Personal Info
- Country of residence: Palestine
Information
Ali Reda bin Muhammad bin Abdul Ghani Al-Nahwi was born in the city of Safed, Palestine in 1890. His first studies were at Al-Maktab Al-Rashidi in Safed, middle school in Beirut, and university at the Royal College at Istanbul University, where he obtained his graduate degree in 1913.
His father, Sheikh Muhammad Al-Nahwi, was a scholar who served as a judge in a number of cities in the Levant, and his grandfather, Sheikh Abdul-Ghani Al-Nahwi, was the deputy, judge, and mufti of Safad.
After graduating, he worked in many jobs. During the Ottoman era, he worked as a warden in the Aleppo Governorate Council in 1912, a warden in the Beirut Governorate Council in 1913, and an inspector of information for the Akka District in 1914. In the same year, he was appointed district director in the regions of Homs, then the Lebanese Bekaa, then Houran. He was appointed governor of Masmiya Houran in 1918.
During the Al-Faisali era, Ali Reda Al-Nahwi worked as the mayor of Douma on the outskirts of Damascus in 1918, and the mayor of Zabadani and then Hasbaya in 1920.
When Al-Faisali’s rule ended, he left Syria for Palestine and Jordan. He was appointed governor of Jerash and Ajloun, then administrator of Salt and then Irbid.
In 1924, he resigned, returned to Safed, and was elected mayor of Safed between 1930 and 1934. In 1935, the Islamic Council appointed him director of the endowments of the Northern District, based in Acre.
Ali Reda had a national, political and jihadist activity. He was one of the founders of the Palestinian Arab Party in 1935, a member of the party’s executive committee, an activist in the Arab Higher Committee, and a founder of the Arab Forum, in addition to his well-known activity against the land sale movement.
Regarding his jihadist activity, he had positions in resisting the British and the Jews, and he was one of the men of Palestine who worked with Mufti Hajj Amin al-Husseini. He supervised the formation of holy jihad cells in northern Palestine from 1931-1935, and participated in managing the Great Revolt in 1936, which exposed him to persecution. British authorities, so he left for Lebanon, and was with the Central Committee for Leading the Revolution in Beirut and Damascus. During his absence, the British blew up his large house in Safed.
In 1940 he returned to Acre. After the Nakba of 1948, he was forced to leave the country to Damascus, and he was a member of the Constituent Council of the All-Palestinian Government. In Damascus, his national work and activity in serving the displaced Palestinians did not cease until his death in 1956.
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