Salim Abu Ismail bin Melhem bin Zain al-Din was born in Deir Baba, Chouf District, in 1891. He received his primary education at the village school, then in Deir al-Qamar, before traveling to Argentina, where he established an Arabic newspaper in Buenos Aires in 1915 titled "Al-Argentina." He remained in the diaspora for about ten years before returning to his village, Deir Baba, and engaged in several businesses, none of which he settled in, including establishing the first mechanical olive press in the region.
He then went to Syria, where he completed his higher education and graduated as a lawyer from the Faculty of Law in Damascus. He returned to Beirut to train at the office of lawyer Zakaria al-Lababidi, and later registered his name with the Beirut Bar Association on August 16, 1927.
He was appointed to the judiciary on April 23, 1928, in Tripoli. He was later transferred to the position of Public Prosecutor in the North. In 1940, he was dismissed for political reasons, after which he turned to research and writing. He authored the book "The Druze" in 1953 and founded the Druze History Foundation, which published "The Druze" book. The foundation was responsible for preparing topics, purchasing documents, printing books, and helping to publish materials related to the Druze community.
Salim Abu Ismail passed away on December 13, 1953.
