Birth: NULL/NULL/1887 Death:NULL/NULL/1984
Born in Nablus in June 1887; attended the Nablus Public School, then Al-Rashidyeh School; started working from the age of 16, serving in the local Ottoman administration as clerk in the Dept. of Telegraphic and Postal Services; during this time he was an avid reader of ancient Arab history and literature, which triggered his political awareness and writing skills; expressed his political aspirations in different articles in local and regional papers like Al-Ahram, Al-Muqtataf, and others; became Deputy-Director of the Postal Service in the Nablus district and later head of the Stamp Dept. in Beirut; worked as General Inspector of the Postal Administration in various areas in Palestine and Jordan; served as Sec.-Gen. of the General Postal Administration in Beirut until 1918; was active in different political parties demanding reform and opposing Ottoman rule; founding member and Secretary of the Arab Scientific Society in Nablus in 1911, which aimed at resisting ‘Turkishization’ in schools and encouraging Arabic identity instead; member of the Union and Progress Party then left it for the Coalition and Freedom Party, Nablus branch, which opposed land purchasing by the Zionist movement; was active in the reform movement in Beirut in 1912; helped organize the Arab Congress held in Paris in 1913; one of the founders of the Decentralization Party in Nablus in 1912 and the Arab Independence Party in Damascus in 1919; following the 1917 Balfour Declaration, joined fellow Palestinians from Nablus in founding the Muslim-Christian Association and became its Secretary and representative in the first Palestinian Arab conference in Jerusalem in 1919; co-founded the Arab Independence Party in Damascus in 1919; was among those who set up Al-Jam’iyya Al-Filastiniyya (The Palestinian Society) in Damascus in 1919, whose aim was to promote the Palestinian cause and to enlist the support of the Arabs in Syria and Palestine; from 1919-1922, also worked as Secretary for the Hashemite Prince Abdullah in Amman; represented Nablus in the Damascus Congress which declared Faisal Ibn Al-Hussein King of United Syria in March 1920 after the French deported Faisal, joined his brother Abdullah and became Secretary of the Eastern Jordan Emirate in 1920; also helped found the Society of Palestinian Youth, an armed group determined to fight Zionism; delegate to the Palestinian Arab Congress in Jerusalem during the years 1921-27; was elected representative for Nablus to the 4th (May 1921, Jerusalem) and 7th (June 1928) Palestinian National Congress; served as Director of An-Najah School in Nablus from 1922-27; member of the Arab Exec. Committee from 1931-32; wrote anti-Zionist articles in the local press pointing out the catastrophic impact of Jewish immigration to the country and the threat that Zionism posed to Syria and the Arab World; founder of the Arab-Palestinian Independence Party (Istiqlal) in 1932 and serving as its treasurer until 1936; later Secretary of Nadi Al-Arabi and of the Nablus Muslim-Christian Association in the early 1930s; appointed by the Supreme Muslim Council as General Administrator of the Waqf in Nablus from 1928-32, then for Palestine from 1933-37; was dismissed from his job by British Mandate authorities following the 1936 strikes; became representative and Secretary of the Independence Party in the Arab Higher Committee for Palestine in 1936; moved to Damascus where he assisted Haj Amin Al-Husseini in organizing guerilla activities during the 1936-39 Arab Revolt; was imprisoned for his political activity by the French upon pressure from the British and served one year – until Oct. 1940; sought political asylum in Turkey in 1941; became a member of the fourth Arab Higher Committee established by the Arab League in 1947; was one of those accused of trying to kill King Abdullah in late 1948 but his innocence was eventually proven; suffered from health problems and returned to Damascus, where he devoted his time to writing; has published articles in many papers and magazines, incl. Filastin, Al-Karmel and Al-Quds newspaper, and wrote some 39 books, incl. a two-volume work on Arab-Islamic history (1925) and a 12-volume edition on Modern Interpretations of the Qur’an (1961-64); died in 1984.
