The Most Famous

SOCIAL ACTIVISTS from Syria

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This page contains a list of the greatest Syrian Social Activists. The pantheon dataset contains 840 Social Activists, 3 of which were born in Syria. This makes Syria the birth place of the 44th most number of Social Activists behind Bulgaria, and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Top 6

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary Syrian Social Activists of all time. This list of famous Syrian Social Activists is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity.

Photo of Izz ad-Din al-Qassam

1. Izz ad-Din al-Qassam (1882 - 1935)

With an HPI of 67.47, Izz ad-Din al-Qassam is the most famous Syrian Social Activist.  His biography has been translated into 24 different languages on wikipedia.

ʿIzz ad-Dīn ibn Abd al-Qāder ibn Mustafā ibn Yūsuf ibn Muhammad al-Qassām (Arabic: عز الدين بن عبد القادر بن مصطفى بن يوسف بن محمد القسام; 1881 or 19 December 1882 – 20 November 1935) was a Syrian Muslim preacher and a leader in the local struggles against British and French Mandatory rule in the Levant and an opponent of Zionism in the 1920s and 1930s. Qassam was born in Jableh, Syrian province of the Ottoman Empire in 1882. He studied at Al-Azhar University in Egypt and afterward became an Islamic revivalist preacher in his hometown. Following his return, he became an active supporter of the Libyan resistance to the Italian occupation starting 1911, raising funds and fighters to aid the Libyans and penning an anthem for them. He would later lead his own group of rebels in alliance with Ibrahim Hananu to fight against French Mandatory forces in northern Syria in 1919–20. Following the rebels' defeat, he immigrated to Palestine, where he became a Muslim waqf (religious endowment) official and grew incensed at the plight of Palestinian Arab peasants. He advocated a moral, political and military jihad as the solution to end British rule and Zionist aspirations in Palestine. In the 1930s, he formed bands of local fighters, including the Black Hand, and launched attacks against British and Jewish targets. He was eventually killed in a manhunt by the British authorities in 1935, following his alleged role in the killing of a policeman. Israeli historian Tom Segev has called him 'the Arab Joseph Trumpeldor'. His campaign and death were factors that led to the 1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine.

Photo of Muhammad Zaidan

2. Muhammad Zaidan (1948 - 2004)

With an HPI of 53.69, Muhammad Zaidan is the 2nd most famous Syrian Social Activist.  His biography has been translated into 16 different languages.

Muhammad Zaidan aka Muhammad Abbas (10 December 1948 – 8 March 2004), sometimes known as Abu Abbas (Arabic: أبو عباس Abū ʿAbbās; AH-boo ə-BAHSS), was (with Tal'at Ya'qoub) a founder of the Palestine Liberation Front (PLF) Organization.

Photo of Nazik al-Abid

3. Nazik al-Abid (1898 - 1959)

With an HPI of 49.24, Nazik al-Abid is the 3rd most famous Syrian Social Activist.  Her biography has been translated into 19 different languages.

Nazik Al Abid (Arabic: نازك العابد; 1887–1959) known as the "Joan of Arc of the Arabs" was a Syrian women's rights activist, nationalist, and critic of Ottoman and French colonialism in Syria. She was the first woman to earn rank in the Syrian Army for her role in forming the Red Star Society, a precursor to the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, during the battle of Maysalun. She was a revolutionary for national independence and women's right to work and vote in Syria.: 61 

Photo of Razan Zaitouneh

4. Razan Zaitouneh (b. 1977)

With an HPI of 41.93, Razan Zaitouneh is the 4th most famous Syrian Social Activist.  Her biography has been translated into 28 different languages.

Razan Zaitouneh (sometimes spelled Zeitunah; Arabic: رزان زيتونة; born 29 April 1977) is a Syrian human rights lawyer and civil society activist. Actively involved in the Syrian uprising, she went into hiding after being accused by the government of being a foreign agent and her husband was arrested. Zaitouneh has documented human rights in Syria for the Local Coordination Committees of Syria. Zaitouneh was kidnapped on 9 December 2013, most likely by Jaysh al-Islam. Her fate remains unknown. It is suspected that she has been killed.

Photo of Maryam al-Khawaja

5. Maryam al-Khawaja (b. 1987)

With an HPI of 25.60, Maryam al-Khawaja is the 5th most famous Syrian Social Activist.  Her biography has been translated into 16 different languages.

Maryam Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja (Arabic: مريم عبد الهادي الخواجة, romanized: Maryam ʻAbd al-Hādī al-Khawājah; born 26 June 1987) is a Bahraini-Danish human rights activist. She is the daughter of the Bahraini human rights activist Abdulhadi al-Khawaja and former co-director of the Gulf Center for Human Rights (GCHR). She is currently the Special Advisor on Advocacy with the GCHR, and works as a consultant with NGOs. She's a board member of the International Service for Human Rights and No Hiding Place. She serves as the Vice Chair on the Board of the Urgent Action Fund.

Photo of Abdulrahman Akkad

6. Abdulrahman Akkad (b. 1998)

With an HPI of 14.32, Abdulrahman Akkad is the 6th most famous Syrian Social Activist.  His biography has been translated into 15 different languages.

Abdulrahman Akkad (Arabic: عبدالرحمن عقاد) is a Syrian political blogger, public speaker and human rights activist. He currently resides in Berlin.

People

Pantheon has 6 people classified as Syrian social activists born between 1882 and 1998. Of these 6, 3 (50.00%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living Syrian social activists include Razan Zaitouneh, Maryam al-Khawaja, and Abdulrahman Akkad. The most famous deceased Syrian social activists include Izz ad-Din al-Qassam, Muhammad Zaidan, and Nazik al-Abid. As of April 2024, 3 new Syrian social activists have been added to Pantheon including Nazik al-Abid, Maryam al-Khawaja, and Abdulrahman Akkad.

Living Syrian Social Activists

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Deceased Syrian Social Activists

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Newly Added Syrian Social Activists (2024)

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