Abd al-Rahman al-Kayyali should not be confused with Abd Al-Rahman Al-Gillani.
| Abd al-Rahman al-Kayyali Arabic: عبد الرحمن الكيالي | |
| Order: | Minister of Justice and Education |
| Term Start1: | 21 December 1936 |
| Term End1: | 18 February 1939 |
| Predecessor1: | Said al-Ghazzi |
| Successor1: | Nasib al-Bakri |
| Term Start2: | 19 August 1943 |
| Term End2: | 5 April 1945 |
| Predecessor2: | Faydi al-Atasi |
| Successor2: | Said al-Ghazzi |
| Birth Date: | 1887 |
| Birth Place: | Aleppo, Ottoman Syria |
| Death Place: | Aleppo, Syria |
Abd al-Rahman al-Kayyali (Arabic: عبد الرحمن الكيالي; 1887 – 13 September 1969) was a physician from the city of Aleppo and member of the Syrian independence movement who served as the Minister of Justice and Education for two terms.
Born in Aleppo, al-Kayyali studied medicine at the Lebanese American University and graduated in 1914.[1] Upon the emergence of WWI, he served as a medic in the Ottoman Army in Al-Hamraa, Hama Governorate.
In 1919, al-Kayyali was among the founders of the Arab Club of Aleppo, a political salon and society that promoted Aleppine regionalism and Arab nationalism in Syria against the French rule during the Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon.[2]
Later on, he joined the National Bloc, in which he became a member of Parliament in 1928, 1936 and 1943. In the meantime, he served as the Minister of Justice and Education during the premiership of Jamil Mardam Bey, Saadallah al-Jabiri and Faris al-Khoury,[3] from 1936 to 1939 and from 1943 to 1945.
Al-Kayyali also served as a diplomat for Syria. After the formal independence of Syria following the Franco-Syrian Treaty of Independence in September 1936, he was appointed non-resident ambassador to the League of Nations by president Hashim al-Atassi, a position he quit after his nomination as a cabinet member in December 1936. From 1947 to 1949 he represented the Syrian Republic as a delegate to the United Nations General Assembly.[4]
Al-Kayyali died on 13 September 1969.[5]
As a representative of the Aleppan bourgeoisie and a nationalist activist, al-Kayyali built strong ties with leaders of Syria's first independence movement, including Ibrahim Hananu, leader of the so-called Hananu Revolt against French rule. Kayyali can be considered one of the most prestigious citizens of Aleppo of his time and a Western educated proponent of anti-colonial nationalist ideology.[6]
One of al-Kayyali's grandsons, the dentist Mustafa Kayali (or Al-Kayyali), emerged as a prominent civil society activist during the Syrian uprising and was, according to media reports, among the authors of a document known as the "Code of Conduct for Syrian Coexistence" in 2017, endorsed by various Syrian community leaders.[7]