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A Brief History of the Ebeid El-Farr Family
Part I
By Ibrahim N. Ebeid
I
am the oldest of the family and I found it imperative to write its history as it
was related to me by the elders when they were alive. I am writing the little I
know to pass it to my children, grandchildren and to the future descendants of
Ebeid, Abeid, Obeid or Ubaid (Arabic
عبيد ), especially those who live in the United States, so they know
their origin and roots, as well as to relatives, friends and to those who are
interested. Part of the story will be integrated in a book I am writing about my
experiences and memories in Palestine, Germany, the United States, Iraq and with
the Ba’ath Party.
Ebeid, the Founder
The founder of our family was Ebeid, the son of Abdul Massih El-Farr from the city of Ramleh. Abdul Massih El-Farr was an orthodox priest who was married to a woman from the Zabaneh family also from Ramleh. Priests in the Eastern Orthodox churches are allowed to marry; he had several daughters in addition to Ebeid, his only son.
We know little about the priest because the elders were not interested in recording anything about the family history, most of them were illiterate or semi educated peasants. Schools were not widely available in those days, so I have to depend on what I heard from the elderly of the town of Birzeit and the family. Official information and records were not available because of the wars that ravaged the area for many years and especially in Palestine where the Zionist occupiers destroyed everything to eradicate Palestinian culture, history and existence.
Ebeid was a jeweler and a builder, a wealthy man for the standard of that time. He was facing trouble with the Ottoman Turkish Authority for his activities against the Turks when they were occupying our homeland. Three of his cousins were killed. Since his life was in danger, he left his hometown, Ramleh, and moved to Birzeit, a mountainous area in the center of Palestine, He had a sister who was married to a man from the Abed family and he decided to stay there, away from trouble. He met a woman from the same family and married her, he bought land, olive orchards, vineyards and built a house that still exists. Many generations were born in that house, including me.
The city of Ramleh was built by the Umayyad Caliph Suleiman Ibin Abdul Malik in 715 AD, it replaced the adjacent city of Lidd as the capital of the military forces administration in Palestine for the next 400 years. It was named Ramleh, which means sand, because of the huge amounts of sands in the area. Also, it is said that it was named after a lady with the same name (Ramleh) who lived in a tent, in the area, and received Suleiman Ibin Abdul Malik with great respect. She offered him food and shelter when he was on a hunting trip with his entourage. At that time, he was the Commander of Palestine. Ramleh was occupied by the Zionists in 1948, and the majority of its people were forced into exile under the gun by the invaders. I remember the city of Ramleh vividly. I went there with my parents and brothers very often to visit my maternal aunt and her family when we were living in Yafa, (Jaffa).
Origin and roots
Our predecessors descended from the Sweirakiah tribe native to the Egyptian Sinai and the Levant, as well as some of the surrounding cities. The Sweirakiah tribe has maintained its fame and its Arab character and Christian faith. In the 12th century, it supported Saladin in the wars against the Crusaders to liberate Palestine.
Many famous men of this tribe were physicians, specialized in various types of treatments. Their fame was widespread in the Levant and in Arabia. Among those famous men was Suleiman al - Sweiraki who was selected by Saladin al Ayoubi as his physician, and also he was entrusted to treat some of his elite bodyguards. When Richard the Lionhearted was wounded and was suffering from fever, Saladin sent Suleiman to treat him.
Saladin bestowed the title of Mualem (Teacher or Professor in Arabic) upon Suleiman because of his performance and accomplishment, a title used by physicians in those days. Suleiman was able to win the trust of Saladin for his dedication and loyalty. In addition to his skills as a physician, Suleiman had wide knowledge of psychology that he employed in combat tactics and planning that helped defeat the Crusaders, Saladin awarded him with a piece of land in Darya, near Damascus. Darya was fertile land with rich resources of water. Shortly after Suleiman took ownership of the land, a dispute took place, between his family and another landowner resulting in the death of the neighbor’s son. This act prompted Saladin to order the physician, who became known as Suleiman Al-Mualem, and his family to move to Caesarea near Haifa granting him another piece of land. The move was intended to avoid any more disputes and bloodshed for revenge.
After the death of Saladin in 1193, the Mualem family sold its land in Caesarea and moved to Ramleh, a famous city in the center of Palestine. From that time until the beginning of the 18th Century, the estimated birth of our ancestor Abdo, the son of Nasri al-Mualem, the history of the family was very difficult to follow. Our predecessors did not keep any records, so the little we knew was related to us by word of mouth.
Abdo Nasri
al-Mualem al-Sweiraki
It is easier to start relating the history of the family from our ancestor Abdo. Information about him and his descendants was known by those who preceded us from the family and it was related to their descendants generation after generation.
Abdo had two sons, Jiryes and Khalil, who were builders and well known in Palestine and the Levant. Their fame reached Ahmed Pasha Al-Jazzar, the Ottoman ruler of Akka, (Acre), and Galilee until his death in April 1804.When Napoleon Bonaparte was preparing to invade Egypt and the East, Al-Jazzar called Abdo and his sons to come to Akka and contracted them to repair and fortify the wall of the city and to add a new wing to the castle.
Jiryes earned the respect of Al-Jazzar and for his skills and ability, he earned the title of Master of the trade. The project was completed ahead of time and the forces of al-Jazzar withstood the siege of Akka by the French under Bonaparte (March 21-May 20, 1799). Napoleon failed to conquer the city and was forced to retreat. Being frustrated , Napoleon threw his hat over the wall and said, "If I cannot enter you then my hat will.” Thank goodness for the contribution that our ancestors achieved to protect the city from occupation and destruction. In addition to building the wall, Abdo, his sons and family took part in defending the city of Akka, according to what I heard from uncle Saadeh Abdallah Saadeh who was the grandson of Ebeid and from his nephew Dr. Wajih Ibrahim Saadeh.
Ahmed Al-Jazzar was a brutal ruler who earned the name of Al-Jazzar, (“Butcher” in Arabic) and for an unknown reason, he wanted to punish Jiryes and cut both hands from the wrists so he could not use them anymore to build similar fortifications. When Jiryes learned about it, he escaped to Egypt, and became known as Jiryes El-Farr, meaning “Jiryes the runaway,” and the family name became known as such.
After Jiryes escaped to Egypt, his family, his father and his brother Khalil stayed in Akka, for a short time. Fearing reprisal or harassment they left the city to Salt in the east of Jordan at the beginning of the 19th century. After the death of Ahmed Al-Jazzar in 1804, Jiryes joined his family in the city of Salt and later resettled in the city of Ramleh
Sad story of killing and assassination,
cousins of Ebeid
1: Ghali Ibn Jiryes Ibn Ibrahim Ibn Jiryes Al-Mualem El-Farr, a first cousin of our ancestor Ebeid, was single and working for the State Treasury collecting taxes from districts around Jaffa and transferring them to the main office of the Department of Treasury in Jerusalem. One day he was traveling from Jaffa to Jerusalem. It was getting dark, so he decided to spend the night in a safe place before resuming the trip early in the morning. He chose the Roman Catholic monastery run by the Jesuit Order. In fact, it was not a safe place at all, it was a tragedy for him. The priests whom he trusted turned out to be monsters, wolves disguised in lambskin. They knew who he was and what he was carrying, and plotted to kill the man and share the spoils among themselves. They offered him food to eat and refreshment that was poisoned, to drink. After consuming the drink, he felt something strange was happening to his system. He knew that he had been poisoned and he went out of the gate, to the street, shouting "Oh Muslims and Christians; the people of the monastery gave me poison in the drink, tell the government.”
As soon as the authority in Ramleh received the news, a company of policemen and detectives was dispatched to the monastery. They found Ghali dead, then they searched the place thoroughly and found the stolen money. Ten were arrested; among them eight foreign priests. They were sentenced to death. Ghali’s mother was taken care of by the government. She received an amount of gold money, a monthly salary, for life as compensation for her son's services and dedication to the country.
2: Iskandar was a young man, single and talented. He was accepted in the Military Academy of the University of Istanbul, and graduated with high honors. He was expected to have a bright future in a military career, but his expectation did not materialize. Not long after his graduation, the Turks plotted to get rid of him for fear that the young Arab man might achieve a high and influential position. They killed him and dumped his body in the Dardanelle. This abominable act took place during the reign of Sultan Abdul Hamid, between the 18th and 19th Centuries. Getting rid of Arabs of high caliber was a common practice by the Ottoman Turks. Even mass executions in many parts of the Arab Homeland took place brutally and savagely.
3: Mahfouz, the brother of Iskandar, was a high-ranking official in the Ottoman State. He was the Customs Director General in Bilad Al-Sham, in the Levant or Greater Syria that comprises of modern Syria, Palestine, Jordan and Lebanon. His rank equaled that of a Deputy Minister of Finance in today’s hierarchy.
Mahfouz knew all the details behind the killing of his brother Iskandar and he knew who committed the horrible crime. The Turks were afraid to be exposed and they killed him as well to cover up their notorious act and made it look like suicide. They shot him with his pistol issued to him by the government, put a bottle of wine in front of him and issued a statement that he, Mahfouz, committed suicide in grief for his brother.
A note from Ibrahim
Special thanks to Micheal George El-Far for the bulk of the valuable information about the family.
Thanks to the late uncle Saadeh Abdallah Saadeh, the grandson of Ebeid and to cousin Dr. Wajih Ibrahim Saadeh for the information they supplied me.
To be continued.