01/09/2026
Fourth Article
Zouk Mikaël and the Origins of the Kesrouan Peasant Revolt
Adapted from a text by Antoine Salameh
The geographical setting of Zouk Mikael, nestled between the hills of Bkerke and Aintoura, endowed its people with a distinctive cultural and social vitality. It was this spirit that emboldened them to rise against the feudal order and to call for the principles of freedom, justice, and equality. The people of Zouk became active voices of rebellion, spreading a spirit of defiance against the established feudal system and urging the people of Keserwan to join the ranks of the revolutionaries.
Among the leading figures of Zouk in the uprising were Elias Al-Mounayyer, Anton Beshara Kattan, Elias Khadra, Habib Al-Jamati, and Youssef Habbalin. Of these, the Zouk Catholic Elias Al-Mounayyer was the first to proclaim the call for revolution openly. The people of Zouk were captivated by his eloquence; he was a gifted orator whose words carried the promise of liberation. Through his speeches, he succeeded in sowing the seeds of emancipation among his fellow countrymen and in laying the foundations for what would become one of the most significant popular uprisings in Lebanon’s history.
The revolution itself was sparked by an incident that, in its simplicity, belied the magnitude of what was to follow. In the Old Souk of Zouk Mikael, a sheikh insulted a man who was purchasing silk. Yet, rather than bowing their heads as custom demanded, the man and those around him answered the insult. Such defiance was astonishing to the feudal lords, who could neither accept nor tolerate the breaking of the old order.
A similar incident soon followed. In Jounieh, toward the end of 1858, the Zouk resident Youssef Al-Ajawi was subjected to insult and abuse by one of the sheikhs. Al-Ajawi fled back to Zouk and raised the alarm among his fellow townspeople. Elias Al-Mounayyer and his companions then descended upon Jounieh and avenged the insult by confronting the sheikh who had humiliated Al-Ajawi.
In retaliation, the sheikhs gathered in Ghosta and prepared to confront the people of Zouk. An armed force from Ghosta marched toward the town, but bloodshed was initially averted through the intervention of mediators from Dlebta, Aarmoun, Shennair, and Jdeideh Ghazir. Yet the elders of Zouk insist that the confrontation did, in fact, take place in Wadi Hantoush, where the people of Zouk were joined in their resistance by the farmers of Ajaltoun, Ashkout, and klayaat, who stood against the forces of the sheikhs.
It appears that the Maronite Patriarch, Paul Massad, intervened personally in an attempt to quell the rising tensions. He sent two bishops to Ghosta after they had met with the notables of Zouk in the courtyard of St. George’s Greek Catholic Church. Yet their appeals for calm found little response, and the passions of both sides remained inflamed. In the days that followed, Zouk Mikael became the setting for secret gatherings of peasant representatives—clandestine meetings that would help prepare the ground for the revolution to come.
Elias Al-Mounayyer’s role, however, was largely confined to kindling the first flames of the Peasant Revolution. He would not remain at its helm. The people of Zouk themselves became divided: some continued the struggle beneath the banner of Tanios Chahine, while others gradually withdrew from the uprising.
Thus, what began in the marketplace of Zouk as a simple act of defiance against an insult became a crack in the foundations of an age-old order. In that small breach, the aspirations of a people—long restrained by feudal power—found their voice, and the first embers of a wider revolution began to glow.
