Summary
Shaykh Yusuf Afandi son of Shaykh Abd al-Ghani Zayd Qadri, a leading member of the Qadriyya Sufi order, close ally and business partner of the Abd al-Hadi family and one of the most powerful and wealthy men in Nablus, whose 1840 purchase of the Hallaqiyya soap factory marks the entry of the Abd al-Hadis and their allies into the exclusive club of soap-factory owners (Rediscovering Palestine: Merchants and Peasants in Jabal Nablus, 1700-1900, lines 3891-3984).
Details
- In January 1847 Ruqayya Arafat sued him claiming her husband Muhyi al-Din had sold him the Hallaqiyya soap factory, houses and bayka for 50,000 piasters on January 7, 1840 without her knowledge or consent, though she was the legal owner under her September 14, 1835 deed; Qadri argued she knew, sanctioned and signed the sale, failed to produce the deed, but won on two male witnesses’ corroborating testimony (Rediscovering Palestine: Merchants and Peasants in Jabal Nablus, 1700-1900, lines 3891-3984).
- He is listed among the leaders of the soap-manufacturer’s guild (jama’at al-masabiniyya) in 1839, classed with As’ad al-Tahir as an Abd al-Hadi ally on his way to becoming one of Nablus’s largest soap manufacturers (Rediscovering Palestine: Merchants and Peasants in Jabal Nablus, 1700-1900, lines 4101-4215).
- After buying the Hallaqiyya on January 7, 1840, he sold half of it to Husayn Abd al-Hadi’s son Mahmud in late June 1841; in Table 9 (1842-1843) he is assessed for 12 tabkhas at 10.032 piasters as printed, and he is among the eleven major soap merchants of circa 1853 who signed the petition protesting new export taxes on soap (Rediscovering Palestine: Merchants and Peasants in Jabal Nablus, 1700-1900, lines 4216-4340).
- Chapter 5’s notes give his background: from a family of rich peasants based in Ya’bad, he moved to Nablus before the Abd al-Hadis and helped them locate and purchase dozens of prime commercial properties, often acting as their agent in court; in 1852 a council letter named him and Hajj Ibrahim Muhammad Anabtawi two pillars of the merchant community (Rediscovering Palestine: Merchants and Peasants in Jabal Nablus, 1700-1900, lines 4416-4765, lines 4766-5058).
Related pages
Rediscovering Palestine: Merchants and Peasants in Jabal Nablus, 1700-1900, Abd al-Hadi family, Arafat family, Nablus