El-Bizri
The El-Bizri (البزري—البزرة) is the Arabic name of a well-known Levantine family . Its members settled historically in Sidon in Lebanon with a large branch that also grew in Damascus in Syria, and a much smaller presence also in Acre ('Akka) mainly in pre-1948 Palestine. Traditionalist Arab/Levantine genealogists (nuqaba’ Sayda wa Dimashq) who established the family-tree noted that the El-Bizri descent comes from the lineage of the Imam Husayn ibn Ali as 'Sheriffs' (Ashraf). Following Arab clan lineages, which are recorded as well as transmitted orally, the El-Bizri line is traced back to the grandfather of the family, the al-Siyyid ‘Abd’Allah al-Bizri al-Sidawi, who is linked to the descendants of al-Siyyid Ja’far al-Tawwab al-Rabhi, known as Abi al-Banin جعفر بن علي الهادي who is the son of al-Imam al-Hadi and the uncle of the hidden and awaited Imam al-Mahdi (His grandfather is al-Imam Muhammad al-Jawwad, ibn al-Imam ‘Ali al-Rida, ibn al-Imam Musa al-Kazim, ibn al-Imam Ja’far al-Sadiq, ibn al-Imam Muhammad al-Baqir, ibn al-Imam ‘Ali Zayn al-‘Abidin, ibn al-Imam Husayn). The El-Bizri family is a bearer of the historical titles ‘Husayni’ and ‘Ridwi’ (in a respective attribution of their lineage to Imam al-Husayn and Imam al-Rida). Although being Ashraf who descend from the Husayni and Ridwi line, they are not Shi’a but for a long time they have been associated with the Sunni Hanafi tradition in Islam, perhaps under influences from the Ottoman era in the Levant. The ancient lineage of the family is safeguarded in the records of its elders, and the clerics who search for genealogies (ansab al-ashraf) confirmed the old family-tree manuscript that is traced on papyrus . Many of the young members of the El-Bizri family are not aware of their Arabian lineage, let alone that tradition links their clan history with the descendants from the tree of the Imam al-Husayn bin 'Ali, or that they have migrated historically from the eastern regions of the Fertile Crescent to Damascus and the Lebanese coast.
In modern times, the El-Bizri family (Bizri or Al-Bizri) contributed to the social, economic and political life in Sidon and Damascus in the wider Levantine context. Their role from the late Ottoman period, at the end of the nineteenth century, then throughout the forming of the greater Lebanon and its history till the end of the twentieth century (especially in Sidon) was notable. This was mainly felt on the political scene. They were mainly civil servants, notaries, merchants, army officers, and muftis in the late Ottoman era, and had a bond in marriage with a branch of the famed Abaza clan that came from Egypt to settle in Sidon at the end of the nineteenth century. In the twentieth century the El-Bizri family continued its tradition in serving the state institutions, and had at least three of its prominent members (Nazih, Amin, Fuad) holding numerous offices as ministers in multiple governments in post-independence Lebanon, and also elected for several terms to Parliament. The political power-base of the El-Bizri family was challenged in partial terms after 1958 by the 'Nasserite' Saad family and its grass-roots populist appeal; and since the 1990s their political presence was compromised more significantly by the emergent power of the Hariri family, which leads the large political body, the Future movement. The names of many notable members of the El-Bizri family in the twentieth century are listed on the Sidon Wikipedia webpage with additional Wiki-links and external references; including the details of a major field general in the Syrian army who was a key figure in shaping the Arab united republic in the Nasser era between Syria and Egypt, namely Afif al-Bizri ). , , ,