Sobhi Mahmassani

Personal life

Mahmassani was born in Beirut, Lebanon to Rajab Mahmassani and Aisha Khoja. He grew up in a conservative family that valued education and academic achievement: he and his three male and five female siblings pursued their higher education and had successful professional careers. In 1940, he married Ismat Abdul Kader Inkidar, with whom he had four sons: Ghaleb (1941), Malek (1944), Maher (1947) and Hani (1956).

Along with engagement in simultaneous academic, professional and public life careers, Mahmassani made time for his favorite hobbies of reading, stamp collecting and music. He was an accomplished oud and violin player.

With the onset of the Lebanese Civil War in 1975, Mahmassani struggled to maintain his professional activities in Lebanon and overseas as a legal consultant and international arbitrator. However, in 1983 his activities had to slow down as he was diagnosed with lung cancer of which he died in Paris, where he was pursuing medical treatment, on September 10, 1986.

Education

Mahmassani commenced primary and high school education in Beirut during World War I at the Preparatory School of the Syrian Evangelical College (now known as International College), a preparatory school for the American University of Beirut. He graduated from the high school in 1924 with high marks, and was designated valedictorian of his class.

He pursued legal studies at the law school of University of Lyon in France from which he graduated with a License en Droit (law degree) followed by a doctorate in law in 1932. He joined the school of law of the London University and obtained bachelors in law degree in English law in 1935. As a result, he was well-versed in both French (Latin) and Anglo-Saxon legal traditions.

Mahmassani was fluent in Arabic, English and French; he also had a reading knowledge of German.

Legal career

Mahmassani started his judicial career in 1929, during the French Mandate over Lebanon, as a court clerk while he was still pursuing his higher education. He served as judge at progressively higher ranks in various locations of Lebanon until he became counselor at the mixed court of appeals in Beirut (in that period, higher courts were presided by French judges). Following the independence of Lebanon, Mahmassani became president of the civil chamber of the court of appeals and cassation of Beirut, the then highest judicial instance in the country.

Mahmassani took early retirement from his judicial career toward the end of 1946 to start a professional career as a lawyer.

In early 1947, Mahmassani founded a law firm in Beirut and became a successful attorney. That career continued until his death in 1986. During that period, Mahmassani was appointed to lead a number of international arbitrations, some in highly visible cases.

Public life and political career

The Mahmassani family is noted for its contributions to public life. On May 6, 1916 (Martyrs' Day), Sobhi's first cousins Mohammad and Mahmoud Mahmassani were publicly executed in what is now called Martyrs' Square, Beirut by Jamal Pasha, the Ottoman wāli of Greater Syria, because of their nationalist activities.

In 1944, Mahmassani was appointed as member of the Lebanese delegation to the founding of the Arab League in Alexandria, Egypt, in the capacity of legal advisor.

In 1945, he was appointed as member of the Lebanese delegation to the founding of the United Nations in San Francisco, USA, in the capacity of legal advisor. His role was recognized in a 2013 exhibition at the American University of Beirut. Mahmassani contributed to the modernization of Lebanese legislation and the creation of state institutions through his participation in the higher committee appointed for that purpose by President Fuad Chehab upon his election as President of the Republic in 1958. In the Lebanese general election, 1964, Mahmassani was elected to a four-year term as member of the Lebanese Parliament representing the capital city Beirut. He did not seek re-election.

In 1966, he was appointed minister of national economy in the Lebanese government presided by Abdallah El-Yafi, a position he occupied until 1968.

Academic career

In parallel with his professional legal and political careers, Mahmassani had a rewarding academic career that spanned from the late 1930s to the late 1970s.

He joined the faculty of the American University of Beirut in 1936 and continued until 1964; over which period he taught several courses, namely Roman law, the laws of the Arab countries and Islamic law.

Around the same time, Mahmassani also joined the faculty of the law school of Saint Joseph University in Beirut where he taught the comparative legal systems of the Arab countries.

Mahmassani was a founder of the Lebanese University and its law school in the early 1960s; he was thus among its first professors teaching Islamic law.

Mahmassani also joined the faculty of the law school of the Beirut Arab University when it opened its doors in Beirut.

Finally, Mahmassani taught law courses at the Military Academy in Lebanon. During a certain period, Mahmassani was lecturing at five universities.

As part of his academic career, Mahmassani visited a number of countries to give lectures as a visiting professor (such as in the US, the Netherlands, Egypt, Pakistan, Iran, Tunisia) or as participant in international conferences (such as in the US, France, Italy, Egypt, Iraq). In particular, in the summer of 1966, he gave a series of lectures at the Hague Academy of International Law on International law and relations in Islam.

He was elected as a Member of the Arab Academies of Damascus, Cairo and Baghdad.

As a scholar of Islamic law, Mahmassani was noted for being open-minded towards other cultures and faiths, and is frequently quoted in discussions of Liberal Islam. He actively participated in international conferences on cultural exchanges and inter-faith dialogue. Most notable were his participation in the UNESCO conferences in Florence, Italy (1950) and Paris, France (1953); the Colloquium on Islamic Culture in Princeton, US (September 1953); the conferences on Muslim - Christian cooperation in Tehran, Iran (1957) and Bhamdoun, Lebanon (1954).

Citations to his work appear in many scholarly books and articles on Islamic law, e.g. Shari_a: Islamic Law in the Contemporary Context, Islam in Transition, Muslim Perspectives, and J. Schacht's An Introduction to Islamic Law. His work on the legal aspects of human rights, from the perspective of different legal systems, is a source for scholars of international affairs. In a review, published in the Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, of the first English translation of Mahmassani’s classic reference Falsafat Al-Tashri' Fi Al-Islām, The Philosophy of Jurisprudence in Islam (translated into English by Farhat Ziadeh), Anderson refers to Mahmassani as a "leading Lebanese lawyer of the modern school", stating "Professor Mahmassani has … a wide knowledge both of European and Islamic law; he has provided a number of admirable examples of such phenomena as changes in the law authored by early Caliphs or approved by classical jurists; his statements are well-documented; and his remarks…-and indeed most of his summary of the law of evidence are admirable." A number of honours have been awarded to Mahmassani in Lebanon and abroad in recognition of his contributions. Upon his passing in 1986, he was posthumously awarded the National Order of the Cedar by the President of Lebanon.

Several obituaries and testimonials highlighting Mahmassani's influence as a legal scholar have appeared in Arabic publications; an English language biographical note appears in the Middle East Commercial Law Review. A 25th Anniversary obituary was published (in Arabic) in the Al Liwaa newspaper.

Publications

Mahmassani authored a number of important titles in Islamic law, several of which became part of the curriculum of universities in Lebanon and overseas. A complete list of his books is included below. Their availability in libraries around the world is listed in WorldCat, which identifies 81 works in 160 publications in 7 languages and 645 library holdings. He also wrote countless articles in newspapers, magazines, and specialized periodicals, some of which are listed below.