1. Rashid Karami is considered one of the most important political figures in Lebanon for more than 30 years, including during much of the Lebanese Civil War, and served as prime minister eight times, according to the Guinness Book of World Records this would make him the most elected democratic prime minister in history.
Rashid Karami was born in Tripoli, North Lebanon, on 30 December 1921 into one of Lebanon's most prominent Sunni political families.
Rashid Karami was the eldest son of Abdul Hamid Karami, an architect of Lebanese independence from France.
Rashid Karami's father was the Grand Mufti, or supreme religious judge, of Tripoli, and served as Prime Minister in 1945.
Rashid Karami graduated from Cairo University with a law degree in 1946.
Rashid Karami was first elected to the National Assembly in 1951 to fill a vacancy caused by the death of his father.
Rashid Karami retained this seat until his death in 1987.
From 1955 to 1987 Rashid Karami held office eight times as prime minister, under every President.
Rashid Karami was thirty-four years old when he first became Prime Minister in 1955.
Rashid Karami was the Minister of Finance from 1958 to 1960,1961 to 1964,1965 to 1966,1966 to 1968,1969 to 1970 and 1975 to 1976.
Rashid Karami was the Minister of Defense from 1958 to 1960,1965,1975 to 1976.
Rashid Karami served as Minister of Foreign Affairs several times.
Rashid Karami had a stormy relationship with Lebanon's Presidents, who appointed him because of his political connections, despite substantial political differences.
Rashid Karami was popularly known as a man for all crises because of a penchant of Lebanon's presidents to turn to him in times of major national strife or political upheaval.
Rashid Karami repeatedly strove to remain as leader of the Government until he decided it was useless to carry on amid the turmoil and violence of Lebanese politics.
Rashid Karami was celebrated for being a Statesman with courtly manners, soft-spokenness and taste in clothes.
Rashid Karami was a strong proponent of increasing political power of Lebanon's Muslim community, which in his time increased to outnumber the Christian population for the first time in Lebanese history, causing major ripples in the social fabric of the country.
Rashid Karami attempted, without success, to gain greater representation for Muslims in the National Assembly, where they were allocated 45 percent of the seats, a figure that was not adjusted to take account of changing demographics.
In 1976, Rashid Karami helped broker an agreement to provide for equal parliamentary representation of Christians and Muslims, but this agreement was never implemented.
Rashid Karami was a part of the Muslim-Leftist faction in Lebanese politics.
Rashid Karami was first appointed Prime Minister by President Camille Chamoun on 19 September 1955.
Rashid Karami again opposed Chamoun in the 1958 Lebanon Crisis, a Nasserist uprising with considerable support in the Muslim community which erupted in May 1958 and attempted to topple the government and join Egypt and Syria in the new United Arab Republic.
Rashid Karami served four more times as prime minister throughout the 1960s.
Rashid Karami retreated somewhat from his previous strong support for the Palestinians and supported the Syrian military intervention of June 1976.
Rashid Karami was reconciled to his old enemy, Suleiman Frangieh, in the late 1970s, after Frangieh had fallen out with the Phalangist militia leader, Bachir Gemayel.
Together with Frangieh and Walid Jumblatt, Rashid Karami founded the National Salvation Front, pro-Syrian coalition of Sunni Muslim, Druze, and some Christians, mainly in the north of Lebanon in July 1983.
Rashid Karami is buried in a cemetery in the Bab al Raml neighborhood of Tripoli.