid
Kazi Abdur Rashid see Abdur Rashid
Rashid, Kazi Abdur see Abdur Rashid


Abenguefith
Abenguefith.  See Abu’l-Mutarrif Ibn Wafid.
Abu’l-Mutarrif Ibn Wafid see Abenguefith.


Abenragel
Abenragel.  See Abu’l-Hasan ibn Abi ‘l-Rijal.
Abu’l-Hasan ibn Abi ‘l-Rijal see Abenragel.


Abhomeron Avenzoar
Abhomeron Avenzoar.  See Abu Marwan ibn Abu’l-‘Ala’.
Avenzoar, Abhomeron see Abhomeron Avenzoar.
Abu Marwan ibn Abu’l-‘Ala’ see Abhomeron Avenzoar.

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