structural:scholar_edition, stylistic:tone
Early life

Said was born on 1 November 1935 into a family of Palestinian Christians in the city of Jerusalem, at the time under the British Mandate for Palestine. His parents were born in the Ottoman Empire: his mother Hilda Said (née Musa) was half Palestinian and half Lebanese, and was raised in the city of Nazareth; and his father Wadie "William" Said was a Jerusalem-based Palestinian businessman. Both Hilda and Wadie were Arab Christians, adhering to Protestantism. During World War I, Wadie served in the American Expeditionary Forces, subsequently earning United States citizenship for himself and his immediate family.

In 1919, Wadie and his cousin established a stationery business in Cairo, Egypt.

Although he was raised Protestant, Said became an agnostic in his later years.