Mohamed Ali El-Taher "Abou El-Hassan" was born in 1896 in the city of Nablus (the ancient Roman town of Flavia Neapolis) in Palestine. One of four boys and three girls born to Aref El-Taher and Badia Kurdieh, some of them half brothers and sisters. It is believed that the El-Taher family roots go back to the Jaradat tribe, a descendant of Juhayna, a famous Arab tribe whose abode was the north western part of what is known today as Saudi Arabia.
Background
Those were the years when Bilad Ash-Sham, i.e. Greater Syria, also known as the Levant, were struggling to gain their independence from the Ottoman Empire, which was itself in the midst of an overall internal change following the decline of its importance on the world scene after 600 years as a major imperial power. During the conflicts between Arabs and the Ottoman Empire, and the revolution against the French army back then Mohamed Ali El-Taher began his intellectual contribution to the issues of the day, relying on his pen as a means to conduct his struggle. Despite his relative young age, he was nonetheless far-sighted enough to realize that his writings would not reach the Arab masses and their leaders unless they originated from a major Arab capital. This impelled him to travel to Egypt, which by then was semi-independent and practically not under Ottoman rule. Cairo, a shining city, played an important role on the world scene both within the Arab and Islamic context, and even in the European context.
Education
Contrary to what several writers have indicated, El-Taher never went to school and whatever he learned was gleaned from a traditional Arabian school "Al-Kouttab in Arabic". Among the stories he shared with his son, he confided to him that he often skipped school to go and watch players play Draught games "Jeu de dames, or Dama in Arabic" in one of the many cafes of the Mansheyya and Ajami neighbourhoods of Yafa, the city of his youth.
Career
In March 1912 El-Taher arrived in Port Said from Jaffa for the first time in a fisherman’s boat. Egypt was then ruled by Khedive (i.e. Vice-Roy) Abbas Helmi II. Because of his early nationalist activities especially following the occupation of Palestine during World War I by the British after it was captured from the Ottomans, he was imprisoned on September 15, 1915 by Egyptian authorities, acting on behalf of the British, who were the de facto rulers of the country. He was first imprisoned in Alexandria, then at Giza near Cairo. He was released from prison in 1917 and kept on living in Egypt. His objective was to expose Greater Syria’s grievances, following its dismemberment by Britain and France into several countries they divided among themselves according to the Sykes-Picot Agreement secretly drawn during the war. In particular, he wanted to forewarn the Arabs, following the uncovering of the Balfour Declaration in 1917, of Britain’s intention to hand over Palestine to the European Zionist Movement to turn it into a Jewish National Home. While residing in Egypt, El-Taher visited Palestine and the neighbouring Syrian hinterland quite regularly to see his mother, brothers and sisters, as well as to consult with various nationalist movements and intellectuals in those countries. It was during those years that the British government was busy preparing the country to settle Jewish immigrants it brought to Palestine from various parts of Europe and the Western world in general, but particularly those fleeing the pogroms and injustices from the Balkans, Russia and Central Europe pursuant to its undertaking in the Balfour Declaration. It is quite likely that Britain brought them to Palestine, among other things, to prevent them from immigrating to the United Kingdom. The native Palestinian Jewish community lived in peace with the other communities. That is until the European settlers brought by Britain arrived and proceeded to arm themselves with the stated objective of taking over the country. This was going on of course without consulting with the Palestinians, or notifying them, or asking them “if you please”. As far as the Christian British politicians were concerned, Jews and Arabs were cousins and they would coexist without major problems. Of course things were not as simple as that, because the Jews Britain was bringing were mostly Eastern Europeans who had no ethnic connection to the peoples of the Eastern Mediterranean. Besides, the mostly Ashkenazi tradition they brought with them was already different from that of the local Palestinian Jewish community, whose members were rather Sephardic and Samaritan and much closer to the Islamic tradition. Furthermore, while Islam is heavily influenced by Judaism and Christianity, which preceded it, the three religions are actually pretty close from a religious perspective, though they also carry several important dissimilarities.
Politics
El-Taher maintained his activities until he died peacefully during the early hours of August 22, 1974. He was buried in a very simple grave in the Martyrs’ Cemetery in Beirut following a military funeral organized by the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and attended by representatives of King Hassan II of Morocco, President Bourguiba of Tunisia, and PLO leader Yasser Arafat24. Lebanese President Suleiman Franjieh also delegated a representative to present Lebanon’s condolences.