View source for Muhammad Jaber Al Safa

{{Short description|Lebanese politician (1875–1945)}}
{{ infobox writer <!-- for more information see [[:Template:Infobox writer/doc]] --> 
| name          = Muhammad Jaber Āl Safa
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| birth_date     = 1875
| birth_place    = [[Nabatiye]], [[Ottoman Syria]]
| death_date     = 1945
| death_place    = [[Nabatiye]], [[Lebanon]]
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| occupation    = [[Historian]], [[writer]], [[poet]], [[politician]]
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| notableworks  = ''Tārīkh Jabal ʻAmil'' (The History of Jabal Amil)
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| relatives     = [[Ahmad Rida]] (father-in-law) <br /> [[Hisham Jaber]] (grandson)
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'''Muhammad Jaber Āl Safa''' (also spelled Jabir Al Safa) (1875–1945) ({{Langx|ar|محمد جابر آل صفا}}) was a [[historian]], [[writer]] and [[politician]] from [[Jabal Amel]] (in modern-day [[Lebanon]]), known for his founding role in the [[anti-colonialist]] [[Arab nationalism|Arab nationalist]] movement in the turn-of-the-century [[Levant]].<ref>Chalabi, Tamara (2006). ''The Shi'is of Jabal `Amil and the New Lebanon: Community and Nation-State, 1918-1943'', p.34</ref>

==Biography==
Jaber Āl Safa was born in [[Nabatiye]] into an illustrious family of scholars descended from the [[Safavid dynasty|Safavids]]. His ancestor, Ismail Mirza, a son of Hamza Mirza - the eldest son and designated heir of Shah [[Mohammad Khodabanda]] - had travelled from Isfahan to Nabatiye to escape persecution by his uncle [[Shah Abbas I]]. 

Jaber Āl Safa studied language and history under renowned scholars Hassan Yusuf al-Makki and Muhammad Ibrahim al-Husseini. Jaber Al Safa and his companions [[Ahmad Reda|Sheikh Ahmad Reda]] (also his father-in-law) and [[Sheikh]] Sulaiman Daher, having formed an intellectual gathering known as "the Ameli Three", also known as the "Amili Trio" or "Nabatieh Trio", played a principal role in forming Jabal Amel's political and cultural history,<ref>Chalabi (2006), p.33</ref> and were also the first in that region to speak of an Arab nation and of an Arab state.<ref>Chalabi (2006), p.34</ref>

Because of the group's strong opposition to the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] rule, they were arrested in 1915, along with other Arab nationalist leaders such as Rida Al Solh and his son [[Riad Al Solh|Riad]], and imprisoned in [[Aley]]'s military prison.<ref>Harris, William (2012). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=jY4ImTGnamUC&q=%22jabir%22&pg=PA35 Lebanon: A History, 600-2011]'', Oxford University Press, p.173</ref><ref>Chalabi (2006), p.52</ref> They were liberated as the Ottomans left the country during the [[First World War]].

He was a major supporter of [[Faisal I of Iraq|King Faisal]]'s rule in the [[Syria (region)|region of Syria]] following the [[Arab Revolt]], having been a leading nationalist since before the outbreak of the [[First World War]].<ref>Nakash, Yitzhak (2011). ''Reaching for Power: The Shi'a in the Modern Arab World'', Princeton University Press, p.39</ref> Nationalists, prior to the revolt, were not secessionists. Rather, they called for decentralization and discussed nationalist ideas, while still positioning themselves within the Ottoman entity.<ref>Chalabi (2006), p.50</ref> Jaber Al Safa credited the Ottoman state with losing people's support because of the harsh measures it implemented regarding conscription and, before that, its suppression of Arabic as an official and administrative language and related [[Turkification]] policies brought forth by the [[Committee of Union and Progress]].

Jaber, as part of the "Amili Trio", lobbied for Lebanon's union with Syria and opposed the French Mandate in Lebanon (he was briefly arrested by the French authorities but was released following widespread protests in Nabatiye in his support), remaining a supporter of pan-Arab unity until his death in 1945.<ref>Chalabi (2006), p.108-9</ref>

He wrote "''Tārīkh Jabal `Amil''", or "''The History of Jabal `Amil''", which is used as a main reference on the history of the [[Levant]] and Lebanon, and [[Jabal Amel]] in particular.<ref>Chalabi (2006), p.163, p.36</ref>

==Ancestry==

{{chart top|text-align=left|collapsed=yes|Patriline}}
#1st Imam [[Ali ibn Abu Talib]], 601–661
#3nd Imam [[Husayn ibn Ali]], 626–680
#4rd Imam [[Ali ibn Husayn Zayn al-Abidin]], 659–713
#5th Imam [[Muhammad al-Baqir]], 677–733
#6th Imam [[Jafar al-Sadiq]], ca. 702–765
#7th Imam [[Musa ibn Jafar]], ca. 745-ca. 799
#Abul-Qasim Hamza ibn Musa
#Qasim ibn Hamza
#Ahmad ibn Qasim
#Muhammad ibn Ahmad 
#Ismail ibn Muhammad
#Muhammad ibn Ismail
#Jaafar ibn Muhammad
#Ibrahim ibn Jaafar
#Muhammad ibn Ibrahim
#Hasan ibn Muhammad
#Muhammad ibn Hasan
#Sharaf-Shah ibn Muhammad
#Muhammad ibn Sharaf-Shah
#Firuz-Shah Zarrin-Kolah
#Awadh ibn Firuz-Shah
#Muhammad al-Hafiz ibn Awadh 
#Salih ibn Muhammad al-Hafiz
#Qutb al-Din ibn Salih
#Sheikh Amin al-Din Jibril ibn Qutbuddin
#[[Safi-ad-din Ardabili|Sheikh Safi al-Din Ishaq]]
#[[Sadr al-Din Musa|Sheikh Sadr al-Din Musa]]
#[[Khvajeh Ali Safavi|Sheikh Khoja Ala al-Din Ali]]
#Sheikh Ibrahim Shah
#[[Shaykh Junayd|Sheikh Junayd]]
#[[Sheikh Haydar]]
#[[Shah Ismail]]
#[[Shah Tahmasp]]
#[[Mohammad Khodabanda|Shah Mohammad Khodabanda]]
#Hamza Mirza
#Ismail Mirza
#Hijazi ibn Ismail
#Muhammad ibn Hijazi
#Jaber ibn Muhammad
#Muhammad ibn Jaber
#Taleb ibn Muhammad
#Muhammad ibn Taleb Jaber Al Safa
{{chart bottom}}

==See also==
*[[List of historians]]

==References==
{{Reflist|colwidth=33em}}

==External links==
* {{YouTube|QGqHPDnVBsE|Short Documentary about Muhammad Jaber Al Safa}}, in [[Arabic language|Arabic]].
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jaber, Muhammad}}
[[Category:1875 births]]
[[Category:1945 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Nabatieh]]
[[Category:20th-century Lebanese historians]]
[[Category:20th-century writers from the Ottoman Empire]]