Wasif Jawhariyyeh

Wasif Jawhariyyeh (14 January 1897–1972) was a citizen of Jerusalem and a well known composer, oud player, poet and chronicler. He is noted for his memoirs, The Diaries of Wasif Jawhariyyeh, that spans over six decades from 1904 to 1968, covering Jerusalem's turbulent modern history, including four regimes and five wars.

Wasif Jawhariyyeh was born to Jiryis and Hilana Barakat on 14 January 1897 in Jerusalem. The Jawhariyyeh's practised Eastern Orthodox Christianity. His father was an active member of their community, as a member of Jerusalem's municipal council and served for a time as tax assessor. He would later pursue a career in business practicing various trades as a silk farmer, cafe properietor, skilled icon maker. He also was an amateur musician.

His father, Jiryis (Girgis), was the of the Eastern Orthodox community in the Old City (1884) and a member of Jerusalem's municipal council, serving under the Mayors Salim al-Husseini and Faidy al-Alami. Trained as a lawyer he was well versed in Muslim Shari' law and commanded several languages, including Greek, Turkish and Arabic. He worked briefly as a government tax assessor, but later turned to private business, becoming a successful silk farmer in Ezariyyeh and proprietor of a public café over the Jraisheh River. He was also a skilled icon maker and amateur musician—which accounts for his encouragement of Wasif to take on the 'oud early in his youth.

His mother, Hilaneh Barakat, descended from a leading Orthodox family from what later became known as the Christian Quarter.

—Salim Tamari, "Jerusalem's Ottoman Modernity: The Times and Lives of Wasif Jawhariyyeh"

The Jawhariyyeh's position within Jerusalem's class system, "It is impossible, however, to understand the Jawhariyyehs placement in pre-Mandate Palestine (British Mandate of Palestine) without relating to their critical bonds as protégés of the Husseini family in Jerusalem: feudal landlords and patricians of the city‘s inner circle of ‘ayan (notables). They were reliant on the Husseini family for appointments to positions on their lands and in civil service.

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