Al-Qasim was born in 1939 to a Druze family in the Emirate of Transjordan (now Jordan), in the northern city of Zarqa, while his father served in the Arab Legion of King Abdullah.

[4] His family did not flee Rameh during the 1948 Palestinian expulsion and flight (Nakba), which occurred in the midst of the invasion of multiple Arab armies aiming to destroy the newly established Israel.

[citation needed] Al-Qasim claimed that the pan-Arab ideology of Nasserism impressed him during the nationalist post-1948 era.

[11] During this time, he virtually lost his nationalistic emotions upon hearing Israeli radio announcing its territorial gains after their victory.

[7] Al-Qasim worked as a journalist in Haifa where he ran the Arabesque Press and the Folk Arts Centre and was the editor-in-chief of the Israeli Arab newspaper Kul al-Arab.

[12] He would recite many of his poems to large audiences at monthly gatherings in the Arab towns and cities of the Galilee.