According to the famous British spy Lawrence, the personality traits of the leaders of the Arab Revolt and the reasons for Faisal's admiration

I think there is no one who does not know about T.E. Lawrence, who played an important role in the Arab revolt during the First World War. This person, about whom films were made and books/articles were written, published his experiences during the Arab Revolt as a book. The reason for his fame is these memoirs written from his own point of view.

In fact, Lawrence was not the person who started the Arab Revolt as many people think. As he himself said, he was working in the British intelligence office in Egypt when the Arab Revolt started in June 1916. He became interested in the revolt in October 1916. Lawrence, who left Egypt on leave in October, went on a cruise and travelled to Jeddah after visiting some places. 

On the ship he travelled to Jeddah, Ronald Storrs, the secret clerk of Henry Mc Mahon, who had signed an agreement with Sharif Hussein on behalf of England to start a rebellion against the Turks, and the Secretary of the Eastern Section of the headquarters in Cairo, was also present. Unlike Lawrence, Storrs was on official business in Jeddah, which had been captured by Arab rebels. 

Lawrence travelled with him to the British consulate in Jeddah. The consul told him that Abdullah, the second son of Sharif Hussein's four sons (Faisal, Abdullah, Ali and Zayd), the ringleader of the rebellion, was about to arrive in the city. They then went out to meet him. Thus, Lawrence met one of the ringleaders of the rebellion for the first time.

For this reason, Abdullah was the first sheriff about whom Lawrence had an impression. Lawrence knew that the Arab revolt, which had started about four months ago and was still going on, had not been able to make much progress. He thought that this was due to the lack of leadership. For this reason, he carefully analysed Abdullah to see whether he was the most suitable person for the leadership of the revolt. 

As a result of this examination, he concludes that he is not the most suitable leader candidate. According to Lawrence, Abdullah was a person who always tried to appear cheerful and this did not reassure Lawrence. Although he laughed a lot and joked freely with everyone, this smiling demeanour suddenly disappeared when he started to discuss a serious subject, choosing his words carefully and discussing the issues shrewdly. Abdullah also constantly blinks his eyes when he speaks. 

I do not know why this is important, but Lawrence hints that he also considers the fact that he has become fat, even though he is only 35 years old, as a weakness. According to Lawrence, Abdullah is too well-balanced, cool-headed and humorous to be a prophet (presumably he uses this word to mean a leader who can command complete obedience). He cannot be a leader, but his value will be realised in the peace that will come after the successful conclusion of the rebellion. 

When Lawrence decided that he was not the leader needed, he went to Sharif Faisal and decided to look for the leader of the rebellion in his personality. Through Abdullah's intermediary, he obtained permission from Sharif Hussein to meet his eldest son Faisal and set off on a camel with Arabs who were given to him as guides. After a long journey, he arrived at a village of 100 houses where Faisal and his armed men were located. 

Lawrence is impressed by Faisal before he even speaks to him and realises that he is the man he is looking for. This situation is like love at first sight. He describes these first moments in his memoirs as follows:

"Tafas (an Arab who supervised Lawrence) led me to the inner courtyard, where on the other side of the courtyard, between the posts of a black gate, stood a white figure waiting nervously for me. At first glance I felt that this was the man I had come to Arabia to seek - the leader who would lead the Arab Revolt to complete victory. Faisal stood like a very tall and very thin pillar in a long white silk robe and a brown headscarf tied with a bright red and gold cord. His eyelids drooped; his black beard and colourless face were a mask against the strange, languid alertness of his body. His hands were crossed in front of him on his dagger."

In his memoirs, Lawrence mostly mentions Faisal from then on. However, he also mentions his brothers Abdullah, Ali and Zayd, and his father Hussein. For example, he says that Zayd was Faisal's younger half-brother, father and mother separated. Zayd also had some armed Arabs under his command, but Zayd acted under the control of Faisal rather than independently. 

Zayd was not very successful militarily. For example, when the Turkish cavalry raided Zayd's stronghold of B'ir-i Said, the troops under his command were routed. Disorganised, the armed Arabs jumped on their horses and fled without looking back. This rampaging herd of fugitives jeopardised Faisal's position.

Nevertheless, Faisal does not panic. He tries to look cheerful. He gives necessary orders and instructions to the arrivals. He listens to the problems and tries to find solutions. The next morning, he withdraws his men to an area he thinks is safer. During this retreat, he cheers up his men, who are demoralised by the defeat of his brother's troops. In other words, he exhibits characteristics that show he is the right person for leadership.

Lawrence also mentions Faisal's command style. He is a person who tries to raise the morale of everyone he can reach in difficult times. He listens to everyone who comes to his tent and tells his troubles and tries to find a solution for them. He does not interfere with his men gathering around his tent and singing together. Even at such moments, he answers the questions of those who have a question and listens to their problems.

He always listens carefully to what his men say. If he cannot solve the problems himself, he assigns his helpers to find a solution. He is very patient with the demands of his men. His self-control is at a high level. He does not scold those who fail in conflicts in public. No matter how unsuccessful they are, he welcomes them with a smile. He then gathers those who caused the defeat in his tent and tells them one by one the mistakes they made after removing the other people.

Lawrence also mentions the meaning of Faisal's name. According to him, Faisal means "the sword that shines downwards on the stroke". However, contrary to the meaning of his name, when he speaks to his men, his voice is not like a sword but like a musical one and he uses this tone of voice carefully against his men. He speaks to them in a tribal dialect, but in a strange and hesitant manner, as if painfully searching for the right words between sentences. His thoughts perhaps run a little ahead of his speech. The expressions he chooses are often the simplest ones, which produce an emotional and intimate effect.

In his book, Lawrence also describes Faisal's physical characteristics and habits. Faisal is a heavy smoker. He eats very little. He goes to bed very late and gets up late in the morning. He rarely plays chess. He takes a walk when he has time. He eats meals in a group with his men. 

In the afternoon, he is present in the reception tent for those who wish to come and make their requests or tell their troubles. He listens to everyone calmly, shows a smiling face and tries to solve any problem with patience. His aim is to ensure that no one leaves his presence unsatisfied. 

Throughout his memoirs, Lawrence mainly talks about Faisal and his high qualities, but he also occasionally mentions positive things his other brothers did. For example, he mentions that Sharif Zayd repaired dilapidated buildings in the cities, especially public buildings. However, he often emphasises that Zayd was not very successful in military operations and sometimes left Faisal's troops in a difficult situation.

Although Zayd usually retreated in rout, Faisal withdrew his troops in a more controlled manner when he was in a difficult situation. Faisal also employed effective methods to bind his men to him. For example, he placed a Qur'an in the hands of his new recruits and made them swear on it that they would "wait when he waits, march when he marches, obey no Turk, treat everyone who speaks Arabic well, and prioritise independence over life, family and property".

Faisal not only tried to bind the Arabs to himself, but also tried to unite all Arabs by resolving the conflicts between Arab tribes. In this context, he endeavoured to bring the feuding tribes face to face and end the feuds. When necessary, he paid the money demanded by the tribes to settle the blood feuds from his own money. Thus, Faisal tried to bring together countless small tribes and units, to organise them and to unite all Arabs around a single goal against the Turks. His aim was to turn the Arab movement into a national movement.

The armed Arabs gathered around Faisal were the largest of the groups rebelling against the Turks in the Hejaz. But he, like his brothers, is loyal to his father, Sharif Hussein, Emir of Mecca/Hejaz. According to Lawrence, Sharif Hussein (he referred to him as the king) was a stubborn, narrow-minded and sceptical character. He is not willing to sacrifice his self-righteousness for anything.

In his speeches, he jumps from topic to topic without clear coherence. Religiously, he advocates an interpretation of religion that is neither strongly Shiite nor strongly Sunni, but rather based on the pre-Shia-Sunni understanding of the religion.  In contrast to his broad views on non-worldly matters, he has a narrow mindset in foreign policy. He also has the destructive tendency of small men to deny the honesty of their opponents. Despite being the son of such a backward man, Faisal is quite modern-minded.

Lawrence makes little mention of the fourth brother, Ali. In fact, the centre of his story is himself and Faisal. It is clear from his writings that he had an excessive admiration and devotion for him rather than the Arab cause. This situation continued after the war, and when the British forgot their promises and shared the Middle East with the French, he worked with all his might to have Faisal declared the Arab king.