[1] He argued for pan-Arab unity, and was among the first scholars in Jabal Amel to seek to integrate his Shi'ite co-religionists into the greater Arab and Muslim nations[2][3] while retaining their identity as a religious community.

Born in Nabatiyeh, he was a main supporter of King Faisal's Greater Syrian rule, following the Arab Revolt in the First World War.

He was one of the three reformers, alongside historian Mohammad Jaber Al Safa (also his son-in-law) and sheikh Suleiman Daher, to have started a scientific and social renaissance movement in Jabal Amel.

The three had formed a prominent intellectual gathering, known as "the Ameli Three" (or "Amili Trio"), helping establish foundations and associations aiming at eradicating illiteracy in the region.

As a writer, a poet and a linguist, he was a member of the Arab Academy of Damascus, and was considered to be one of the greatest intellectuals to have emerged from Greater Syria, in the twentieth century.