Muhammad Baydoun ( ar, محمد بيضون; 5 February 1952 – 17 May 2022) was a moderate Lebanese politician and served as a member of the Lebanese parliament from 1992 until 2005. He also served as minister of power and energy as recently as 2005. He participated in many rallies organized by the 14 March coalition.

Early life and education

Baydoun was born into a

Shiite Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that the Islamic prophet Muhammad designated ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his successor (''khalīfa'') and the Imam (spiritual and political leader) after him, most ...

family in Bachoura, Beirut, on 5 February 1952. His family were originally from

Bint Jbeil Bint Jbeil () is the second largest town in the Nabatiye Governorate in Southern Lebanon. The town has an estimated population of 30,000. Its exact population is unknown, because Lebanon has not conducted a population census since 1932. Histo ...

South Lebanon Southern Lebanon () is the area of Lebanon comprising the South Governorate and the Nabatiye Governorate. The two entities were divided from the same province in the early 1990s. The Rashaya and Western Beqaa Districts, the southernmost distric ...

. Baydoun held a bachelor of science degree in mathematics from

Lebanese University The Lebanese University (LU) (, ) is the only public university in Beirut, Lebanon. It is ranked #701–750 worldwide in terms of education. The creation of the Lebanese University was an idea first mentioned in the speech of the former Minist ...

and a PhD in mathematics from Claude Bernard University in

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...

, France.

Career

Baydoun worked as mathematics professor at Lebanese University from 1976 to 1988. In 1980, he became a senior official of the Amal Movement. He was named a member of Amal's political bureau in 1982 and appointed president of the bureau on 14 October 1998. Baydoun is also former president of Amal's council of the south (1985-1991). In 1991, he was appointed deputy from Amal and elected in the

general election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

in 1992 and

in 1996 for the Shi’ite seat in Tyre, South Lebanon. He also won his seat in the

in 2000 receiving more votes than

Hezbollah Hezbollah (; ar, حزب الله ', , also transliterated Hizbullah or Hizballah, among others) is a Lebanese Shia Islamist political party and militant group, led by its Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah since 1992. Hezbollah's parami ...

candidates. Baydoun also served as government minister in different cabinets. He was first appointed minister of housing and cooperatives in

Omar Karami Omar Abdul Hamid Karami (last name also spelled Karamé and Karameh) ( ar, عمر عبد الحميد كرامي; 7 September 1934 – 1 January 2015) was the 29th prime minister of Lebanon, who served two separate terms. He was Prime Minis ...

's government. He served in this post from 24 December 1990 to 10 May 1992. Then, he was appointed minister of electrical and water resources in Rachid Al Solh's cabinet, and was in office from 16 May 1992 to 30 October 1992. He also served in the cabinet led by Prime Minister

Salim Hoss Selim Ahmed Hoss ( ar, سليم أحمد الحص; also transliterated ''Salim Al-Hoss;'' born 20 December 1929) is a veteran Lebanese politician who served as the Prime Minister of Lebanon and a longtime Member of Parliament representing his h ...

from 1998 to 2000. Baydoun was appointed minister of electrical and water resources to the cabinet led by Prime Minister

Rafik Hariri Rafik is the given name of: *Rafik Al-Hariri (1944–2005), business tycoon, former Prime Minister of Lebanon *Rafik Bouderbal (born 1987), French-born Algerian player currently playing for ES Sétif in the Algerian Championnat National *Rafik Deg ...

in October 2000. Baydoun was expelled by

Nabih Berri Nabih Berri ( ar, نبيه مصطفى بري, translit=Nabīh Muṣṭafā Barriyy, links=hh; born 28 January 1938) is a Lebanese Shia politician who has been serving as Speaker of the Parliament of Lebanon since 1992. He heads the Amal Moveme ...

, head of the Amal movement, from the cabinet in March 2003. In October 2012, Baydoun declared that he was ready to become Parliament speaker if his candidacy was backed by the

March 14 Coalition The March 14 Alliance ( ar, تحالف 14 آذار, taḥāluf 14 adhār}), named after the date of the Cedar Revolution, is a coalition of political parties and independents in Lebanon formed in 2005 that are united by their anti-Syrian stance ...

. Baydoun had also business activities and was a member of the board and of the audit committee of the İBL Bank.

Views and influence

At the beginning of the 2000s, Baydoun was a pro-Syrian politician, who had close ties with "old guards" in

Damascus )), is an adjective which means "spacious". , motto = , image_flag = Flag of Damascus.svg , image_seal = Emblem of Damascus.svg , seal_type = Seal , map_caption = , ...

such as Hikmat Shihabi and

Abdul Halim Khaddam Abdul Halim Khaddam ( ; ar, عبد الحليم خدام; 15 September 1932 – 31 March 2020) was a Syrian politician who was Vice President of Syria and "High Commissioner" to Lebanon from 1984 to 2005. He was long known as a loyalist of Hafez ...

. In June 2008, Baydoun stated that

Saad Hariri Saad El-Din Rafik Al-Hariri ( ar, سعد الدين رفيق الحريري, translit=Saʿd ad-Dīn Rafīq al-Ḥarīrī; born 18 April 1970) is a Lebanese-Saudi politician who served as the prime minister of Lebanon from 2009 to 2011 and 2016 t ...

was unable to organize the Sunni community or defend it and to build the institutions of state. The Shiite community of Lebanon has been dominated by a number of

feudal Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was the combination of the legal, economic, military, cultural and political customs that flourished in Middle Ages, medieval Europe between the 9th and 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a wa ...

families. Although Baydoun was not part of these families, he was among the individuals who has influence on the Shiite community.

Death

Baydoun died on 17 May 2022 due to an undisclosed illness.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baydoun, Muhammad 20th-century Lebanese businesspeople 21st-century Lebanese businesspeople 1952 births 2022 deaths Amal Movement politicians Energy ministers of Lebanon Housing ministers of Lebanon Water ministers of Lebanon Lebanese Shia Muslims Lebanese University alumni Academic staff of Lebanese University Members of the Parliament of Lebanon Politicians from Beirut University of Lyon alumni