Izzat Darwaza had long been a sympathizer of Arab nationalism and became an activist of that cause following the Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire in 1916, joining the nationalist al-Fatat society.
47 Facts About Izzat Darwaza
2.
Later, Izzat Darwaza co-founded the nationalist Istiqlal party in Palestine and was a principal organizer of anti-British demonstrations.
3.
Izzat Darwaza was incarcerated in Damascus by French authorities for his involvement in the revolt, and while in prison he began to study the Qur'an and its interpretations.
4.
In 1945, after he was released, Izzat Darwaza eventually compiled his own interpretation entitled al-Tafsir al-Hadith.
5.
Izzat Darwaza left for Syria afterward and briefly aided in the unity talks between Syria and Egypt in the mid-1950s.
6.
Izzat Darwaza was born to a middle-class Sunni Muslim mercantile family in Nablus.
7.
The Izzat Darwaza family had long been involved in textiles and had extensive trade relationships with merchants in Beirut and Damascus.
8.
Izzat Darwaza received elementary and preparatory education in Ottoman government-run schools in the city.
9.
Izzat Darwaza left school without going to Istanbul or Beirut to finish his education as was the custom of his generation.
10.
Originally, Izzat Darwaza supported the Ottoman Empire based on his feelings of identification with Islam and of belonging to the larger Ottoman Muslim ummah.
11.
Izzat Darwaza was an Arabist and was enthusiastic about the Young Turk Revolution in 1908, expecting that the new Ottoman government would institute reforms and grant the Arabs autonomy within the framework of the empire.
12.
Izzat Darwaza played an active role in establishing a branch for the Party of Harmony and Freedom in Nablus in 1911.
13.
The society did not succeed due to the outbreak of World War I Within the DTPS, Darwaza was appointed commissioner and deputy for the Nablus Post Office.
14.
Ideologically, Izzat Darwaza became an Arab nationalist endorsing the concept of a Greater Syrian Arab state.
15.
Izzat Darwaza convinced Nashashibi to gather some of the Older Politicians of Jerusalem to a meeting at his house.
16.
Izzat Darwaza continued his political activity, representing Nablus in the Fourth Palestinian Congress in May 1921 and the Seventh Palestinian Congress in June 1928.
17.
In 1927, Rashid al-Haj Ibrahim, the leader of the Young Men's Muslim Association of Haifa, a prominent merchant, and future associate of Izzat Darwaza, invited him to his home to speak to a large group of students and notables about nationalist and patriotic education.
18.
Izzat Darwaza became a member of the Arab Executive Committee and in 1930 was appointed by rival nationalist Haj Amin al-Husseini as the General Administrator of the Waqf under the Supreme Muslim Council.
19.
Unlike other Arab politicians at the time, Izzat Darwaza supported a combination of pan-Arabism, Islamism, and dedication to the Palestinian nationalist ideal.
20.
Izzat Darwaza began to edit in the al-Ja'miyya al-Arabiyya newspaper in the early 1930s and in December 1931-January 1932, he wrote articles encouraging Arabs to protest against British policies in the Middle East, to unite in the face of growing dangers, and to renew their drive towards freedom and independence.
21.
Izzat Darwaza refused to allow the Istiqlal to participate in meetings between local Palestinian political parties and the British high-commissioner.
22.
Izzat Darwaza wrote an article on 21 June 1933, vehemently attacking Palestinian "vested interests".
23.
Izzat Darwaza argued that the wealthy Arab notables of Palestine were subservient to the British and the Zionists and would willingly leave Palestine for other countries, while the poor and middle-class Arabs were forced by economic circumstances to remain in Palestine during their political struggles.
24.
Izzat Darwaza helped instigate and organize the 1933 demonstrations in Jaffa which protested British policies in Palestine and continued allowances of Jewish immigration.
25.
Later in that year, Izzat Darwaza held several meetings with Nuri al-Sa'id of Iraq to explore various solutions to help the Arabs avoid appearing intransigent.
26.
Izzat Darwaza was open and available to all of the people and the people loved him.
27.
The Mufti re-established the Arab Higher Committee in late 1946 and Izzat Darwaza joined the ten-member council upon a request from the Mufti.
28.
Later that year, Izzat Darwaza resigned from the AHC due to the Mufti's unbending attitude towards wider representation.
29.
Izzat Darwaza did suggest that the institution of a federation between Egypt and Syria would be the first step towards the realization of a comprehensive union.
30.
In 1983 Darwaza granted Palestinian historian Muhammad Y Muslih an eight-day interview and allowed him to photo-copy his memoirs in entirety.
31.
Muslih noted that Izzat Darwaza was failing in health at the time.
32.
Izzat Darwaza died in Damascus in 1984 at the age of 96.
33.
Izzat Darwaza had three daughters, Najah, Salma, and Rudaina and a son, Zuhair.
34.
In 1934, Izzat Darwaza published a widely read story, The Angel and the Land Broker, reflecting popular Arab sentiments against the growing "Zionist threat" and attacking brokers who tempted Palestinian land owners to sell their land to Jews.
35.
Later in his lifetime after leaving politics, Izzat Darwaza published memoirs that discussed in detail the city of Nablus in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
36.
Izzat Darwaza placed much emphasis on the close relationship between the text of the Quran and the environment in which it was revealed.
37.
Izzat Darwaza rejected the hadith which states the Qur'an was originally preserved on a tablet in the seventh heaven, sent down to lowest heaven and from there gradually to Muhammad.
38.
Izzat Darwaza stresses a close connection between the Quran and the biography of the Muhammad and states that the Quran fully reflects various stages between the Quran and the career of Muhammad.
39.
Izzat Darwaza emphasizes that both the angels and the jinn are spoken in the Quran not for their own sake, but to reinforce Muhammad's missions and goals.
40.
Izzat Darwaza contends that the presentation of the Quran and its suras was dictated by Muhammad and that the task of Abu Bakr was to collect the Quran between its two covers and transcribe it into one copy, while Uthman's task was to fix the transcription and unify it to prevent variant readings.
41.
Izzat Darwaza expresses doubts that Ali, as it is alleged, had made a chronologically arranged collection.
42.
Izzat Darwaza was very critical of other modern interpreters who used certain verses of the Quran to deduce and support scientific theories.
43.
Izzat Darwaza argues that those people have done harm to Islam by trivializing the sacred character of the Quran.
44.
Izzat Darwaza was convinced that interpretations of the Quran were the only possible basis for any renewal and development of Islamic religious, political and social thought, and that the Quran was the only resource for Muslim reinterpretation of traditional norms in Islam and Islamic thinking.
45.
Izzat Darwaza contends that Arab nationalism is not a new concept borrowed from the West and asserts the constituents of Arab nationalism are stronger than those which make up the modern forms of nationalism in the world.
46.
Izzat Darwaza's ideas helped the spread the word of secular pan-Arabism against religious nationalists and those who believed in separate Syrian, Lebanese, and Palestinian destinies.
47.
Izzat Darwaza believed that Egypt's capabilities and human resources compelled it to fill the role of an Arab "Prussia".