The Life of Abdel-Karim Qassim - Part 1: Mother or Child?

Date; October 21st 1914.
Place; Al-Rasafa, Baghdad, Ottoman Empire.

In the neighborhood of Al-Mehdiyah, a mothers tormented screams were echoing through a narrow and crowded alley. A dozen of housewives were standing there, holding their abaya's together with their sweaty palms, while their facial muscles twitched at every heart-wrenching scream that came from the bottom of Kefeyah's lungs. It was no ordinary childbirth, that woman was clearly fighting to hold death back from taking her soul.

As Kefeyah was struggling, every moan became more and more dim. All four of her children were kneeling beside their mother, teary-eyed with facial expressions full of sympathy for her agony, each one of them holding their hands together begging God to show her some mercy. Her sisters, Akab and Wasf watched helplessly on, while shouting for the midwife to come and rescue their sister.

At sundown, the midwife entered the house. The old lady recognized the resigned look on the mothers face and the moans of a tired and defeated woman. In Ottoman Iraq, the midwife has seen it all. The lack of health care or general care by the Turkish pasha's towards the locals, especially the Iraqis, was extreme and at times deliberate. 

Throughout her long life, she had seen many young women die. Without hesitation, she had turned towards the father, Jassim and with an experienced voice and cold look on her face, she asked him: "Mother or child?" as he stood next to his four children and his father-in-law, Hassan. He was visibly shattered by the ultimatum and in a soft voice, he had stuttered his choice: "The mother". 

Losing an unborn child would hurt him, but it was out of question to take a mother away from her young children. As soon as he had turned his back on the midwife, a thunderous scream came from the mother, followed by an infant's cry. Straight away, the women tended to Kefeyah as she was losing a lot of blood. The mother had at the last moment gathered her very last strength and given her unborn child a chance at life and in return, the child's survival motivated Kefeyah to survive the ordeal.

After the successful childbirth, the surprised midwife with disbelief beaming out of her eyes, turned towards Jassim once again and as soon as she had managed to calm down, the question was: "What will you name the blessed child?" 

The proud father answered: "Abdel-Karim", meaning "servant of the generous", Karim (the generous) being one of Gods 99 names according to Islamic tradition.

The happy midwife concurred: "Karoum it is..."

Ally in Baghdad,
anno 1914.

Sources

1. First-hand account by Zakiyah Mahmoud, the neighbour of Abdel-Karim Qassim's grandparents (mothers side), the story of the childbirth was written by the author Ahmad Fawzi in the book "Abdel-Karim Qassim and His Last Hours".
2. Iraq - a country study Federal Research Division, Library of Congress.
3. Image #1 from the website: "Dorar Al-Iraq".