Before These Memoirs - Part 33: The Full Text of Nabih al-Azma's Open Letter to President al-Qudsi

Sunday the 7th: Al-Azma's Letter

The newspaper Al-Wihda al-Arabiya, published in Damascus by Mr. Nazih al-Hakim, printed the full text of Mr. Nabih al-Azma's letter, addressed to Dr. al-Qudsi.

The letter is a work of the utmost boldness and national fervor, the very letter he had told me about during my own visit to him some days before.

Here is its text, word for word, which I reproduce here for the record and for history:

An Open Letter to Nazim al-Qudsi

Dear friend,

You may well ask why I write you an open letter in these days.

As for why I write to you at all, it is because in taking up the presidency of the republic, you have come to bear responsibility for the state of this country more than any other man, and because you alone hold the power to put an end to what is happening within it.

As for why I write it as an open letter, it is because what I wish to convey to you is the people's own voice, belonging to it alone. The people has grown weary of this battle of delusion, and now demands that the word of truth be spoken openly, plainly, and without ambiguity. The time has come for falsehood to pass, and for this manufactured whirlwind, stoked by the people's own enemies, to end, and give way before the people's own aspirations and will.

You know that years ago, once I saw my nation reach the shore of freedom and safety, I chose to step away from the political arena, to leave room for a younger generation to shoulder its own share of public work, while I continued following its affairs closely, watching from the sidelines, rejoicing on its own days of joy and grieving to the point of tears whenever I saw its own course stumble, or some calamity befall it, or some ill-wisher seek to do it harm. I made this choice after spending seventy-six years of my own life, given wholly to my homeland, my childhood, my youth, and my mature years all given over to it, offering it gladly the very best I had, as other good patriots did as well, until our own eyes were finally graced with the sight of independence. I then accompanied the birth of our own young state through every one of its developments, until God ordained that it unite with beloved Egypt, and the United Arab Republic came into being.

When the union was established, we laid the very hearts within our chests at its feet, and turned to God asking Him to watch over it, guard it, and protect it, above all from those who had themselves carried the banner of its own founding, for I sensed that all those who had conducted the union negotiations, military and civilian men alike, stood divided against one another, each faction seeing in the union's own establishment a means to achieve its own particular ends, before it was ever a broad hope shared among our nation's own aspirations, each hoping, through it, to rid itself of the other faction.

And so Syria entered the union with no true mystical devotion to it in the hearts of its own men, no party genuinely believing in seeking and embracing it, sincerely and mystically devoted to it, save the people itself, which threw itself into it out of sincere patriotism and Arabism, like a roaring flood, sweeping away everything that might stand in its own path.

Then came the negotiations, and then the referendum, and the people gave it every one of its own votes, in a proportion that showed just how deeply attached it was to union. The nation pledged its own allegiance, alongside its approval of the union itself, to President Gamal Abdel Nasser, with that very same love and enthusiasm, for he was the sole hero capable of realizing this union, of carrying twenty-seven million of our own brothers, the sons of Egypt, and restoring them to their own Arab origin, after foreigners and ethnic chauvinists alike had spent hundreds of years trying to separate them from it, warring against their own Arabism and their own Islam, and after he had achieved the British evacuation, nationalized the canal, and led the Egyptian Arab people's own resistance against the invading aggressors, against three states, among the most treacherous and savage peoples on this earth.

Abdel Nasser came, with the spirit of a true revolutionary, to take up the presidency of the united republic, and instead of our own men, those who surrounded Abdel Nasser, rising to meet the level of this revolution, guiding him and assisting him, setting aside their own differences, dissolving their own selfish interests and personal ambitions, instead of rising to the level of this new state, they carried their own old rivalries into it instead, distracting themselves with maneuvering as though they still governed Damascus alone, neither pioneers of union nor men devoted to a real cause. And so Abdel Nasser never once heard, from any one of these politicians, a single kind word about another. The work of corruption began from the very first day of the new order, and with it began the pickaxes of destruction, casting doubt on the Arabs' own capacity for union, and sick souls began carrying out colonialism's own designs to destroy the union, whether knowingly or not.

And so they proposed union, and accepted it, without any conscious plan behind it, carrying it as though it were nothing more than an election slogan, with no thought at all for the nation's own true interest.

I still recall asking Mr. Shukri al-Quwatli, when I went to congratulate him on the union, "Do you even know how the negotiations went, and how the union actually came about?" He smiled a smile tinged with surprise at my own question, as though it were simply assumed he himself had been the one to bring it about. I told him: the only side that embraced union with true faith, sincerity, and devotion was the people alone, while every other side, civilian and military alike, wanted it only for its own particular purposes and ends, each one merely claiming a bond with Layla he never truly had.

My dear friend,

You know that I never once met Abdel Nasser myself. I was invited to Egypt after the union was established, and President Abdel Nasser came to Damascus more than once, yet I was never able to have the honor of meeting him, even though the President once sent his own friend Anwar Sadat to inquire after me at my home. I never saw him, neither in Egypt nor in Syria, and unlike so many people who rushed to him in genuine sincerity, hypocrites foremost among them, I contented myself with pledging him my own allegiance from within my own home, out of pure conviction and sincerity, for I am a man with no personal interest or political ambition left in this world, and I found in him the most capable leader and the most sincere man my nation and my country could ever have, and this remains my own conviction of him still, despite everything I have heard from these supposedly brilliant men who have taken up the mantle of shouting, cursing, and stirring panic, leading the battle of falsehood in Damascus or in Chtaura.

My dear friend,

During the union, I sensed that you had taken my own position, withdrawing to some acquaintance's company, leaving politics behind. I believe you approved of the systems and laws then in place, given that you sent Mr. Abdel Nasser a telegraphed article praising his own program. I also believe you felt the same pain I felt, watching sins pile upon sins, and watching Syrian figures in power sink to a level of humiliation, hypocrisy, and mutual scheming. And when the union suffered its setback on 28 September of last year, and the Arab cause was struck this grave blow, I felt as though a fresh catastrophe had befallen the Arab nation, and that our nation now faced a new and severe trial. I found myself trying to make myself believe what the leaders of that first coup had claimed, that they did not want secession at all, and that their only intent was to correct the situation. But the secessionist regime that arose in the wake of 28 September 1961 remained, to my even greater sorrow and regret, a reactionary, secessionist regime, whatever new faces have succeeded one another at its head since.

I remained, all along, holding fast to my own hope of "correcting the situation," praying to God to guide whoever held the reins of power onto the path of righteousness, until 28 September came around again this very year, marked as a mournful holiday, and the landmarks of falsehood were raised once more, and an artificial celebration was imposed upon the people. I became certain then that the regime remained opposed to true union, and decided to break my own silence and isolation, to alert my own nation with a letter I now send to you, my friend, across the pages of the newspapers.

My friend:

In the wake of the secession, a constituent parliamentary council arose, elected by a people caught unaware amid the upheaval of events, still reeling from the shock of it all. We tried to console ourselves with the hope that the politicians who entered this council would rise to their own responsibilities, appreciate the state the country found itself in, and treat these events as a lesson and an experience from which they might draw the necessity of sincere work, setting aside selfishness and personal interest, avoiding ambiguity, maneuvering, and improvisation, in favor of a clear, open policy confronting the problem of the secession with complete clarity and candor, and that these politicians might give rise to a government that set matters back on their proper course, treating the 28 September movement as an uprising within the United Arab Republic, reconsidering its own position toward a fresh meeting with sister Egypt, and appreciating the evolving course of events and the people's own aspirations to preserve its own gains and achievements. But to my own deep regret, "the constituent and parliamentary council" arose instead, along with its own politicians, with no fear of God whatsoever for their own country, scrambling instead after posts and power.

And so it was that, before long, another coup took place, on 28 March, a coup against the first coup itself, and you and your government were imprisoned, along with some members of the council and its own Speaker, who was leveled with numerous charges, stripping the deputies of every last trace of public service and virtue.

Then God, in His own mercy, arranged for your release from prison, one after another, gradually, without trial, without acquittal or conviction.

Then you, my dear friend, took up the constitution in your own hands, treating everything that had come before as though it had never happened, and called for a union that would spare us the past's own missteps with sister Egypt, and called out the people's own slogans and demands. Yet you then went on to cooperate with a government that had itself declared it was unconstitutional, and did not represent the people, and your own government began shifting its own colors, again and again, according to some carefully studied plan, moving from a government calling for union to one fighting against it and striking down those who called for it, becoming one of the worst governments of all, turning a blind eye to the people's own aspirations, holding it in contempt, and striking down its own hopes with the utmost shamelessness, without the slightest embarrassment.

This government then ended in a constitutional farce and tragedy even worse than the farce of its own formation, for the very council whose own role had already ended with the course of events was brought back, to help it along, by approving the 1950 constitution and amending it in a manner that would draw laughter even from those weeping over the state of constitutional affairs, a manner without precedent in any country's or any parliament's history the world over.

The people followed this theater of constitutional approval with real sorrow, and understood that this whole maneuver was meant only to cover the responsibility of those who had accepted the violation of the constitution, just as the amendment of the constitution was itself meant to provide an opportunity to breach the constitution and its own constitutional principles, all in the constitution's own name.

Meanwhile, it would have been only natural, once this constitutional upheaval had occurred, for the matter to return to the people itself, to be settled by holding new elections and a referendum on union, rather than resurrecting the dead to help bury union and kill the people's own aspirations in the people's own name, while the people itself remains powerless over its own affairs, entirely removed from everything taking place.

The people well understands that this manufactured battle stirred up in Arab Syria was nothing but a failed attempt to distract its own attention from the true battle, and from the conspiracy being woven against all Arabs alike, to the advantage of the ethnic chauvinists and every enemy of the Arab nation.

Those who carried out the 28 September movement, whose own fate we do not even know today, declared that they had brought about the Syrian region's own secession from the United Arab Republic in order to correct the situation, and declared their own wish to put the intelligence men and everyone who had wronged the union on trial, and declared many other things besides, yet not one of these things ever came to pass. What happened instead was that the state conspired against the people, joining in a campaign of abuse and insult, the distortion of facts, the falsification of history, and the misleading of the people, and among the most flagrant challenges to the truth, and to the people's own feelings, was the shameful stand the government itself took at the Chtaura conference.

Dear friend:

The responsible authorities announced, in the wake of the secession, that they would carry out an investigation into the charges leveled against Abdel Nasser's own rule during his presidency over the union. We waited for a genuine investigation, one that would enlighten the people, but to our own regret we began instead hearing accusations, not against the regime and the regime's own errors, but against the person of Abdel Nasser himself, that very leader who had devoted his own life to defending the Arab cause.

We have seen or heard of no investigation whatsoever into everything the past, the intelligence men, and the politicians stand accused of, nor have we heard of any investigation into those who committed real crimes against the union, one that might reassure the people and let it believe what is said and published.

We have seen no serious investigation at all, nor heard of a single person being punished, even though such people remain within the reach of the authorities in this country. What we have seen and heard instead is an assault, a campaign of doubt and falsehood against Abdel Nasser, a plan whose aims are plain, and whose true purpose is lost on no one among the people.

The purpose behind this assault on Abdel Nasser's own person was to divert attention away from the real criminals, and to cover up every conspiracy being woven against this country. No one benefited from any of it except the enemy, Israel foremost among them. The people has come to understand that this battle was never meant to correct the situation at all, but rather to entrench the secession, to isolate Syria, to isolate Abdel Nasser, and to drag Syria backward by decades.

Everything said against Abdel Nasser exposes and refutes itself. I, who have spent seventy-six years of my own life, striving for union, giving of my own time, effort, and youth, never once missing an opportunity to reach out to every Arab who took up the cause of union, I, who have known all manner of people and walked alongside politicians and the national movement, I, whom life itself has tested and tempered, pledged my own allegiance to Abdel Nasser because I found no man among the Arabs more deserving of that allegiance, none more capable of leadership, none greater of heart, none cleaner of hand, none more indifferent to worldly gain: a man who gave himself, his own time, and his own effort to the people.

To the people, and to the people alone.

I remain faithful to him still, despite everything said in falsehood and slander, and I shall remain so, standing alongside the majority of the people in this belief, apart from the men of power, since the hunger for power blinds both sight and insight, and apart from the majority of businessmen, who can no longer profit as they once did under the union. All these together form but a minority of a minority, set against a people brimming with faith in union, a sincere faith, despite everything said and spent to twist the facts.

Dear friend:

You know that in saying what I say here, I am driven by neither malice nor flattery, and you know that I have never once flattered anyone in my own life, nor shown favor to any man who strayed from the path of righteousness and truth.

I say what I say here while this man remains far removed from the seat of power in my own country, saying it as I always have, in obedience to my own reason and conviction, and for the sake of truth alone.

Friend:

Now, in the twilight of my own life, approaching my eightieth year, having spent my whole life as I have, I have never felt the humiliation I feel today, for I have come to feel ashamed of my own existence and my own silence, even though I withdrew from political life long ago. I have come to feel ashamed before my own homeland and my own nation, ashamed to my very soul, and pained to the very bone, every time I hear the abuse, the curses, and the fabricated accusations hurled at this great man, a man for whom it is honor enough that he made of Egypt's twenty-seven million sons Arabs once more, standing alongside their own Arab brothers in every Arab cause, achieved the evacuation, nationalized the canal, stood firm against three aggressor states, awakened Arab feeling everywhere, and stood beside every Arab cause with the utmost resolve, determination, and faith.

Friend:

I have told you, though I answer to no one for it, that I feel this humiliation and this shame down to my very bones, and I would like to ask you: do you not feel as I feel?

Do you not feel, as I do, that the Arab countries need Egypt, and that the Arab cause is doomed the moment Egypt steps out of its own ranks? Do you not feel, as I do, that filthy hands are working to prevent not only union with Egypt, but any meeting at all, whatever form it might take, and that these same hands are working to isolate the Arabs of the Mashriq from the Arabs of the Maghreb, and to isolate Egypt from the whole Arab world?

This is a plan laid bare, whatever methods and forms it takes, and the people is well aware of it, and it will never be allowed to succeed, and the people will put an end to it, though it may cost this country a great deal of effort, time, and sacrifice, and I would not wish you to bear responsibility for all of that.

Friend:

I have never allowed myself to speak until speaking became a debt weighing upon my own conscience, and I tell you now that the people considers this regime neither lawful, nor constitutional, nor legitimate. I ask you in all sincerity: can you tell me the very name of this regime's own system of government?

And how will you explain, before future generations and before history, all these contradictions successive governments have fallen into, and all this deception?

What will you tell the people to explain your own imprisonment and your own release? The charges leveled against the council and its own Speaker? And those accused and imprisoned?

What will you tell history of the open defiance and the insults directed at the people? What will you say of all the falsehoods time itself will inevitably expose, however hard certain hands try to hide them?

And with what face will you meet your Creator on the Day of Judgment?

Were time not so short, and my own pen not weighed down with such a burden, and were I not so fearful for my own country, I would say a great many more things besides. But I content myself, my friend, with this appeal: if you cannot find some way to set this caravan back onto the path of righteousness, then it would be far better, in my own view, for you to vanish from the stage altogether, draw back the curtains, and let the hands pulling the puppets' strings be seen, bare, by the people at last.

And peace and God's mercy be upon you.