A coin in my collection has a unique symbol of a starry Sun with a pair of swords on the inner circle with a sheaf of wheat at the centre (Left Image). Another interesting feature is a finely etched date read as ‘14 Tammuz 1958’ in the lower line making it very intriguing. The obverse inscription ‘al-Jamhooriyat al-Iraq’ (in the upper line) meaning ‘Republic of Iraq’ makes it amply clear that it is an Iraqi coin; other features on the obverse include the denomination ‘10 Falus’ and two dates ‘1959 and ‘1379’ in Arabic numerals.
However, I soon reasoned that the former is the date of the coin in Christian era i.e. 1959 A.D. and the latter its Hijri era equivalent i.e. 1379 A.H.
However, a search for Iraq’s connection with 1958 produced more interesting results; Iraq had a Revolution on 14 July 1958 which deposed its ruling monarchy of Hasshemite dynasty through an armed coup executed by a group of army officers with numerous grievances against the decadent regime.
In modern consciousness, Iraq and its History has come to be conveniently divided into two neat blocks; Iraq under Saddam Hussein and the post-Saddam Hussein American occupation era; clearly overlooking the fact that the country has an ancient past stretching right from the Sumerian civilisation c. 4000 B.C. (which invented the world’s first writing system) till the medieval Islamic period of Abbasid Caliphate who established Baghdad as their capital city in A.D. 761. However, this golden period of Islamic culture came to an end when the Mongol warlord, Hulagu (Halaku) Khan massacred the last Abbasid Caliph, al-Musta’sim in A.D. 1257 and ended the Abbasid Caliphate in Iraq.
Iraq was then subjected to a host of foreign invasions from the Mongols to Ottomans in fourteenth century who ruled it directly or by proxy till Iraq’s first invasion by a Western power, the British after the Ottomans lost to British in World War I; leading to Iraq’s inferior status as a British protectorate for over a decade and half.
However, a search for Iraq’s connection with 1958 produced more interesting results; Iraq had a Revolution on 14 July 1958 which deposed its ruling monarchy of Hasshemite dynasty through an armed coup executed by a group of army officers with numerous grievances against the decadent regime.
In modern consciousness, Iraq and its History has come to be conveniently divided into two neat blocks; Iraq under Saddam Hussein and the post-Saddam Hussein American occupation era; clearly overlooking the fact that the country has an ancient past stretching right from the Sumerian civilisation c. 4000 B.C. (which invented the world’s first writing system) till the medieval Islamic period of Abbasid Caliphate who established Baghdad as their capital city in A.D. 761. However, this golden period of Islamic culture came to an end when the Mongol warlord, Hulagu (Halaku) Khan massacred the last Abbasid Caliph, al-Musta’sim in A.D. 1257 and ended the Abbasid Caliphate in Iraq.
Iraq was then subjected to a host of foreign invasions from the Mongols to Ottomans in fourteenth century who ruled it directly or by proxy till Iraq’s first invasion by a Western power, the British after the Ottomans lost to British in World War I; leading to Iraq’s inferior status as a British protectorate for over a decade and half.
The British left Iraq in 1932 under the care of a monarchy headed by King Faisal I who founded the Hasshemite dynasty which ruled Iraq till July 14 1958 when a group of army officers overthrew King Faisal II under the leadership of Brigadier General Abd’al Karim Qassim.
The coup was later celebrated by Qassim’s regime as ‘July 14 Revolution’. Qassim took over as the Prime Minister of Iraq and initiated a host of reforms in various fields like agriculture, women's rights and education; he ruled till his downfall and death after a coup by the Ba’ath Party in 1963.
The ‘Sun with two sabre and sheaf of wheat’ emblem was adopted by Qassim’s regime as Iraq’s State emblem carefully avoided any Pan-Arabic or religious symbol and represents the regime’s reformist agenda as reflected by the sheaf of wheat.
The ‘Sun with two sabre and sheaf of wheat’ emblem was adopted by Qassim’s regime as Iraq’s State emblem carefully avoided any Pan-Arabic or religious symbol and represents the regime’s reformist agenda as reflected by the sheaf of wheat.
This coin thus in all probability symbolises a free and progressive Iraq which died a premature death at the hands of the Ba’ath Party supremacists who soon began to suppress all discontent like any dictatorial regime. It is anybody's guess if Iraq would have been a better place had the Qassim regime been allowed to pursue its progressive agenda peacefully!
Image of state emblem courtesy: wikipedia
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