25 Facts About Yusuf Shihab

Yusuf Shihab was the autonomous emir of Mount Lebanon between 1770 and 1789.

Yusuf Shihab was the fifth consecutive member of the Shihab dynasty to govern Mount Lebanon.

The first emir of the dynasty, Haydar al-Yusuf Shihab, succeeded the last Ma'an emir of Mount Lebanon in 1697.

Haydar al-Yusuf Shihab was a Sunni Muslim, although his mother was Druze.

Emir Yusuf Shihab was raised as a Maronite Christian, but was publicly a Sunni Muslim.

Emir Mansur prevailed by 1763, and Yusuf Shihab fled the Chouf to Mukhtara, the headquarters of the powerful Druze Jumblatt clan.

Ali Jumblatt, an ally of Emir Mansur, protected Yusuf Shihab and offered to mediate the dispute between the two.

Emir Mansur allied himself with them against the Ottoman governors of Sidon and Damascus, while Yusuf Shihab supported the Ottomans.

Together with Uthman Pasha and his sons, Emir Yusuf Shihab sought to push Zahir and his Metawali allies out of Sidon, which they briefly occupied during the Egyptian invasion of Ottoman Syria.

Emir Yusuf Shihab led an offensive against Nasif and Zahir in late 1771, but was decisively defeated.

Yusuf Shihab failed to arrive and support Uthman Pasha when the latter attempted to launch an invasion of Galilee, but was routed by Zahir's forces at the Battle of Lake Hula.

Yusuf Shihab sought to compensate for this loss by launching a campaign against the Metawalis at Nabatieh, but was routed by the Zaydani-Metawali alliance, losting some 1,500 of his Druze soldiers.

Emir Yusuf Shihab turned down a bribe of 200,000 Spanish reales from Abu al-Dahab to betray Jezzar and execute him.

Jezzar Pasha soon consolidated his own rule in Beirut and ignored agreements he had made with Emir Yusuf Shihab regarding the latter's authority in the city.

Emir Yusuf Shihab removed him from the Beqaa and was appointed in his place.

Emir Yusuf Shihab was confirmed as the governor of Beirut, Chouf, Beqaa and Jubail.

However, Jezzar Pasha ignored this order and took over Beirut in 1776 with the demand that Emir Yusuf Shihab pay three years worth of miri tax.

Yusuf Shihab regained control of Chouf after paying off Jezzar Pasha.

In 1783 and on Jezzar Pasha's orders, Emir Yusuf took over Marjayoun from his maternal uncle Isma'il Shihab.

Jezzar sought to divide and conquer Mount Lebanon and thus when Isma'il Yusuf Shihab offered to pay a higher tax rate if he restored his authority in Marjayoun, Jezzar accepted.

The new alliance between Jezzar, Isma'il, Sayyid Ahmad and the Jumblatts forced Emir Yusuf Shihab to flee Mount Lebanon for the Jabal al-Ansariyah.

Jezzar accepted Yusuf Shihab's offer and, upon his return to Mount Lebanon, Yusuf Shihab had Isma'il arrested and imposed a large financial penalty on the Jumblatts.

In 1788, Jezzar Pasha demanded that Emir Yusuf Shihab pay off the bribe he had promised him in 1783, but Emir Yusuf Shihab refused.

Bashir II sought to eliminate Yusuf Shihab to remove any potential threats to his position and his forces defeated Yusuf Shihab's retinue of supporters in the Munaytara hills of north Lebanon.

Yusuf Shihab was protected by the governors of Tripoli and Damascus.