| Rafiq al-Tamimi | |
|---|---|
| Member of Central Committee of al-Fatat | |
| In office 1918–1919 |
|
| Chairman of al-Najjada | |
| In office 1945–1947 |
|
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1889 Nablus, Ottoman Empire |
| Died | 1957 |
| Nationality | Palestinian Arab |
| Political party | Palestine Arab Party |
| Other political affiliations |
al-Fatat |
| Occupation | Arab nationalist political activist |
| Profession | Administrative leader and educator |
| Committees | Arab Higher Committee |
| Religion | Sunni Islam |
Muhammad Rafiq al-Tamimi (Arabic: محمد رفيق التميمي, 1889-1957)[1] was a Palestinian Arab educator and political figure in the 20th century. He was appointed to the Arab Higher Committee in 1945 and was the chairman of al-Najjada.
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Al-Tamimi was born in Nablus to a Sunni Arab landowning family in 1889. He attended elementary and secondary school in the city and then at the Marjan Preparatory School in Istanbul, Turkey. Because of his well-rated performance at Marjan, he entered and won an academic contest. He enrolled at the Mulkiyya College in Istanbul as a result. He was consequently recognized by the Ottoman Education Ministry and given a grant to learn at the Sorbonne in Paris. There he received a degree in literature and education.[2]
Al-Tamimi served in the local administration of the Ottoman Empire as a principal of a government-run school in Beirut.[2] Despite working for the Ottoman government, in 1911, while in Paris, he and his colleague Awni Abd al-Hadi founded the underground organization, al-Fatat, which called for Arab independence from the empire.[3] In 1916, during World War I, Ottoman officials ordered al-Tamimi to gather information for a general "guide book" on the southern half of the Beirut Province, namely Jabal Nablus.[4]
He was elected to the central committee of al-Fatat in December 1918. In July 1919, following the Great Arab Revolt which succeeded in gaining Arab independence, al-Tamimi along with Izzat Darwaza, Sa'id Haydar and other members of al-Fatat's inner circle formed the group in the General Syrian Congress that rejected the establishment of any foreign mandate (British or French) in Greater Syria, claiming it would only be a "disguised form of imperialist penetration."[5]
He later joined the Palestine Arab Party in the early 1940s, representing the party in the Arab Higher Committee of 1945.[6] He also became chairman of the Jaffa branch of the National Committee. Al-Tamimi was known to be a close associate of Mohammad Amin al-Husayni, the chairman of the AHC.[7] He led efforts to merge the al-Najjada and Futuwwa youth movements in Palestine. Al-Tamimi left the AHC after the Bloudan Conference in 1946, but was reappointed by Jamal al-Husayni on January 5, 1947.[8] He was made part of the Palestinian delegation to the Arab League in February 1948 aimed at obtaining military, political, and moral support for the Palestinian cause from the Arab states.[9]