Khairiah Hadid A Story of Family Heritage Resilience and Quiet Strength

Who Was Khairiah Hadid

Khairiah Hadid, also spelled Khairia or Khairiah Daher Hadid, was a Palestinian woman whose life unfolded across some of the most turbulent chapters of twentieth century Palestinian history. Born in 1925 in Nazareth, Palestine, then under the British Mandate, she later became the mother of real estate developer Mohamed Hadid and the grandmother of internationally known models Gigi Hadid, Bella Hadid, and Anwar Hadid.

When I look at Khairiah’s story, what stands out is not a celebrity career or a collection of public achievements. Her legacy is quieter and, in many ways, more intimate. She was a wife, mother of eight, grandmother, and family matriarch who helped hold her household together through displacement, migration, financial uncertainty, and years of rebuilding.

She lived much of her life away from cameras. Yet generations later, her presence can still be felt in the Hadid family. Her name appears in family stories, treasured heirlooms, photographs, and even the names of descendants.

Basic Information

Her Early Life in Nazareth

Khairiah was born in 1925 in Nazareth, a city with deep historical and cultural significance in Palestine. She was the daughter of Taufik Daher and Fahima Daher, and her family carried the Daher name that would later become central to stories about the Hadid family’s Palestinian ancestry.

Her early years belonged to a very different world from the one her grandchildren would eventually know. There were no international fashion campaigns, Beverly Hills mansions, or social media posts connecting the family to millions of people around the world. Instead, Khairiah grew up within a Palestinian society shaped by community, extended family, tradition, and the political pressures of the British Mandate period.

Family tradition has also connected the Daher lineage with Zahir al-Umar, the eighteenth century Arab ruler associated with northern Palestine and the Galilee. Mohamed Hadid has described his mother in especially grand terms, sometimes referring to her as a “Princess of Nazareth” and describing her as descended from a king.

That lineage remains a family tradition rather than a fully documented modern genealogical chain. Still, it has become an important part of the family’s understanding of its roots.

Marriage to Anwar Mohamed Hadid

Khairiah married Anwar Mohamed Hadid, born in 1918. Anwar was an educated man whose career eventually took the family far beyond Palestine.

He studied at a teachers’ college in Jerusalem and later pursued law studies in Syria. His professional life included work connected with land settlement under the British Mandate, followed by teaching English. Later, he worked for the U.S. Information Agency and Voice of America.

The marriage brought together two people whose lives would soon be shaped by circumstances much larger than themselves.

Khairiah and Anwar lived in the Safad area among other places, building a family during a period when political conditions in Palestine were becoming increasingly unstable.

1948 and the Family’s Displacement

The year 1948 became a dividing line in Khairiah’s life.

During the war and displacement surrounding the Nakba, Khairiah and her family left Palestine. They first moved to Lebanon and later lived in Damascus, Syria. Her son Mohamed was born in Nazareth on November 6, 1948, around the beginning of this enormous upheaval.

The family’s journey did not end in Syria. Over the following years, they lived in several places, including Tunisia and Greece, before eventually settling in the Washington, D.C. area.

The story of the family obtaining Jordanian citizenship is another memorable piece of family lore. According to the story shared by Mohamed, Anwar spent years dealing with statelessness before winning a backgammon game against the Jordanian ambassador, after which the family’s situation changed.

Whether told as family history or remembered as one of those stories that becomes larger with every retelling, it captures the uncertainty surrounding the family’s early years.

Khairiah’s role throughout this period appears to have been deeply connected to keeping the family together.

A Mother Raising Eight Children

Khairiah and Anwar had eight children, creating a household that must have been full of movement, noise, personalities, and responsibilities.

Their children were:

Maha was listed as deceased in Khairiah’s 2008 obituary.

Mohamed, born in 1948, would eventually become the most publicly recognizable of Khairiah’s children. He built a career as a real estate developer, particularly through luxury properties associated with Bel Air and Beverly Hills.

But before any of that success, Mohamed was simply one of Khairiah’s children growing up in a family shaped by migration.

The values associated with his parents have often appeared in his later accounts of the family’s past. Education, perseverance, cultural identity, and family unity were central themes.

Khairiah as the Family Matriarch

Khairiah rarely worked publicly. She has no notable businesses, awards, publications, or professional accomplishments.

Her life was not without accomplishments.

Imagine parenting eight children while migrating from country to country, negotiating refugee life, and beginning over in the US. A household becomes an institution. All meals, school days, family arguments, celebrations, and unpleasant conversations contribute to stability.

Khairiah was a loving wife and mother who preserved Palestinian culture and family relationships amid great change, according to family stories.

She was also known as “Tata,” a grandma with a multigenerational brood.

Her Relationship With Her Grandchildren

By the time Khairiah’s grandchildren came along, the family’s circumstances had changed dramatically.

Among her best known grandchildren are Marielle Hadid, Alana Hadid, Gigi Hadid, Bella Hadid, and Anwar Hadid’s generation of the family. At the time of Khairiah’s death in 2008, the obituary noted approximately 15 grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren.

Her relationship with her grandchildren became part of the emotional family history that continued after her death.

Gigi Hadid, whose full name is Jelena Noura Hadid, reportedly won an art competition with a portrait of her grandmother. That detail offers a remarkably personal glimpse into how Khairiah was remembered within the family. She was not simply an ancestor listed in a family tree. She was someone whose face and presence mattered enough to become art.

Bella Hadid also carries a direct connection to her grandmother through her middle name, Khair, a tribute to Khairiah.

A Name That Continued Into Another Generation

Perhaps the sweetest continuation of Khairiah’s legacy came years after her death.

Gigi Hadid’s daughter, Khai Hadid Malik, was born in September 2020. The name Khai has widely been associated with Khairiah and the family’s heritage.

This creates an unusual thread across generations. A woman born in Nazareth in 1925, whose life was marked by displacement and migration, became part of the identity of a child born nearly a century later into a globally recognized family.

Names can work like tiny time capsules. They carry memories that photographs sometimes cannot.

The Daher Family and Zahir al-Umar Tradition

Khairiah’s maiden name, Daher, is also significant within the family’s understanding of Palestinian history.

Zahir al-Umar, also known as Daher al-Umar, lived approximately from 1689 or 1690 to 1775. He was a powerful Arab sheikh who established substantial local authority across northern Palestine, particularly the Galilee.

He was associated with places including Nazareth, Tiberias, Safed, and Acre. His political and economic influence grew during the eighteenth century while the region remained under nominal Ottoman rule.

Mohamed Hadid has connected his mother’s Daher lineage with Zahir al-Umar. In family retellings, this has sometimes become a claim that Khairiah descended from the historic ruler.

The exact generations between Zahir al-Umar and Khairiah are not publicly mapped in a complete, independently verified genealogy. For that reason, the connection is best understood as a cherished family tradition rather than an established modern genealogical fact.

Even so, the story matters because heritage was clearly important to Khairiah’s descendants.

Her Husband Anwar Hadid

Anwar Mohamed Hadid died in 1989, nearly two decades before Khairiah.

His career and education played a major role in the family’s eventual journey to the United States. His work with Voice of America and the U.S. Information Agency helped establish a new chapter for the family in the Washington, D.C. and Virginia region.

For Khairiah, the death of her husband meant becoming a widow after decades of marriage. By then, their children were adults and their family had already grown across multiple generations.

Their shared story remained part of the foundation upon which their children built their own lives.

The Family’s Palestinian Identity

One of the most striking elements in stories about Khairiah is the family’s continued attachment to Palestinian identity.

The family had lived in Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Tunisia, Greece, and the United States. Such movement could easily have diluted a family’s cultural memory. Instead, accounts from her descendants suggest that Palestinian heritage remained central.

Mohamed has spoken about lessons associated with his parents, including the importance of not allowing bitterness to define the family after displacement.

That idea gives Khairiah’s story another layer. Her legacy was not only about survival. It was about what kind of people her children would become after surviving.

Heirlooms and Memories

Khairiah’s legacy also survives through objects.

Her granddaughter Marielle has spoken about wearing her grandmother’s ring and keeping a Palestinian coin as a reminder of family heritage and displacement.

These objects may appear small compared with the sprawling real estate developments later associated with the Hadid name. Yet emotionally, they can carry far more weight.

A ring can become a bridge between generations. A coin can become a miniature map of a homeland.

For descendants of displaced families, such objects often carry stories that cannot be reduced to dates on a family tree.

Her Final Years and Death

Khairiah spent her later decades in Virginia and remained surrounded by family.

She died on October 1, 2008, at the age of 83 in the Washington, D.C. area. Her funeral prayers were held at Al-Hijra Mosque in Falls Church, Virginia, and she was buried at National Memorial Park in Falls Church.

Her obituary described her as the beloved wife of the late Anwar Hadid and the loving mother of eight.

At the time of her death, she had already become a grandmother and great-grandmother several times over. The family she had helped raise had grown into a large network spanning generations.

Khairiah Hadid’s Family Legacy

The table cannot capture the entire family because Khairiah had many grandchildren and great-grandchildren, but it shows how far her influence extended.

Why Khairiah Hadid Remains Remembered

Khairiah’s tale is unique since she became renowned without trying.

Grandchildren worked in fashion, entertainment, music, and popular culture. Son was a notable real estate developer. Her family name spread worldwide.

Khairiah kept her privacy.

Her narrative is best understood through her descendants. An displaced mother who kept family togetherness, travelled across borders but remained connected to Palestine, and reared children who led various lives are reflected in the Hadid family’s public identity.

The basic continuity of family memory moves me most in her story. A 1955 Beirut snapshot, a grandmother’s ring, a Palestinian coin, a granddaughter’s headshot, and names passed down can tell a better tale than a résumé.

FAQ

Who was Khairiah Hadid?

Khairiah Hadid was a Palestinian woman born in Nazareth in 1925. She was the wife of Anwar Hadid, mother of eight children including Mohamed Hadid, and grandmother of Gigi, Bella, and Anwar Hadid.

When did Khairiah Hadid die?

Khairiah Hadid died on October 1, 2008, at the age of 83 in the Washington, D.C. area.

Who were Khairiah Hadid’s parents?

Her parents were Taufik Daher and Fahima Daher. Khairiah was born into the Daher family in Nazareth.

Who was Khairiah Hadid’s husband?

Her husband was Anwar Mohamed Hadid, born in 1918. He was an educator who later worked with the U.S. Information Agency and Voice of America.

How many children did Khairiah Hadid have?

Khairiah and Anwar Hadid had eight children, including Mohamed Hadid, who later became a successful real estate developer.

Was Khairiah Hadid related to Zahir al-Umar?

The Hadid family has claimed that Khairiah’s Daher lineage descended from Zahir al-Umar, the eighteenth century ruler associated with northern Palestine. The specific genealogical connection has not been independently documented through a complete public family tree.

Why is Bella Hadid’s middle name Khair?

Bella Hadid’s middle name is Khair, which is widely understood within the family as an honor to her grandmother Khairiah Hadid.

Was Khairiah Hadid a public figure?

No. Khairiah was primarily a private family figure, and most public information about her comes through family memories, tributes, and accounts of her children and grandchildren.

Did Khairiah Hadid have great-grandchildren?

Yes. She had at least 13 great-grandchildren by the time of her death in 2008. Her later descendants include Khai Hadid Malik, the daughter of Gigi Hadid and Zayn Malik.

Where was Khairiah Hadid buried?

Khairiah Hadid was buried at National Memorial Park in Falls Church, Virginia, following prayers at Al-Hijra Mosque.

What is Khairiah Hadid remembered for?

She is remembered primarily as a devoted wife, mother, grandmother, and Palestinian family matriarch who raised eight children through displacement and repeated moves while helping preserve family unity, cultural identity, and resilience.