Among his students were Faeq Hassan, Atta Sabri, Hafiz Al-Droubi and Jawad Saleem.
His father, Muhammad Said Chalabi, was a major merchant of Kirkuk and then moved his family to Baghdad in 1905.
He was captured by British forces and arrested in Tulkarm and then in Sidi Bishr, Alexandria.
After the end of WW I, he moved to Istanbul and completed his graduate studies at the Teachers' House(Dârülmuallimîn) under the management of Sati' al-Husri, who appointed Fathi Safwat as a painting teacher in the Turkish capital schools.
Among his students were Faeq Hassan, Atta Sabri, Hafiz Al-Droubi and Jawad Saleem.