Omar Mohammed

Omar Mohammed (Arabic: عمر بن محمد الموصلي‎) is a historian and citizen journalist from Mosul, Iraq, who documented life under ISIL through his blog Mosul Eye.[1] He was born and raised in Mosul.[2]

Omar Mohammed
عمر بن محمد الموصلي
Born1986
Mosul
CitizenshipExile
Alma materUniversity of Mosul

His life under ISIS

'All I could see was blood' is how Omar often describe the time he lived in Mosul under the rule of the ISIS,[2] he became widely known for documenting the daily life in Mosul between 2003 and 2018. He still runs his blog from his exile. He traveled around the world to seek support for his city Mosul.[3] Few months before the liberation of Mosul from ISIS, Omar organized a musical on the historical site of prophet Jonah on the east bank of Mosul to defy ISIS with music. He is known for his love of classical music. “It’s only because of music that I survived,” he says. He listened to music — especially as played by Itzhak Perlman, the Israeli-American violinist. “He’s my man,” says Mohammed. One night, Mohammed was engulfed in darkness, on the verge of giving up. He put on music from Schindler’s List, the Holocaust movie from 1993, with a score by John Williams. Perlman was the featured soloist. Mohammed listened to “Jewish Town,” among other tracks. “When I listened to this music,” he says, “I felt like someone was injecting life into my heart.”[4]

His efforts in Mosul
Omar Mohammed during his speech at International Journalism Festival at Hall of Notaries, Perugia.

“Let it there be a Book, Rising from the Ashes” is a project launched by Omar Mohammed to preserve the books from the destroyed library of the university of Mosul. The campaign led to preserve more than 32 thousands books and manuscripts.[5] Speaking exclusively to The Independent, the historian said he hopes to collect at least 200,000 books, largely from international donations, to rebuild the university's central library and others across the city.[5] In a phone interview with BuzzFeed News, he revealed very little about himself — "I can tell you I'm not 40 yet" — and insisted on anonymity to protect himself and his loved ones. But he spoke at length about his hopes for the library and why he is so invested in reviving it.

"Whenever I was in the university, I would spend most of my time at the library," he said. "When I didn't like my professors' lectures, I often went to the library to do research and study books on my own."[6]

The role of Mosul Eye

Access to the internet is still more limited in Mosul compared to the rest of Iraq. While IS did not restrict access to the internet as such, they imposed high taxes on internet providers leaving the city with limited access to this day (See UN Habit Report, 2016). Despite this, a number of growing local online media initiatives are proving to be popular. Ein Al Mosul, or Mosul Eye (https://mosul-eye.org), was a blog, written anonymously, that documented events in Mosul under the occupation of IS, providing citizens of Mosul and, perhaps even more so, diaspora and the international community with vital information and evidence of IS atrocities.[7] It focuses now on the ‘recovery’ of Mosul, structurally as well as culturally. ‘Mosul Eye was able to not only be a source of information but a social factor in the city’, according to its founder Omar Mohamed (2018 cited in Guardian Podcast, 2018). After the battle, Mosul Eye played a different role, ‘which is to rebuild civil society, trying to support the people who stayed in the city, trying to give them a voice, because they were voiceless’.[8]

Mosul International Campaign (To Put Mosul On The Global Map)

Is a global campaign Omar launched to advocate and bring support to Mosul after he fled the city in December 2015. Omar began a long campaign traveling around the world giving speeches and talks, lecturing and advocating at universities, institutes and other global venues. He traveled around Europe, United States, Russia and other countries.[9] His mission was as he stated in his several public speeches is to "Put Mosul On The Global Map". He was invited by many international universities and governments.[10] He has also, in different occasion, demanded the international community to put Mosul under international trusteeship to protect its people.[11][12] “This is my city, I love Mosul more than anything else.”[13]

Works

Published works:

1- The history of the French expedition on Egypt in the writings of Abd al-Rahman al-Jabarti, Jordan 2013.[14]

Omar has produced several documents but they are still unpublished manuscripts:

1- Annals of Mosul from 2003 to 2014 (Arabic: حوليات الموصل من ٢٠٠٣ الى ٢٠١٤). Unpublished manuscript.[15] 2- The Chronicles of Mosul under the rule of the Islamic State.Unpublished manuscript.[1]

The manuscript covers the history of Mosul from June 6, 2014 when ISIS occupied Mosul to July 2017 when the city was liberated.

3- the Wonders of Mosul's recovery and its surrounding areas (Arabic: عجائب الاعمار في الموصل وما حولها من الامصار).

Is a historical document written by Omar documenting the daily recovery of Mosul since its libration in 2017.

4- Al Tarikh al 'Umari fi 'Imār al jāmi al Nuri wa yalih-i 'Imar Kanisat-ul Sa'a wa-T Tahira (Arabic: التاريخ العمري في اعمار الجامع النوري ويليه اعمار كنيسة الساعة والطاهرة).[16] 5- Al 'Anfas al Mahbusa fi 'aldifaa' 'an al Mawsil al mahrusa "The Caged Breaths in Defending the Protected Mosul". (Arabic الانفاس المحبوسة في الجفاع عن الموصل المحروسة). Unpublished manuscript.

The front cover of the manuscript reads: "This is a declaration of what the humble to his god's mercy, Omar b. Mohammed al Mawsili in his exile (.... text removed) on his daily observation in (text removed) and other countries in defending of his hometown Mosul and its people to create a better future for his watan and protect its nation, may god protect it against all its enemies until god makes his return to Mosul possible" Arabic: هذا بيان ما يكتبه الفقير الى رحمة ربه عمر بن محمد الموصلي في منفاه في (نص محذوف) المحروسة عن مشاهداته اليومية في البلاد (نص محذوف) وسائر بلاد الدنيا دفاعا عن بلده الموصل وشعبه لخلق مستقبل افضل للوطن ودرء المفاسد عنها حماها الله وحرسها ضد كل معتد وافاك الى ان يهيأ الله لي قدرا عودتي اليها.

ساظل اكتب عنها كل غزل

فالموصل الحدباء مؤل العمل

فيها ربيت ومن ماءها

صار كياني وقادني الامل

اقسمن عنها ادافع

وبحبها لا خوف ولا وجل.

Quotes

"Trust no-one, document everything"

— Omar Mohammed

"Not being able to go to Mosul is like death"

— Omar Mohammed

References
  1. "Chronicler of Islamic State 'killing machine' goes public". AP NEWS. 2017-12-08. Retrieved 2020-02-26.
  2. Earshot, Fiona Pepper for (2019-06-06). "'The normal day, you would see beheadings': Why Omar risked his life to expose IS atrocities". ABC News. Retrieved 2020-02-26.
  3. "Omar Mohammed | Yale Greenberg World Fellows". worldfellows.yale.edu. Retrieved 2020-02-26.
  4. "Extraordinary". National Review. 2018-07-02. Retrieved 2020-02-26.
  5. "How the last librarian of Mosul is preparing for when his city is free from Isis". The Independent. 2017-03-20. Retrieved 2020-02-27.
  6. "This Man Is Trying To Rebuild A Library Burned Down By ISIS". BuzzFeed News. Retrieved 2020-02-27.
  7. Lamble, Presented by Lucy; Stephens, produced by Danielle; Ames, Lily (2018-09-26). "The Mosul historian who risked his life to blog about life under Isis – podcast". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2020-03-21.
  8. Al-Kaisy, Aida (2020), Matthews, Jamie; Thorsen, Einar (eds.), "Media and Reconciliation: A Study of Media-Led Initiatives in Post-IS Mosul", Media, Journalism and Disaster Communities, Springer International Publishing, pp. 147–162, doi:10.1007/978-3-030-33712-4_10, ISBN 978-3-030-33712-4, retrieved 2020-03-21
  9. "Mosul after ISIS: A Conversation with Omar Mohammed". gwtoday.gwu.edu. Retrieved 2020-02-28.
  10. "Mosul Eye". Mosul Eye. Retrieved 2020-02-28.
  11. Eye, Mosul (2016-10-19). "The Demand for International Trusteeship for Mosul". Mosul Eye. Retrieved 2020-02-28.
  12. "Irakischer Blogger "Mosul Eye": "Wir sind so müde, Terror hier, Terror da" - derStandard.at". DER STANDARD (in German). Retrieved 2020-02-28.
  13. "'I never imagined I would live through such moments of fear' - Iraqi blogger Omar Muhammad discusses life under ISIS". Weekly News & Analysis. 2020-03-17. Retrieved 2020-03-17.
  14. محمد, عمر جاسم (2014). العين الغائبة (in Arabic). ktab INC.
  15. "Trust No One, Document Everything". National Review. 2018-07-02. Retrieved 2020-02-29.
  16. الموصل, Mosul Eye عين (2019-10-14). "Under this tweet you will follow daily updates of the reconstruction of al Nuri Mosque. I called it "Al Tarikh al 'Umari fi 'Imār al jāmi al Nuri wa yalih-i 'Imar Kanisat-ul Sa'a wa-T Tahira. By Umar b. Muhammed al Mawsili This is my mission until the reopening of the Mosque.pic.twitter.com/MNHioWwTiX". @MosulEye. Retrieved 2020-02-29.
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