Sobhi Mahmassani

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. After 1983 his activities slowed down as he was diagnosed with lung cancer, of which he died in Paris, where he was pursuing medical treatment, on September 10, 1986.

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.

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

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.

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.

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).

In early 1947, Mahmassani founded a law firm in Beirut and became an 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.

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

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 1964 Lebanese general election, 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 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.

Mahmassani was born in Beirut, Lebanon to Rajab Mahmassani and Aisha Khoja. He and his three male and five female siblings pursued higher education. In 1940, he married Ismat Abdul Kader Inkidar, with whom he had four sons: Ghaleb (1941), Malek (1944), Maher (1947) and Hani (1956).

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

Sobhi R. Mahmassani (Arabic: صبحي محمصاني, January 29, 1909 – September 10, 1986) was a Lebanese legal scholar, practising lawyer, judge, and political figure helped to build the legal and civic foundations of the then-nascent country of Lebanon, and whose writings on Islamic jurisprudence remain authoritative works on this topic for legal scholars and researchers.