# Akram al-Hourani

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Syrian politician (1912–1996)

Akram al-Hourani أكرم الحوراني‎ Vice President of the United Arab Republic In office 7 March 1958 – 19 September 1960 President of the Chamber of Deputies In office 14 October 1957 – 20 July 1960 Preceded by Nazim al-Kudsi Succeeded by Anwar Sadat Member of the People's Council for Hama In office July 1947 – October 1953 In office November 1954 – 1963 Member of the National Command of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party In office 1952 – 1 September 1959 Minister of Defence In office 28 December 1949 – 4 June 1950 President Hashim al-Atassi Prime Minister Khalid al-Azm Preceded by Abdullah Atfeh Succeeded by Fawzi Selu Personal details Born 4 November 1911 Hama, Ottoman Syria Died 24 February 1996 (aged 84) Amman, Jordan Party Arab Socialist Party (1936–52) Syrian Regional Branch of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party(1952–62) Arab Socialist Party (1962–63) Spouse Naziha Al-Houmsi

**Akram Al-Hourani** ([Arabic](/source/Arabic_language): أكرم الحوراني, [romanized](/source/Romanization_of_Arabic): *ʾAkram al-Ḥurānī*, also [transcribed](/source/Transcription_(linguistics)) **El-Hourani**, **Howrani** or **Hurani**) (November 1911 – 24 February 1996), was a [Syrian](/source/Syrian_people) [politician](/source/Politician) who played a prominent role during the democratic era of Syria in the 1950s, he established and led the [Arab Socialist Party](/source/Arab_Socialist_Movement). He was a highly influential figure in the Syrian politics from the beginning of the 1940s until his departure into exile in 1963, during this period he was able to introduce significant reforms towards more just and fairer society especially in relation to the agricultural sector and land redistribution against the feudal system. Al-Hourani held various positions as a member of the Syrian parliament, the head of the parliament, minister of agriculture, minister of defence, and the vice-president of the [United Arab Republic](/source/United_Arab_Republic). Al-Hourani is the grandfather of [Akram Al-Hourani](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Akram_Al-Hourani_(scientist)&action=edit&redlink=1), a Syrian-Australian Professor and Engineer.

## Background

An Al-Hourani family tree from 1519 claiming the family is descended from Muhammad.

Al-Hourani's family had its origins in the [Arab](/source/Arab) al-Halqiyyin tribe and moved to [Hama](/source/Hama) in central [Syria](/source/Syria) from the town of [Jasim](/source/Jasim) in the southern [Hawran](/source/Hawran) region around 1510s (hence the surname *Al-Hourani*.)[1] The Al-Hourani family claimed to be descended from [Muhammad](/source/Muhammad) in a family tree displayed in the museum of [Hama](/source/Hama). Akram Al-Hourani himself was born in Hama and grew up in modest circumstances as the family's wealth had dissipated. He was educated in Hama and [Damascus](/source/Damascus). His father Muhammad Rasheed Al-Hourani was a merchant who gradually bought agricultural lands and was fluent in Arabic and Turkish languages owning a large book collection, he died one year after the start of [World War I](/source/World_War_I) (in 1915) due to an infection while distributing aid to the [Armenian genocide survivors](/source/Armenian_genocide_survivors) in Hama, Al-Hourani was only 4 years old when his father died.[2]

In 1936, he enrolled in the Damascus Law School, and became a member of the Parti Populaire Syrien (PPS) (later known as the [Syrian Social National Party](/source/Syrian_Social_National_Party)) which he regretted later.[3] In 1938 he left the party and returned to Hama to practice law. There he took over the *Hizb al-Shabab* (Youth Party) founded by his cousin Othman Al-Hourani which constituted the seed for the Arab Socialist Party.

The province of Hama in the earlier part of the twentieth century was characterised by [feudalism](/source/Feudalism), with landlords owning most of the land. The landlords exercised complete control over the peasantry, backed up by what amounted to [private armies](/source/Mercenary). Al-Hourani set about attacking this system and called for agrarian reforms, giving him considerable popular support in Hama and its province, and in 1943 he was elected as a deputy to the [Syrian Parliament](/source/Parliament_of_Syria). He retained his seat in the elections of 1947, 1949, 1954, and 1962.

While it was in defence of [social justice](/source/Social_justice) in his home region that Al-Hourani made his name, he also had a strong [Arab nationalist](/source/Arab_nationalism) outlook.[4]

A digital reconstruction of Al-Hourani family tree, the original document is created back in 1519 and displayed in the National Museum of Hama. The tree is partially updated in 2022.

## Closer to power

In 1950 Al-Hourani renamed his party the [Arab Socialist Party](/source/Arab_Socialist_Party); at that point, Batatu states, "it counted no fewer than 10,000 members and was able to attract as many as 40,000 people from the countryside when in the same year it convoked at [Aleppo](/source/Aleppo) the first peasant congress in Syrian history."[5]

Between 1949 and 1954 Syrian politics was punctuated by four military coups. Based on his strong influence in the army, Al-Hourani was wrongly considered to have played a part in these coups, there is no concrete evidence to support his involvement. He was initially particularly close to the leader of the third and fourth coups, [Adib al-Shishakli](/source/Adib_al-Shishakli), who effectively ruled Syria from 1951 until 1954. Al-Shishakli's decision to sign a decree distributing state lands to the peasantry in January 1952 appears to have been under al-Hawrani's influence.[6] However, as the dictator grew more autocratic his influence waned, and when al-Shishakli decided to ban the Arab Socialist Party in April 1952, he went into exile in [Lebanon](/source/Lebanon). There, in November that year, he agreed to merge the Arab Socialist Party with the [Arab Ba'ath Party](/source/Ba'ath_Party) led by [Michel Aflaq](/source/Michel_Aflaq) and [Salah al-Din al-Bitar](/source/Salah_al-Din_al-Bitar). The latter thus gained a substantial base of active supporters for the first time. The unified party adopted the name *Arab Ba'ath Socialist Party*. It was disbanded, along with all Syrian political parties by president Nasser in 1958. The relation between Al-Hourani and Aflaq ended acrimoniously in 1962. In fact, Al-Hourani firmly rejected the ascension to power using military coups, this is exemplified by his firm opposition to what is known as the "Qatna mutiny"[7] which was a series of events and military deployments in 1957 orchestrated by high ranking officers in the army (which were members / sympathizers with the Arab Socialist Party) to take control of the government.

## The Arab Ba'ath Socialist Party

Al-Hourani was a member of the [Ba'ath Party](/source/Ba'ath_Party) national command, meaning its [pan-Arab](/source/Arab_world) leadership, from its establishment in 1954 until 1959. Along with the other Ba'athists and members of most of Syria's political forces, he played a prominent role in the agitation and political mobilization that forced al-Shishakli to give up power in early 1954. He was [speaker](/source/Speaker_(politics)) of the Syrian parliament from 1957 to February 1958. In that position, Al-Hourani was able to influence the introduction of social and economical progressive reforms.[8][*[better source needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiability#Questionable_sources)*]

## The United Arab Republic

After the treaty of union between Syria and Egypt in 1958 Al-Hourani became vice-president of the [United Arab Republic](/source/United_Arab_Republic) (UAR) under [Gamal Abdel Nasser](/source/Gamal_Abdel_Nasser), a post he held until 1959. After Nasser launched a bitter verbal attack on the Ba'ath Party in December that year, followed by a campaign of repression against its members, he resigned his position and went into exile in [Lebanon](/source/Lebanon). He subsequently differed with Aflaq and al-Bitar over the party's position regarding the UAR, due to his support for secession from the UAR.

When a 1961 military coup in Syria led to the dissolution of the UAR, Al-Hourani publicly supported it and signed a statement in favor of the secession (as did Bitar, but he later withdrew his signature). The Ba'ath Party split into several competing factions, but as the national command decided in favour of reunification, Al-Hourani left it. He was officially expelled in June 1962, whereafter he and his loyalists re-established the Arab Socialist Party. However, popular support for unity hampered its growth and it was strong only in his original stronghold of Hama.[*[citation needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)*] In September 1962 he joined the "secessionist" (*infisali*) cabinet formed by [Khalid al-Azm](/source/Khalid_al-Azm), drawing strong criticism from the Ba'athist and Nasserist movements.

In the year 1963, and following the military coup that brought the Ba'ath to power, Al-Hourani was arrested and put in the Mezzah Prison, before being exiled from Syria. He spent the final years of his life in Amman Jordan, where he eventually died in 1996.

## Notes

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** Batatu, 1999, p. 370.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** Al-Hourani, 2000, Part-I, p. 47.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** Al-Hourani, 2000, Part-I, p. 197.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** This section is based on the account of Hawrani's origins and early political career given by Batatu, pp. 728-729.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** Batatu, p. 729.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** Seale, p. 47.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** Al-Hourani, 2000, Part-III p. 2283-2288.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-:0_8-0)** Al-Hourani, Akram (2000). *Akram Al-Hourani Memoirs*. Cairo: Madbouly Bookshop.

## Sources

Wikimedia Commons has media related to [Akram al-Hawrani](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Akram_al-Hawrani).

- Batatu, Hanna, *The Old Social Classes and New Revolutionary Movements in Iraq*, Saqi Books, London, 2000

- Seale, Patrick, *Asad: the struggle for the Middle East*, California University Press, Berkeley, 1990. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-520-06976-5](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-520-06976-5)

- Mufti, Malik, *Sovereign Creations: Pan-Arabism and Political Order in Syria and Iraq*, Cornell University Press: Ithaca, 1996. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-8014-3168-9](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-8014-3168-9)

- "Akram al-Hawrani", from the Syrian Encyclopedia[1]

- Al-Hournai, Akram, "Akram Al-Hourani Memoirs", Madbouly Bookshop, 2000

v t e Speakers of the Parliament of Syria since 1919 al-Atassi* Rida* Muayyad al-Atassi al-Khoury al-Jabiri al-Khoury Kikhya al-Dawalibi al-Kudsi al-Kuzbari al-Kudsi al-Hawrani Sadat† al-Kuzbari Ghazzi al-Atrash al-Khatib al-Yusufi al-Halabi Hadid Zuabi Kaddoura al-Otari al-Abrash al-Laham Abbas Sabbagh *president of the Syrian National Congress †within the UAR

v t e Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party Iraqi-dominated faction Syrian-dominated faction History Predecessors Arab Ba'ath Arab Ba'ath Movement Arab Socialist Movement Syrian Committee to Help Iraq Founders Michel Aflaq Salah al-Din al-Bitar Pre-split 1954 Syrian coup d'état 14 July Revolution 1959 Mosul uprising Attempted assassination of Abdul-Karim Qasim 1961 Syrian coup d'état Ramadan Revolution 1963 Syrian coup d'état Ba'athist Syria Politics National Council for the Revolutionary Command Ar-Rashid revolt November 1963 Iraqi coup d'état 1964 Hama riot 1966 Syrian coup d'état Post-split 17 July Revolution Ba'athist Iraq Revolutionary Command Council Members Arab Belt Corrective Revolution Corrective Movement Union of Arab Republics Ba'athist Arabization campaigns in northern Iraq 1979 Ba'ath Party Purge Assadist–Saddamist conflict 1984 Syrian coup attempt 8th Regional Congress of the Syrian Ba'ath Party Faith Campaign Iraqi conflict De-Ba'athification in Iraq Ba'ath Party archives Syrian civil war Fall of the Assad regime Leadership General Secretaries Pre-split Michel Aflaq Munif Razzaz Iraqi-dominated faction Michel Aflaq Saddam Hussein Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri Salah Al-Mukhtar* Syrian-dominated faction Nureddin al-Atassi Hafez al-Assad Abdullah al-Ahmar (de facto) Bashar al-Assad Regional Secretaries Iraq Fuad al-Rikabi Talib El-Shibib Ali Salih al-Sa'di Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr Saddam Hussein Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri Mohammed Younis al-Ahmed* Jordan Abdullah Rimawi Munif Razzaz Akram al-Homsi* Lebanon Assem Qanso Abd al-Majid al-Rafei Palestine Isam al-Qadi Rakad Salem* Syria Hammud al-Shufi Shibli al-Aysami Amin al-Hafiz Nureddin al-Atassi Hafez al-Assad Bashar al-Assad Members of the National Command Hadiya Khalaf Abbas Michel Aflaq Abdullah al-Ahmar Zaki al-Arsuzi Bashar al-Assad Hafez al-Assad Nureddin al-Atassi Mansur al-Atrash Shibli al-Aysami Ali Abdullah Ayyoub Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr Salah al-Din al-Bitar Elias Farah Hakem Al-Fayez Wahib al-Ghanim Amin al-Hafiz Akram al-Hourani Salah Jadid Zuheir Mohsen Munif Razzaz Fuad al-Rikabi Abdullah Rimawi Ali Salih al-Sa'di Talib El-Shibib Khaled Yashruti Members of the Regional Commands Iraq Humam Abd al-Khaliq Abd al-Ghafur Ghanim Abdul-Jalil Saad Abdul-Majid Jamal Mustafa Abdullah Mohammed Younis al-Ahmed Salah Omar al-Ali Huda Salih Mahdi Ammash Salih Mahdi Ammash Hussein Al-Awadi Tariq Aziz Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr Adil Abdullah Mahdi Al-Douri Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri Saadoun Ghaidan Fadil Mahmud Gharib Mizban Khadr al-Hadi Sa'dun Hammadi Qusay Hussein Saddam Hussein Latif Nassif Jassim Rashid Taan Kazim Adnan Khayr Allah Ali Hassan al-Majid Muhyi Abdul-Hussein Mashhadi Samir Abdul Aziz al-Najim Aziz Saleh Al-Numan Ghazi Hamoud Al-Obaidi Taha Yassin Ramadan Fawzi Mutlaq al-Rawi Rashid al-Rifai Fuad al-Rikabi Ali Salih al-Sa'di Abd Al-Baqi Abd Karim Al-Sadun Muhammad Zimam al-Sadun Abdul Khaliq al-Samarra'i Abdullah Sallum al-Samarra'i Talib El-Shibib Nayef Shindakh Thamer Khamis Sirhan Hardan al-Tikriti Yahya Abdallah al-Ubaydi Tahir Yahya Mohammed Hamza Zubeidi Ibrahim Hesqel Lebanon Musa Shuaib Syria Hadiya Khalaf Abbas Abdullah al-Ahmar Hussein Arnous Bashar al-Assad Hafez al-Assad Maher al-Assad Rifaat al-Assad Nureddin al-Atassi Shibli al-Aysami Ali Abdullah Ayyoub Mahmoud al-Ayyubi Mohammed Saeed Bekheitan Muhsen Bilal Mahdi Dakhlallah Ahmad Diyab Ali Duba Fahd Jassem al-Freij Marwan Habash Ibrahim al-Hadid Amin al-Hafiz Muhammad Ali al-Halabi Wael Nader al-Halqi Adnan Badr Hassan Salim Hatum Hilal Hilal Mohammad al-Hussein Hisham Ikhtiyar Salah Jadid Abdul-Karim al-Jundi Sami al-Jundi Abdul Rauf al-Kasm Abdul Halim Khaddam Imad Khamis Ahmad al-Khatib Abdul Rahman Khleifawi Mohammad Jihad al-Laham Ibrahim Makhous Zuhair Masharqa Muhammad Mustafa Mero Muhammad Naji al-Otari Abdul Qadir Qaddura Hammouda Sabbagh Farouk al-Sharaa Hikmat al-Shihabi Hammud al-Shufi Mustafa Tlass Hasan Turkmani Muhammad Umran Salim Yasin Mahmoud Al-Zoubi Yusuf Zuayyin Yemen Ali Ahmad Nasser al-Dhahab Heads of state Iraq Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr Saddam Hussein Syria Amin al-Hafiz Nureddin al-Atassi Ahmad al-Khatib Hafez al-Assad Presidency Abdul Halim Khaddam (interim) Bashar al-Assad Presidency Heads of government Iraq Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr Saddam Hussein Sa'dun Hammadi Mohammed Hamza Zubeidi Ahmad Husayn Khudayir as-Samarrai Syria Salah al-Din al-Bitar Amin al-Hafiz Yusuf Zuayyin Nureddin al-Atassi Hafez al-Assad Abdul Rahman Khleifawi Mahmoud al-Ayyubi Muhammad Ali al-Halabi Abdul Rauf al-Kasm Mahmoud Al-Zoubi Muhammad Mustafa Mero Muhammad Naji al-Otari Adel Safar Riyad Farid Hijab Wael Nader al-Halqi Imad Khamis Hussein Arnous Mohammad Ghazi al-Jalali * = incumbent Organization Regional branches Iraqi-dominated faction Algeria Bahrain Egypt Iraq Regional Command Jordan Lebanon Libya Mauritania Palestine Sudan Tunisia Yemen Syrian-dominated faction Jordan Lebanon Mauritania Palestine Yemen Sudan Syria Central Command History National Security Bureau Yemen Committees Control and Inspection Committee Military Committee Newspapers Al-Ba'ath Sawt al-Jamahir Al-Thawra Al-Souria Popular fronts National Progressive Front (Iraq) National Progressive Front (Syria) Wings Paramilitary Army of the Men of the Naqshbandi Order Ba'ath Brigades Fedayeen Saddam General Military Council for Iraqi Revolutionaries Jaysh Muhammad al-Fatih National Defense Battalions National Defence Forces Popular Army Popular Resistance of the Eastern Region Supreme Command for Jihad and Liberation Syrian Popular Resistance Others General Federation of Trade Unions General Union of Peasants National Union of Syrian Students Revolutionary Youth Union Associated organizations Armed groups Al-Abud Network Free Iraqi Army Rejectionists Snake Party Breakaway groups Arab Revolutionary Workers Party Arab Socialist Movement Damascus branch Arab Socialist Revolutionary Ba'ath Party Arabic Toilers' Movement Al-Awda Arab Democratic Socialist Ba'ath Party Palestinian Arab Front Socialist Lebanon Sudanese Ba'ath Party Political alliances Current Alliance of Palestinian Forces Forces of Freedom and Change March 8 Alliance National Consensus Forces National Democratic Alliance Palestine Liberation Organization Palestinian National and Islamic Forces Former Ahd Bloc Front of Patriotic and National Parties Lebanese National Movement Lebanese National Resistance Front National Alliance for the Liberation of Syria National Union Front Palestinian National Alliance Palestinian National Salvation Front Rejectionist Front Political parties Arab Socialist Union Party Arab Democratic Union Party Democratic Socialist Unionist Party Kurdistan Revolutionary Party Libyan National Movement National Covenant Party Popular Unity Party Sawab Social Democratic Unionists Socialist Unionist Party Syrian Communist Party Bakdash Unified Syrian Social Nationalist Party Intifada Wing in Lebanon Miscellaneous Ideology Anti-imperialism Anti-Zionism Arab nationalism Arab socialism Assadism Ba'athism Left-wing populism Neo-Ba'athism Pan-Arabism Progressivism Republicanism Revolutionary socialism Romantic nationalism Saddamism Secularism Socialism Ta'addudiyya Vanguardism Literature The Battle for One Destiny On the Way of Resurrection Symbolism Arḍulfurātayni Pan-Arab colors Waḥda, Ḥurriyya, Ishtirākiyya

v t e Syrian ministers of defense Arab Kingdom of Syria (1920) Arab Kingdom of Syria al-Ulshi al-'Azma French Mandate of Syria (1920–1946)1 French Mandate of Syria al-Atrash al-Quwatli al-Ayyubi al-Bukhari First and Second Syrian Republic (1946–1958) Syrian Arab Republic Mardam Bey al-Azm al-Jabiri al-'Azma al-Sharabati al-Za'im Atfeh al-Hawrani Selu Barmada al-Khatib Khankan al-Dawalibi al-Ghazzi Raslan United Arab Republic (1958–1961) United Arab Republic Amer Second Syrian Republic (1961–1963) Syrian Arab Republic al-Kuzbari al-Nuss Barmada Zahreddine Ba'athist Syria (1963–2024) Syrian Arab Republic al-Sufi al-Hariri Ziade Jaber Ubayd Umran al-Assad Tlass Turkmani Mahmud Rajiha al-Freij Ayyoub Abbas Transitional period (2024–present) Syrian Arab Republic Abu Qasra 1 The post was established in 1932.

Authority control databases International ISNI VIAF GND FAST WorldCat National United States Israel Other IdRef

1. **[^](#cite_ref-9)** [https://web.archive.org/web/20050406034204/http://www.damascus-online.com/se/bio/hawrani_akram.htm](https://web.archive.org/web/20050406034204/http://www.damascus-online.com/se/bio/hawrani_akram.htm)

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