Shihab dynasty

The Shihab dynasty (alternatively spelled Chehab; Arabic: شهابيون‎, ALA-LC: Shihābiyūn) were a prominent noble family during the Ottoman era in Mount Lebanon. The Shihabs were the traditional princes of the Wadi al-Taym, who traced their lineage to the Banu Makhzum of the ancient Quraysh tribe. The family inherited control over the Mount Lebanon Emirate from the Ma'an dynasty, their kinsmen through marriage, in 1697. This transfer of leadership was decided by the Qaysi faction of the emirate's Druze feudal chiefs and confirmed by the Ottoman authorities, who conferred to the family authority over the tax farms of Mount Lebanon. Under Emir Haydar Shihab, the Qaysi faction and the Shihab dynasty consolidated their control over Mount Lebanon from their Yamani Druze rivals at the 1711 Battle of Ain Dara. Their victory also precipitated a mass exodus of Druze tenants from Mount Lebanon and their gradual replacement with Maronite and Melkite Christians. During the era of Emir Yusuf Shihab, members of the family, including the latter, began to convert from Sunni Islam to the Maronite Church.