Kfarsghab

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Coordinates: 34°16′42″N, 35°57′44″E

Kfarsghab (كفرصغاب)
Kfarsghab as seen from Ehden - June 2004
Administration
Country	Lebanon
Governorate	North Governorate
District	Zgharta District
Geography
Kfarsghab Location of Kfarsghab, Lebanon
Coordinates	34°16′42″N, 35°57′44″E
Elevation	1380 m

Kfarsghab ( known also as Kfar Sghab, Kafarsghab or Kfarseghab, Arabic: كفرصغاب‎ and IPA: kafarsˁiɣa:b) is a village located in the Zgharta District in the North Governorate of Lebanon. It is situated in what is regarded in the north of Lebanon as a very holy and spiritually dearly held location – the Valley of Qadisha.

The Lebanese hailing from Kfarsghab number 20,000 worldwide. 95% live outside Lebanon, mainly in Australia and the United States. The population is Maronite Catholic.

Contents 1 Geography 2 Climate 3 Etymology and names 4 Arabic accent 5 History 5.1 The Mamluk Period – 1252 – 1517 5.2 The Ottoman period – 1517-1918 5.2.1 The 16th Century 5.2.2 The 17th Century 5.2.3 The 18th Century 5.2.3.1 The Abou Mansour family 5.2.3.2 The Abou Youssef family 5.2.3.3 The Habqouq family 5.2.3.4 The Khouriyyeh family 5.2.3.5 The Bourgeois Sheikhs rise 5.2.3.6 The development of Kfarsghab 6 See also 7 References 8 External links 9 Further reading

[edit] Geography

Kfarsghab is composed of two geographically separated settlements: Kfarsghab and Morh Kfarsghab respectively inhabited in summers and in winters. It is a typical organization of pastoral Mediterranean communities. For Kfarsghab, a total exodus of the population takes place twice a year in May and in October. All families without exception have a house in each village. The other well-known example in Lebanon is that of the neighboring town of Ehden / Zgharta. In the recent years, the seasonal migration for Ehden / Zgharta is loosing its importance with the necessities created by the development of an economy of services in the coastal pole of Zgharta/Tripoli with its increasing number of salaried employees and with the growing financial difficulties of the households to maintain two houses. For Kfarsghab, the seasonal tradition is still respected as agriculture remains the main activity.

Kfarsghab, the summer village, is located on the road going from Ehden to Bsharri in the northern part of the Qadisha valley, overlooking the Qozhaya valley at an average altitude of 1380 meters. Kfarsghab is mentioned in documents as old as 1283 AD.

Morh Kfarsghab, the winter village, is located on the north-western slope of the Joueit valley separating Miziara from Bnachii. On average, it sits at 280 meters above sea level. A written document mentioning Morh Kfarsghab is dated to October / November 1748 AD (Thu'l-Qa'dah 1161 Hijri).

[edit] Climate

Kfarsghab  : Mediterranean mountain village with heavy winter snows and mild dry summers.

Min / Max average temperatures in Celsius Degree
Jan (2/8) Feb (2/8) Mar (4/10) Apr (7/14) May (11/20) Jun (15/25) Jul (20/27) Aug (19/27) Sep (16/24) Oct (11/20) Nov (8/17) Dec (5/11)

Morh Kfarsghab  : Mediterranean plain village with heavy rains, mild winters and hot dry arid summers.

Min / Max average temperatures in Celsius Degree
Jan (8/16) Feb (9/16) Mar (10/19) Apr (13/22) May (16/25) Jun (19/27) Jul (22/29) Aug (23/30) Sep (20/29) Oct (17/27) Nov (13/22) Dec (10/18)

[edit] Etymology and names

The Semitic name of Kfarsghab is composed of two parts: kfar and sghab. The first part, kfar, comes from the Semitic root kpr which in the context corresponds to the common Semitic noun kapar that means village^[1]. For the second part, sghab, it comes from the Semitic root sgb which means to make strong, safe. A second possibility could be the name of a person Segub^[2].

Given the above references, the etymological meaning of Kfarsghab could be “the fortified village” or “the village of Segub”, Segub being a person name in this latter case.

Morh (Arabic:

مرح‎ and IPA: murħ) is derived from the Semitic root mrh. It is a contaminated form of mrah which according to Elie Wardini

is almost exclusively in Lebanon a spreaded place name appellation. It signifies stable, hurdle, resting place (for livestock), besides also building in which the silk caterpillar is pulled …^[3]

It gives us an indication as to the historical destination of this place during wintertime for the mountain people of Kfarsghab.

As cattle breeding was never a main source of income for Kfarsghab, it is possible that Morh Kfarsghab was used in winter for the silkworms which represented a major activity in the region.

For the local people, Kfarsghab is referred to as jurid (Arabic: جرد‎ and IPA: gurd). The word is of Arabic origin and means the arid barren land. Morh Kfarsghab is called sahil (Arabic: ساحل‎ and IPA: sa:ħil) which litterally means sea coast in Arabic.

[edit] Arabic accent

Kfarsghab’s particular Arabic accent is unique in Lebanon with its unusual ‘a’/‘o’ substitution phenomenon. Some saw there the influence of the Syriac language and many scholars studied the subject without a definite conclusion as to the origin of this evolution. Here's what says about it Henri Fleisch in his study "Le Parler Arabe de Kfar-Sghab"^[4] :

... An originality of the ((Arabic)) accent of Kfarsghab is not to be limited by a silence at the drop of the voice for the pause, as the Arab dialects commonly do, but to mark this stop by a special form: a pausal form (Kfarsghab shares this originality with other accents of Lebanon : Zahlé and Shhim). The generally established classical arabic system used the "iskan" to mark the pause. Kfarsghab has recourse to diphthongizations or changes of timbre of vowels; in the same way it is in Shhim and also in Zahlé...

... A major originality of the accent of Kfarsghab is its vocalism evolution. The Lebanese are especially struck by the frequency of its vowel "o". The well-read men see there an influence of the Syriac, as they attribute the "o"s one hears in North-Lebanon to an influence of the Syriac. In fact, the Syriac has no relation to this.

In Syriac, in the Jacobite pronunciation which was that of the Syriac in Lebanon, the passage from "a" to "o" is uncoditional: all "a"s are transformed, whatever their position, whatever the consonnatic context, the phenomenon is general. In North-Lebanon, it is not the case: the passage of "a" to "o" occurs only in determined cases, it is conditioned. A good example to make feel the difference between the Syriac and the usage of dialectal Arabic in North-Lebanon is the treatment of the Arabic word kitab (Arabic: كتاب‎ meaning book)": in Syriac: ketob; in Kfarsghab: ktib; elsewhere in the North, ktéb.

The major advantage of Kfarsghab, for the linguistic science, is to have pushed to the extreme the tendencies which govern the vowel "a" in North-Lebanon and in consequence to put in full light the transformation processes; it is thus in the center of this linguistic movement...

It is still more intriguing for the local population. The popular tradition in Kfarsghab attributes its particular accent to the special characteristics of the drinking water. From sociological point of view, a major difference in accent between neighboring settlements denotes usually either geographical isolation, or an unconscious collective will of identity conservation. It is true that the winter village, Morh Kfarsghab, is relatively isolated but for the original village, Kfarsghab, which was used for the major part of the year, geography is not an evident reason. The explanation for the difference has to be found somewhere else. Since the mid 1950’s, emigration and education are contributing to the standardization of the original Kfarsghabian accent.

[edit] History

Kfarsghab may have existed well before the 10th Century. According to the popular tradition, the church of Mar Awtel has been built on the ruins of a pagan temple. Pagan temples existed in this region as attested in the Greek inscription mentioning the date 272 A.D. found in the Mar Mama church in Ehden^[5]. Other temples may have existed in the region like the one on which ruins was built the Monastery of Mar Sarkis and Bakhos in Ehden^[6]. Given the exceptional location of Saint Awtel’s Church built on a promontory, we have some reason to believe the popular tradition claim about the existence of a pagan temple in Kfarsghab.

But like most villages in the Qadisha valley, Kfarsghab entered history with the settlement of the Maronites in Mount Lebanon in the course of the 10th Century. Its History became intimately linked since then to the general History of its region, the Jebbet Bsharri Region.

[edit] The Mamluk Period – 1252 – 1517

Kfarsghab’s name is mentioned in the writings of the Maronite Historians for the first time concerning events that happened in 1283 at the end of the Crusaders period ^[7]. It is related to the invasion of Jebbet Bsharri by the Mamluk army and the collaboration of a certain ‘’’Ibn Al Sabha’’’ from Kfarsghab with the Mamluks. Here’s what Douaihi in Tarikh Al-Azminah says about the role of Ibn Al Sabha during this invasion:

And it was related that the fort that was in Ĥawqa could not be taken by the Army, which was then advised by Ibn Al Şabĥa from Kfarşghab to divert the water source of Bcherray and direct it against the fort. They thus took it (the fort of Ĥawqa) by the force of water and brought it to the ground. For that reason, they (the armies) authorized Ibn Al Şabĥa to dress in white Bash Yanis (White clothes reserved to the only Muslims) and the rest of the slaves served him (Ibn Al Şabĥa) and he was very powerful with them. Then, he (Ibn Al Şabĥa) repented of his bad actions and returned and constructed the Monastery of Ĥawqa close to the fort for the housing of the monks. And the waterway [used to destroy the fort] became reserved since those times and till our days for the usage of the Monasteries in turns, thus on Sundays, Mondays and Tuesdays for the Monastery of Qannubine, on Wednesdays for the Monastery of Ĥawqa Blawza, and on the rest of the days (of the week) for the town of Ĥadshit and its Waqfs.

To understand this ‘apparent’ betrayal, we have to place it in its Historical context. In the beginning of the 13th Century, three main powers coexisted more or less peacefully in the Middle East, the Byzantines, the Franks, and the Ayyubid Sultans in Cairo, Egypt. Each power had its allies in the region. But the failure of the Seventh Crusade and the defeat of the Mongols announced the rise of a new power, the Mamluks of Egypt. From 1250 AD, the Mamluks entered actively into the political scene of the Middle East. After securing their rule and needing legitimacy in the eyes of the Muslim world, their Sultan Baibars started attacking the Franks, seizing successfully Antioch in 1268. From that date, the pre-existing divisions of the native Christians of Lebanon between Pro and Anti-Franks became more marked; especially that the anti-Frankish party finally found in the Mamluks the strong allies it was missing since the First Crusade in 1099. After a first limited Mamluk incursion in Jebbet Bsharri against the village of Hadath in 1268, the Mamluk armies came back to the region in 1283 in what seems a more organized manner, and most probably also in 1290 after the fall of the Frankish city of Tripoli in 1289. These campaigns were mainly directed against the allies of the Franks in Jebbet Bsharri according to the text of Douaihi and their success must have reinforced the position of the anti-Frankish party to which Ibn Al Sabha apparently belonged.

But who is Ibn Al Sabha? Şabĥa is definitely a name of Semitic origin, probably Syriac. It is structurally similar to certain family names of Jacobite origin such as Ibn ‘Atcha, Ibn Sadka, Ibn Karma …; hence a strong likelihood that Ibn Al Şabĥa was of Jacobite obedience. Douaihi does not mention it. But in spite of the absence of a definite reference, we think that Ibn Al Şabĥa was of Jacobite origin. He may have been the leader of the Jacobite community of Kfarsghab.

Jacobites and Maronites coexisted in Jebbet Bsharri till the mid-Sixteenth Century. And during the Frankish presence, pro and anti-Frankish parties had members of both communities in their ranks^[8]. One should avoid adopting the simplistic view of certain Historians depicting Maronites as pro-Frankish and Jacobites as anti-Frankish.

During the following Mamluk period in Lebanon (1290-1517), no other mention of the village is found in the Maronite Historians writings. Kfarsghab should have been either a relatively small agglomeration or the population was in its majority Jacobite.

One mention of Kfarsghab goes to 1470, the presumed date of the construction of the first Saint Awtel’s Church^[9]. To our knowledge, it is the only church in Lebanon dedicated to this Saint whose tradition is shared by the Maronite, Orthodox and Jacobite churches.

Another mention, though indirect, goes to the end of the period concerning the conflict between Jacobites and Maronites. Profiting from the troubles in Jebbet Bsharri (or maybe called upon for help by the Jacobites), the Muslim Muqaddams of the neighbouring region of Ďanniyeh attacked Ehden in 1489 hoping for a quick victory. The inhabitants of Ehden and of the neighbouring villages, including Kfarşghab, despairing of the help of the Muqaddam of Bsharri, ‘Abdel Mon‘em, pushed back the attackers^[10].

[edit] The Ottoman period – 1517-1918

Following the conquest of Constantinople in 1453, the Ottoman Empire entered a long period of conquest and expansion. By 1517, it achieved its control over the Middle East after defeating the Mamluks. Jebbet Bsharri entered for 4 long centuries under the Ottoman rule.

[edit] The 16th Century

In the first Ottoman Census of 1519, Kfarsghab is credited with 14 males (of more than 15 years old), all Christians and married. Adopting a common figure used by historians to estimate the total population (6.6 inhabitants / male), 92 people should have lived in Kfarsghab^[11]. The tax money amounted to 1,600 Aspres^[12] and was paid to the Waqf of the heirs of Saad Al Moulouk.

The second census of 1571 recorded 12 males in Kfarsghab. The tax amount was of 2,892 Aspres paid to the Waqf of the Two Holy Mosques! There was an amount of 1,068 Aspres paid as Jizya.

In spite of the increase in tax due to the important inflation in the Middle-East, Kfarsghab seems to witness a decrease in its population between 1519 and 1571 of -3 per mil / year. Some historians attribute this decrease to the economic difficulties of the 16th Century in the Middle East, but also to the struggle between Maronites and Jacobites. Kfarsghab being situated in the middle of the four historical centers of Jacobites in the region - Bqoufa, Bane, Hadshit and Bsharri -, we could suppose, without risk, that some Jacobites were implemented in Kfarsghab and were obliged to flee the region after they definitely lost the support of Bsharri's Muqaddams around 1550's. We know from both censuses that Kfarsghab was inhabited by Christians but we do not know if they were Jacobites or Maronites.

Around 1600, the Kfarsghab population merged with that of the neighboring extinct village of Day’at Moussa or Qaryat Moussa. How and why such a fusion happened?

We know that inhabitants of the village of Qaryat Moussa were accused of being Jacobites at least since the end of the 14th Century ^[13]. The struggle between Maronites and Jacobites in the region started at the beginning of the 15th Century and lasted till around the mid-16th Century. It ended to the advantage of Maronites and might have weakened economically and demographically the Jacobite population of Qaryat Moussa. Moreover, the heavy snows which are advanced as the cause behind the disappearance of the neighboring Jacobite village of Bqoufa around 1600^[14] might have gave the last stroke to the existence of Qaryat Moussa as an independent agglomeration obliging its surviving population to take refuge in Kfarsghab.

It is interesting to note that we have historical references of Qaryat Moussa till the end of the 16th Century and the village seems to disappear from the records afterwards. In the Ottoman Censuses cited previously, Qaryat Moussa is credited with 9 males in 1519, all Christians and only 7 of them are married. In the second census, 12 males were recorded in 1571. This demographical vitality is somewhat intriguing, especially considering the weakening of Kfarsghab’s demography over the same period. Another reference concerns a Maronite Synod that took place in 1598 in Mart Moura, the church of Qaryat Moussa^[15]. The priest, Ibrahim of Qaryat Moussa, at the time of the 1598 Synod was an important aide of the then Patriarch Youssef AlRizzi^[16]. AinTourini attributes wrongly another Synod gathered in this church in 1644^[17].

Another point of view of the merge and the location of the Synod comes from Father Youakim Moubarac introducing his translation to French of the canons of the Synod^[18]:

… we put into this translation a particular care due to the fact that Day`at Moussa overlooks by some hundred meters the village where we were born. However, we cannot help to have some doubt as to the precise location of this Synod. Mart Moura's church, the generally assumed location for that synod celebration, is well known and its patronal saint's day is still celebrated every year with the fervent participation of the faithful from our village Kfarsghab, on September 24th. Also, we think that there lies our village of origin, before unknown reasons to the local memory made us go down. But my family acquired in the time of my father a plot of land upper than Mart Moura. It is called Marg el-Dayr and it belonged to the family Mousa. Its conversion into an orchard caused the cleaning of an oratory in decline devoted to Saint Augustine. Would it be rather there the place of celebration of the synod? I prefer to believe it because the place in question is on the border of the famous village of Bqoufa, also ruined, but from which we know that the prelates of the family Rizzi are originated, prelates who led our Church in those times with three successive patriarchs.

Today, Mart Moura Church belongs to Kfarsghab. It was restored in the 1990’s and is used once a year on Mart Moura’s Day on the 24th of September. On that day, all the villagers in Kfarsghab participate in celebrating a mass, praying especially for the rest of the souls of the forebears of Kfarsghab buried in the cemetery located next to the church.

The previous elements allow us to advance that the modern Kfarsghab results from a merge between Kfarsghab and Qaryat Moussa around 1600.

[edit] The 17th Century

At the end of the 16th Century, the emergence of a first autonomous Lebanese emirate in the southern Mount Lebanon had important impacts in Jebbet Bsharri. In political terms, it ended in 1621 the role of the Muqaddams of Bsharri as the traditional lords of the region being the official representatives of the Ottoman governor of Tripoli. In economical terms, the southern Mount Lebanon under the stable rule of the Emir Fakhreddine attracted many families who were encouraged by the Emir to establish there. An important migration took place from Jebbet Bsharri to the south but also to Aleppo, Syria.

The bloody end of the autonomous emirate in 1635 left Jebbet Bsharri in a total political confusion. The government was assigned by the Ottomans to two local village sheikhs as joint governors of Jebbet Bsharri: the Sheikh Abi Karam Yaaqoub from Hadath (1635-1640) and the Sheikh Abi Gebrayel Youssef Karam from Ehden (1635-1641). The period that opened up when those two sheikhs disappeared was full of exactions and violence. Given the instability, the people of Jebbet Bsharri insisted in 1654, on the governor of Tripoli to appoint as governor of their region, Sheikh Ahmad Hamadeh, a member of the powerful Shiite Hamadeh family, rulers of the Jbeil and Batroun regions^[19]. The Hamadeh did not succeed in establishing stability before the end of the century as they were continuously challenged by the local sheikhs and by members of their own clan.

For Kfarsghab, an important event of this century will take place in 1695 when the Lebanese Maronite Order was founded by three young Maronites from Aleppo, Syria. The Patriarch Estephan Al Douaihi encouraged the founders and established them in the Monastery of Mart Moura in Ehden. As the Order grew quickly, they established in Mar Lishaa, Bsharri (1696) and in Qozhaya (1708). In the coming two centuries, the Order will represent a major attraction for the young people of Kfarsghab who will join massively its ranks.

Among the first members of the new Order was Abdallah Habqouq from Kfarsghab. He joined the Lebanese Maronite Order very early in the pioneering days and became administrator (Mudabbir) of the Order in 1698. The family of Father Abdallah Habqouq established in the region in the second part of the 17th Century and acquired the monastery of Qozhaya from the Gilwan family, owners of Qozhaya since 1567. The Habqouq family, and specifically Bishop Youhanna Habqouq, surrendered Qozhaya to the Lebanese Maronite Order in 1708 ^[20].

[edit] The 18th Century

In the beginning of this century, the Jebbet Bsharri region was in a very poor state given the conflicts that took place in the past 70 years. Many villages were depopulated, land was abandoned.

[edit] The Abou Mansour family

From 1704, the Hamadeh secured their rule in Jebbet Bsharri. In order to populate the area, they encouraged people from their fiefdoms of Jbeil and Batroun to migrate to Jebbet Bsharri. We suppose that it is between 1677 and 1704 that the family Abou Mansour Al Bahri arrived in Jebbet Bsharri from the coastal region of Batroun. They established themselves in Kfarsghab merging slowly with the few surviving natives, possibly from the Saliba family as recorded by the tradition.

The new-comers helped the Hamadeh in the administration of the region as it is shown in the records of the Court of Tripoli^[21].

Those records show that, in 1737 the Sheikh of Kfarsghab, Mansour son of Hanna, vouched for the settlement of the Kfarsghab taxes by the Sheikh Hussein bin Moussa Hamadeh.

In 1748, the Sheikh of Kfarsghab, Hanna Abou Mansour, did the same for the Sheikh Assaad bin Moussa Hamadeh.

In 1752, we find in the records of the Court the Sheikh Hanna Son of Mansour from Kfarsghab as guarantor of Assaad Hamadeh. We have another reference to Sheikh Hanna as we read that Deacon Hanna son of Father Youssef Al Bahri finished copying the Reesh Qoryan with Fr Ibrahim Jilwan AlSamrani on July 3, 1754^[22]. Most of the sheikhs of that time were ordained deacons allowing them to have religious as well as political power.

[edit] The Abou Youssef family

In 1755, the guarantor of Assaad Hamadeh was a certain Sheikh Elias Abou Youssef son of Bahri or Al Bahri.

Here, we have to note an important change. In spite of the name Al Bahri added to the name of this last sheikh, this sheikh does not belong to the Al Bahri family. He is Sheikh Abou Youssef Elias, married to a girl from Al Bahri family, and he will play an important role in the history of Kfarsghab and of Jebbet Bsharri. Already in 1748, Abou Youssef Elias from Kfarsghab bought from Sheikh Assaad Hamadeh the land that will become later the village of Morh Kfarsghab^[23]. In the property deed established between the two men, Assaad Hamadeh referred to Abou Youssef Elias as "our beloved" and not with the title "Sheikh". Other deeds established by Assaad Hamadeh (Qozhaya, Mar Sarkis, ...) do not contain such a personal reference. It is possible that Abou Youssef Elias was close to Assaad Hamadeh but not known enough to be his guarantor at the Court of Tripoli before 1755.

In the tradition of the village of Kfarsghab, Abou Youssef Elias was married to a daughter of the Abou Mansour Al Bahri family :

The first inhabitant ever recorded was Deeb El Bahri. Deeb came from the coast of Batroun and established himself in the district. He married Maureena El Saliba and had three Sons that are the origins of the three families - Abou Mansour, Khoury Youssef and Abou Abraham. The family of Abou Youssef was a descendant of Elias who came to Kfarsghab from the Coast and married a granddaughter of Deeb El Bahri …^[24]

It seems that, between 1748 and 1755, Abou Youssef Elias became powerful enough to claim the sheikhdom of Kfarsghab and take it from his relatives by his wife, the Abou Mansour Al Bahri. We can date more or less the arrival of Abou Youssef Elias family to Kfarsghab to around 1720-1730. They came from Smar Jbeil, the village of the Gilwan family, ex-owners of the Monastery of Qozhaya. We suppose that the Abou Youssef Elias family came to the Jebbet Bsharri region earlier in the 17th Century, encouraged by the Gilwan’s and maybe the Hamadeh, the sheikhs of the Jbeil region. They must have been living originally in Tourza and Arbet Qozhaya, working as sharecroppers of the Monastery of Qozhaya. After Qozhaya was handed down to the Lebanese Maronite Order in 1708, they must have moved to Kfarsghab.

[edit] The Habqouq family

Another family arrived in Kfarsghab in the beginning of the 18th Century, it is the family Habqouq. Like the Abou Youssef Elias family, the Habqouq have bought the Monatery of Qozhaya from the Gilwan family in the second half of the 17th Century. The family came from Bsheeleh in the Batroun region and before that from Bikfaya in Metn and Jeita in Keserwan. The priests of the family settled in the Monastery of Qozhaya and their families in Arbet Qozhaya and in Bane. It is this family that gave Qozhaya to the Lebanese Maronite Order in 1708. It is probably after this event that part of the family moved from Arbet Qozhaya to Kfarsghab, the other part stayed in Bane.

This family gave the Maronite Church several illustrious sons, like Abdallah Habqouq (1670-1758). Abdallah Habqouq from Kfarsghab joined the Lebanese Maronite Order very early in the pioneering days. He was administrator (Mudabbir) of the Order between 1698 and 1732 and then between 1738 and 1742. From 1729 to 1735 and then from 1742 to 1743, he was superior of the Monastery of Our Lady of Tamish, an important Monastery that became in 1744 the siege of the Baladites Order (after the split of the Order into two Orders: Baladites and Halabites).

Father Abdallah was consecrated Bishop on 20 May 1742 ^[25] by the Bishop Tubiya Al Khazin ( future Patriarch 1756-1766) ^[26]. This consecration was done in a context of conflict over the succession of Patriarch Yusuf Dargham Al Khazin between Tubiya Al Khazin and Ilyas Muhasib. This conflict was eventually settled by the Vatican by the election of Simaan Awwad and the confirmation of the consecration of Bishop Abdallah Habqouq. Bishop Abdallah is mentionned as a signatory of a legal document in his capaity of bishop in 1744, next to the name of the Patriarch Simaan Awwad ^[27].

Apparently Bishop Abdallah sided with the Halabites faction of the Order. We do not find records for his death in the Baladites faction archives.

Bishop Abdallah died on 7 August 1758 in Kfarsghab ^[28] and is buried in Saint Awtel Church.

[edit] The Khouriyyeh family

Allied to the Abou Mansour family, the origin of this family could be traced to Aqoura, in the mountains of Jbeil. Its date of arrival in Kfarsghab is difficult to estimate. But given the fact that a Sheikh Hanna son of Rizk (from the Khourriyeh family) is cited in the records of the Court of Tripoli for the year 1761, we can suppose that this family had been settled in Kfarsghab for some time, most probably in the first part of the 18th Century.

[edit] The Bourgeois Sheikhs rise

The major event of the eighteenth century for Jebbet Bcharri happened in 1761 when Abou Youssef Elias from Kfarsghab, along with Hanna Al Daher from Bsharri, Gerges Boulos Al Douaihi from Ehden and Abou Sleimane Aouad from Hasroun, took all together the direct collection of the taxes of Jebbet Bsharri from the governor of Tripoli, Osman Pacha the Georgian. They were helped by some of the traditional Sheikhs who guaranteed at the Court of Tripoli the payment of the taxes. It was the first serious defeat of the Hamadeh in that century and the rise of the new generation of local Maronite Sheikhs, called here "Bourgeois Sheikhs".

But the Hamadeh counter-attacked, helped most probably by local people from Bsharri and Hasroun^[29]. In their struggle against the Hamadeh that lasted from 1760 till 1772, the bourgeois Sheikhs of Jebbet Bsharri got the support of the governors of Tripoli, Osman Pasha and his son Mohammad Pasha, of the Sunnite Sheikhs of Danniyeh and of the Sheikhs of Zawiyeh. In 1763, the ambitious Amir Youssef Al Shihabi (ruled afterwards Mount Lebanon from 1770 to 1789) installed in the Jbeil region and being himself in conflict with the Hamadeh, profited from the difficulties of the Bourgeois Sheikhs and maneuvered to take from them the collection of taxes in Jebbet Bsharri. He contracted an alliance with the Bourgeois Sheikhs and confirmed their privileges in the tax collection of their districts as well as their right to claim the abandoned properties of the Hamadeh (Baklik). The fight with the Hamadeh will continue for 12 years. It will lead to their eviction from the whole region and to their final defeat in 1772. The Amir Youssef Al Shihabi, and his Shihabis successors, will have the direct rule of Jebbet Bcharri for almost one century from 1763 till 1844, helped by the new generation of "Bourgeois Village Sheiks" of Jebbet Bsharri: Douaihi, Estephane, Awwad and Daher, but also Khattar, Issa Al Khoury, ...

In 1761, the guarantor of Abou Youssef Elias was a certain Sheikh Hanna son of Rizk from Kfarsghab. This family appeared as sheikhs of Kfarsghab for the first time. Apparently, Abou Youssef Elias was representing by marriage the Abou Mansour family as we can see in the last name Al Bahri added to his own name in the records of the Court. In taking a guarantor from the Rizk family, he ensured the loyalty and support of other families of Kfarsghab^[30]

[edit] The development of Kfarsghab

The last part of this century will be devoted to the economic development of Kfarsghab. Sheikh Abou Youssef Elias will deploy an important energy, till his death on December 12, 1785. The foundation in 1748 and then extension of Morh Kfarsghab on the Baklik land of the Hamadeh (common land) was necessary for the silkworm industrial development, especially during wintertime, as the European demand for Lebanese silk was important in that century. Also the extension of Mar Awtel church in 1776^[31] must have been necessary to accommodate the increasing population.

From 1755, the Sheikhs of Kfarsghab will be from the Abou Youssef Elias family,and specifically from the Estephane branch of the family. This family ran the administration of the villages of Kfarsghab, Toula, half of Karmsaddeh and half of Raskifa. For those two last villages, they shared the administration with another Bourgeois Sheikhs family, the Aouad from Hasroun. In fact, the Estephane family ruled exactly the same domain (Oktaa) as Sheikh Assaad Hamadeh, who ruled Kfarsghab in the previous period^[32].

This century would have witnessed the beginning of an important movement for Kfarsghab that will be at its apogee in the following century; that is to say the massive monastic vows among the natives of Kfarsghab. During the 18th century, more than 12 young men joined the ranks of the Lebanese Maronite Order. The demographical weakness of Kfarsghab in the first half of the century, the purchase of the winter village of Morh Kfarsghab and its development starting in 1748 and possibly the conflict inside the Order that started in 1748 between the Aleppine monks and the Lebanese ones and that eventually led to the splitting of the order into two in 1768, could be behind this modest number of monks from Kfarsghab ^[33]. It will have a major impact on Kfarsghab that we will see in the next chapter.

[edit] See also

Mar Awtel (Saint Awtel), the saint patron of Kfarsghab

[edit] References

1. ^ In The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition, 2000, we find the following entry: Semitic Roots, kpr - Definition: Common Semitic noun *kapar-, village.
   1. Capernaum, from Hebrew kpar naûm, village of Nahum, from kpar, bound form of kpr, village (naûm, Nahum; see nm).
   2. giaour, kaffir, Kaffir, from Arabic kfir, unbeliever, infidel (“villager”), from kafr, village, from Aramaic kapr, village.
2. ^ we find in the Strong’s Hebrew/Greek dictionary under the entry 7682, ‘sagab/saw-gab’, the following definition: "a primitive root; to be (causatively, make) lofty, especially inaccessible; by implication, safe, strong; used literally and figuratively --defend, exalt, be excellent, (be, set on) high, lofty, be safe, set up (on high), be too strong", and also under the entry 7687, ‘sguwb/seg-oob’, we find "aloft; Segub, the name of two Israelites:--Segub."
3. ^ Elie Wardini in A Glimpse of Yesterday. See the following link A Glimpse of Yesterday
4. ^ Le Parler Arabe de Kfar-Sghab - Henri Fleisch, Université Saint-Joseph, Beyrouth (Liban) - 1959 published in Bulletin d'études orientales - Institut Français de Damas - Tome XVIII - Année 1963 - 1964
5. ^ In Daleel Ehden by Father Doctor Youssef Yammine – Editor El – 2000 – p. 14
6. ^ Tarikh Al-Qiddissayn Sarkis wa Bakhos Ehden – Father Sharbel Abi-Khalil – Editor J. Reaaidy – 1995 – p. 9
7. ^ Tarikh Al Azminah of Patriarch Estephane Al Douaihi, version revised by the Abbot Boutros Fahd, editions Dar Lahd Khater, Beirut – 3rd Edition, pp. 261-262
8. ^ Kfarsghab and its region under the Mamluks – Youssef Laban – Private Editor - 2006 – pp. 5-12
9. ^ Moukhtasar Tarikh Jabal Loubnan by Sheikh Antonios Abi Khattar of Ain Tourine - Editor Dar Lahd Khater - Beirut 1983 - p. 139. In fact, the author refers this date to a text of the Patriarch Douaihi. We were not able to find any trace of this event in the events of that year in Douaihi's most important book Tarikh Al Azminah, op-cit. On the other hand, the historians (including AïnTourini) agree on saying that the construction of the church of Saint Awtel goes to the same period and on the same style as those of Saint Roumanos in Hadchit and another church in Madinat Al Ras (village now extinct). However the Patriarch Douaihi dates the construction of Saint Roumanos church to the year 1518, Tarikh Al Azminah op-cit p. 397. Therefore, we conclude that the first church of Saint Awtel was built at the end of the Fifteenth Century
10. ^ Tarikh Al Azminah … – p. 364
11. ^ North Lebanon in the Sixteenth Century - Details of material civilization - Dr Issam Kamal Khalifeh - Beirut 1999 - private editor
12. ^ 1 Aspre = 0.384 g of silver in 1584. In 2007 value, it will be 0.2 US$ approximatively
13. ^ Al Jamii Al Moufassal Fi Tarikh Al Mawarinah Al Mouassal - Bishop Youssef ElDebs - editor Dar Lahd Khater – 4th Edition 1987 - p. 154 & 160 & 188. According to the author, the hermit Elisée of Hadath accused by Gibrail Ibn Al Qalaii of being Jacobite lived in 1391 and was taught by Farah, the priest of Qaryat Moussa. Later, in 1487, the Jacobite priest Nouh of Bqoufa (the future patriarch of Jacobites) attracted young Maronites, notably Moussa and Hanna sons of Ibrahim Ibn AlHajj Moussa of Bqoufa and Moussa of Qaryat Moussa. From 1495, with the death of the Muqaddam (chief) of Bcharri, Abdul Mouneem, protector of Jacobites, these latter began losing their influence in the region of Jebbet Bsharri. Consequently, the Jacobites left the region of Ehden - Bqoufa, without nevertheless disappearing completely, and they established themselves in Hadchit, Hardine and Kfarhaoura. In defence of the Maronite Patriarch Mikhail Al Rizzi (1567-1581) accused of being Jacobite because a native of Bqoufa, it is explained that the Al Rizzi family lived in the higher part of Bqoufa and that Jacobites lived only in the lower part of that village. And Qaryat Moussa is precisely on the border of this lower part of Bqoufa; hence the assumption that some Jacobites lived in Qaryat Moussa
14. ^ Moukhtasar Tarikh Jabal … – p. 65 – according to the author, Bqoufa disappeared because of very heavy snow seasons and political exactions
15. ^ Douaihi in Radd Al Touham cited by Dr. Antoine Daou in the Accounts of the First Seminar on Jebbet Bcharri History 1998– p. 276. The objectives of this Synod called for by the Patriarch Youssef AlRazzi from Bqoufa was to complete the work done in the previous Synods of 1595 and 1596 for the alignment of the Maronite Church practices with those of the Holy Roman See, banning definitively the Jacobites accusations that tarnished the reputation of his two predecessors
16. ^ Tarikh Al Azminah … – p. 461
17. ^ Moukhtasar Tarikh Jabal … – p. 111 – according to him, this Synod was called for by the Patriarch Youssef Halib from Akoura. This Synod took place in fact in the Monastery of Mar Youhanna Hrash
18. ^ Pentalogie Antiochienne / Domaine Maronite - Volume 1 - Part 1 - Father Youakim Moubarac - Editor Cenacle Libanais - Beirut 1984 - p. 526. The popular tradition in Kfarsghab is that Saint Augustine Church hosted the first Maronite Synod, ever gathered
19. ^ Moukhtasar Tarikh Jabal … – p. 131
20. ^ Deir Mar Antonios Qozhaya – Father Antoine Moqbel – 2000 – J. AlReaidy Press -p. 48
21. ^ Based on the Contributions of Dr Farouk Hablas and Dr Nafeth Al Ahmar in the First Seminar on Jebbet Bcharri History 1998 – Published in the accounts of the seminar by the Gibran National Committee
22. ^ Fr. Dr. Nasser AlGemayel on Maronite Copyists and their works, especially from his contribution on the Jebbet Bcharri Copyists during the Ottoman period published in the Accounts of the Third Congress on Jebbet Bcharri History - National Committee of Gibran - 2005 - p. 158-212
23. ^ Property deed between Assaad Hamadeh and Abou Youssef Elias
24. ^ For the popular traditional history of Kfarsghab, see Aka website
25. ^ in Bishop Youssef ElDebs - Al Jamii Al Moufassal Fi Tarikh Al Mawarinah Al Mouassal - editor Dar Lahd Khater – 4th Edition 1987 - p. 288.
26. ^ in Richrad van Leeuwen - "Notables & Clergy in Mount Lebanon" - Editor E J Brill - 1994 - p. 130 & p. 265 - Father Maroun Karam gives the wrong date of 1733 for the consecration of Bishop Habqouq in his book "Monks of Our Village" - Kaslik - 1975 - p. 220
27. ^ in Father Mansour ElHattouni- Nabthah Tarikhiyyah Fi Al Mouqataah AlKesrwaniah - editor Dar Nazir Abboud – Kaslik - 1986 - p. 144
28. ^ in Bishop Youssef ElDebs - Al Jamii Al Moufassal Fi Tarikh Al Mawarinah Al Mouassal - editor Dar Lahd Khater – 4th Edition 1987 - p. 285.
29. ^ Moukhtasar Tarikh Jabal … – p. 136 – 137
30. ^ It is interesting to note that Gerges Boulos Al Douaihi from Ehden, married to a woman from the traditional Sheikhs Karam family, adopted the same attitude as Abou Youssef Elias in taking guarantors at the Court Sheikhs from the Yammine and Mouawwad families and no one from the Karams as he represented them by marriage.for a brief history of this family and their relations with the Karams, see - Caza-Zgharta website
31. ^ Mar Awtel extension
32. ^ Moukhtasar Tarikh Jabal … – p. 132
33. ^ Monks from Kfarsghab

[edit] External links

• (English)/(French) kfarsghab.net, useful information
• (English) The Australian Kfarsghabian community website
• (English) The American Kfarsghabian community website

[edit] Further reading

• Patriarch Estephan Douaihi - Tarikh Al Azminah, in the version of the Abbot Boutros Fahd, editions Dar Lahd Khater, Beirut – 3rd Edition. (arabic)
• Sheikh Antonios Abi Khattar, known as AïnTourini - Moukhtassar Tarikh Jabal Loubnan, in the version of the father Ignatius Tannous AlKhoury revised by Dr. Elias Kattar, editor Lahd Khater, Beirut 1983. (arabic)
• Fr. Youakim Moubarac - Pentalogie Antiochienne / Domaine Maronite, Volume 1, Part 1, éditions Cénacle Libanais, Beirut 1984. (French)
• Dr Elias AlKattar - Niyabat Trablous Fi ‘ahd Al Mamalik , Publications of the Lebanese University, Beirut 1998. (arabic)
• Matti Moosa - Al Mawarinah Fittarikh, Second Edition, Qadmous Publishing and Distribution, Damascus, 2004. (arabic)
• Kamal Salibi - Muntalaq Tarikh Loubnan, Second Edition, Naufal Edition, Beirut, Lebanon, 1992. (arabic)
• Kamal Salibi - A House of Many Mansions, IB Tauris Edition, London, UK, 2003. (English)
• Alain Ducellier - Chrétiens d’Orient et Islam au Moyen Age, Armand Collin, Paris, 1996. (French)
• Liban Souterrain (Loubnan Al Jawfi) Magazine - Bulletin du GERSL – N 5 – March 1998. (arabic)/(French)
• Fr. Mansour El Hattouni - Nabthah Tarikhiyyah Fi Al Mouqataah AlKesrwaniah - editor Dar Nazir Abboud – Kaslik – 1986. (arabic)
• Bishop Youssef El Debs - Al Jamii Al Moufassal Fi Tarikh Al Mawarinah Al Mouassal - editor Dar Lahd Khater – 4th Edition 1987. (arabic)
• Richrad van Leeuwen - Notables & Clergy in Mount Lebanon- Editor E J Brill - Leiden – 1994. (English)