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Ali al-Rikabi

Jordanian politician (1864-1942)

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionMar 28, 2026
Entity authorityQ1383555 ↗
Source-derived summary

Ali Rida al-Rikabi (Arabic: علي رضا باشا الركابي; 1864 – 25 May 1943) was an Arab politician from Syria during and after the Dissolution of the Ottoman Empire.

Originally from Damascus, he made a career in the Ottoman Army, rising to the rank of major general. During the Arab Revolt he joined the side of the Arab nationalists and was appointed military governor of the Occupied Enemy Territory Administration (OETA) East in October 1918. Subsequently he became the first Prime Minister of the Arab Kingdom of Syria under Faisal I from March to May 1920. He was also the 3rd Prime Minister of Transjordan under Emir Abdullah I, serving from 1922 to 1923 and again from 1924 to 1926.

Summary

During the last phase of Ottoman rule in the Middle East, al-Rikabi occupied prominent positions. After the Ottoman Turks departed from Arab lands in 1918, he formed the first cabinet in the history of Syria under Prince Faisal, third son Sharif Hussain of Mecca. Later, during two periods (1922 and 1924–1926) as prime minister in Jordan, al-Rikabi established Jordan's administrative and financial system. He supported the Syrian revolt of 1925 against the French Mandate while he was Prime Minister of Jordan.

During Ottoman rule

Ali Rida al-Rikabi came from a Damascene family whose ancestor had migrated from Rifa’i in southern Iraq during the seventeenth century.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Ali al-Rikabi” is jordanian politician (1864-1942). The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through al-Rikabi, Jordanian and politician, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA productive starting point for separating a subject’s documented career from later reputation and commemoration. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1864, 1943, 1918, 1920—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1864-01-01. For this dossier, al-Rikabi, Jordanian and politician is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “jordanian politician (1864-1942)” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 28, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1383555. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1864, 1943, 1918 and 1920.

Critical limits

A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Ali al-Rikabi”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Ali al-Rikabi primary sources, Ali al-Rikabi archive and al-Rikabi research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Ali al-Rikabi”?
  2. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
  3. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Ali al-Rikabi” 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.