Hashem Nasrallah
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February 7, 1923
Hashem Nasrallah | |
|---|---|
| السيد هاشم نصر الله | |
| Chairman of the Karbala Chamber of Commerce | |
| In office November 1, 1959 – October 29, 1969 (6 terms) | |
| Preceded by | Mehdi al-Hindi[1] |
| Succeeded by | Jawad Abu al-Hab[2] |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Hashim Hassan Muhammad Nasrallah February 7, 1923 |
| Died | May 4, 1997 (aged 74) |
| Parent | Hassan Nasrallah (father) |
| Relatives | Mohammed Hussain Nasrallah (first cousin, once removed) Aref Nasrallah (first cousin, once removed) Mohammed Hassan Dhiya al-Din (maternal uncle) |
Sayyid Hashem Hassan Nasrallah (Arabic: هاشم حسن آل نصر الله; February 7, 1923 – May 4, 1997) was an Iraqi nobleman, businessman and the chairman of the Karbala Chamber of Commerce for six terms from 1959 to 1969.[1][3][4][5]
Nasrallah was born on February 7, 1923, in Karbala. His father was Hassan Nasrallah, the son of Muhammad (Hammoud) Nasrallah (d. October 27, 1901), the head of traders of Karbala in the Ottoman era and a very affluent man.[6] His mother was the daughter of Murtadha Dhiya al-Din, the 19th saden (custodian) of the al-Abbas shrine.[7] Nasrallah is the third of four children. Both his parents hails from the noble Al Faiz family, and claim agnatic descent from Muhammad's daughter Fatimah and her husband, Ali, the first Shia Imam.[8] His ancestors on some occasions ruled Karbala, and held custodianship of its holy sites.[9][10]
Career
Nasrallah worked for his father Hassan's trading company, selling agricultural products and appliances, some imported from the US and Europe. In 1959, he and his brothers became chairmen of the company and began to further expand the business. They then established a large warehouse that distributed food and non-food goods, as well as the agricultural goods. At some point they were also importing cars from Europe, and had the warehouse act as a car showroom.[11]
Due to Nasrallah's calibre among the traders in Karbala, he was nominated for chairman of the Karbala Chamber of Commerce by the traders, and in 1959, he took on management of the chamber. He served for six terms, from November 1959 to October 1969, being the longest serving chairman of the chamber.[1] As chairman of the chamber, he would issue export and import licenses, as well as execute building contracts through his construction company, and invite members from the chambers of commerce from all over Iraq to Karbala, for meetings that would lead to many business ventures for the city.[11]
The chamber began the al-Iqtisad magazine on July 15, 1960, under the supervision of Nasrallah.[12] The chamber issued two magazines a month, and only had nine issues. Its final issue was released on December 15, 1960.[13][14]
Nasrallah enjoyed Arab-Islamic history and culture greatly, and decided to establish a library for the chamber, in 1963.[15] After attaining permission from the higher authority, he formed a committee made up of employees from the chamber, and had them purchase a plethora of books, ranging from history books to books about business, religion, and science. Members of the committee travelled to other cities such as Baghdad and Najaf to purchase books, until a notable amount of books was collected in the library. The library kept expanding over the years until the 1991 uprising, which saw the Baathist forces destroy Karbala, and this included the chamber, which they burnt down, and only a few books remained from the chambers library.[16]
In 1965, Nasrallah endorsed a new date syrup factory in Karbala, in conjunction with the Industrial Bank, and the factory was established the following year.[17]
On February 28, 1968, Nasrallah sent a telegram, on behalf of all of Iraq's chambers of commerce, to Mohamed Makiya, endorsing his plans to revolutionize the city of Kufa by building a state of the art university, and large market.[18] However the plans were opposed by the Baathists, who Makiya fell from favour with, and the project never saw light.[19]