Muhammad Jaber al-Safa

Muhammad Jaber Āl Safa (1875–1945) () was a prominent historian and writer from the Lebanese region of Jabal Amel.

Born in Nabatiye, he studied language and history under famous scholars Hassan Yusef al-Makki and Muhammad Ibrahim al-Husseini.

He and his companions sheikh Ahmad Reda (also his father-in-law) and sheikh Sulaiman Daher, having formed an intellectual gathering known as "the Ameli Three", played a principal role in forming Jabal Amel's political and cultural history. Because of the group's violent opposition to the Ottoman rule, they spent two months in Aley's military prison. While on death row, they were liberated when the Ottomans left the country after their defeat, in the First World War.

He was later a major supporter of King Faisal's rule in Greater Syria, following the Arab Revolt.

He wrote Tarikh Jabal Amel, or "The history of Jabal Amel", used as a main reference on the history of Greater Syria or the Levant, and Lebanon particularly.

As his name indicates, he is a descendant of the Safavids, who left Iran in the 18th century after a 250-year rule and settled, among other places, in Jabal Amel in southern Lebanon.

See also

• List of historians

Read More