Governing property, making the modern state - PSI424

Part two | 6
The registration of Hawwara was, however, not as straightforward as the
validating statement might lead us to believe. A battle for land in the village had
been fought not only at the level of the vilayet but right up to the Porte. This is
truly exceptional for villages of the area. Only one of many documents concerning
the conflict over rights to land in Hawwara could be traced, although the passage
of other documents was logged in the register of correspondence between the
vilayet and the Porte. The document, undated but entered in the Şura-yı Devlet
files on 18 November 1875, was signed by the collective persona, ‘the people of
long standing of the village of Hawwara’. It reads: 37
To the presence of His Majesty the Great Giver of Blessings
To the presence of our Lord the majestic, awesome, just, mighty, sovereign,
protector of the world
To the blessed royal Presence adorned by conquest, may the order be given
forever, continuous, absolute, crushing the authors of injustice –
we His servants, people from on old of Hawwara village in the kaza of ‘Ajlun
in the sanjak of Hauran of the lofty vilayet of Suriye who have paid in full and
without delay all land taxes and other impositions and who pray unfailingly for
the Sovereign –
the mutasarrıf known as Sa‘id Efendi38 imposing on us Ibrahim Na’il of the
people of Jumha village together with seven or eight of his companions, appointing
him sheikh and dismissing our sheikh ‘Abdullah, 39 taking and dividing the
thirty çapanlık40 and feddans of our land which we had ploughed and cultivated,
and driving our children from their homes – we stayed out in the open for more
than ten months in the harshness of winter and summer. And although after
more than thirty appeals imploring grace and mercy, at the time of the Sovereign’s
servants Pashas Halid and Hamdi41 attention had begun to be turned to acquire
information from the locality and to establish right, the injustices of the two
persons Kurd Yusuf Bey42 and Jabra Ispir43 of the Administrative Council being
known to the baleful above mentioned sheikh Na’il, 44 they disturbed the thoughts
of the above mentioned two valis – the order having been given by dispatches and
telegraphs to consult and to decree a rectification of the matter – not listening,
not releasing from their hands the reins of oppression and injustice, and accordingly
not acting to confirm the Sultanic order and will. So while this is the time
of a noble victory of justice and devotion, they stay in the valley of rebellion and
wrongdoing, decidedly not following the path of justice and right and not been
held accountable by the valis; thus we have remained in the crisis of injustice even
after [the matter] had been brought to Your imperial attention.
Verily today in the ordered rule of our Sovereign, if an imperial command is
given to effect the lofty sovereign judgement to return to his servants our usurped
lands and houses from the above mentioned persons, in this way let His will and
decree – our sovereign lord protector of the world – be done.
His servants, people from on old of the village of Hawwara in the kaza of ‘Ajlun
of the sanjak of Hauran in the lofty vilayet of Suriye.
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