Shihab family

Prince Bashir Chehab II "the Great" was the Emir (or Prince) of Lebanon from 1788 till 1840.

The "Shihabs", or "Chehabs" (Arabic: شهاب) are a prominent Lebanese noble family. The Chehabs were the traditional princes of the Wadi al-Taym, who traced their lineage to the ancient Quraysh tribe from Mecca. The Chehabs descended from the Maans through the female line. However, unlike the Maans who were Druze, the Chehabs were originally Sunni Muslims. As a result, they had less support from the Druze. This fact caused them to turn for support to the Maronite Christians. The ruling class of the Chehab family eventually converted to Christianity at the end of the 18th century.^[1] The Chehabs worked methodically to encourage Christian immigration to Lebanon with the sole purpose of strengthening the family's economic status. They also strove to introduce Western European culture, particularly French culture into this region.

The Chehabs succeeded the Maans in 1697.^[2] They originally lived in the Hawran region of southwestern Syria and settled in Wadi at Taim in southern Lebanon. The most prominent among them was Prince Bashir Chehab II, who was much like his predecessor, Fakhr ad Din II. His ability as a statesman was first tested in 1799, when Napoleon besieged Acre, a well-fortified coastal city in Palestine, about forty kilometers south of Tyre. Both Napoleon and Al Jazzar, the governor of Acre, requested assistance from the Chehab princes; Bashir, however, remained neutral, declining to assist either combatant. Unable to conquer Acre, Napoleon returned to Egypt, and the death of Al Jazzar in 1804 removed Bashir's principal opponent in the area.^[3]

When Bashir II decided to break away from the Ottoman Empire, he allied himself with Muhammad Ali Pacha, the founder of modern Egypt, and assisted Muhammad Ali's son, Ibrahim Pasha, in another siege of Acre. This siege lasted seven months, the city falling on May 27, 1832. The Egyptian army, with assistance from Bashir's troops, also attacked and conquered Damascus on June 14, 1832.^[3]

In 1840, the principal European powers (Britain, Austria, Prussia, and Russia), opposing the pro-Egyptian policy of the French, signed the London Treaty with the Sublime Porte (the Ottoman ruler) on July 15, 1840. ^[3]

Fouad Chehab was the President of the Lebanese Republic from 1958 to 1964.

According to the terms of this treaty, Muhammad Ali was asked to leave Syria; when he rejected this request, Ottoman and British troops landed on the Lebanese coast on September 10, 1840. Faced with this combined force, Muhammad Ali retreated, and on October 14, 1840, Bashir II surrendered to the British and went into exile.^[3] Bashir Chehab III was then appointed. On January 13, 1842, the sultan deposed Bashir III and appointed Omar Pasha as governor of Mount Lebanon. This event marked the end of the rule of the Chehabs.

Today, the Chehabs are still one of the most prominent families in Lebanon, and the third president of Lebanon after independence, Fuad Chehab, was a member of this family, as was former Prime Minister Khaled Chehab. The Chehabs bear the title of Amirs (or Princes). Today, a group of them are Sunni Muslims, and others are Maronite Catholics, though they have common family roots. The 11th century citadel in Hasbaya, South Lebanon, is still a private property of the Chehabs, many of them still living in it. Interestingly, a branch of the family, directly descended from Bashir II, resides in Turkey, known as the Paksoy family, due to Turkish restrictions on non-Turkish surnames.

List of Rulers

Name	Reign
Bashir I	1697-1707
Haydar	1707-1732
Mulhim	1732-1754
Mansur	1754-1770
Yusuf	1770-1788
Bashir II	1788-1840
Bashir III	1840-1842

References

1. ^ Ivan Mannheim, Syria & Lebanon handbook, Footprint Travel Guides, 2001, ISBN 1900949903, Google Print, p. 567.
2. ^ Library of the Congress - The Shihabs, 1697-1842
3. ^ ^{a b c d} [1] The Chehab family

External links