When dealing with Kamal Salibi’s research contribution to the field of the modern and contemporary history of Lebanon, I am struck as a reader and researcher in this field, by two main issues that he dealt with in all his books and articles on Lebanese history over the years. The first issue concerns the Lebanese emirate, whose problem is apparent when the following question, an exceptionally problematic question, is posed: Did this emirate have any special feature or features to give it enough specificity to justify saying that it was the historical form or the historical nucleus that founded or paved the way for the modern Lebanese state? And that the founding hero was Fakhreddin al-Maani? Kamal Salibi reached his view via empirical research in the sources, namely that he does not see any basis for this specificity.