The Sa'b family is a prominent

Shia Muslim 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

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...

History

The Sa'bs were of

Kurdish Kurdish may refer to: *Kurds or Kurdish people *Kurdish languages *Kurdish alphabets *Kurdistan, the land of the Kurdish people which includes: **Southern Kurdistan **Eastern Kurdistan **Northern Kurdistan **Western Kurdistan See also * Kurd (dis ...

tribal origin and during the Ottoman era became a leading family (''zu'ama'') among the

Shia Muslims 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 n ...

of the

Jabal Amil Jabal Amil ( ar, جبل عامل, Jabal ʿĀmil), also spelled Jabal Amel and historically known as Jabal Amila, is a cultural and geographic region in Southern Lebanon largely associated with its long-established, predominantly Twelver Shia Musl ...

area of modern southern Lebanon. The likely progenitor of the Sa'b family was Ahmad Abu Sa'b, who is mentioned in an Ottoman tax register from 1571 as the holder of the ''

timar A timar was a land grant by the sultans of the Ottoman Empire between the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries, with an annual tax revenue of less than 20,000 akçes. The revenues produced from the land acted as compensation for military service. A ...

'' (fief) of

Shaqif Arnun Beaufort or Belfort Castle, known locally as Qal'at al-Shaqif ( ar, قلعة الشقيف, Qalʾāt al-Shaqīf) or Shaqif Arnun, is a Crusader fortress in Nabatieh Governorate, Southern Lebanon, about to the south-south-east of the village o ...

(Beaufort Castle) in the

area of

Safad Sanjak Safed Sanjak ( ar, سنجق صفد; tr, Safed Sancağı) was a ''sanjak'' (district) of Damascus Eyalet ( Ottoman province of Damascus) in 1517–1660, after which it became part of the Sidon Eyalet (Ottoman province of Sidon). The sanjak was cen ...

. The Sa'bs were originally headquartered in the Shaqif Arnun castle. In 1582 he was accused by the government of joining the rebel chief of the

Druze The Druze (; ar, دَرْزِيٌّ, ' or ', , ') are an Arabic-speaking esoteric ethnoreligious group from Western Asia who adhere to the Druze faith, an Abrahamic, monotheistic, syncretic, and ethnic religion based on the teachings of ...

Ma'n dynasty The Ma'n dynasty ( ar, ٱلْأُسْرَةُ ٱلْمَعْنِيَّةُ, Banū Maʿn, alternatively spelled ''Ma'an''), also known as the Ma'nids; ( ar, ٱلْمَعْنِيُّونَ), were a family of Druze chiefs of Arab stock based in the ...

of the

Chouf Chouf (also spelled Shouf, Shuf or Chuf, in ''Jabal ash-Shouf''; french: La Montagne du Chouf) is a historic region of Lebanon, as well as an administrative district in the governorate (muhafazat) of Mount Lebanon. Geography Located south-east ...

, Qurqumaz Ma'n, in raiding the Safad region. The Sa'bs lost the Shaqif Arnun tax farm and castle to the Ma'ns in the 1600s under their prominent chief

Fakhr al-Din II Fakhr al-Din ibn Qurqumaz Ma'n ( ar, فَخْر ٱلدِّين بِن قُرْقُمَاز مَعْن, Fakhr al-Dīn ibn Qurqumaz Maʿn; – March or April 1635), commonly known as Fakhr al-Din II or Fakhreddine II ( ar, فخر الدين ال ...

. Later in the century, they regained control of Shaqif Arnun and participated in the Shia victory against Fakhr al-Din's grandnephew

Ahmad Ma'n Aḥmad ibn Mulḥim ibn Yunus Maʾn was the paramount emir of the Druze in Mount Lebanon and the tax farmer of the subdistricts of the Chouf, Matn, Gharb and Jurd from 1667 until his death in 1697. He was the last member of the Ma'n dynasty, afte ...

Nabatieh Nabatieh ( ar, النبطية, links=no, ', ), or Nabatîyé (), is the city of the Nabatieh Governorate, in southern Lebanon. The population is not accurately known as no census has been taken in Lebanon since the 1930s; estimates range from ...

in 1666. The Sa'b family continued to be mentioned in the local narrative sources throughout the 18th century, mainly as holders of the tax farm of Bilad Bishara (

Tibnin Tebnine ( ar, تبنين ''Tibnīn'', also Romanized ''Tibnine'') is a Lebanese town spread across several hills (ranging in altitude from 700m to 800m (2,275 ft to 2,600 ft) above sea level) located about east of Tyre (Lebanon), i ...

Hunin Hunin ( ar, هونين) was a Palestinian Arab village in the Galilee Panhandle part of Mandatory Palestine close to the Lebanese border. It was the second largest village in the district of Safed, but was depopulated in 1948.Gelber, 2006, p. ...

Qana Qana, also spelled Cana or Kana, ( ar, قانا) is a town in southern Lebanon located southeast of the city of Tyre and north of the border with Israel, in an area historically known as Upper Galilee. The 10,000 residents of Qana are prim ...

triangle), usually in concert with other leading Shia clans, such as the Ali al-Saghirs and Munkars. A certain Sulayman Sa'b is mentioned in a government document as having been expelled from Bilad Bishara. The Sa'bs were crushed alongside the Munkars by the

Shihab dynasty The Shihab dynasty (alternatively spelled Chehab; ar, الشهابيون, ALA-LC: ''al-Shihābiyūn'') was an Arab family whose members served as the paramount tax farmers and local chiefs of Mount Lebanon from the early 18th to mid-19th centu ...

of Mount Lebanon in a battle near Nabatieh in 1707. They later allied with the Shihabs and the governor of

Sidon Eyalet ota, ایالت صیدا , common_name = Eyalet of Sidon , subdivision = Eyalet , nation = the Ottoman Empire , year_start = 1660 , year_end = 1864 , date_start = , date_end = , ev ...

As'ad Pasha al-Azm As'ad Pasha al-Azem ( ar, أسعد باشا العظم, 1706 – March 1758) was the governor of Damascus under Ottoman rule from 1743 to his deposition in 1757. He was responsible for the construction of several architectural works in the city a ...

, against the Ali al-Saghirs, defeating the latter at

Yaroun Yaroun (also spelled Yarun; ar, يارون)From personal name, according to Palmer, 1881, p104"perhaps the Iron of Josh. xix 38" is a Lebanese village located in the Caza of Bint Jbeil in the Nabatieh Governorate in Lebanon. Geography Yaroun ...

in 1732. The Sa'bs and a wider Shia coalition were routed by the Shihabs in the village of Ansar in 1743 after the Sa'bs' failure to remit taxes to Sidon.

References

Bibliography

*{{cite book , last=Winter , first=Stefan , title=The Shiites of Lebanon under Ottoman Rule, 1516–1788 , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KGeuAeFFJCEC&q=editions:jLFlDGGDXJgC , publisher=Cambridge University Press , year=2010 , location=Cambridge , isbn=978-0-521-76584-8 Families from the Ottoman Empire Lebanese noble families Lebanese Shia Muslims Lebanese people of Kurdish descent