Sword of Islam (Mussolini)

This article is about the ceremonial weapon. For the film, see The Sword of Islam. For other uses, see Saiful Islam.

The Sword of Islam (Arabic: سيف الإسلام, romanized: Sayf al-Islām; Italian: Spada dell'Islam) was a ceremonial weapon given on 18 March 1937 to Benito Mussolini, who was pronounced as the Protector of Islam (Arabic: حامي الإسلام, romanized: Hāmī al-Islām; Italian: Protettore dell'Islam). This was part of a fascist campaign to portray Mussolini as a 'protector of Islam'.[1]

History

In 1934, after the creation of Italian Libya and the Libyan genocide, Mussolini adopted a policy for encouraging comparisons with Islam, calling the local population "Italian Muslims of the fourth shore of Italy", building mosques and Quranic schools, preparing service facilities for the pilgrims going to Mecca and even making a High School of Islamic Culture in Tripoli. Behind the apparent humanitarian intent, the Fascists and some sectors of the Islamic world were recognizing that Mussolini's policy targeted the common enemies of Fascist Italy and Islam, France and the United Kingdom.[2][3] These common interests were generated from the aversion to the agreements of the Treaty of Versailles of 1919, dominated by France, the United Kingdom and the United States which had neither fully satisfied the requests brought forth by Italy, nor the requests from this part of the Islamic world.[2]

In order to earn the favour of the Arabs and to seal himself the alliance, Mussolini, although a signatory of the Lateran Treaty with the Holy See, decided to have bestowed on him the title of Protector of Islam.[4] According to the interpretation of Mussolini, with the Italian government taking over the place of the Ottomans in Libya, such a title was up to him concerning law since, in some manner, he was heir of the authority of the caliph.[5] The visit to Libya was officially to celebrate its three year rule by Italo Balbo, as well as opening the Litoranea highway.[6] On 18 March 1937, in the outskirts of Tripoli, Mussolini received the Sword of Islam from Iusuf Kerisc[a], a leading Berber supporter of the Italian occupation against the Libyan resistance, during a lavish ceremony.[8][9][10] After entering Tripoli among salutes of cannons and at the head of a rank of 2,600 cavalrymen, Mussolini reaffirmed his closeness to the Muslim population of Libya and Ethiopia, guaranteeing "peace, justice, wellness and respect for the laws of the Prophet".[7] He also visited a mosque in Derna.

The following year, a horse monument was inaugurated in the main square of the Libyan capital in honour of Mussolini. Its base read: "To Benito Mussolini, peacemaker of the people, redeemer of the land of Libya, the mindful population and exhibitions where the Sword of Islam flashed consecrate in the sign of the Lictor a loyalty that challenges the destiny."[11]

The sword, decorated in arabesque, equipped with a double-edged straight blade and with a hilt and solid gold friezes, had been achieved from the art firm Picchiani e Barlacchi di Firenze on the order of Mussolini himself. After 1937, it was no longer used and was guarded in a small glass reliquary at Rocca delle Caminate, summer residence of Mussolini. There were no more signs of the precious object after 25 July 1943, when Rocca delle Caminate was ravaged and plundered by the Italian resistance.[12]

Reactions

In spite of the approval from the media of the regime, the ceremony provoked hilarity among the Italian people because of its absurd and paradoxical connotations.[13][14] One of the photographs of the event, depicting Mussolini on the saddle of a horse held by the halter by a groom, in his official version was retouched and published deleting the groom, in order to make it appear that Mussolini was able to ride his own mount without anyone's help.[15] The detail is often cited as one of the more typical examples of the art of falsification established in the totalitarian regime.[16]

The 'protector of Islam' message was not positively received in the Arab world. As one Cairo newspaper put it: "Protector of Islam indeed ... we have heard that before. Napoleon said it here, and so did the Kaiser at Damascus. It’s a bad precedent."[17] The rector of Al-Azhar University asserted that only a Muslim could call himself a protector of Islam.[18] After the Italian invasion of Muslim Albania caused another wave of anti-Italian denouncements in the Arab world, Mussolini himself complained to Goring; "Since Italy’s Albanian venture the Arabs were certainly rather doubtful as to his role of Protector, which he had assumed symbolically with the Sword of Islam."[19] Hitler also complained about Mussolini in his last will and testament, writing on 17 February 1945:

Then again the ridiculous pretensions of the Duce to be regarded as The Sword of Islam evokes the same sneering chuckle now as it did before the war. This title, which is fitting for Mahomed and a great conqueror like Omar, Mussolini caused to be conferred on himself by a few wretched brutes whom he had either bribed or terrorized into doing so. We had a great chance of pursuing a splendid policy with regard to Islam. But we missed the bus, as we missed it on several other occasions, thanks to our loyalty to the Italian alliance![20][21]

Political cartoon in Al-Musawar showing politicians fighting while a hungry Mussolini looks on the background | Al-Musawwar magazine
Political cartoon in Akher Saa mocking Mussolini for calling himself the 'protector of Islam'; Masri Effendi (national personification of Egypt) is sarcastically asking Mussolini for his opinion of gender mixing in universities
Political cartoon in Akher Saa showing Masri Effendi (national personification of Egypt) wary of Benito Mussolini

Notes

  1. ^ Also spelled Yusuf Kerbish[7]

References

  1. ^ Baldinetti, Anna (2011). "Fascist Propaganda in the Maghrib". Geschichte und Gesellschaft. 37 (3): 408–436. ISSN 0340-613X.
  2. ^ a b "I rapporti tra il fascismo e il mondo arabo-islamico". Retrieved November 16, 2015.
  3. ^ Randazzo 2008, p. 134
  4. ^ Ham 2007, p. 24
  5. ^ Lanna & Rossi 2003, p. 242
  6. ^ Wright 2016, p. 122.
  7. ^ a b Arielli 2010, p. 97.
  8. ^ "Duce Promises to Aid Arabs in Bid for Loyalty". Chicago Daily Tribune. March 19, 1937. p. 17.
  9. ^ "Mussolini Praises Moslems; 'New Epoch Beginning in Libya'— Welcomed Near Tripoli by 2000 Arab Horsemen, Whose Chieftain Presents Sword to Him". The Manchester Guardian. March 18, 1937. p. 17.
  10. ^ "Duce Promises to Aid Arabs in Bid for Loyalty". Chicago Daily Tribune. March 19, 1937. p. 17.
  11. ^ "La Spada dell'Islam" (PDF). Retrieved November 16, 2015.
  12. ^ Romersa 1994, pp. 2–8
  13. ^ Cifarelli 2004, p. 183
  14. ^ Antonini 1999, p. 112
  15. ^ "Propaganda politica e falsificazioni fotografiche tra le due guerre mondiali" (PDF). Retrieved November 16, 2015.
  16. ^ "La rimozione leghista. Bossi, chi era costui?". Retrieved November 16, 2015.
  17. ^ Arielli 2010, p. 106.
  18. ^ Wright 2016, p. 127.
  19. ^ Arielli 2010, p. 153.
  20. ^ Adolf Hitler (1961). Political Testament of Adolf Hitler. London, Cassell.
  21. ^ Arielli 2010, p. 185.

Bibliography

Italian Sources

  • Antonini, Sandro (1999). De Ferrari (ed.). Catene al pensiero e anelli ai polsi. Genoa, Italy. ISBN 97-88-871722-17-7.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  • Cifarelli, Michele (2004). Rubbettino (ed.). Libertà vo' cercando... Diari 1934-1938. Soveria Mannelli, Italy. ISBN 978-88-49806-98-4.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  • Ham, Anthony (2007). EDT (ed.). Libia. Turin, Italy. ISBN 978-88-60401-52-6.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  • Lanna, Luciano; Rossi, Filippo (2003). Vallecchi (ed.). Fascisti immaginari. Florence, Italy. ISBN 978-88-84270-57-3.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  • Randazzo, Antonella (2008). Arterigere (ed.). L'Africa del Duce. I crimini fascisti in Africa. Varese, Italy. ISBN 978-88-89666-27-2.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  • Romersa, Luigi (September–October 1994). "Benito e Rachele Mussolini nella tragedia". Storia Verità. No. 17.

English sources

  • Wright, John L. (2016). "Mussolini, Libya, and the Sword of Islam". In Ben-Ghiat, Ruth; Fuller, Mia (eds.). Italian Colonialism. Springer. ISBN 9781403981585.
  • Arielli, Nir (2010). "The Protector of Islam, June 1936-—March 1938". Fascist Italy and the Middle East, 1933–40. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 9780230281684.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.