D I S T I N G U I S H E D   D R U Z E
H
is Eminence Sheikh Halim Takieddine
DRUZE WORLDWIDE
The Voice of the Druze   
صوت الدروز
Distinguished Druze
Personalities
Copyright   ©   2016     Druze Worldwide     All rights reserved        Legal Notice/Disclaimer
Profiled in
Al Fajr - The Dawn Druze
International Magazine
NAME
ISSUE
ABU SALEH, Dr. Abbas
Issue 18
AL ATRASH,  Sultan Pasha
Issue 1
AL-NAKADI, Aref
Issue 14
AL QASIM, Samih
Issue 35
ARSLAN, Prince Shakib
Issue 11
ASMAHAN
Issue 50
ASSAF, Toufic
Issue 30
FAKHR-AL DIN II, Prince
Issue 25
FAKHR-AL DIN II, Prince
Issue 40
JOUMBLATT, Kamal
Issue 2
KASEM, Casey
Issue 55
NAJJAR, Dr. Abdallah
Issue 5, 12
NAJJAR WILSON, Sara
 
NAJJAR, Anissa Rawda
Issue 9
NAJJAR, Dr. Samir
Issue 15
OBEID, Dr. Anis
Issue 1, 45
SAAB, Afifi & her sisters
Fatina Saab & Zhebad Saab
Issue 4
SALMAN, Dr. Nour
Issue 7
TAKEDINE,  Judge Halim
Issue 8
TAKIEDDINE, Dr. Adal
Issue 6
TAKIEDDINE KAIDBEY, Dr. Naila
Issue 11
TALEEH, Rashid
Issue 19
DRUZE WORLDWIDE

We are delighted to be the only Voice of
the Druze which has the honor to
recognize & publish our Distinguished
Druze personalities past and present.  

We are very proud to have many well
accomplished Druze individuals around
the world that have made a positive
difference to the world around them.   

If you would like to include a Druze with
their history and achievements please
submit the information to :  
Druze@Druzeworldwide.com
Sheikh Halim Takieddine was appointed in the above post upon the
request of Druze dignitaries, Kamal Joumblat and al Ameer Majeed
Areslan and Druze deputies and ministers along with the approval of The
Lebanese Prime Minister and Cabinet in May, 1968.

This post had been vacant for 15 years before his appointment because
of discord, then, between the two Sheikh el Akls who presided Druze
Jurisprudence. This resulted in hundreds of judicial cases accumulating
unfinished.

After his appointment, Sheikh Halim lost no time, and went ahead studying
the accumulated cases with his two Consultants, Sheikh Saji’ el Awar and
Sheikh Shafik Aboul Hosn – The files were cleared within a year or so.
Meanwhile, His Eminence lost no time in organizing the Druze courts in the
five mouhafazats in Lebanon, appointing new judges where needed, with
the approval of the Prime Minister, Druze dignitaries, and Cabinet.

He recruited new employees and assistants in the different offices and
courts where needed. He rented and furnished new office space for all the
judges and personnel in order to meet the professional dignity and
respect for all concerned. It is important to observe that previous to his
appointment, judges had carried the judicial work and kept the records of
their clients in their own homes, hence lacking the privacy necessary for
professional legal work.
The courts started functioning professionally and efficiently, with close supervision and inspection with the help of His Eminence
Sheikh Halim, and the cooperation of the judges, assistants and employees.

Sheikh Halim Takieddine had always been a hardworking, honest and self – made man, with vision, initiative, high ambitions and
prompt executives. He was never satisfied with things as they were, but always looking ahead for development and improvements.
However, his ambitions were never for accumulating wealth, but for improving the conditions of his country, his community and his
people. He always seized the opportunity, whether in his lectures, talks and writings to encourage young men and women to study
and progress in whatever specialization they followed, to keep reading and increase their knowledge.

Sheikh Halim lost his father, Ahmad Takieddine, who was a well known and respected judge and poet, at an early age (13 years).
He followed his elementary and secondary education in Aley and Beirut with the help of his two elder brothers, Dr. Farid, medical
doctor, and Adil, Attorney General, who had completed their university education and received their degrees, while their father
was still alive. He worked for his university education and received his first degree (Licence) in History and Geography from the
Lebanese University in 1956. He got married to Adal Hamdan in the same year and had his first son Ousama, he continued his
university education and entered the School of Law for four years and received his Law Degree in 1962.

While Sheikh Halim was studying at the Lebanese University, he was given a contract to teach at the Faculty of Social Sciences at
the same university where he lectured until he was appointed “Chief Judge of the Druze Supreme Court”, in 1968.

In 1964 he decided to run for parliamentary elections in the Shouf District and registered officially for his adventure, and was
encouraged by relatives and friends to go ahead with his adventure. The political situation, however, was not ripe enough for a
new deputy candidate, and so he complied with Kamal Joumblat’s wish to withdraw for the benefit, at the time, for an older, more
experienced, man of politics his relative Bahij Takieddine.

Sheikh Halim was elected unanimously “Secretary General” of the “Druze Council “and kept this important position until he was
appointed ‘Chief Judge of the Druze Supreme Court “in 1968.

After he accomplished the administrative organization of the courts, and work went on smoothly in the five mouhafazats of
Lebanon, Sheikh Halim focused his attention on the important side of his career, namely writing. The first book he wrote was his
father’s poetry which he collected from different archives in the American University Library and archives of different news papers.
His second book was entitled “Druze Jurisprudence through History” written in Arabic (  قضاء الموحدين الدروز بين الامس واليوم ) in  which
he made a thorough coverage of the subject.  His third book “Personal Status of the Druze” and comparison with those of the
Sunnis and Shi’as “(in Arabic). His forth book was “ The Will, Inheritance in the Druze Personal Status law and Tradition“ with one
hundred examples of inheritance division and comparison with the other Islamic sects with the cooperation of Sheikh Mirsil Nasr
who is also a Judge in the Druze Jurisprudence Court.

During the war in Lebanon in the seventies and eighties, Sheikh Halim was deeply distressed over the turmoil and destruction by
the different factions in Lebanon. News correspondents daily came to his house to seek his opinion on the tragic events taking
place then. Daily reports from him were released by almost all newspapers, in which he condemned the atrocities, destruction and
assassinations committed by all sides causing fear and anxiety to all. People from all over Lebanon would wait anxiously to read
his daily press release. Foreign correspondents; television, radio and written media came to his house to interview him seeking
his opinion on the whole situation.

Sheikh Halim Main concern was the unity of all the Lebanese people, all sects, classes, and political parties. He objected to and
refused the division of Lebanon and the Lebanese into smaller religious divisions. He insisted on unity and reconciliation among
all the people.

The Israeli invasion of Lebanon added to the turmoil and division of the different sects and parties and added destruction of the
land.

It was on Thursday noon, December 1st, 1983 when His Eminence was at home alone, his children, daughter and younger son
were at the American University and our eldest son was studying in USA, his telephone was bugged – a perfect moment for the
criminal to commit his crime.

Investigation started, curfew announced all over Beirut and the house was filled with family, friends and police. Enthusiasts came
into the house declaring that they would go out into the streets and kill people for revenge. His wife and brothers refused such an
inhuman act, saying we do not want innocent blood spilled for an innocent victim.

At his funeral in Beirut gathered thousands of people of all sects, classes and ages. Covered in  green velvet, the oak coffin
rested on a white catafalque in the House of the Druze.  Religious leaders congregated around his coffin and joined in prayer for
his soul. Television and news media from all over the region, Europe and England were there filing and taking pictures.  “He was
the best, warmest-mannered man,” said Sheikh Hassan Khaled, grand mufti of Lebanon and spiritual head of the Sunni.  On
behalf of Amin Gemayel, a senior government official posthumously awarded Takieddine the rank of Commodore in the Order of
Cedars.  He was buried in Baaqline.  

The second day another funeral service took place in his town of Baakline where his family, relatives, friends and religious
leaders and Sheikh of el Akl, Mohammad Abou Shakra led by Walid Joumblat, the Druze Leader who was in the Shouf district
because of Israeli occupation and they had blocked all the roads to the mountain.

With the death of His Eminence, Sheikh Halim Takieddine, Lebanon lost a man of vision, justice, unity and love.