Ajaj Yusuf Nuwayhed

He was a Lebanese militant with a Pan-Arab approach,

his field of action spanned Syria, Palestine, Jordan, and finally Lebanon...

He was born in the town of Ras el-Metn in Mount Lebanon in 1896 AD.

He received his primary education in his hometown school, then continued his studies at the "Friends" English school in Brummana. When the school closed its doors in 1914 due to World War I, he moved to the Souk El Gharb school, where he finished his studies. When the Arab Revolt broke out in 1918 and the government of Sham (Damascus) was declared under the leadership of King Faisal bin Al-Hussein, young Ajaj was among the patriots who joined the Hashemite King in Damascus to build the new Arab state.

He worked in Damascus in teaching, and the genius Hassan Kamel Al-Sabbah was his colleague; he also worked in the Supply Department.

Driven by his literary and media interests, he collaborated with the distinguished professor Abdullah Al-Najjar to publish 'Al-Qalam' magazine.

When France occupied Syria in 1920, he went to Palestine and worked for about two years in the Finance Department of the Palestinian government. He then devoted himself to translating the book "The Present World of Islam" by the American writer Lothrop Stoddard. Later, he became the secretary of the Supreme Muslim Council, headed by Haj Amin al-Husseini,

then an assistant to the inspector of Sharia courts in Palestine. He joined the Law Institute and graduated in 1924, writing many articles and delivering numerous lectures, some of which were compiled by Professor Muhi al-Din al-Khatib in his book "Al-Manfa" (The Exile).

In 1925, he welcomed the militant leader Rashid Tali' in Palestine and worked in cooperation with him and Haj Amin al-Husseini to form a national committee to support the Great Syrian Revolt with money, weapons, ammunition, and medicine under the leadership of Sultan Pasha al-Atrash. This committee was named "The Central Committee for the Relief of the Afflicted in Syria." This was before Rashid Tali' moved through Jordan, hidden from the eyes of the British, who had disagreed with him when he was Prime Minister of the Emirate of Abdullah bin Al-Hussein,

and on August 27, 1932, Ajaj established the magazine "Al-Arab" in Jerusalem, which became the mouthpiece of the Independence Party founded that year, of which he was a co-founder.

In 1935, he established a law firm in Jerusalem.

In 1936, he became the secretary of the Palestinian delegation headed by Haj Amin al-Husseini to the Islamic Conference in Mecca. There, during the conference, he served as a translator for the Indian Caliphate delegation headed by Maulana Shaukat Ali and his brother Maulana Mohammad Ali. In 1939, he was arrested following the Great Arab Strike and sent to Jericho, then transferred to the Sarafand detention camp near Ramla.

In 1940, he was assigned to monitor the Arabic section of the Palestine Broadcasting Service, but he refused except under conditions he specified, which the government accepted, and he held this position for four years.

Afterwards, he returned to practicing law in 1944 until the 1948 Palestine Nakba, when he went to Amman. He was appointed assistant to the Chief of the Hashemite Royal Court in 1949-1950, then Director of Jordanian Radio in 1950-1951, and then Director General of Press and Publication in 1951-1952. At the same time, he worked as a correspondent for the Cairo-based Al-Ahram newspaper in Jordan. In 1959, he returned to Lebanon to settle in his birthplace, Ras el-Metn. His home became a destination for men of science, literature, and politics, and he devoted himself to writing and translation. On June 25, 1982, he passed away and was buried in Ras el-Metn.

Ajaj Nuwayhed left behind a collection of books, articles, seminars, and lectures, including the printed works: "The Present World of Islam" (translation, with an introduction by Prince Shakib Arslan), "Political System" (translation), "Iraq or the New State" (translation), "Hypocrisy of the Jews" (translation), "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" (translation), "Abu Ja'far al-Mansur", "Men from Palestine", "The Conquest of Jerusalem", "Al-Tanukhi",

and his unpublished works include: A history of the Arab movement which he began in Amman in 1949, a biography of Prince Shakib Arslan, a book containing biographies of a number of thinkers and politicians in the Arab and Islamic worlds, a collection of articles published in Arab newspapers, lectures on history and politics, a diwan (poetry collection) containing a number of patriotic poems and anthems, and finally, his memoirs.

Ajaj Nuwayhed's Lasting Legacy

Naming 'Jabal al-Arab' (Mountain of the Arabs) instead of 'Jabal al-Druze' (Mountain of the Druze):

On page 76 of his memoirs, he says:

The mountain of Hauran in Syria, the stronghold of the revolution, was commonly referred to as 'Jabal al-Druze', and I did not agree with this naming.

I say: 'The Monotheists' (Al-Muwahhidun) or 'Banu Ma'ruf', and I do not say 'Druze'. An important occasion arose in which I was able to put an end to that naming, and the alternative was: Jabal al-Arab.

A festival was held in the city of Amman to honor Sultan Pasha al-Atrash, his men, and his brothers in 1937, on the occasion of France's recognition of the independence of Syria and Lebanon, and the return of Sultan Pasha and the revolutionaries to Syria. Delegations from Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Palestine attended this festival. When it was my turn to speak, I directed my speech to Sultan Pasha al-Atrash in the square of Petra Cinema, where thousands had gathered to greet him and the revolutionaries, and where no less than twenty of the greatest militants were surrounding him. I said to him after saluting, honoring, and thanking him for his struggle and the struggle of his brothers:

"This sword, which you drew for the sake of Syria, is called upon today to be drawn in the region of Alexandretta, for the land of the Arabs is one; it is not to be given bit by bit to the Jews and to the strangers.

Therefore, the symbol of the independent Arab jihad is inherited in you and in your honorable clan, Banu Ma'ruf. The mountain that is called Jabal al-Druze has become, thanks to your struggle and the struggle of your brothers, Jabal al-Arab..."

I had barely uttered these words before the place resonated with applause and welcoming the naming of Hauran mountain as Jabal al-Arab. What I drew people's attention to at that moment was that Sultan Pasha himself was the first to approve and support it... The festival ended with the naming of Jabal al-Arab, and the head of the Syrian delegation, Fakhri al-Barudi, sent a telegram to the Egyptian newspaper Al-Muqattam, informing it that the festival honoring Sultan Pasha and his brothers in Amman today has adopted the name Jabal al-Arab instead of Jabal al-Druze. Then the Arab newspapers in the motherland and in the diaspora began to use the new name until it became widespread. This name was born carrying a jihadi militant spirit, for the Arabs, as King Faisal bin Al-Hussein said, were Arabs before the coming of Jesus and Christianity, and Muhammad and Islam...

Ibrahim Al-Akil, Research in Society and History