Place; Qanbar Ali, Baghdad, Kingdom of Iraq.
Nine teenagers
are sitting in a circle around some sand and stones, the seriousness in the
boys' faces make them look like a group of military officers planning a coup d’état.
The core of the group; an Arab (Hamza), a Jew (Dawoud) and Abdel-Karim Qassim, are kneeling in
front of the sand and with sticks: They are strategizing their next
mission.
The alpha male of the group is Hamza, simply because he is the biggest, tallest and strongest of them all. He trains them in combat and physical training, the rest of the group follows his orders. At times, the skinny Abdel-Karim and the stocky Dawoud need to physically gang up on Hamza to get their way. It was a necessity to avoid compromising their missions, because of Hamza’s stubborn nature and abuse of strength to get his way.
Even though Abdel-Karim was known to be shy and the one who spoke the least in the group, he was very good at pushing his friends towards the direction he wanted them to go, especially when he spoke individually with each member of the Qanbar Ali gang.
He was also the bravest and most daring, known as the motivator in the direst times. The one who stood in front of his "soldiers" and motivated them to continue; even in the face of inevitable defeat. The title of leader was of no importance for him, he'll let someone else get occupied with that status, while he makes sure he is the one who makes things happen in the background.
Dawoud was the gang’s intelligence officer, the local who knew everything about Qanbar Ali. The area is one of the richest in Baghdad, with a mixed population consisting of Arabs, Kurds and Assyrians, while the Jews made up the the majority. The richest were the shop owners who had the best chicken and eggs in all of Iraq, which was the ultimate goal for today's mission or more like, almost every mission. For the Qanbar Ali gang it didn't matter what came first; the chicken or the egg? Ultimately, they are both kosher and delicious.
Dawoud knew every single shop owner and their routines, he also taught the group the Jewish dialect into an extent where Abdel-Karim became the first and only head of state in Iraq, that could communicate fluently in that dialect. Dawoud also gave them disguises to fit in with the locals and made them memorize known Iraqi tunes composed by Jewish orchestras, melodies played by all of the local restaurants, cafes and shops.
All of these expertises are used in their cunning plan, so they could mix in while walking the street and whistle the tunes like proper local boys. The plan is to split into three units; 'The Deceitful' led by Dawoud, 'The Brave' led by Abdel-Karim and 'The Thieves' led by Hamza. After going into detail with the plan, training and motivating each other, the Qanbar Ali gang was ready to get some food on the table tonight.
As 'The Deceitful' group walk the street, they know exactly who to steal from today. They are all dressed in local clothes, whistling the latest tunes as they playfully spin their sebha's around their index and middle-finger. As they reach the poor shop owner, they distract him with their talking: "What is this?", "How much does this cost?" and "Can i get it for half the price?"
As they talk, 'The Brave' group arrives with Abdel-Karim. They try to act as suspicious as possible: Standing next to the boxes of eggs, looking side to side, outside and inside the shop. They also look at the owner long enough to get eye contact with him and then look away, as soon as they get his attention.
When his suspicion for Abdel-Karim's group grows, the others start contributing by keeping the man busy with questions. The shop owner pretends listening to Dawoud's group, while keeping an eye on the others. Then, Abdel-Karim's boys deliberately steal an egg each and makes a run for it, every one of them goes into different directions.
As they run away, the shop owner runs after them and Dawoud's boys "join" him in trying to catch "the thieves". When the shop owner is far enough from the shop, 'The "Real" Thieves' with Hamza come in and takes all the chicken and eggs they can carry. An hour later, they meet behind the mosque and eat a feast fit for kings.
Abdel-Karim knew all of this was wrong, as he was well raised by his father. A man who taught him religious moral codes, that prohibited such things. Also because he had a near death experience in Suwayra, that should have taught him a valuable lesson. But he can't help listening to the demons inside him, whom keep on daring him to do these kind of dangerous things.
He didn't do it to fill up his stomach, nor to steal from anyone, he was just simply hooked: He has become an addict to the planning, the adrenaline rush and the danger behind these "missions". It has imprinted itself into the core of his bones.
He made up his mind; i want to be a soldier, travelling the world and experiencing an adventure after another.
That summer, a general was born.
The alpha male of the group is Hamza, simply because he is the biggest, tallest and strongest of them all. He trains them in combat and physical training, the rest of the group follows his orders. At times, the skinny Abdel-Karim and the stocky Dawoud need to physically gang up on Hamza to get their way. It was a necessity to avoid compromising their missions, because of Hamza’s stubborn nature and abuse of strength to get his way.
Even though Abdel-Karim was known to be shy and the one who spoke the least in the group, he was very good at pushing his friends towards the direction he wanted them to go, especially when he spoke individually with each member of the Qanbar Ali gang.
He was also the bravest and most daring, known as the motivator in the direst times. The one who stood in front of his "soldiers" and motivated them to continue; even in the face of inevitable defeat. The title of leader was of no importance for him, he'll let someone else get occupied with that status, while he makes sure he is the one who makes things happen in the background.
Dawoud was the gang’s intelligence officer, the local who knew everything about Qanbar Ali. The area is one of the richest in Baghdad, with a mixed population consisting of Arabs, Kurds and Assyrians, while the Jews made up the the majority. The richest were the shop owners who had the best chicken and eggs in all of Iraq, which was the ultimate goal for today's mission or more like, almost every mission. For the Qanbar Ali gang it didn't matter what came first; the chicken or the egg? Ultimately, they are both kosher and delicious.
Dawoud knew every single shop owner and their routines, he also taught the group the Jewish dialect into an extent where Abdel-Karim became the first and only head of state in Iraq, that could communicate fluently in that dialect. Dawoud also gave them disguises to fit in with the locals and made them memorize known Iraqi tunes composed by Jewish orchestras, melodies played by all of the local restaurants, cafes and shops.
All of these expertises are used in their cunning plan, so they could mix in while walking the street and whistle the tunes like proper local boys. The plan is to split into three units; 'The Deceitful' led by Dawoud, 'The Brave' led by Abdel-Karim and 'The Thieves' led by Hamza. After going into detail with the plan, training and motivating each other, the Qanbar Ali gang was ready to get some food on the table tonight.
As 'The Deceitful' group walk the street, they know exactly who to steal from today. They are all dressed in local clothes, whistling the latest tunes as they playfully spin their sebha's around their index and middle-finger. As they reach the poor shop owner, they distract him with their talking: "What is this?", "How much does this cost?" and "Can i get it for half the price?"
As they talk, 'The Brave' group arrives with Abdel-Karim. They try to act as suspicious as possible: Standing next to the boxes of eggs, looking side to side, outside and inside the shop. They also look at the owner long enough to get eye contact with him and then look away, as soon as they get his attention.
When his suspicion for Abdel-Karim's group grows, the others start contributing by keeping the man busy with questions. The shop owner pretends listening to Dawoud's group, while keeping an eye on the others. Then, Abdel-Karim's boys deliberately steal an egg each and makes a run for it, every one of them goes into different directions.
As they run away, the shop owner runs after them and Dawoud's boys "join" him in trying to catch "the thieves". When the shop owner is far enough from the shop, 'The "Real" Thieves' with Hamza come in and takes all the chicken and eggs they can carry. An hour later, they meet behind the mosque and eat a feast fit for kings.
Abdel-Karim knew all of this was wrong, as he was well raised by his father. A man who taught him religious moral codes, that prohibited such things. Also because he had a near death experience in Suwayra, that should have taught him a valuable lesson. But he can't help listening to the demons inside him, whom keep on daring him to do these kind of dangerous things.
He didn't do it to fill up his stomach, nor to steal from anyone, he was just simply hooked: He has become an addict to the planning, the adrenaline rush and the danger behind these "missions". It has imprinted itself into the core of his bones.
He made up his mind; i want to be a soldier, travelling the world and experiencing an adventure after another.
That summer, a general was born.
An old painting of Qanbar Ali.
Sources
- Stories from the locals in Qanbar Ali, note: The names Hamza and Dawoud are fictional, to protect the real identities of Abdel-Karim Qassim's childhood friends, in the stories written by the author Ahmad Fawzi in the book "Abdel-Karim Qassim and His Last Hours".
- Image #1 from the website: "Al-Noor".
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