Chapter 1: The Life of Dr. AbdulWahab Homad: Upbringing, Studies, Politics and Family
Upbringing, Education, Work and Scholarly Activity
In this chapter we try to trace Dr. Homad's life: his birth and upbringing, his studies, his political work, his years at the university, his family and his death.
First: His Upbringing
He was born in the city of Aleppo in 1913, in the Bab al-Nairab quarter, and the birth was entered in the civil register in 1915. His father, Mahmoud Homad, lived sixty-eight years (1875-1943), and his mother was Asoum al-Nabulsi, who died in 1962.
His father owned pistachio and olive orchards on the southern outskirts of Aleppo and traded in wool. These orchards were later turned into residential property, and the area is known today as the Homad quarter (Hay Homad).
Second: His Studies
His studies fell into three stages: the first in Aleppo, the second in Damascus and the third in Paris.
(a) In Aleppo:
1. His father sent him to the neighborhood kuttab, held in one of the mosques, as was the custom in those days, and there he learned to read and write and studied the Holy Quran.
2. His father then moved him to the al-Ansariyya primary school. The move was not made easily, because the "notables of the quarter" looked on state schools with suspicion and caution, since they taught French, geography and some modern subjects they had never heard of, alongside the study of the Quran and of the Arabic language.
3. After obtaining his primary certificate he studied at al-Sultani, which was then the only secondary school in the city of Aleppo, and there he obtained the following certificates:
- The Teachers' College certificate, 1933
- The first Syrian baccalaureate, 1934
- The second Syrian baccalaureate (philosophy section), 1936
(b) In Damascus:
1. He enrolled at the Institute of Law in Damascus in 1937 and completed the first year there; the course of study lasted three years.
2. He did not complete his studies. He left Damascus in 1938 for Paris, having been awarded a government scholarship after succeeding in a competition held in 1938 to study Arabic literature at the University of Paris.
(c) In Paris:
He stayed in Paris for seven years (1939-1945), enrolling in the Faculty of Letters at the Sorbonne and in the Faculty of Law. In 1939 the Second World War broke out and he was forced to remain in Paris, where he pursued his graduate studies and obtained the following degrees:
1. The licence in Arabic literature, 1940
2. The diploma of the Institute of Criminal Sciences, 1940
3. The licence in law, 1941
4. The diploma of advanced studies in criminal sciences, 1942
5. The doctorate in law, 1944, with a thesis entitled "The Punishment of Political Crime in Comparative Legislation," which the Institute of Criminal Sciences adopted for publication in its well-known series.
After obtaining the licence in Arabic literature in 1940, he wished to pursue graduate studies in Arabic literature alongside his studies in law, and the university approved "Hafez Ibrahim and His Age" as the subject of his doctoral thesis. Having registered the thesis for the doctorate in letters, however, he was unable to complete it, as he had to return to his homeland in August 1945, once the war was over and travel by sea had become possible again.
Third: His Teaching Posts
1. He was appointed a primary school teacher after obtaining his baccalaureate.
2. He was then appointed a teacher of Arabic literature at the secondary school from which he had graduated, known today as al-Ma'moun Secondary School, and at the Teachers' College as well. He stayed in this post for one year, and left Aleppo for Damascus at the beginning of the 1946 school year.
3. He was then appointed a lecturer at the Faculty of Law in 1946 and was promoted to assistant professor.
4. He was then promoted to professor without a chair, and then to holder of the chair of criminal law, a post he held until 1959.
5. He left teaching for full-time ministerial work in 1959, by a presidential decision of 1959.
6. After the secession between Syria and Egypt in 1961 he chose not to return to the university, and practiced law.
7. He took a contract with the University of Rabat, teaching criminal law and other penal subjects at the licence and graduate levels between 1964 and 1968. There he wrote commentaries on the two Moroccan codes, both of recent date, in two books printed by Maktabat al-Toumi in Rabat.
8. He took a contract with Kuwait University for the period from 1968 to 1983, teaching penal law and criminal procedure there.
9. He headed the department of criminal law at all three universities: Damascus University, the University of Rabat and Kuwait University.
10. He resigned from Kuwait University in 1983 and returned to Damascus, where he settled into retirement at home, reading, reflecting and writing.
11. He supervised a number of doctoral and master's theses during his years as a professor.
12. The Arabic Language Academy in Damascus elected him a full member in 1990, and the presidential decree confirming his election was issued under no. 205, dated 27/5/1991.
Fourth: His Political Activity
Dr. Homad was elected deputy for the city of Aleppo for three consecutive terms:
(a) The Elections of 17 July 1947:
These elections were held in a single, direct round under Article 46 of Law 325 of 21 May 1947. This law did away with elections in two stages, in order to end the influence of the secondary electors and to open the doors of parliament to the educated sons of the people.
Brigadier Husni al-Za'im dissolved this parliament when he carried out his coup on 30 March 1949, less than three years after the evacuation of the foreign forces (17 April 1946), and so opened the door to coups by adventurers. He thereby corrupted military life and political life alike.
(b) The Elections of 15 November 1949:
On 14 August 1949 Major General Sami al-Hinnawi carried out a coup against Brigadier Husni al-Za'im, and after al-Za'im had been overthrown and killed together with his prime minister, Dr. Muhsin al-Barazi, general elections were held on 15 November 1949 to choose a Constituent Assembly that would draw up a new constitution for the country, and Dr. Homad won a seat in them.
This Assembly drew up the first Syrian constitution of the era of independence, which was promulgated over the signature of its president, the late Rushdi al-Kikhya, on 5 September 1950. Dr. Homad was the general rapporteur of the constitutional committee: he drafted the constitution and defended it in the Assembly until it was adopted.
In recognition of his work on the constitution, the Constituent Assembly asked the government to honor him, and the government decided to award him the Syrian Order of Merit of the Excellent Class. The Prime Minister, Dr. Nazim al-Qudsi, issued a decision appointing him chairman of the State Laws Committee, which was charged with reviewing the legislation in force and proposing the repeal of every provision contrary to the new constitution.
Colonel Adib al-Shishakli carried out a coup in two stages. In the first he took military power and overthrew Major General Sami al-Hinnawi on 19 December 1949, but the Constituent Assembly continued its work, completed the constitution and published it on 5 September 1950. The second stage came on 2 December 1951, when he dissolved the Constituent Assembly, seized civilian power and arrested the members of the civilian government.
Al-Shishakli set about having Dr. Homad dismissed from the university for refusing to swear an oath not to belong to political parties, and so Dr. Homad left Damascus for Aleppo, where he practiced law for the whole of the rule of al-Shishakli, who was overthrown on 28 February 1954.
(c) The Elections of 10 September 1954:
After al-Shishakli's fall elections were held and Dr. Homad won his seat. Constitutional legitimacy returned to the country in 1954, and the Chamber of Deputies continued its work until the union of Syria and Egypt in 1958, when it was dissolved with the creation of the union.
It should be added that the political parties in Syria were also dissolved when the union was established. Dr. Homad had been one of the founders of the People's Party in 1948.
(d) Elections under the secession: After the union between Syria and Egypt, elections were held in Syria under the secessionist regime, but Dr. Homad did not stand in them, out of loyalty to the union.
(e) The Ministries He Held:
Dr. Homad held the following ministerial portfolios:
1. The Ministry of Education:
In the government of Mr. Hasan al-Hakim; he held it from 9 August 1951 until 28 November of the same year.
He sent some 300 students to study at universities in Europe and Egypt, allocated by governorate, and on their return they became strong pillars in meeting the future needs of the Syrian University.
To him goes the credit for establishing free secondary education, a year before a similar decision was taken in Egypt by Dr. Taha Hussein during his time at the ministry, and the Syrian constitution contained a provision to that effect.
2. The Ministry of Finance:
In the government of Mr. Said al-Ghazzi, from 13 September 1955 to 14 June 1956.
During his time at this ministry he accomplished two major tasks. The first was having the Syrian banknotes printed at the press of the Government of Pakistan, after this currency had been the monopoly of an English printer.
It should be noted that Britain at that time was scheming against Syria and the Arabs, while Pakistan stood by the Arab causes, especially the question of Palestine.
The second was the conclusion of a new agreement with the Iraq Petroleum Company, whose pipelines carried Iraqi oil to the Mediterranean.
The negotiations with the company ended in a victory for Syria: Syria's share was raised from 13 million pounds a year (the figure obtained under Adib al-Shishakli) to 65 million a year, in addition to a sum of 85 million paid directly into the Syrian treasury for a previous period. This made it possible to provide arms for the army and the armed forces, and to improve the condition of every government body.
3. The Ministry of Education, a Second Time:
This was in the government of Mr. Sabri al-Asali, from 14 June 1956 until 31 December of the same year. The Suez War took place during this government's time in office, and Minister Homad sent some three hundred students to American, European and Egyptian universities to specialize in various scientific fields.
Then came the proclamation in Cairo, on the first of February 1958, of the full union between Syria and Egypt under the presidency of Gamal Abdel Nasser.
After the Syrian Chamber of Deputies approved this blessed union on 5 February, and the provisional constitution was proclaimed on 5 March of the same year, President Abdel Nasser formed the first government of the union on the sixth of March.
4. The Ministry of Justice in the State of the Union, 6 March 1958:
Dr. Homad remained in this ministry from 6 March 1958 until 7 October of the same year.
Akram al-Hourani was Vice President of the Republic, and Sabri al-Asali was the second Vice President.
5. The Ministry of the Treasury, 1958:
This ministry lasted from 7 October 1958 until 16 August 1961, in the Syrian regional government (the Executive Council), which was headed by Mr. Nur al-Din Kahala.
6. The Central Ministry of Planning:
In the central government in Cairo, the two executive councils were merged and a single government was formed under President Gamal Abdel Nasser, after Cairo had become the capital of the unified state and the seat of the central government.
Dr. Homad moved to Cairo with his family; he sent his daughter Maysa to the Franciscan School for girls and enrolled his son Ghassan at the Orman School for boys.
But the secessionist coup put an end to the union, and with it to this ministry, which lasted from 16 August 1961 to 28 September of the same year, less than a month and a half.
With the fall of the union, Dr. Homad returned to Syria with his family to work against the ill-fated secessionist regime.
When that regime was brought down on 8 March 1963, a new unionist government was formed on the day after the revolution.
7. The Ministry of Finance:
Dr. Homad took the Ministry of Finance in the government formed after the revolution of 8 March under Mr. Salah al-Bitar, but he soon resigned from it together with his colleague Nihad al-Qasim, and the government itself resigned on 11 May 1963. Mr. Salah al-Bitar's government later detained him for five months, from 20 July until the end of December of the same year (1963).
Fifth: Conferences He Attended and Seminars He Took Part In
Dr. Homad attended a number of conferences, among them:
1. The Arab League conference in Cairo in 1955, at which the Arab League approved the admission of Sudan to its membership.
2. The first congress on the prevention of crime, in the autumn of 1955, held by the United Nations in Geneva; he headed the Syrian delegation to it.
3. His visit to the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia and Poland as a member of the Syrian parliamentary delegation that made the journey in the summer of 1955, less than two years after the death of Stalin.
4. The Arab Writers' Conference held in Bloudan in 1956, which he chaired as Minister of Education of the host country.
5. A special mission to the Vatican in 1956 concerning the question of Palestine.
6. The meeting of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank held in Washington in the autumn of 1959, where he held the title of governor at the World Bank as the minister of finance at the time.
7. A number of official missions to Arab countries.
8. The conference on Human Rights in Islam, called by Kuwait University together with the Arab Lawyers' Union and the International Union of Jurists in 1982. The conference adopted important resolutions on the recommendation of the fifth committee, which Dr. Homad chaired, among them:
(a) There is no contradiction whatever between modern criminal procedure and Islamic law.
(b) The creation of special courts, such as state security courts and martial-law courts, is prohibited, because they conflict with the rules of human rights and offer no legal safeguards to those brought before them.
(c) Every arrest ordered by any authority other than the judiciary is prohibited, and an arrest requires strong suspicion that a crime has been committed.
9. He took part as a lecturer in the seminar held by the Arab Center for Security Studies and Training at its headquarters in Riyadh in the autumn of 1984, and in the seminar held by the same center in Damascus after that date.
10. He took part in a seminar on the Kingdom of Morocco held at the Arab Club in Damascus on Wednesday, 26 January 1994.
11. He took part in a seminar held by the Friends of Damascus Society at the al-Assad Library under the title "Constantine Zurayk: The Scholar Who Has Left Us," on Monday, 12 February 2001.
Sixth: The Decorations He Received
Dr. Homad received a number of decorations, as follows:
1. The Syrian Order of Merit of the Excellent Class, 1951, in recognition of his efforts in drafting the Syrian Constitution of 1950 and securing its adoption.
2. The Order of the Egyptian Republic, First Class, 1956, conferred on him by President Gamal Abdel Nasser in appreciation of his Arab nationalist positions, for Dr. Homad had helped conclude the military agreement between Syria and Egypt in 1955, which is regarded as the first building block of the union between the two states three years later.
3. The Order of the Yugoslav Federation, First Class, 1960, in recognition of his contribution to strengthening the close relations between Syria and Yugoslavia.
Seventh: The Committees of the Arabic Language Academy
On 24 November 1990 the Council of the Arabic Language Academy elected Dr. AbdulWahab Homad a full member of the Academy, to the seat left vacant by the death of Professor Shukri Faisal, and Presidential Decree no. 205, dated 27/5/1991, appointed him a full member of the Academy.
During his time at the Academy he took part in its work and its committees with great competence and ability. The committees he served on were the Committee on Manuscripts and the Revival of Heritage, the Committee on the Journal and Publications, and the Committee on Foundations. His friend Professor Muhammad Ihsan al-Nass, may God have mercy on him, said in his farewell on the day of Dr. Homad's death: "Only yesterday you were with us, Abu Ghassan, working with us in the Council of the Academy and its committees, dealing with whatever questions arose in the sciences of Arabic and its foundations, in coining scientific terms and in preparing the activities the Academy undertakes, its seminars and conferences; and in all these fields you had your sound opinions, your penetrating insight and your distinctive presence."[1]
Eighth: His Arrests
Dr. Homad suffered detention and was put in prison several times:
1. Colonel Adib al-Shishakli arrested him together with the members of Dr. Maarouf al-Dawalibi's government, although Dr. Homad was not a member of it, following the coup the colonel carried out on 29 November 1951. He spent three months in detention, in one of the wings of the military hospital at Mezzeh.
2. He spent a month under house arrest in Aleppo toward the end of al-Shishakli's rule.
3. He was detained for five months after the events of 18 July 1963, when Mr. Salah al-Bitar was head of the Syrian government. The detention was administrative, under the martial-law statute, and arose from political disagreements over achieving union with Egypt after the secession had been brought to an end and the revolution of 8 March had taken place in Syria.
Of this detention Dr. Homad says: "No charge was ever brought against me, and I was never sent before a court."
Ninth: His Family Life
1. In 1946 Dr. Homad married Mrs. Amal, daughter of Ahmad Subhi al-Kourani, of the city of Aleppo, who had obtained her secondary-school certificate in Aleppo.
2. They had a daughter and a son. The daughter, Maysa, was born in 1948 and holds a licence in French literature from the Faculty of Letters and Humanities at Damascus University. The son, Ghassan, was born in 1952 and is an electrical engineer (specializing in electronics), also a graduate of Damascus University.
Tenth: His Memorial Ceremony
The Arabic Language Academy in Damascus held a memorial ceremony for the late Professor AbdulWahab Homad at six o'clock in the evening on Wednesday, the twenty-ninth of Dhu al-Hijja 1422 AH, corresponding to the thirteenth of March 2002, in the lecture hall of the al-Assad National Library, to mark forty days since his death. Speeches were delivered on behalf of the Academy by Professor Shaker al-Fahham, president of the Academy, may God have mercy on him; on behalf of the Ministry of Education by Professor Mahmoud al-Sayyed, then Minister of Education; on behalf of the university and the Faculty of Law by Professor Abboud al-Sarraj, then dean of the Faculty of Law; on behalf of the lawyers and judges by Mr. Mazhar al-Anbari, former Minister of Justice and former head of the Bar Association; and on behalf of the friends of the deceased by Professor Ihsan al-Nass, may God have mercy on him, then vice-president of the Academy. The speech on behalf of the family of the deceased was given by his brother, the lawyer Dr. As'ad Homad.
The writer Hassan Badr al-Din al-Katib summarized the contents of the speeches delivered at the memorial and published his article in the newspaper Tishreen[2], and the appendix to this book contains the speeches delivered at the memorial.
Endnotes:
[1] Dr. Ihsan al-Nass, "Farewell, AbdulWahab Homad (Abu Ghassan)," Tishreen, Wednesday 26/1/2002, issue no. (8212).
[2] Hassan Badr al-Din al-Katib, "The Arabic Language Academy Commemorates Its Late Member Professor AbdulWahab Homad," Tishreen, issue no. (8263), Monday 18/3/2002.