Fakhri Pasha A Forgotten Hero Of The Ottoman Empire

 Fakhri pasha (also known as Fahreddin Pasha, fakhruddin and Omer Fahrettin Turkkan) the lion of the desert, the defender of Madina is a personality that not many are familiar with. He was an Ottoman general who was given the command of the Hejaz expeditionary force in WWI. At this time the Ottomans who were in control of Arabia and particularly Hijaz (present-day Saudi Arabia) were faced with an uprising, a revolt by the Arabs with the help of the British most notably TE Lawrence or the Lawrence of Arabia.

Fakhri Pasha was ordered to go and defend Madina the city in which the prophet of Islam (peace be upon him) is buried. Due to the Arabs betraying the Ottoman caliphate and siding with the British
Fakhri Pasha was given the task of defending the city as well as protecting the Hejaz railway line which was the most notable supply route to Madina and its entire means of logistics.
Nearly 450 attacks by the Arab forces would be seen within a period of one year but the brave men of Fakri pasha were able to protect the railway nonetheless.

On October 30th, 1918 the armistice of Mudros would be agreed between the Ottomans and the allies in which the Ottomans would grant independence to the Arabs and withdraw its forces. It was this treaty that would result in the crumbling of the Ottoman empire as well as the Ottoman caliphate.
Ottoman generals and commanders of military garrison's all over Arabia were ordered to surrender and return. It was expected that Fakhri pasha would also surrender but he refused as well as refusing to accept the armistice of Mudros for he was able to understand what the consequences would be.

Fakhri Pasha the adherent Sufi Muslim, the patriot that he was left for Masjid e Nabwi or the mosque of the prophet and stood upon the pulpit before Friday prayers and addressed his troops:

"Soldiers! I appeal to you in the name of the Prophet, my witness. I command you to defend him and his city to the last cartridge and the last breath, irrespective of the strength of the enemy.
May Allah help us, and may the prayers of Muhammad be with us.

"Officers of the heroic Turkish army! O little Muhammadans, come forward and promise me, before our Lord and the Prophet, to honour your faith with the supreme sacrifice of your lives."'

Most of his men agreed but some were not so willing as they would see them self's soldiers of the Turkish empire and wanted to follow the orders of Sultan Mehmed VI who had ordered him to surrender. When asked as to why he would not surrender he said that he had a vision in a dream that the prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) had ordered him not to submit.

He received a request to surrender from Sharif Hussein of Mecca who's son Ali ibn Hussein of Hejaz would later become king of Arabia.

Fahreddin Pasha replied to him in these words:

"Fakhr-ud-Din, General, Defender of the Most Sacred City of Medina. Servant of the Prophet.

"In the name of Allah, the Omnipotent. To him who broke the power of Islam, caused bloodshed among Muslims, jeopardised the caliphate of the Commander of the Faithful (Sultan Mehmet VI),
 and exposed it to the domination of the British.

"On Thursday night the fourteenth of Dhu'l-Hijja (Islamic month), I was walking, tired and worn out, thinking of the protection and defence of Medina,(i fell asleep) when I found myself among unknown men working in a small square.
Then I saw standing before me a man with a sublime countenance. He was the Prophet, may Allah's blessing be upon him! His left arm rested on his hip under his robe, and he said to me in a protective
 manner, 'Follow me.' I followed him two or three paces and woke up.
 I immediately proceeded to his sacred mosque and prostrated myself in prayer and thanks (near his tomb).
"I am now under the protection of the Prophet, my Supreme Commander. I am busying myself with strengthening the defences, building roads and squares in Medina. Trouble me not with useless offers."

At this time Fakhri pasha was ready to die and fight until his last breath.

The Ottoman caliph Sultan Mehmet VI was angry at Pasha's behaviour and dismissed him from his post (commander of the Hejaz force) he still refused to back down and successfully defended Madina until 72 days after the war had ended.
Fakhri Pasha was betrayed and arrested by his own men and was taken to Abdullah of Jordan also the son of Sharif Hussein of Mecca.
Abdullah of Jordan and Ali of Hejaz his brother and future king of Arabia entered the city on the second of February 1919.

Ali of Hejaz became king of Arabia but soon found himself fighting Ibn Saud and eventually being overthrown, this resulted in him fleeing to Iraq where he would eventually die.
His brother Abdullah of Jordan, King of Jordan would be assassinated a few years later in Palestine. The Sultan Mehmed VI the caliph of the Ottomans would be expelled and he would flee to exile in Malta after the caliphate was abolished and he died a few years later.

Before Fakhri Pasha was arrested he requested the men that were still loyal to him to take as many relics connected to the prophet of Islam (peace be upon him) and its history back to turkey as he feared they would be disrespected by the British and Arab forces, surprisingly a few years later as
 Ibn Saud would overthrow Ali of Hejaz and established the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 1932 he would impose 'Wahabism' as his ideology and order historical relics as a source of polytheism and therefore deem them un-Islamic.
If it wasn't for Fakhri Pasha thousands of relics that are stored in the Topkapi museum in Istanbul would have been destroyed.

Fakhri Pasha would remain a prisoner of war for the next two years, later becoming commander again after his freedom in the army of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk and would die peacefully in 1948 being buried according to his wishes in the Asiyan cemetery in Istanbul.

One can only imagine what the world would have been like if Fakhri Pasha was sultan instead of Mehmed VI. Or if the Ottoman sultanate consulted Fakhri Pasha regarding foreign policy.

Fakhri pasha's personality is so great yet so undermined and forgotten, he truly was the lion of the desert the defender of Madina.