Ibrahim Hashem (; 1886 – 14 July 1958) was a Jordanian politician and judge, known primarily for serving five terms as Prime Minister.
Part of a Jordanian delegation that visited Iraq when both countries were part of the Arab Federation, Hashem was assassinated in Baghdad at the hands of a mob in front of the Iraqi Ministry of Defence during the 1958 14 July Revolution.
Early life
Hashem was born in Nablus to a family which claimed to have descended from the Prophet. There are claims that he moved to Istanbul to receive education in 1904, when he was 16 years of age. In 1906, he enrolled at the Law School in Istanbul and graduated in 1910. After graduation, Hashem worked as an assistant to the Prosecutor General of Beirut, and as a judge in Jaffa until the outbreak of World War One. Though Hashem was enlisted as an Ottoman reserve officer during the War, he chose to flee after six months of service, owing to the massacre of Arab activists by Jamal Pasha. Like many other nationalist turncoats, Hashem became a member of the secret Fatat party. He was imprisoned by the Jamal Pasha in Jabal al-Druze and sentenced to death for desertion. Once again, Hashem managed to get away from the Ottomans. He hid in Nablus until 1918. Throughout the War, Hashem covertly participated in the Great Arab Revolt. He is said to have had "many secret meetings with Emir Shakir Bin Zayd" and to have "actively ventured in enlisting many chiefs, activists and tribal leaders to the Arab Revolt". Around this time, he pledged allegiance to the Arab Istiqlalist party.
Early career in Arab Kingdom of Syria and relocation to Transjordan
During the short-lived Arab Kingdom of Syria, he held the positions of the Prosecutor General of the Syrian Court of Appeal and the President of the Court of Appeal. He taught penal law at the law faculty of Damascus University. Though he moved to Jordan following the French occupation of Syria, Hashem continued to publish books on Penal Law which were taught at the Damascus law faculty until the mid-1920s.
Ministerial service in Transjordan
At only 34 years of age, Hashem was appointed to the position of "Judicial Adviser" (Minister of Justice) during the first government of Rida al-Rikabi. When Abdullah and Rikabi departed to London for mandate negotiations on 3 October 1922, Shakir bin Zayd was appointed as the acting prime minister, with Hashem as his assistant. A favourite of Emir Abdullah, Hashem was regularly sought out and selected for the Ministry of Justice portfolio in the 1920s and 1930s. Between 1922 and 1938, he held this position for 5 times, for a span of no less than 12 years. In 1933, he was appointed as the Prime Minister of Jordan, a position which he held until 1938. Hashem was appointed honorary Commander of the British Empire in the 1938 New Year Honours List.
Independence Era and Member of the Throne Council
Hashem oversaw negotiations for a new Anglo-Jordanian treaty, and was the inaugural Prime Minister when independence was declared on 25 May 1946. Following the Arab-Israeli War and the Jordanian annexation of the West Bank, Abdullah was assassinated in 1951. The tenure of his son, Talal I as king was short-lived, owing to a mental illness. At the time, his successor, Hussein bin Talal had not attained his majority of 18 years and was unable to accede to the throne. Then President of the Senate, Hashem was appointed as a member of a three-man interim Throne Council which acted for the absent sovereign. This was dissolved when Hussein acceded to the throne in 1953.
Baghdad Pact, seventeen-day government, and constitutional crisis
In 1955, Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Pakistan joined the United Kingdom in forming the Middle East Treaty Organization (METO), a military alliance, popularly known as the Baghdad Pact. Much like Syrians and Egyptians, populations in the West Bank and East Bank (i.e. within Jordan) were strongly opposed to this treaty owing to its colonial overtones. A decree disallowing an opposition meeting in early January was met with violent demonstrations throughout Amman. The army was called in and a curfew was imposed.