Abdulhamid bin Abdul Ghani Al-Rafii Al-Farouki (; 1851–1932) was a Lebanese poet, writer, journalist and politician.

Career

He was born in

Tripoli Tripoli or Tripolis (from , meaning "three cities") may refer to: Places Greece *Tripolis (region of Arcadia), a district in ancient Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (Larisaia), an ancient Greek city in the Pelasgiotis district, Thessaly, near Larissa ...

, Syria on the 5th of Sha’ban of 1275 AH (March 5,1851 CE). His father was one of the leading

scholar A scholar is a person who is a researcher or has expertise in an academic discipline. A scholar can also be an academic, who works as a professor, teacher, or researcher at a university. An academic usually holds an advanced degree or a termina ...

s of Tripoli who nurtured him during his upbringing, he then studied in Tripoli's schools, then he studied under sheikh Husain Al-Gisr for four years. He attended

rhetoric Rhetoric is the art of persuasion. It is one of the three ancient arts of discourse ( trivium) along with grammar and logic/ dialectic. As an academic discipline within the humanities, rhetoric aims to study the techniques that speakers or w ...

classes at Sheikh Mahmoud Nashabh’ circle. He then left for

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

and received a five-year education from the scholars of

Al-Azhar Mosque Al-Azhar Mosque (), known in Egypt simply as al-Azhar, is a mosque in Cairo, Egypt in the historic Islamic core of the city. Commissioned as the new capital of the Fatimid Caliphate in 970, it was the first mosque established in a city that ...

where he excelled in Arabic sciences and literature. He studied law in Istanbul, where he worked as an editor in the Arab journal of Moderation (Arabic: Jaredat Al-E’tidal Al’arabiyah) alongside Hassan Al-Tawerani. He returned to Tripoli, and entered in the service of the state and was appointed as an interrogator, he stayed there for 10 years and then moved to

Benghazi Benghazi () () is the List of cities in Libya, second-most-populous city in Libya as well as the largest city in Cyrenaica, with an estimated population of 859,000 in 2023. Located on the Gulf of Sidra in the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean, Ben ...

, then transferred to

Astana Astana is the capital city of Kazakhstan. With a population of 1,423,726 within the city limits, it is the second-largest in the country after Almaty, which had been the capital until 1997. The city lies on the banks of the Ishim (river), Ishim ...

(Istanbul) where he was assigned to the Ministry of interior and was appointed as a lieutenant in Nazareth District, and he transferred through the Administrative jobs for 20 years, he gained the second order because of his good services and retired in 1914. He was subjected to the indignation of the

Turkish government The Government of Turkey () is the national government of Turkey. It is governed as a unitary state under a presidential representative democracy and a constitutional republic within a pluriform multi-party system. The term government can me ...

during the

first world war World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

because his son escaped the compulsory military service, he was exiled to

Medina Medina, officially al-Madinah al-Munawwarah (, ), also known as Taybah () and known in pre-Islamic times as Yathrib (), is the capital of Medina Province (Saudi Arabia), Medina Province in the Hejaz region of western Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, ...

then transferred to Kirklareli in

Anatolia Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...

, he remained exiled for one year and three months. He was called (Syria's Bulbul) (Arabic: bulbul Siria), and a ceremony was held to honor him by the Lebanese government in which he was awarded the Lebanese order of Merit, and famous Arab scholars and poets participated in the ceremony, including: Shakib Arsalan, Khalil Matran, as well as Ahmed Shouqi with a poet he sent to the ceremony.

Works

Abdulhamid Al-Rafi’i's collection of poems * (Arabic title: Diwan Abdulhamid Al-Rafi’i), Printed in Baghdad. * (Arabic title: Al-Aflath Al-Zabirdagiyah fi Mad’h Al-Otra Al-Ahmadiyah). * (Arabic title: Al-Madaeh Al-Rafa’iyah). * (Arabic title: Madaeh Al-Bayt Al-Sayadi). * (Arabic title: Al-Minhal Al-Asfa fi Kawatir Al-Minfa).

Death

He died on Friday the 16thof Dul-Hijjah, 1350 AH (22 April 1932 CE). He was buried in the family cemetery in Tripoli.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abdulhamid Al-Rafi'i Journalists from the Ottoman Empire Lebanese writers Lebanese scholars 20th-century Lebanese journalists 20th-century Lebanese politicians Istanbul University Faculty of Law alumni 1851 births 1932 deaths Politicians from Tripoli, Lebanon