Jezzar Pasha

	Email		Print
	Bookmark		Link

Jezzar Pasha

Ahmed al-Jazzar (Arabic ???? ??????, born 1720 (or in 1708) in Stolac

Stolac

Stolac is a town and municipality in Bosnia and Herzegovina, located in the southern part of Herzegovina. Administratively, it is part of the Herzegovina-Neretva Canton in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina....
in Bosnia

Bosnia Province, Ottoman Empire

The Province of Bosnia or Pashaluk of Bosnia was a key Ottoman Empire province, the westernmost one, mostly based on the territory of the present-day state of Bosnia and Herzegovina as well as most of Slavonia, Lika and Dalmatia in present-day Croatia....
, died 1804 in Acre, Damascus Wiliyah

District of Acre

The District of Acre or Sanjak Akka was one of the districts of the Damascus Wilayah Wilayah established by the Ottoman Empire in Ottoman Palestine....
) was the ruler

Wali

Wali , is an Arabic word meaning "trusted one"; it generally denotes "friend of God" in the phrase ??? ???? waliyu 'llah It should not be confused with the word Wali which is an administrative title that was used in the Muslim Caliphate, and still today in some Muslim countries....
of Acre

Acre

The acre is a Units of measurement of area in a number of different systems, including the Imperial unit#Measures of area and United States customary units#Units of area systems....
and the Galilee

Galilee

Galilee , is a large region in northern Israel which overlaps with much of the administrative North District of the country. Traditionally divided into Upper Galilee , Lower Galilee , and Western Galilee , extending from Dan to the north, at the base of Mount Hermon, along Mount Lebanon to the ridges of Mount Carmel and Mount Gilboa t...
from 1775 till his death.

Jezzar Pasha, a Mamluk

Mamluk

A mamluk was a slavery soldier who converted to Islam and served the Muslim caliphs and the Ayyubid sultans from the 9th to the 13th centuries....
of Ali Bey, obtained the pashalik of Sidon

Sidon

Sidon,or Sa?da, is the third-largest city in Lebanon. It is located in the South Governorate, Lebanon of Lebanon, on the Mediterranean Sea coast, about 40 km north of Tyre, Lebanon and 40 km south of the capital Beirut....
and set up his capital in Acre. He earned the nickname "the Butcher" for his cruelty and extortion of his subjects. He is reputed to have walked around with a mobile gallows in case anyone displeased him.

One account connects the nickname with a specific incident in 1750.

Discussion

Ask a question about 'Jezzar Pasha'

Start a new discussion about 'Jezzar Pasha'

Answer questions from other users

Full Discussion Forum

Encyclopedia

Ahmed al-Jazzar (Arabic ???? ??????, born 1720 (or in 1708) in Stolac

Stolac

Bosnia Province, Ottoman Empire

District of Acre

The District of Acre or Sanjak Akka was one of the districts of the Damascus Wilayah Wilayah established by the Ottoman Empire in Ottoman Palestine....
) was the ruler

Wali

Acre

Galilee

Mamluk

A mamluk was a slavery soldier who converted to Islam and served the Muslim caliphs and the Ayyubid sultans from the 9th to the 13th centuries....
of Ali Bey, obtained the pashalik of Sidon

Sidon

History of Ottoman Egypt

Egypt was conquered by the Ottoman Empire in 1517. Egypt was always a difficult province for the Ottoman Sultans to control. It remained dominated by the semi-autonomous Mameluks until it was conquered by the France in 1798....
, and was part of a force given the task of trying to control the riot of Arabic nomads in Jeddah

Jeddah

Jeddah is a Saudi Arabian city located on the coast of the Red Sea and is the major urban center of western Saudi Arabia. It is the largest city in Makkah Province, and the second largest city in Saudi Arabia after the capital city, Riyadh....
(in the present Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, KSA , is an Arab country and the largest country of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by Jordan on the northwest, Iraq on the north and northeast, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates on the east, Oman on the southeast, and Yemen on the south....
), adminstratively subject to Ottoman Egypt. In the course of the confrontation, nomads killed Abdullah Beg. In retaliation for the killing of his superior, Jazzar reportedly killed some 70 nomads. After that he got called "Jezzar", which means "butcher".

He is best known for defending Acre against Napoleon Bonaparte

Napoleon I of France

Napoleon Bonaparte later known as Emperor Napoleon I, was a military and political leader of France whose actions shaped European politics in the early 19th century....
during the siege of Acre in 1799

Siege of Acre (1799)

The Siege of Acre of 1799 was an unsuccessful French siege of the Ottoman Empire-defended, walled city of Acre, Israel and was the turning point of Napoleon I of France French invasion of Egypt ....
. After Napoleon's capture of Egypt, then an Ottoman

Ottoman

A term used to refer to the citizens of the Ottoman Empire after 1839, when the Tanzimat edict starting a period of reforms was declared . The term was started to be used more commonly especially after the empire officially became a constitutional monarchy in 1876....
territory, the French army attempted to invade Syria

Syria

Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is an Arab-majority country in Southwest Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Israel to the southwest, Jordan to the south, Iraq to the east, and Turkey to the north....
and Palestine

Palestine

Palestine is a name which has been widely used since Roman times to refer to the region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River. It is derived from a name used already much earlier for a narrower geographical region, mainly along the coastal region....
. Although the French captured El Arish and Jaffa, and won every battle they fought against the Ottomans on an open field, they were unable to breach the fortifications of Acre. Their army was weakened by disease and cut off from resupply. Though both Napoleon and Jezzar requested assistance from the Shihab leader, Bashir

Bashir Shihab II

Bashir Shihab II was a Lebanon emir who ruled Lebanon in the first half of the 19th century and was as such the second ruler who managed to do this ....
, ruler of much of present-day Lebanon

Lebanon

Lebanon , officially the Republic of Lebanon or Lebanese Republic , is a country in Western Asia, on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea....
, Bashir remained neutral. After several months of attacks, Napoleon was forced to withdraw and his bid to conquer Egypt and the East failed.

With the help of his chief financial adviser, Haim Farhi

Haim Farhi

Haim Farhi , was an adviser to the governors of the Galilee in the days of the Ottoman Empire. Among the Jews he was known as Hakham Haim, because of his Talmudic learning....
, a Damascus

Damascus

Damascus is the capital and largest city of Syria. It is List of oldest continuously inhabited cities and its current population is estimated at about 4,000,000....
Jew, Jezzar Pasha embarked on a major building program in Acre that included fortifying the city walls, refurbishing the aqueduct that brought spring water from nearby Kabri

Kabri

Kabri is a kibbutz in northern Israel. Located in the Galilee about four kilometers east of the Mediterranean Sea seaside town of Nahariya, it falls under the jurisdiction of Mateh Asher Regional Council....
, and building a large Turkish bath. One of the most important landmarks built by Jezzar Pasha was the mosque that bears his name, a massive building in the Turkish style. Built over a Crusader church, the al-Jezzar Mosque incorporates columns brought from Roman

Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC....
and Byzantine

Byzantine

The word Byzantine may refer to:Topics directly related to the Byzantine Empire* A citizen of Byzantine Empire, or native Greeks during the Middle Ages ....
ruins in Caesarea and Tyre

Tyre

Tyre is a city in the South Governorate, Lebanon of Lebanon . There were approximately 117,000 inhabitants in 2003, however, the government of Lebanon has released only rough estimates of population numbers since 1932, so an accurate statistical accounting is not possible....
, and included a school for Islamic religious studies, later used as a religious court. Al-Jezzar and his adopted son and successor Suleiman Pasha, were buried in the courtyard.