Sobhi Mahmassani

Sobhi R. Mahmassani (Arabic: صبحي محمصاني‎‎, January 29, 1909 – September 10, 1986) was a Lebanese legal scholar, practising lawyer, judge, and political figure who contributed substantially to building the legal and civic foundations of the then-nascent country of Lebanon, and whose writings on Islamic jurisprudence remain authoritative works on this topic for legal scholars and researchers.

Mahmassani was born in Beirut, Lebanon to Rajab Mahmassani and Aisha Khoja. He grew up in a conservative family that valued education and academic achievement: he and his three male and five female siblings pursued their higher education and had successful professional careers. In 1940, he married Ismat Abdul Kader Inkidar, with whom he had four sons: Ghaleb (1941), Malek (1944), Maher (1947) and Hani (1956).

Along with engagement in simultaneous academic, professional and public life careers, Mahmassani made time for his favorite hobbies of reading, stamp collecting and music. He was an accomplished oud and violin player.

With the onset of the Lebanese Civil War in 1975, Mahmassani struggled to maintain his professional activities in Lebanon and overseas as a legal consultant and international arbitrator. However, in 1983 his activities had to slow down as he was diagnosed with lung cancer of which he died in Paris, where he was pursuing medical treatment, on September 10, 1986.

Mahmassani commenced primary and high school education in Beirut during World War I at the Preparatory School of the Syrian Evangelical College (now known as International College), a preparatory school for the American University of Beirut. He graduated from the high school in 1924 with high marks, and was designated valedictorian of his class.

He pursued legal studies at the law school of University of Lyon in France from which he graduated with a License en Droit (law degree) followed by a doctorate in law in 1932. He joined the school of law of the London University and obtained bachelors in law degree in English law in 1935. As a result, he was well-versed in both French (Latin) and Anglo-Saxon legal traditions.

Mahmassani was fluent in Arabic, English and French; he also had a reading knowledge of German.

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