Ali El-Hajj
Lebanese Zajal poet
Ali El Hajj (1900-1971), born in Qmatiye, was a Lebanese Zajal poet. He is considered one of the most influential Lebanese poets and leaders. Alongside his achievements in poetry, he played a significant leadership role in the community, including the establishment of the municipality of Qmatiye and heading it from 1961 until he died in 1971; and the continuous call for a united Lebanon in the face of threat, after which he was given a national distinction award.
Early life
He learnt reading and writing under one of the village elders. He graduated from high school from the school of Islamic Charitable Purposes in Beirut and continued his studies in the American University of Beirut. Furthermore, he then taught the Arabic and English languages in the schools of Islamic Charitable Purposes. He resigned from his role as a school teacher in 1929 on request from Assaad el-Khoury el-Féghali (nicknamed the Charhrour) to focus on folk poetry. He married Shafika Nasreddine at an early age and had 4 children:
Hussein (1925-1965).
Abbas (1927-1977).
Najib (1934-1994).
The public source identifies “Ali El-Hajj” as lebanese Zajal poet. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around El-Hajj, Lebanese and Zajal.
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The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 4, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q103757740. VIAF identifies the subject as 26964374. The Library of Congress control number is nr96032025. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1900, 1971, 1961 and 1929.
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This entry incorporates text from “Ali El-Hajj” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.