Rashid Ali al-Gaylani

Rashid Ali al-Gaylani (1892 – 28 August 1965) was an Iraqi politician who served as Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Iraq on three occasions: from March to November 1933, from March 1940 to February 1941 and from April to May 1941. He is chiefly remembered as an ardent Arab nationalist who attempted to remove the British influence from Iraq by starting a coup against the government in 1941. During his brief tenures as Prime Minister in 1940 and 1941, he attempted to negotiate settlements with the Axis powers during World War II in order to counter British influence in Iraq. Early life Rashid Ali was the son of Sayyid Abdul Wahhab al-Gaylani and born into the prominent Baghdad-based Gaylani family. He also had origins in the Circassian governors of the Ottoman Vilayet. Members of the Gaylani family were known as sayed, as the family's ancestry can be traced back to the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Rashid Ali enrolled in law school in Baghdad and was a lawyer until his political career. Political career In 1924, Rashid Ali al-Gaylani began his career in politics in the first government led by Prime Minister Yasin al-Hashimi. Yasin al-Hashimi appointed Gaylani as the Minister of Justice. The two men were ardent nationalists and were opposed to any British involvement in the internal politics of Iraq. They rejected the Anglo-Iraqi Treaty signed by the government of Prime Minister Nuri as-Said in 1930. They formed the Party of National Brotherhood to promote nationalist aims. Gaylani served as Prime Minister for the first time in 1933 but held office for less than eight months. In 1938 he was seized and exiled to 'Ana for his suspected role in the Baghdad bomb-throwing of November and the general political upheaval. He was elected as the president of the Chamber of Deputies in 1925 and 1926.