Saadallah Howayek

Saadallah Howayek ( _ar. الحويك) (b.1853 d.1915) was a politician from the Ottoman period and came from Helta, Lebanon. He was elected to serve in the Administration Council for Mount Lebanon between the years 1902–1907.

Administration of Mount Lebanon

In 1861 the Ottomans separated Mount Lebanon from Syria. They reunited the geography under a non-Lebanese Christian mutasarrif (governor) appointed by the Ottoman sultan and who had approval of the European powers.

The mutasarrif was to be assisted by an administrative council of twelve members from the various religious communities in Mount Lebanon:
* four Maronites
* three Druze
* one Turk (In the Ottoman Empire, "Turk" often referred to any Orthodox Sunni Muslim, regardless of ethnicity (as opposed to Ottoman non-Muslims)
* two Greeks (Orthodox)
* one Greek Uniate (Melkite, or Greek Catholic)
* one Shiite

The members are elected by the seven districts (Aqdya, singular - qadaa or Caza)
* Batroun, one, a Maronite
* Keserwan, one, a Maronite
* Jezzine, three, one Maronite, one Druze and one Sunni Muslim
* Matn, four, one Maronite, one Druze, one Shiite and one Greek Orthodox
* Chouf, one, a Druze
* Kura, one, a Greek Orthodox
* Zahle, one, a Greek Catholic

Election to Council

Muzaffer Pasha was Mutasarrif (Governor) of Mount Lebanon from 1902–1907 (born Wladyslaw Czajkowski, Poland b. 1843 - d. 1907)

Saadallah Howayek was elected into the Administration Council during that term. He was elected into the Maronite Batroun seat.

Interim Mutasarrif

Franko Pasha was the governor of Mount Lebanon from 1868 to 1873. Right after his office expired, and before the Ottoman porte had appointed a new governor, Saadallah Howayek was appointed as interim mutasarrif.

Demonstrations May 1910

The councillors who defended this position were
* Saadallah Howayek (Maronite, Batrun)
* Khalil Akl (Maronite, Matn)
* Mahmoud Jumblatt (Druze, Jezzine)
* Mohammad Sabra (Druze, Matn)
* Elias Chouairi (Greek Orthodox, Matn)
* Youssef Baridi (Greek Catholic, Zahleh)
* Mohammad Mouhsin (Shiite, Keserwan)

The Sunni councillor of Jezzin, the Druze councillor of Chouf (Fouad Abd el Malak), the Maronite councillor of Jezzin, and the deputy chairman (Maronite) Qabalan Abi el Lamaa did not participate in the demonstrations.

Politics Towards the Church

Some members of the council were liberal bureaucrats committed to the cause of secular authority in the Lebanon Mountain. There was an ongoing struggle between the liberals and the clergy for the leadership of the Maronites. There were liberals, such as Saadallah Howayek, who favoured close cooperation with the Maronite Church. There were also liberal-minded Maronite bishops such as Youssef Dibs, who advocated a change in the Church's attitude toward secular authority.

Political Allies

Kanaan Al Daher (the third of the family carrying this name) was elected three times between the years 1888 and 1902 as representative of North Lebanon in the Administrative Council. Saadallah Howayek was the head of the list supporting Kanaan Al Daher in those elections. Saadallah Howayek won and replaced Kanaan Al Daher in the Council. It is at that time that Kanaan Al Daher was appointed as Ka'em Makam of Keserwan.

Deputy chairman of the Council

Yusuf Pasha (1907–1912) in his final year in Mount Lebanon, even after conflict with the administration council, was left with no choice but to appoint Saadallah Howayek ( who was the leader of the liberal councillors) as deputy chairman of the Council.

Exile in 1920

Many were of the opinion that Lebanon was the Maronite Church's dream come true. The main features of this dream were:
* keeping the communities separate
* the Christianity of Lebanon
* the moral supremacy of the Maronite Church over the traditions and institutions of the secular government
* the dependence of Lebanon on a major power for its internal and external security.

An alternative vision was represented by the seven councillors condemned as traitors and sent into exile in 1920. One of the leaders of this group was Saadallah Howayek, a veteran politician, the Maronite representative of Batrun in the Council, and the patriarch's own brother.

ee also

[http://content.cdlib.org/xtf/view?docId=ft6199p06t&brand=eschol] The Long Peace, Ottoman Lebanon, 1861–1920, Engin Deniz Akarli, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESSBerkeley · Los Angeles · Oxford
[http://www.caza-zgharta.com/zawie/zawiepolitic.htm] The Political History Of Zawieh, Zghorta