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VOL. V. No. 6.
i A
FEBRUARY, 1931.
THE
SYRIAN WORLD
A
MONTHLY MAGAZINE IN ENGLISH DEALING
WITH SYRIAN AFFAIRS AND ARABIC LITERATURE
m
SO
ARE THE LEBANESE ARABS?
PHILIP K. HITTI, PH. D.
OUR COMMISSION TO POSTERITY
REV W. A. MANSUR
A JOURNEY THROUGH JEBEL DRUZE
SALLOUM A. MOKARZEL
THE TRAVELS OF AN ARABIC WORD:
AL-JUBBAH
JOSEPH J. RAYMOND
mm
111
m
WILL SYRIA HAVE ANOTHER KING?
ALI ZAIBAQ (QUICKSILVER)
THE COPY 50c
m
m m&
(A SERIAL)
��THE
SYRIAN WORLD
"Published monthly except July and August
by
THE SYRIAN-AMERICAN PRESS
104 Greenwich St., New York, N. Y.
By subscription $5.00 a year.
Single Copies 50c
Entered as second class matter June 25, 1926, at the post office at New York,
N. Y., under the act of March 3, 1879.
VOL. V.
FEBRUARY, 1931
No. 6.
CONTENTS
PAGE
Are the Lebanese Arabs?
PHILIP
5
K.
HITTI, PH.
D.
The Secret Pll Cherish (Poem)
DR.
N. A.
KATIBAH
A Journey Through Jebel Druze — 77
SALLOUM
I
16
A.
17
MOKARZEL
The Blind Astronomer (Poem)
26
THOMAS ASA
Our Commission to Posterity
u
REV.
W. A.
27
MANSUR
�t
CONTENTS (Continued)
PAGE
To Youth (Poem)
J. D.
34
CARLYLE.-
The Arabian Nights (Poem)
DON
C.
35
SEITZ
Ali Zaibaq (Quicksilver)—(Serial)
S. A. MOKARZEL AND T. S.
Past and Future
26
DAYTON
40
G. K. GlBRAN
Advice to a Girl (Poem)
41
LABEEBEE
A. J.
HANNA
The Travels of an Arabic Word: Al-Jubbah
JOSEPH
J.
42
RAYMOND
From the Arabic
44.
Will Syria Have Another King?
45
Political Developments in Syria
49
About Syria and Syrians
52
�I
IN THIS ISSUE
W^HAT we believe to be one
of the finest efforts of Dr.
Hitti is his condensation of the
whole history of Lebanon
from the dawn of time within
the limits of a few pages. The
question "Are the Lebanese
Arabs?" was put to him by the
editor of Al-Hoda, and in his
comprehensive answer he epitomizes the whole history of
the country, tracing the effects
on it of the various conquering
races from the Assyrians and
Egyptians to the Greeks, Romans, Arabs and Turks, and
drawing conclusions which cannot fail of interesting every
student of history.
Dr. Hitti gives his opinion
with due appreciation of his
standing as a scholar. It is evident that he strives to establish
facts without regard to personal
feelings or political considerations. This article of his, although originally written for a
daily newspaper, is worthy of
an encyclopaedia. It is so crammed with facts, so logical in the
sequence of its argument, that
we deemed it a special privilege
to translate it into English for
the enlightenment of our young
generation in America and
those of the American public
who are interested in learning
about our ancestry but cannot
find the ready sources. Now
the facts are here presented in
the most concise form, in the
plain, untechnical language that
everyone can understand. Our
readers, we feel sure, will not
only enjoy reading it once, but
decide that it is worthy of keeping for future study and as a
source of reference.
Tr) many of our readers, Don
C. Seitz will need no introduction. He is a nationally
known American author and
journalist who, even after his
retirement from active journalism, still wields great influence in American newspaper
circles in New York. Mr. Seitz
was for almost a quarter of a
century the managing editor of
the New York World, at the
time when that paper was making newspaper history. He is
an admirer of Eastern literature
and his poem on the Arabian
Nights, contributed to THE
SYRIAN WORLD, will surely inspire a more generous appreciation and admiration by our
young generation of the literary treasures of their mother
tongue.
�pEV. W. A. Mansur's present
contribution is on the commission of the Syrian pioneers
in America to their posterity.
The fine qualities of the Syrian
race which the writer points out
should command especial consideration. It is evident that the
learned and patriotic divine
wishes to address himself to our
young generation in a spirit of
exhortation to emulate their ancestors and strive to perpetuate
their finer racial attributes and
characteristics. Rev. Mansur's
articles are always inspirational,
and should recommend themselves not only for their educational value but for their
deep sincerity as well.
*THE editor's travel article in
this issue deals with his observations and experiences in
Sueida, capital ,of Jebel Druze.
He faithfully describes the
town from all angles, and tells
of an interesting visit to the
State Orphanage for Druze
children. His estimate of the
French officials should be
especially interesting, inasmuch
as they now seem to be respected and even loved by the very
people who a few years since
rose in rebellion against them.
The coming article will describe the editor's visit to Qanawat and Shahba, two of the
most interesting historical places
in the Druze Mountain.
"THE tasks of our hero Ali
Zaibaq are becoming increasingly difficult. Has he succeeded in effecting his escape
from the Enchanted Fortress?
And if so, what was his fate?
Let the famous Arab tale-tellers of old give you an account
of Quicksilver's exploits in their
own inimitable way.
T*HIS issue is especially rich
in contributions of poetry.
Gibran's prose poems always
contain a high spiritual message.
Dr. N. A. Katibah, whose attention had been monopolized
lately by an important new
work, still finds time to make
an
occasional
contribution.
Thomas Asa is as staunch and
constant a friend as he is an able
writer. Miss Labeebee A. J.
Hanna returns to delight her
many admirers.
IT took an American student of
Princeton to follow a word
almost through a dozen languages and in as many countries
and finally trace it back to its
Arabic origin. Joseph Raymond's scholarly efforts in identifying the Arabic word AlJubbah in many languages are
certain to meet with the high
appreciation and commendation
of our readers.
, c-
�THE
SYRIAN WORLD
VOL. V.
FEBRUARY, 1931.
No. 6.
Are the Lebanese Arabs?
By
PHILIP
K.
HITTI, PH.
D.
of Princeton University
Editor's Note:—The conflicting claims respecting the ancestry of the
modern Lebanese caused the editor of Al-Hoda to call on Dr. Hitti for an
authoritative opinion on the subject. Hence the following article which first
appeared in Al-Hoda in the Arabic original on January 3. The English
translation, although undertaken by the Syrian World staff, was submitted
to the author for revision and approval before publication.
. i •
A RE the Lebanese Arabs?
This question, put to me by Mr. N. A. Mokarzel, editor of
Al-Hoda, touches an important historical subject. In answering
it I shall confine myself to the purely scholarly aspect, despite
the complicated political questions that beset the theme. In a
study of such character we must be guided only by the desire to
ascertain facts, holding ourselves aloof from partisan considerations.
Let us begin by defining our terms.
Who are the "Lebanese" intended by the question?
The term Lebanese here applies to the inhabitants of the Lebanon Mountain considered in its geographical delimitation and
not in its administrative form. Especially dqes the term here apply to the Western Lebanon range extending from the Nahr ElKabir (the Eleutheros of the ancients) in the north to the bend
of the Litani River, known in modern usage as Nahr El-Qasimiyeh, in the south. The inhabitants of both coastal and interior
cities now annexed to Lebanon, such as Beirut and Baalbek, are
excluded from the general term. Emphasis cannot be too strongly
laid on the additional fact that by the term Lebanese is here
meant the overwhelming majority of the inhabitants of Lebanon,
not each and every individual without exception.
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THE SYRIAN WORLD
And whom do we mean by the term "Arabs"?
If by Arabs we understand those who have adopted the
Arabic language and culture, then the question becomes superfluous j because in that case the answer is obvious. The Lebanese,
from this point of view, are "Arabs" or Arabicized, from the
standpoint of language, culture and general psychology. Some of
them are even so from the standpoint of religion. But if we
mean by the term "Arab" the ethnological lineage, blood relationship and racial descent, then the question is open to discussion.
>;
It is plain that the Arabs meant in the question are those natives of the Arabian peninsula who entered Syria at the time of
the Islamic invasion about the middle of the seventh century A.
D. or those who came into the country as a result of that invasion, or, in a more general sense, those of the peninsular Arabians
who migrated during historic periods and settled in Lebanon.
This constitutes an important point which it is quite important
for us to determine, owing to the fact that certain scholars are
of the opinion that what we call today the Arabian peninsula was
in all probability in pre-historic days the cradle of the whole
Semitic race comprising those later termed Babylonians, Assyrians, Chaldeans, Phoenicians, Arameans and Hebrews. In fact
this broad claim would take in all peoples speaking a Semitic
tongue. Those who have read my two little Arabic books entitled
Suriyat w-al-Suriyun min Nafidhat al-Tarikh and Al-Lughat alSatmyah al-Mahkiyah ft Suriyah wa-Lubnan will recall that I
share the afore-mentioned historical theory. But granting that
all this is true it does not form a part of our present discussion;
because, firstly, it is only a theory and whatever connection it has
with the subject is pre-historic. Secondly, because the Semitic
peoples who migrated from the peninsula, granting that the
theory is tenable, were not, strictly speaking, Arabians. A similar case may be found in the ethnology of the French and English
peoples whose ancestry may be traced back to barbarian tribes who
once inhabited Germany 3 yet the French and English cannot be
properly called German. All European peoples, besides, are supposed to have come from Asia; but it does not follow that they,
for that reason, should be styled Asiatics. Thirdly, because the
same theory is based on the assumption that these Semitic peoples, before they settled in the Arabian peninsula, were one and
the same race with the Hamites inhabiting Northern Africa.
Reduced to its fundamentals our question then becomes: Are
HHHnHnHHHHHHBHHHHHM
*
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�FEBRUARY, 1931
most of the inhabitants of Lebanon today descendants of those
Arabians who migrated to Syria as a result of the Islamic invasion or who filtered in before the invasion during historical periods?
If it should be necessary to give an unequivocal answer in a
single word, that word would be "no."
A short introduction and a detailed explanation follow.
WHO WERE THE FIRST LEBANESE?
The late Alfred Day, professor of zoology and geology at
the American University of Beirut, discovered in the cave of
Antilyas a few years ago ancient human remains together with
those of deer, gazelles, and wild ass and other species of wild
animals now extinct. This proves that pre-historic man lived in
those sections and dwelt in caves, subsisting on the meat of wild
animals which 4ie slew with stones, using the skins for clothing.
The discoveries of Pere Zemmoven, S. J., along the coast of Kisrawan corroborate the same theory. In all, archaeologists have
found no less than a dozen depots in Lebanon for the manufacture of stone implements before man came to the discovery of
metals and learned their use. The southernmost of these depots
is at 'Adlun, situated between Tyre and Sidon, and the northernmost is one for the manufacture of flint on the banks of the River
Abu 'Ali (Qadisha) above Tripoli. But the principal ones are
those of the Nahr El-Kalb (Lycos River), Nahr Ibrahim (Adonis) and the Antilyas River. Whoever visited the museum of
the American University of Beirut must remember the large
showcases filled with the flint implements which the first Lebanese used in the stone age as knives and weapons.
The prevailing opinion among contemporary scholars is that
Egypt and Babylon were the first historic seats of civilization,
but the man of that period living on the banks of the Nile or on
the banks of the Euphrates represented a high type of civilization because he had already attained an agricultural stage of development. It should be taken for granted that thousands of
years must have elapsed before he learned how to cultivate the
soil and domesticate animals. Previous to that stage, however,
man was a hunter subsisting on the flesh of wild animals and wild
vegetation. From that state he emerged into a pastoral one and
began to subsist on the produce of animals which he had learned
— —
MBBOTBHW1^^"
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THE SYRIAN WORLD
to domesticate. In our present day the nomad bedouins represent that stage. It was only after the elapse of centuries that man
entered into the agricultural stage symbolized by the Babylonian
and Egyptian civilizations.
The natural deduction is that Lebanon was partly, not totally,
inhabited thousands of years before the historic era or the advent
of the Babylonian and Egyptian civilizations. This represents
the first point in our thesis which we wish to establish.
Let us now pass on to the subsequent and better known historic ages.
The first historical reference to Lebanon occurs about 2800
B. C. when Sargon, the Babylonian, invaded it. Others from
among the Sumerian and Babylonian kings visited it either for
the hunt for procuring its timber for building their temples and
palaces in a country singularly lacking in forests and building
stone. The reader may be surprised to learn that Tiglatt-Pileser,
the Assyrian, as early as 1100 B. C. mentions in one of his records that he had hunted the elephant in Lebanon. Even to our
present day the cuneiform inscriptions of the Babylonians and
Assyrians appear on the living rock at the mouth of Nahr ElKalb (Dog River), the most important of which being that of
the Chaldean conqueror, Nebuchadnezzar.
The first reference made in the hieroglyphic Egyptian characters to Lebanon and to the Alaouite district, which is geologically complementary to the Lebanon range, occurs in a letter
of Thutmose who overcame the kingdom of Arwad about the
year 1500 B. C. and waxed eloquent in the description of the
fertility of the country. He referred to the bounty of the land,
the beauty of the orchards and the abundance of the wines. (They
had no prohibition in those days!). To quote literally some of
his remarks: "Their gardens were filled with their fruit, their
wines were found remaining in their presses as water flows, their
grain on the terraces upon [the mountain side]." Here is the
first reference in history to the characteristic mountain terraces
(jail,) indicating that the Lebanese mountaineers even in the
middle of the second millenium before Christ, terraced their
land in the manner still obtaining to this day. Ramses came in
the wake of Thutmose and perpetuated the record of his invasion of Lebanon by the imperishable inscription he had carved
on the rock at the mouth of the Dog River where the Lebanese
took their strategic stand in defense of their country.
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�FEBRUARY, 1931
WHO WERE THE PHOENICIANS?
Now to what race belonged these first Lebanese at the dawn
of recorded history?
Undoubtedly they belonged to the Semitic race. Some, unquestionably, were Canaanites who were akin to the Arameans,—
both being of the same Semitic stock. As regards the Phoenicians, they are none other than the Canaanites who lived on the
sea coast and who were called Phoenician (blood red) by the
Greeks who knew the Phoenicians as traders in purple. The history of the Phoenicians began in Lebanon about 2000 B. C. Traces
of Phoenician temples, tombs and forts are still in evidence not
only in Tyre, Sidon, Byblos, 'Amrit and the rest of the coast
cities, but also in Afqa, Samar Jubail, Bait Miri, Hermon and
other localities situated far in the interior of the country. The
recently established Lebanese National Museum in Beirut contains the finest collection of Phoenician antiquities in the world,
comprising sarcophagi, inscriptions and relics the like of which
are not to be found even in the Louvre or the British Museum.
While the foothills of Lebanon flourished with the Phoenicians about the middle of the second millenium B. C, the country
was invaded by the Hittites who were of northern and therefore
non-Semitic origin. The Hittites hailed from Anatolia and first
settled on the banks of the Euphrates where they established
their capital Carchemish (modern Jarablus). They later invaded
the valley of the Orontes and set up their southern capital at
Qadish, in the neighborhood of Hims (Emesa). Sweeping later
from the Biqa' plain they took possession of the higher reaches
of Northern Lebanon and contended with Thutmose, Ramses
and other Egyptian Pharaohs for the possession of Lebanon and
Syria. Incontestable proof of the Hittites' hold on Lebanon may
be found in the celebrated Tell el-Amarna records. There is at
least one biblical reference (Judges 3:3) to the Hittites and other
nations "that dwelt in Mount Lebanon, from mount Baal-hermon unto the entrance of Hamath." The modern Arabic vernacular of Lebanon bears traces of the early Hittite occupation
of the land in certain common words of Hittite origin, such as
shaghur for waterfalls.
Lebanon was mentioned not less than sixty times in the Old
Testament, the references occurring principally in description of
its majesty, its beauty and its waters and cedars. But in Ps. 72:16
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THE SYRIAN WORLD
there is a reference to its fruit, and in Hos. 14:7 occurs a mention of its wine, indicating that the Hebrews knew Lebanon, at
least in certain of its sections, populated.
It should not be understood that we mean that Lebanon at
that early stage of history was densely populated. Such could
hardly be expected of an inaccessible, cold mountain abounding
in forests and ferocious beasts. What we mean to convey is that
some sections of the mountain, especially the northern portion,
were a habitat of man from the earliest known history, just as
other portions were inhabited even in pre-historic periods. This
forms the second point which we wish to establish.
In the years 64 B. C. Pompey, the Roman general, came to
Lebanon as an invader. Geographers of that period mention in
this connection three Lebanese fortified strongholds. With the
Roman occupation the Lebanese entered upon a golden era of
prosperity and progress because of the well-known Roman policy
of colonization involving the opening of highways, building of
bridges, erecting of aqueducts and crowning many hills with magnificent temples, besides establishing summer resorts which afforded the colonists relief from the heat of the seacoast. Even
to this day we find clear traces of these public improvements initiated by the Romans, such as the aqueduct (qanatir) of Sitt Zubaida in the outskirts of Beirut, the water canal of the cAr'ar
spring, the temple of Dair El-Qal'a, and the temple of Faqra
above Mazra'at Kfardibyan at the foot of Mt. Sannin—not to
mention innumerable Roman inscriptions and sarcophagi to be
found all over the mountain. It is indeed surprising that traces
of a Roman road formerly connecting Byblos and Baalbek and
passing over the higher reaches of Lebanon in the direction of
'Aqura are discernible to this very day.
In the Byzantine period, which followed as a complement to
the Roman period, the Lebanese gradually embraced the then
new Christian religion. Lebanon attracted particularly the hermits and ascetics inclined to a life of monastic seclusion, and became a haven for the persecuted among the inhabitants of the
coastal and interior plains. This gave impetus to the rise in its
population. Ernest Renan in his Mission de Phenicie, describes
several Lebanese Christian churches which date back to the Byzantine period, principally the churches of Mashnaqa and Hadthun and the temple of Kfar Shlaiman.
The net findings are that during the Roman and Byzantine
»
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FEBRUARY, 1931
11
periods Lebanon enjoyed an era of great prosperity and progress
and experienced a large increase in its population. This constitutes the third important point in our theme.
And now we face the crucial problem in the whole discussion.
RELATION OF LEBANESE TO ARABS
Between the years 633 and 640 A. D. the Moslem Arabs invaded Syria and settled in the country. Their Umayyad caliphs
even made Damascus their capital, and so it remained until the
fall of the Umayyad dynasty about the middle of the eighth
century and the consequent rise of the 'Abbasid dynasty in Baghdad. What then became of the original inhabitants of the country?
Before the Arab conquest they numbered about five million
souls, according to the lowest estimates.
They were Christians speaking the Syrian Aramaic.
They enjoyed a flourishing civilization.
They had magnificent cathedrals such as the basilica of St.
John in Damascus which later became the famous Umayyad
mosque.
What became of all these people? Did they evaporate and
simply vanish?
But our discussion is now confined to Lebanon, and we would
ask: What became of its population after the Arab occupation?
It is incontestable that the mountain, especially in its populous
northern section, maintained even after the Arab invasion much
of its autonomy and even succeeded for many centuries thereafter
in retaining its native Syriac language. Its Christian religion was
never forsaken and has been preserved to this day. The invading
Arabs were unable to gain a foothold in it because of its inaccessibility, the severity of its climate and the preoccupation of the
first caliphs in waging war against the Byzantines on the one
hand, and on the other in suppressing the Shiites and other insurgents within their own boundaries.
Such being the Arabs' predicament, the Byzantine emperors
took advantage of it to reinforce the mountaineers and increase
their power of resistance. To that end they dispatched to Lebanon certain contingents whom al-Baladhuri calls Jarajimah, and
who, in the opinion of Pere Lammens, are none other than the
Maradah. This new warlike people not only settled in the moun-
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THE SYRIAN WORLD
tain but began to make incursions against coastal and interior
cities and proved themselves a thorn in the sides of the Arab
caliphs of Damascus to the extent that the caliph 'Abd-al-Malik
ibn-Marwan concluded a truce with the Byzantine monarch and
agreed to pay him an annual tribute for the sole purpose of
putting an end to the harassing attacks of the Maradah. In this,
according to al-Baladhuri, 'Abd-al-Malik was only continuing the
policy of his great predecessor Mu'awiyah, the founder of the
Umayyad dynasty. And let it also be remembered that the reign
of the Umayyads was at its zenith under 'Abd-al-Malik and his
son al-Walid. In later periods, however, some of these Maradah tribes returned to their homeland in Cilcia, while the remainder settled permanently in Lebanon and were amalgamated
with the original inhabitants, thereby forming what became
known as the Maronite nation which in the last analysis springs
from an Aramean origin.
Al-Baladhuri and al-Ya'qubi are authority for the statement
that when the caliph Mu'awiyah decided on repopulating the localities which the Romans had evacuated in the districts of Beirut, Jubail, Tripoli, 'Arqa and Baalbek, he imported contingents
from Persia for the purpose. It naturally follows that the Persians formed a component part of the modern Lebanese nation,
but not of the Christian element in it. Other elements may be
noted in passing: The Janbalat and Tmad clans are of Kurdish
stock, while the Talhuqs and 'Abdal Samads are Maghribis.
In this connection it becomes necessary to call attention to
some pertinent considerations respecting the Arabs who came to
Syria as a result of the conquest. The point becomes more important in view of the uncertainty and ambiguity surrounding it
in the popular mind.
First:—Historians of the period of invasion place the number of the Arab army at twenty-eight thousand. Let us increase
the estimate by another twenty-two thousands, who followed subsequent to the conquest, and we will have a round total of fifty
thousands representing the purely Arab element among the then
existing Syrian and Lebanese population of between five and six
millions.
Second:—As is natural, most of the newcomers were men
representing the fighting units of the army. The women among
them were few. Once settled, they intermarried with native women, and as a result, the second generation was only half Ara-
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FEBRUARY, 1931
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13
bian. The third and fourth generations became less Arabian, and
so the fifth. The same process of reasoning applies as well to
the Arabs of Spain. Arab blood in the veins of 'Abd-al-Rahman
III, the founder of the Spanish caliphate, was infinitesimal, according to scientific computation. Another case in point is that
of the Ottoman Turks who gradually lost all traces of their racial
identity, so that, computing the amount of Mongolian blood in
the veins of Sultan <Abd-al-Hamid, a certain scholar found it not
to exceed one per cent.
Third:—The Arab occupation of the country was in the nature of the case restricted to the cities and coasts: Damascus, Hims,
Hama, Beirut. The invaders had no interest in the mountainous
section which offered no inducement to them considering its cold
climate, meagerness of natural resources, lack of communication
and its total dependence on agricultural products.
Let us, besides, not overlook the important fact that the
policy of Umar ibn-al-Khattab was to prevent free intercourse
between the Arab army and the natives causing his men to be
secluded in restricted camps such as al-Jabiya and 'Amwas.
Who of us can imagine a bedouin family migrating and taking up its abode in Lebanon?
Has any one heard that within the last five hundred years
any Arab tribe settled in Lebanon for permanent occupancy?
The Turks occupied the country four whole centuries, but
how many Turkish families became domiciled in Lebanon?
In every land in the world it is the population of the country
places, the mountains and the hinterland, that represent the original native stock, the urban population being in every case a mixture with a large proportion of late comers and foreigners. A
study of the statistics of the city of New York will reveal that
only one out of five of its inhabitants is a native city-born.
Fourth:—The cities are more open to the spread of epidemics and diseases, and city dwellers fall prey to a life of ease,
luxury and excesses which sap their vitality. Modern statistics
place the average life of the urban family at not more than three
generations, or ninety years. If this is the case in our modern
cities teeming with public health precautions and hygienic measures and scientific ways of living what could have been the case
in medieval times when ignorance was rampant, medical science
primeval and general means of prolonging life non-existant.
In those days cholera, plague, smallpox, diphtheria and var-
�-jmmm
14
THE SYRIAN WORLD
ious forms of fevers and other epidemics swept the cities with
appalling results. Infantile mortality was undoubtedly at the rate
of 75% or more in those days and under those conditions. But
mountain inhabitants everywhere and at all times are comparatively immune against epidemics because of the blessings of fresh
air and sunshine, of a green vegetable diet, open-air life, field
work, early sleep and safety from contact with sources of disease
and pollution.
The general rule the world over is that cities rejuvenate
their depleted vitality by the absorption of pure and virile mountain blood, through the accretion of those mountaineer youth of
both sexes who are attracted by city life and join the caravan
which is headed for inevitable extinction.
Another important point, not in agreement with popular conception, must also be clarified: The Moslem Arabs, whether in
Syria or other conquered countries, were little concerned with
forcing the natives into changing their original religious beliefs.
This is due to the fact that profession of Islam constituted in
itself an automatic exemption from the payment of tribute. Economic considerations, therefore, prompted the Arabs to grant
conquered peoples freedom to practice their prevailing institutions, whether religious, civil or social.
From the foregoing it must be deduced that Syria in its entirety remained Syriac in its language, Christian in its religion
and Aramean in its traditions throughout the period of the orthodox caliphs and in that of the early Umayyads. Its Arabicization and Islamization were gradual and slow processes which began towards the end of the Umayyad period and assumed greater
proportions during the 'Abbasid rule. Let it be noted, however,
that the 'Abbasids, like their predecessors the Umayyads, took
little notice of the mountain and confined their interest only to
the occupation of its southern sections, apparently failing to properly recognize its strategic importance. It was not till the
advent of the Crusades that the mountain strongholds were rebuilt and fortified, principally Hims al-Akrad, Marqab and alShaqif.
Consequent upon the Arab invasion of the Syrian coast and
hinterland Arabic began to be spoken in various parts of the
country, including Lebanon. But men are ever inclined to change
their political allegiance more readily than their linguistic heritage, with the result that the native Syriac language held valiantly
�FEBRUARY, 1931
the^rabic11 f°r *
/5
Pr traCted time tefore ifc
gave
°
wa
X
in
favor of
The Arab historian Ibn-al-'Ibri (1226-86) informs us that
the Syriac language was still spoken in Lebanon in his times.
a
w^H
T/^SSem.anl) b his bi°graPhy of Nuh Bqifawi who
TJT XT I451 m Bqlfa' (betWeen Ehden and Bisharri) reports that Nuh composed poetry in Syriac
Bishop Jubra'il Lihfidi, better known as ibn-al-Qila'i, who
died in 1516, left us certain works in Arabic which bear unmistakable traces of Syriac linguistic influence.
In the year 1611 George Karmsaddini compiled a Syriac-Arabic dictionary, for which he collected material, according to his
own statement in the preface, from the inhabitants of the neighborhood, especially Hasrun.
In the year 1632 Chausteuil paid a visit to Lebanon and discovered that the inhabitants of Hasrun still spoke Syriac All
this goes to prove that the process of Arabicization was an extremely slow one, making it possible for some north Lebanon
towns to maintain their original Syriac language up to the middle
of the seventeenth century. It is a well-known fact that even to
this day there are three towns in Anti-Lebanon which have reJub'eadinnaC ^
a SP ken kngUage
°
>
namelv
' Ma'lula, Bakha and
Syriac has left noticeable traces in the Arabic colloquial of
Lebanon, affecting its grammar, syntax and accent. Towns and
localities bearing names of unmistakable Syriac origin and derivation outnumber by far those bearing purely Arabic names.
It should not be deduced from the foregoing that all the Lebanese are of Aramaic origin. Southern Lebanon, for instance,
was occupied by Arab tribes both following the Islamic invasion
and during the Crusades, their principal representatives being
Ma<n, Tanukh and Shihab. Undoubtedly, also, some of the
southern Christians are of Ghassanid Arab origin, although most
of the southern Christians filtered originally from the Maronites
of the north. Other Christians, as should be further noted, may
be traced back to crusaders' origin. We are of the opinion, on
the whole, that Greek and Roman blood is just as negligible
among the inhabitants of the mountain as Arab blood is, and for
substantially the same reasons. The Greeks and Romans, during
their periods of occupation, confined themselves to the cities and
coasts and found no potent attraction to draw them to the moun-
�THE SYRIAN WORLD
16
tain. But whatever the case may have been, the elapse of centuries has caused such a complete fusion of Ghassanid and Crusaders' blood with that of the natives that scarcely a trace of the
imported stock now remains.
Nor should one be led to infer from the above discussion
that the cultural and linguistic heritage of a people is negligible
in the face of their biological or ethnological relationship. Most
of the Lebanese are biologically, racially, of native Syrian stock,
but their Arabic language and culture are vital bonds that unite
them with the other nations of the Arabic-speaking world. The
significance and the importance of this linguistic and cultural
heritage of the Lebanese should never be underestimated.
Thy Secret Fll Cherish
(From the Syrian Folk Song Abu Zolof)
"By
DR.
N. A.
KATIBAH
At the shrine my heart's darling secret's intrusted;
To the hermit my love I confessed;
There, alone, for an hour, on my knees I rested,
To be shriven and pardoned and blessed.
And the call has no mouth of my love to tatter,
And the monk,—Oh, I know him so well!
He has ears, he has lips, but no matter—
Of my heart's darling fears will not tell.
But the thought for a moment will out like an arrow,
And the hold of my bosom defies;
Then, I write of my love on the wing of a sparrow,
As for ink—the red tears of my eyes.
But oh no—no, no, darling! Thy secret I'll cherish
In my heart though my tears be shed red;
Nor fear not that I speak, though I perish
And arise when the graves yield their dead.
MMn
'?
�?
FEBRUARY, 1931
17
A Journey Through Jebel Druze
By
SALLOUM
A.
MOKARZEL
II.
A DAY IN THE CAPITAL
^N almost infallible rule is that a country may be judged by
its capital. The very word implies a meaning of superiority
*nd general representation. It is the head, the seat of administrative power and the focal point of the dominating intellects in
the land. The best and strongest in a nation finally work their
way to a position of authority and naturally converge on the
capital. Being the head, the capital becomes the logical center of
both the intellectual faculties and the physical senses of the nation. It is as much the country's guiding mind as it is its watchful
eye and the center of the sense of touch that is ever feeling the
nation's pulse.
Nor is the capital less important in its representation of the
country from its physical aspect. The general view of the capital,
its dimensions, its activities, its public buildings and institutions,
its squares and thoroughfares, tell more eloquently than the
written word of the true condition of a nation, its power and progress and aesthetic qualities. Hence we consider Paris and London
and Rome and Washington the whole of the countries of which
they are the respective capitals in miniature. Constantinople was
a true symbol of old Turkey, but new Turkey expresses its spirit
of aggressive progress and tendency to self-assertion in Angora.
It broke away from old traditions and. set out to express its creed
of rejuvenation and independence in new surroundings and along
different, unconventional lines. Applying the simile nearer home,
we find Beirut, Damascus and Latakia engaged in ambitious projects of civic improvement. They are following the natural course
of making the capital expressive of the spirit of the nation. There
are in each ineffaceable traces of an old civilization and culture,
but a veneer of modernism is being added to give the faded past
a lustrous polish. And such is the tendency of the people. Hence
the anomaly of entering Damascus, for instance, along a broad
.;'"i;i§?E"
�18
THE SYRIAN WORLD
boulevard lined with electrically lighted cafes only to be led to
the time-honored covered bazaars characteristic of the old Eastern metropolis.
Sueida, capital of Jebel Druze, proved no exception to the
general rule governing capital cities.
From a distance the town presents the appearance of a shapeless pile of black stone of restricted dimensions. Drawing nearer
a few buildings of modern construction and pretentious size and
appearance begin to take shape, while higher up the mountain
Hank looms the grim square form of the citadel which dominates
the city. The fort lacks the imposing appearance of either old
castles or new fortifications, but the element of reckless bravery
which characterized both the attack and the defense in the Druze
revolt of 1925 marks the place as one of prime interest in Sueida.
Uuring those trying times the Druzes besieged the French garrison and hurled themselves desperately against the ramparts of
the tort m an attempt to capture it by sheer human force, inasmuch as they lacked either siege artillery or field guns. While
the besieged French held out through grim determination despite
hunger thirst, and lack of ammunition. For weeks the defenders
subsisted only on the meager supplies dropped occasionally by
airplanes in a desperate effort to revictual the depleted commissariat of the fort.
I
\
i
At the very entrance to the town one comes upon the civic
centre representing a small park around which are clustered the
administrative buildings. The sight of the trim structures and the
pleasing color of flowers and shrubs is most welcome after the
long travel m the dreary waste of the fields. But the pleasant
touch of vegetation seems to be confined to this one spot all else
reverting to the sombre appearance of black basalt stone. Nature
seems to have withheld from this country the softening influence
of green, and the character of the people seems to have grown
along the lines dictated by nature-grim, determined and fatalistically resigned in the struggle for existence. The lean, sinewy
hgures of the people proclaim the life of arduous toil to which
they are destined, while their serious countenances reflect the
mental attitude with which they view life. It requires little power
of analysis and deduction to arrive at the conclusion that these
hardy and resigned people have little time or means to indulge
in the finer amenities of life.
We disregarded the advice of the obliging French officer of
\
�?
FEBRUARY, 1931
The civic center of Sueida, capital of Jebel Druze, showing the
government bmldtngs grouped around the only public park.
W to seek the madhaf or guest house of Atrash Pasha alUrSe haS CVer beCn the aCCe ted traditi
flTnff
r^
V,°
P
in this
tar-ott land The custom springs from the fact that tourist travel, or travel of any kind, for that matter, was little known in
former times and the establishment of hosieries consequently
unnecessary. The people's hospitality, on the other hand' made
up for the seeming deficiency, and the homes of the richest and
mo distinguished citizens took on the semi-public character of
hostleries We were relieved of the necessity of taking advantage
of th1S traditional custom because of the existence of a commercial
note m Sueida established since the suppression of the Druze
revolt by an enterprising Lebanese. We were fortunate in finding two of the hotel's four rooms available, this being
the dull
6
season.
.15
\
The Royal Hotel is one of the few red-tiled roof buildings
of the capital and faces the public square. The street level is
devoted to stores, while the single upper story comprises the
hotel proper. It is reached by a stone staircase leading directly
from the street to an open-air veranda which serves as cafe The
interior is divided by an «L" shaped corridor, the lower arm of
which serves asdining room. The bedrooms, although few, are
spacious. All beds are covered with mosquito nettings, It it
would seem, as much for protection against the mosquitos'a
BBKBHag*8»5®*®^^^Sn*s^^^
_
�20
THE SYRIAN WORLD
against the swarms of flies that infest the place like a veritable
pest. Still that was the only hotel and one of the most up-to-date
judged by the standards of the country.
Although we had every reason to believe that the authorities
were forewarned of our visit we were singularly free from any
form of interference notwithstanding the fact that the country
was under direct military administration and that we had in our
company one of the principal Nationalist leaders instigating the
last revolution. But we could not translate our sense of liberty
into any form of profitable use because of the limited sphere of
activity in this strange capital. It was a town of only seven thousand population whose dwellings we could almost count from the
balcony of our hotel. Its principal business street extended less
than the distance of an ordinary city block and was devoted mainly
to grain and feed stores, and except for the little cafe attached to
the hotel there is in the town no place of amusement of any nature. We were advised that whenever motion pictures are shown
they would be specially imported for the entertainment of the
French officers and their families and the soldiers of the garrison.
Nevertheless Sueida is the capital of a full-fledged sovereign
independent State under the French mandate in Syria, having
a Representative Council (whose twenty-four members receive
each the munificent sum of $20.00 per month), a State militia
and all the other trappings that form the cherished prerogatives
of an independent government. The economic importance of the
country is in keeping with its area of less than 10,000 square miles
and its population of 50,000. Its export of wheat, representing
the surplus over the population's needs, is to the value of about
$125,000 while exports of wool and sheep butter represent an
additional sum of about $150,000. The government revenue
averages 300,000 Syrian pounds, the equivalent of $240,000 a
year.
The fortuitous meeting with an old friend from New York
in the person of Philip Catzeflis, for several years secretary to
the Governor General of Jebel Druze, saved the day for us. He
not only brought us a touch of "home," but supplied us with
much valuable information and proved helpful in many other
ways. On his advice we devoted the greater part of the afternoon
to a visit to Qanawat, an important historical town at a distance
of less than five miles from Sueida, a description of whose ruins
I
�•m
*
Many buildings laid to ruin during the revolution have not yet
undergone repairs. A view of Sueida from the only hotel.
I*
The abundance of black basalt stone in Jebel Druze may be imagined by the great piles which seem to rise everywhere in Sueida.
»! ! I.IM!"—"
" -
' -*1
�22
"THE SYRIAN WORLD
will be given later. Another but equally interesting visit was the
one made to the State orphanage established by the French for
the care of war orphans. Although this visit was in the nature of
a surprise to the two nurses in charge nothing was discovered that
would occasion criticism. The dormitories, the halls, the kitchen
and the dining room were most orderly and clean. So were the
boys in their quaint native uniforms. They were made to give us
an exhibition of the dabke dance, and to one who had seen the
dance performed by practiced adults it was surprising to see how
well the youngsters succeeded. They moved in unison with uncanny precision and seemed all to be born with a response to the
rhythm The leader, a boy of hardly over eight years, was even
masterful He not only displayed surprising physical agility
but showed such emotional reaction on his serious face as to make
his feelings contagious. The orphanage, by its modern, sanitary
building, and ,ts well-kept flower beds and cheerful surroundings, is one of the few places that leave a pleasant impression of
a visit to Sueida.
*
Returning to our hotel we met another individual who reminded us of America, this time in the person of the landlord who
seemed to have come on a visit of inspection. He had made a
comfortable fortune abroad and returned to invest it home and
spend the remainder of his days in peace and contentment. We
could have never guessed his identity or the circumstances of his
hit but for the anxious manner he evinced in questioning the
Lebanese lessee of the hotel, which prompted us in turn to make
inquiries about him. To meet him in the street one would take
him for an ordinary native who had never crossed the limits of
his town because of his having reverted to complete native garb
Irom kuffia and ighal to slippers and even to the habit of partly
covering the face. He represented the old line natives who could
never be content with any form of innovation.
But almost at the same time we were introduced to a dapper
young man in his early twenties faultlessly attired in European
dress with the exception of the native tarboush. We were not
a little surprised to learn that he was Emir Hassan El-Atrash the
ranking prince and titular leader of the whole country, which'still
adheres to hereditary leadership. He is setting the pace in modernism for the younger Druze generation. Emir Hassan is now
reconciled to French occupation and even lends it his fullest cooperation. He has forsaken the career of general for that of a
�FEBRUARY, 1931
> • I
lit
1
23
gentleman farmer, his
foremost interest being
that of improving agricultural methods on his
vast estates where he is
conducting extensive experiments with modern
farm machinery.
The Emir was insistent
in his invitation to us to
be his guests for the night
at his palace at Qaria, a
few miles from Sueida,
but we had, already planned to leave next morning, and to once accept a
Druze ^prince's hospitality and refuse to stay
long enough for him to
display his generosity
would be, to say the least,
uncourteous. Besides,
there was not the prospect
of riding in a cavalcade
Col. Clement Grandcoun
in the company of a feuFrench
Military Governor of
dal prince. He offered
Jebel Druze.
to take us in his car
which he himself drives accompanied but by a single attendant.
The following morning was devoted to official calls. Mr.
Catzeflis presented us to Col. Clement Grandcourt at the official
residence and we were again assured the freedom to travel
through the country. Meeting this upright French soldier of unassuming manner and evident sincerity and kindness of character,
one is not surprised at hearing that when he offered to resign the
Druzes themselves petitioned to have him remain. Almost all
other French officials we met in Jebel Druze seemed to be ingratiating themselves with the people and winning their affection
by their tact, kindliness and devotion. This is all the more surprising since the revolt of the Druzes was ascribed to the arrogant and intolerant overbearance of their first governor, Capt.
Carbillet.
-'-;—. ;
-.-
.---
�24
THE SYRIAN WORLD
I
'A
\
Inmates of the State Orphanage for Druze children in Sueida.
Note the trim native uniform.
In telling Col. Grandcourt of the purpose of our visit we did
not fail to mention that our companion, Fakhry Bey Baroody,
refrained from joining us on this personal visit to him because of
his political affiliations. At which the governor seemed surprised
and replied: "He would have been equally welcome. Neither
he nor any other has anything to fear from us."
This attitude of friendliness seemed to be the general policy
on the part of French officials in Jebel Druze. It was further
demonstrated a few minutes later when we visited the Intelligence Bureau, this time Fakhry Bey Baroody joining willingly.
Rather, he was the principal in this visit and we the guests, because he and the head of the department were on the friendliest
terms. And the reason for the friendship is most significant. It
would seem to be the key to the solution of all France's difficulties in Syria. Fakhry Bey Baroody, staunch Nationalist as he is,
frankly admitted that if all the French were of the character
of his friend there would remain no cause for misunderstanding.
And the character of his friend was that of simple human honesty and uprightness. It was put to a test when, during the revolution, Fakhry Bey was being tried for his life on a charge of
complicity in plotting the death of a French officer, but this other
French officer, the one in whose office we now were, testified to
)
�•:.
FEBRUARY, 1931
«
w
French-commanded Druze, volunteers who now maintain order
in the formerly turbulent Jebel Druze.
I
1
the innocence of the accused and brought about his acquittal
"2 ou have saved my life," frankly admitted the Syrian leader addressing the French officer in our presence.
"You are not in the least under obligation to me," replied the
other. "I was only interested in upholding the cause of justice."
Going through the Saraya, or government building, visiting
the various administrative bureaus, one is impressed with the efficiency of the officials, whether native or French, and the evident
alacrity with which they go about their tasks. In the courtyard
we encountered a group of natives on various missions, and all
were being treated with manifest courtesy. Such a scene could
not have been staged as it was evident that it formed a part of
the regular routine. In the face of such evidence one cannot escape
the conclusion that wherever the quality of French officials in
Syria is of the proper character satisfaction of the natives inevitably follows.
My friend Catzeflis escorted us to the outskirts of Sueida.
Y es, he was contented, which I interpreted to mean that he was
resigned. But, oh! how he wished he were with me on the way
back to America!
�mum
26
THE SYRIAN WORLD
I
The Blind Astronomer
INVOCA TION
W
Inscribed to Galileo
'By
THOMAS ASA
The starry train wend on, their sight unseen
By mortal eyes once nightly turned to them—
Oh days of utter darkness without hope! —
Not of the blackness of the shadowed skies,—
Not of the cavern depths of underworlds,
Not fathomless deeps of somber waters,—
But this: the darkness of these stricken eyes
That rove in futile, maddening despair,
By ruthless veils of mortal finitude
Shut off from the visible world of Men!
O Pow'r Divine, just is Thy Sacrament!
Nature outraged has sealed for evermore
The sacred Light of Heaven from these eyes,
That nightly upraised in mute communion
With Thy great works,—Thy glory infinite!
f
O Moon! thou full-orbed splendor of the sky!
Where art thou in thy pristine loveliness?
Hesperus, thou steadfast, shining lamp of night!
Whose beauty has enthralled earth, sky, and sea.
The fair Pleiades, the joyous Seven;—
Venus, Neptune, and God-like Jupiter!
And all the mighty kindred of the spheres!
These have I left behind, in blindness sealed.
Their ceaseless Light, on earth forever loved,
Shall mark my way to God's Eternity!
&«J
'
�FEBRUARY, 1931
27
Our Commission to Posterity
t\
<
»
By
REV.
W. A.
MANSUR
\£/E: pioneers of the Syrian race in America forevision the rise
of our race to greatness,'prosperity, and powerj we foretell
the awakening of our race to leadership, commerce, and empire:
and we foreshadow the progress of our race in civilization superiority, and happiness.
We Syrian-American pioneers have found the way to the rising sun, we have caught the vision for our race survival, and we
have heard the call of our destiny that will make us, our posterity, and our achievements great, glorious, and honored among
the races in America.
In the pioneer period of the Syrian race in America we laid
the foundation for the future survival, progress, and glory of
our posterity. In a progressive spirit, in law-abiding families, in
industrious living we built for the future prosperity of our descendants. In our self-awakening to our racial heritage, in our
aspirations for our progress, and in the defense of our race we
thought ot the future of our Syrian posterity.
It is because we pioneers of the Syrian race in America believe in the renaissance of our race to a preeminent place in the
world; accept the challenge of destiny to civilization, progress
and achievement} and respond to the urge of race survival?ra2
enlightenment, and race happiness that we hereby bequeath our
commission to our posterity. The writer is hereby giving expression to the prevailing sentiments of our times, setting forth the
hopes of our enlightened leadership, and stating the racial aspirations of our race in this sevenfold commission to our Syrian
posterity in America.
/. Preserve Our Syrian Race Identity in America.
I
Our paramount commission to our Syrian posterity in Amerm
ica is to preserve our Syrian race identity among the races in
America. We of the pioneer period realized the fact of the superior numbers of other races in America. We sensed the danger
to our Syrian race by its being absorbed by other races. We felt
the necessity for race defense against race prejudice, discrimina-
�28
I
THE SYRIAN WORLD
don, and defamation. We awoke to the splendor of our Syrian
race history, talent, and achievement. Thus arose the paramount
preservation of our
Amerk
ce as a Syrian race identity in
We urge race organization for the preservation of our Syrian
race in America. Bishop J. H. Oldham quotes Arthur Keith's
Nationality and Race in his Christianity and the Race Problem
Kace instinct comes into play only when men, women, and children or the same stock are organized into communities. Until
such a community is organized, race instinct conquers or restrains
hybridization » Bishop Oldham says, "The repugnance to intermarriage is thus rather a social bar promoted by a desire to maintain the purity and integrity of the community than a natural
repulsion on the part of individuals."
\
For the preservation of Syrian race identity cultivate the Syrian religious philosophy of life. Organize Syrian societies for culture, fellowship, and inspiration. Foster Syrian churches with
trained leadership and adequate endowments. Educate the rising generation in the history, talent, and achievement of our race
While other races seek fame, place and power through military
conquest, material exploitation, and race aggression, let our Syrian posterity seek racial splendor, glorious power, and undying
fame through the preservation of our race identity, race progress!
and race contribution to human welfare.
//. Uphold True Loyalty to Our American Homeland.
We challenge our Syrian race in America to uphold true loyalty to our American homeland. We have enjoyed the benefits of
America s citizenship, institutions and prosperity. We pledeed
our allegiance to the Constitution of the United States, obedience
to the nation's laws, and readiness for the nation's defense It is
imperative that we and our posterity ever maintain true fidelity
to our American homeland. We give it you strict in charge that
you always stand for America first and nothing else
S. A Mokarzel leader of the Syrian Awakening, said in a
radio address on The Syrians in America, "During all the time
fcey have been in America, the Syrians have proven themselves
most law-abiding and loyal to the institutions of the country It
is the opinion not alone of casual observers, but of official authorities that the Syrians in America are one of the most constructive
and industrious elements among the heterogenous stocks of the
I
«
I i
:
i.
�-T«
l
FEBRUARY, 1931
29
American nation." (Syrian World, May, 1930.)
It is our desire that our descendants shall ever uphold the
Syrian-American tradition of true loyalty to America as laid down
by the Syrian pioneer fathers and mothers in America. It is our
wish that our posterity be known as standing always for America
first and nothing else. It is our commission that our future generations shall exemplify law-abiding, liberty-loving, industriousliving, and single-allegiance citizenship. Let Syrian-Americans
resist the nullifier of the Constitution of the United States, frown
upon the law-breaker, and fight for the nation's defense against
all enemies.
Therefore, let the Syrian name in America be synonymous
with pure Americanism, fidelity to the nation's Constitution, laws,
and institutions j and a readiness for the nation's defense.
III. Perpetuate the Glorious Heritage of Our Syrian Race.
\
•
f
X:.
It is our commission that our Syrian posterity will forever
perpetuate the glorious heritage of our race. Let Syrian-Americans enlighten themselves regarding their race history, race talent, and race contributions to mankind. Let them understand the
nature of Syrian home life, the virtues of their race character,
the loyalties of their Syrian-American patriotism. Let them realize the meaning of their race emigration to America, the Syrian
race awakening, and the Syrian race aspiration to achievement
power, and glory.
L. Darwin says in Eugenic Reform, "Mechanical contrivances
have also greatly facilitated the transfer of knowledge or the
flow of tradition from age to age; 'tradition' here being held to
include all that mental stimulus and all the information which
human beings receive from their predecessors by word of mouth,
by books, or through the changes previously made in their surroundings, changes which often in effect embody thought."
Let Syrian youth be ennobled by the illustrious traditions of
our race heritage. Let Syrian leadership be inspired by the great
achievements our race has made for the progress of mankind. Let
Syrian worthies be aroused by the splendor of our Syrian name
Let Syrian hearts respond to the divine calling of our race to
the urge of the talents of our kind, and to the preservation of
our glorious legacies throughout future generations of SyrianAmericans.
Let the self-appreciation of their race by Syrian-Americans
�1
30
I
THE SYRIAN WORLD
increase their race awakening, race pride, race solidarity, and race
progress. W e, therefore, implore our posterity to ever defend our
race against those who would slander and libel our Syrian race.
Lhe pen is mightier than the sword," is an axiom of truth and
power. Let us and our posterity storm, smite, and smash the
slanderers and libellers of the Syrian race with truth, argument,
and achievement. In intelligent union there is superior strength,
therefore, organize for the creation of superior race power Let
us and our descendants educate, propagate, and federate for the
perpetuation of our splendid heritage, for the defense of our
honorable name, and for the steady progress of our race.
We Syrian-American pioneers are dreaming of the glory that
shall be realized by our posterity. Therefore, Syrian youth, intelligently understand the meaning of the glorious heritage of
our Syrian race; hold fast to the honorable name of the fathersand move forward to achieve the high calling to which thou art
destined.
\
IV. Honor the Memory of the Syrian Pioneer Fathers and
Mothers.
By the tears of our loved ones in our motherland, by the
breasts of the mothers who gave you birth in our adopted country, and by the heart throbs of the fathers in our American
homeland we commission our posterity to honor in loving memory
the Syrian pioneer fathers and mothers in America
"Honor thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be
long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee," says
the commandment of Holy Writ. This commission inspired the
rising generations to perpetuate the high traditions of the Hebrew race awakened in youth the noble aspiration to emulate
their forefathers, and created race solidarity for race defense,
race enlightenment, and race progress. Hebrew youth honorably
remembered their fathers and mothers by extolling their noble
characters, by recalling their heroic deeds, and by reverencing
6
their lofty aspirations.
1
!
/
>
'
-
The ancient Romans placed statues and busts of their distinguished ancestors in the vestibules of their houses that they and
their children might be reminded of and led to imitate their
noble deeds.
.
It is the purpose of the pioneers of the Syrian race in America to lay a foundation of race vitality, vision, and achievement
lj
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/
�!
I
FEBRUARY, 1931
that will promote the future greatness of their posterity In the
pioneer period Syrian-Americans have striven by awakening as
piratoon, education, and achievement to make way for the rise of
their Syrian posterity to name and fame, to place and power
Amer and the world
ie
p
3
n
rbu
M
r
^
z
eveVfml e , n
^ -° * ^ "^ ^
Heaven
f
the God of
ever smile upon our Syrian race in a worthy posterity
mothers, to extoll the name of the great and worthy in all aees
\
'
shioTfT 51St0^Aand.t0 P-- the noble and heroic lead! -
ship of the Synan-Amencan race will perpetuate from eeneS
turn to generation the glorious history, L'nobleSTS
splendid progress the superior talents,'and the beneWentlga
cies of a foremost race among the races in America.
V. Train the Syrian Child for the Constant Progress of Our Race.
Teachef'" ^/^vf^ '° T* U"t0 me>" Said the D
f r f SUch is the kJ
d
heaven
He£ is 1
^to"?
° °progress, here is'^
of
heaven. " Here
the key
human
the° seed
for human happiness, here is the door to human betterment Let
our Syrian posterity remember the divine calling to educate
train and bequeath to the rising generation the best phys S'
mental, soaal and spiritual inheritance for the progress o'f the
n
srK
ssz
Sf ^it^^r&it
the
m
ttsr^ — - -^s:
Let it be remembered that the child is the seed that makes
he race of tomorrows that the youth perpetuates the heritage of
the race, and that the man reaps the glory of the harvest. Therefore plant m the body, mind, and soul of the Syrian child of
today what you desire in the man and woman of tomorrow
1 write deliberately: fundamental to the preservation progress happiness and glory of the Syrian race in America is the
heritage of worthy children. Without trustworthy childre our
Syrian race w,l fall into decay. Without trained childre ou
Synan hopes will fade into nothingness. Without virtuous ch3dren our Syrian heritage will shrivel in dishonor. It is through
ter pTom^' T^' "* ^^ children that We g-e character, promote achievement, perpetuate legacies, and harvest glory
�32
THE SYRIAN WORLD
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throughout future Syrian generations in America.
The sum of the whole matter is this: that our history, our
heritage, our achievement, and our hopes must have worthy children to carry on the preservation, progress, and hopes of the
Syrian race. Therefore, let Syrian mothers magnify the splendor
of the Syrian soul into the hearing of her child, let Syrian fathers praise the ability of the Syrian people, and let Syrian leadership inspire the rising generation by arousing ambition, vision,
and achievement for the constant progress of the race.
VI. Maintain the Integrity of the Syrian Home in America.
We commission our posterity to maintain the integrity of the
Syrian home in America for the preservation of our race identity,
the progress of our descendants, and the happiness of future generations of our race. The welfare of the home means the welfare of our race. The high character of the home means the
high character of civilization. The training of the rising generation of Syrian-Americans in social obligations, high virtues and
happy homes means the education of the leadership, the citizenship, and the home lovers of the race of tomorrow.
Thomas Jesse Jones says in Essentials of Civilization, "The
third essential of civilization is the effective transfer of the social
heritage from one generation to another. As the home and the
household have the primary and main responsibility for the transfer, the third essential is largely concerned with the conservation
and strengthening of the home with the rights and responsibilities of womanhood, and with the care and sound development of
infancy, childhood, and youth."
The changes in the social order due to the development of
the political, mechanical, and industrial revolutions, have brought
many inroads upon the home: parent, child, and society. SyrianAmericans must assert the sacredness of the marriage relationship Syrian-American parents must affirm the place of discipline
in the life of the child. Let adjustments be made in keeping
with the progress of humanity, but ever maintain the integrity,
the rights and obligations of the home in society.
Let Syrian motherhood be held in highest honor, for motherhood is the queen calling of Syrian womanhood. Let Syrian
fatherhood find highest achievement in worthy sons and daughters. Let Syrian youth be ambitious to achieve a worthy name
-
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FEBRUARY, 1931
33
glorious success, and high honor for the glory of their homes and
families in America.
VII. Educate the Syrian Race in the Principles of Religion and
Morals Which Are Common to Mankind.
"Righteousness exalteth a nation," said the Hebrew writer,
"but sin is a reproach to any people." Micah the Hebrew Prophet
said, "He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth
the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and
to walk humbly with thy God." (Micah, 6:8.)
We commission our Syrian posterity to remember the true
and living God, to practice righteousness, and to uphold the higher moral values of life. Remember God, it is the verdict of history that no people can long survive that has forgotten God.
Remember righteousness, it is the judgment of experience that
no nation can endure that has neglected righteousness. Remember spirituality, it is the teaching of wisdom that no civilization
can abide in which the youth are not educated in the spiritual
and moral evaluation of things. Therefore let our Syrian posterity remember that "the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom," that "righteousness exalteth a nation," and that the training of the young in the "nurture and admonition of the Lord"
are essential to the life, liberty, law, and happiness of nations,
races, and civilizations.
ft
Ever promote the Fatherhood of God, the Brotherhood of
Man, and the universal kingdom of God on earth. Uphold the
right of human freedom, freedom of religious worship, and
liberty of conscience, and thwarting of freedom of thought.
Maintain under all conditions the separation of the church and
the state. Let there be intelligent education of the young in the
high principles of religion and morals; preserve the natural
rights of freedom of religion, mind, and conscience; and practice righteousness in all the affairs of life.
Woodrow Wilson, the great war time president, said, "The
sum of the whole matter is this: that our civilization cannot survive materially unless it be redeemed spiritually. It can be saved
only by becoming permeated with the spirit of Christ and being
made free and happy by the practices which spring out of that
spirit."
O Ye Sons and Daughters of Syria's fair land where'er ye
be on the land, in the air or on the sea; in what time or climej
�34
THE SYRIAN WORLD
in whatever language or tonguej and among whatever race or
nation, I challenge you to join me in the noblest of crusades for
the glorifying of the Syrian name. The blood of our ancestors
calls to us from the ground to maintain the splendor of their
fame The voices of our children cry out to us from innocent
hearts to claim for them equal rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The vision for our posterity impells us to
uphold equal respect and opportunity for our race among the
races in America and mankind.
Let my challenge descend from Heaven and enroll you for
the glorious service of our Syrian race, and the progress of man-
I
K.II1CI.
Let my crusade call from the earth and commission you to
jus.ity Syrias glorious race among the races of the earth
Let my voice leap from the sky and charge you to vindicate
oyna s fair name among all people.
Let my message rise from the sea and send you to uphold the
integrity of the Syrian home in America and everywhere
Let my blessing descend from the Lord to ordain you, inspire
you, and empower you in this your benevolent service for the
glorifying of the Syrian race in America and the world
To Touth
Translated from the Arabic by J. D.
CARLYLE
Yes, Youth, thou'rt fled, and I am left,
Like yonder desolated bower,
By winter's ruthless hand bereft
Of every leaf and every flower.
With heaving heart and streaming eyes
I woo'd thee to prolong thy stay,
But vain were all my tears and sighs,
Thou only fled'st more fast away.
Yet tho' thou fled'st away so fast,
I can recall thee if I will;
For I can talk of what is past,
And while I talk, enjoy thee still.
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FEBRUARY, 1931
35
T/fe Arabian Nights
By
f
DON
C.
SEITZ
Dreams of the desert and the narrow streets
Of ancient Cairo where the wide world meets
In strange confusion 'mid the city's mart.
There called together by the teller's art:
To hear with eager longing and surprise
The Thousand Tales of wonder and emprise:
Tall travellers from the Mountains of the Moon
Swart Syrian sheiks from distant Scanderoon;
Dark Abyssinians, and the lords
Who rule in terror over Sinai's hordes}
Pale Persians from Ispahan;
Wild servants of some Tartar Khan;
Red rovers from Aden's shore
And Hindoo hinds from Midnapore;
Pilgrims and priests from Cashmere's'lovely vales
Or born from Ceylon's Isle by fav'ring galesOut of the East where poor mankind was born
To greet the Prophets in the early momListening with widening eyes and open ears
To changeless romance from departed years.
Here rise Aladdin's castles on the sands
While jewels shower from the Afrit's hands;
And Sinbad's voyages over surging seas
Through great adventures to luxurious ease:
The Geneii loosened from his copper flask
Expands his form and now essays his taskShah Zemen greets his Princess from her 'cave
Deep in the coral, underneath the wave,
Arid 'round the Bagdad streets at midnight hour
Wanders the Caliph and the wise MesrouH
O glorious tales! To make a gray world bright
And leaven dullness with their fancy's flight;
Ye come from Nothing and go back again
Into the spaces of the Asian plain!
�THE SYRIAN WORLD
ALI ZAIBAQ
(Quicksilver)
C^Tr^rJliLr^LED ADVENTURES OF THE
CHIEF OF POLICE OF THE CALIPH HAROUN
AL-RASHID, OF THE CITY OF BAGHDAD
Translated from the Original Arabic by
SALLOUM
A. MOKARZEL and THADDEUS S. DAYTON
CHAPTER
VI.
LIVLNG DEATH
J-JARDLY had the door closed upon them when Hassan began
kment
but ollT
T°n the fate Which had befa"en them,
but Quicksilver encouraged him to rouse himself and to aid him
in exploring the fortress in order to find some means of escape
Walking side by side, they continued for a great distance untd Qu,cks,lyer chanced to lift his eyes and perceived through the
darkness a bright ray of light at the height above him of two
6
e y alled his
rkand^d"
T^f
!/
—P-i-'s attend"
to it and standing on his shoulders, was able to discover that the
Lght a
from a door of polished brass from which hung a r ng
of the same metal. This Quicksilver grasped and wa« able to
open the door which disclosed a small but very beautif"l chamber
into which he climbed. There he found suspended from the
te'rsTf goTd°SC magmhcent SWord> on which "as inscribed in let-
this^^U ° TT' ?* pIaCC' th°U art most fortu»ate i°
UP n thCe f r
is the e cha
word Lt by
K a^ sage of
7dages
°past. Take
' ° it'*and
»*d
sword
smite» with
it
made
whatsoever thou wiliest whether it be rebellious human creator those of the tribes of the genii and their death will folQuicksilver's heart was filled with joy over this wonderful
sword which he bore with him when he descended to the place
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�FEBRUARY, 1931
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3?
where Hassan was waiting. Together they forgot for a time their
ctesperate plight in admiring the workmanship of the enchanted
weapon which Quicksilver finally took into his own hands, giving
to his companion to carry the sword he formerly had borne
-through the darkness, with much difficulty, they retraced
their steps to the great door by which they had entered.
About the mid hour of the night they were aroused by hearing a key turning in the lock. Their first thought was that the
King had dispatched some of his men to slay them, and the two
captives immediately drew their swords. The door opened and
with a bound Quicksilver and Hassan sprang forth. But to their
amazement they saw only a single muffled figure there who cried
out:
"O Quicksilver, I am the daughter of the King, she whom
you delivered from death at the hands of the Blacks. When I
learned of what my father had so treacherously done to you it
grieved me sorely and I waited until my father slept and then
stole the key of this fortress from his girdle and came to deliver
you."
Thereupon she conducted them to her palace where she set
before them a royal repast. It was dawn when they arose and
girded on their swords, making their way straight to the palace
of the King. Entering there Quicksilver uttered a crv that struck
terror to the heart of the monarch and said to him:'
"So that was our recompense, O treacherous King, for all
the good that we did. Know that now the hour of your death
is at hand."
The King called for his guards to seize Quicksilver, but as
they advanced, falteringly, Quicksilver with a single bound
reached the King's throne, and with one blow of his enchanted
sword severed the King's head from his shoulders and sent it
rolling on the ground.
The courtiers seeing what had befallen their monarch, begged
Quicksilver to spare their lives, crying out that they had long
hated their king because of his cruelty and treachery.
"No harm shall come to you," responded Quicksilver. "Take
up the body of this vile creature and bury it. Then seat upon his
throne the Princess, his daughter. Such are my commands."
Thereupon the princess was brought, and Quicksilver received
her at the palace gate, saying:
"Your father was a treacherous man, and I have slain him
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THE SYRIAN WORLD
because of his perfidy. Now you shall be queen of this city and
ot this land, and deal justice to all your subjects. If you have fear
of any person, do but tell me and I will make him drink straightway of the cup of death."
To this the Princess replied: "I know of no one among the
subjects of my father who is my enemy," whereupon the courtiers acclaimed her and expressed their great joy at having her for
their Queen, and criers were sent out throughout the city to
spread the tidings among the inhabitants.
Quicksilver remained in the city for three days, participating
in the festivities, and on the fourth, when he decided to depart,
the Queen said to him:
"O my Lord, I cannot repay you for all the good deeds that
you have done for me. First you rescued me from the captivity
or the Blacks, and then you saved our country. All belongs to
you—myself, my subjects and my kingdom—and you are under
no obligation whatsoever to us. I humbly offer myself to you in
marriage ,f such is your wish, and you will be absolute king of
all this land."
°
"It is impossible for me to estrange myself from my mother
and from my country," replied Quicksilver. "It would give me
great joy to remain here, but my duty calls me home. I must go "
•
u S^? '?S excGedinSh grieved at the prospect of parting with Quicksilver, but seeing that he could not be swerved
from his purpose she brought to him the magic box of the AllSeeing Eye, and ordered the preparation of all that was necessary for his journey.
1
In the morning Quicksilver set forth, accompanied by Ibn
^USI"yJ 7 theur°ad t0 Egypt Th&y Journeyed for many
nights and days through great deserts until there remained be- '
tween them and the city of Cairo but three days' travel. Then
Quicksilver said to Ibn El-Husry:
"I charge you to precede me into the city and to inform the
King of my approach. Request him to command the Chiefs of
6 t0 C
e and meet me as l have
m that
iT\
b ght with
me
whichu IT wentT
forth to seek." >
The King was exceedingly pleased with this news and showS hTL7- 7°rS Up(frIbn E1"Husry- Then he commanded
Salah-Eddin to come before him, and after informing him of
the success of Quicksilver, ordered Salah-Eddin to go forth to
meet him bearing the banner of the secret police
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Upon hearing this the gall of Salah-Eddin nearly burst with
anger and envy, being sure that his position was about to be
wrested from him; nevertheless he assumed an appearance of
joy and satisfaction and immediately went forth to meet Quicksilver whom he greeted with congratulations on his safe return,
notwithstanding that he was still secretly planning to destroy
him.
As they entered the city they were met by great throngs who
had already heard of Quicksilver's wonder achievements and came
out to greet him with banners and songs of praise and welcome.
That day was one of the greatest that the city of Cairo ever
witnessed.
Quicksilver proceeded through the multitudes until he reached the court of Al-Aziz where he was warmly welcomed by the
King and his court. The hero presented the King with the priceless trophy, which caused him unbounded surprise and joy and
amazed all those present, for it was a wonder to all beholders.
The King caused Quicksilver to be seated by his side and asked
him to recount all the details of his journey, which he did without any omissions or additions.
Now the King, after congratulating Quicksilver upon his safe
return, addressed Salah-Eddin saying:
"Now that Quicksilver has accomplished the task that you
set for him it is time that you should cede to him your position."
But Salah-Eddin, with his usual perfidy, turned to Quicksilver saying:
"I am but a servant of our lord and master the King who
has ordered me to relinquish my position to you, which I am
ready to do. But before so doing I beg of you to undertake still
another task."
"Ask of me what you will," replied Quicksilver, "and it
shall be granted."
"My request is that you tarry for a single night in the Baths
of Toulon."
"I accept your challenge and by dusk of this evening I will
set forth."
Saying this Quicksilver took leave of the King and sought
his own home where his mother was anxiously awaiting him,
having heard of his arrival in the city. Upon seeing him she gave
thanks to Allah for the safety of her son, and then she fell upon
his neck, covering him with kisses. Quicksilver then proceeded to
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THE SYRIAN WORLD
i
acquaint her with all that had befallen him, including the task
that Salah-Eddin had set for him that same day. Notwithstanding her great joy over again seeing her son, Fatimah was plunged
in grief at his having accepted so readily this new challenge, and
she said to him:
"O my son, his only purpose is to throw you into the sea of
danger, for he is intent on accomplishing your destruction."
"I have promised, O my mother," replied Quicksilver, "and
I will not retreat, no matter if I were to drink the cup of death."
"What befell Quicksilver in the Baths of Toulon is one of
the most marvelous episodes in the life of this hero of ages past "
said the tale teller. "This I shall set forth tomorrow when the
aldebaran rises in the eastern sky to march across the skvr of
night."
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Past and Future
'By G. K.
GIBRAN
My house says to me, "Do not leave me, for here dwells
your past."
And the road says to me, "Come and follow me, for I am
your future."
'
And I says to both my house and the road, "I have no past,
Z
mgj
{Utm
If 1 Stay here there is a
H
l\
u
>
g°-g » W stay and if I go there is a staying in my going. Only love and
death change all things."
*
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*
How can I lose faith in the justice of life, when the dreams
Hre,m fS. sleep"V01} feathers are not more beautiful than the
dreams of those who sleep upon the earth?
Strange, the desire for certain pleasures is a part of my pain.
I
�FEBRUARY, 1931
41
Advice to a Girl
"By
LABEEBEE
A. J.
HANNA
If I could plant your garden
And fill it full of joy
If I could paint the world for you
And offer it a toy.
I'd like to play your music, too—
To soothe you and to please.
I'd like to take your medicine
And never have to tease.
I'd like to stop the wilder winds
When they start to blow.
I'd like to keep the sunshine
So strong you'll surely grow.
i
Alas, the garden and the wind
And medicine and pain
Must all alike be shared by you
I'd only help in vain.
And when you are a woman grown
And just as old as I
You, too, will know the pain I feel
When old friends pass you by.
Alas, dear girl, here is a spade
And here are seedlings, too.
I'll guide you, dear, but the garden
Will be planted by you.
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THE SYRIAN WORLD
i'l
The Travels of an Arabic Word:
Al-Jubbah (*JJ)
'By
JOSEPH
J.
RAYMOND
Graduate Student in the Department of Oriental Languages and
Literatures, Princeton University.
\
\^ORDS, like people, can travel. The same word, unlike a person, can find itself in a dozen countries overnight, there to
Jive for centuries and centuries, changing in due course so that
it resembles words of that country, or else it dies a quick death
because it is such a total stranger. No tombstone marks its demise, to show future generations that such a word existed in that
country. Why one word receives a welcome in one country and
not in another is still greatly a matter of conjecture and has no
import on the task before me—to tell you of the wanderings of
Arabic al-Jubbah.
I had known since boyhood that there were many Arabic
words in English and other European languages. Algebra, alcohol, alkali, Gibraltar had all been borrowed from the Arabic and
had spread into the languages of Europe. But when I started
to trace where al-jubbah had gone to and still existed I travelled
all over Europe on one side and had journeyed to Persia and the
Hindustan on the other side of Arabia when I decided I had
travelled far enough. I still might be going—and some day I
might go up China-way to see if al-jubbah ever got up there—
if I hadn't stopped when I did.
Al-jubbah means a long cotton or woolen robe, so the name
right from the start, had prolific possibilities. It could go anywhere where men who wore clothes went.
We find the earliest borrowed form, al-jubbah, a Spanish
word then, in a dictionary that goes back to the end of the tenth
century. It probably came in with the Moors when they conquered Spain. The word has its original meaning. From Spain
the garment and word went to the other Romance countries We
find Old French Juppe, jubbe, gippe, French jupe, Italian giuppa, giubba; we also find the same word, but with a suffix attached,
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FEBRUARY, 1931
I
43
showing that the word had made itself to home: It. giubbone Sp
jubon, Fr. jupon, Portuguese jubao, gibao.
Italian added a diminutive ending to the root and formed
gmbbetto, giubetta. It came to mean not only "little coat" but
also "the gallows," as the halter was jokingly considered "a little
coat. Similarly the Spaniard calls a flogging "jubon"—a coatseeing it is put on the shoulders. From the Italian diminutive
form, through the French, the word gibbet meaning "gallows"
has come into English. However, the English word might come
from Old French gibet, meaning the staff that extends out from
the gallows-post. This is not so likely as the first theory.
Al-jubbah, through the Romance languages, was taken over
by English in multifarious forms, chief of which are jupe, jupon
and gipon. Until the last century the words were in common use!
but now they are used only in Scottish dialects or as direct imitations of the French. The earliest use of jupe occurs about 1290
when it meant a loose jacket or tunic. Then it came to mean a
woman s jacket, kirtle, or bodice and still later, as in French a
skirt.
'
. Gipon was first recorded by Chaucer in the Prologue of his
Canterbury Tales:
"Of ffustian he wered a gypon."
Chaucer, in the Kmghfs Tale, says: "in a lyzt iopoun." Here
we find a third form, jupon, which was a close-fitting tunic or
doublet worn under the hauberk. Later it became sleeveless was
made of rich material, emblazoned, and worn on the outside
With the passing of chivalry and a change in dress the word came
to mean a short kirtle of a woman, later, in imitation of the
.French, a woman's skirt.
Along in the fifteenth century al-jubbah came into Germany
from the Latin countries in the meaning of "a jacket, a long and
wide upper-garment." We find the forms jope, schope, and
schube which have given in modern German Juppe and schaube,
both of different meanings, the first "a coat," the second "a long
outer-garment." The word travelled to other Germanic coun
tries, for in Dutch we have jupon—a skirt, and the archaic Norwegian form—skubskind—a leather or fur coat, related to German schube above.
But in Slavonic countries al-jubbah got the warmest reception and made itself right at home, so much so that we have
seven distinct forms. The meaning varies from a coat, fur-coat
�44
THE SYRIAN WORLD
a corset; Polish zupa, an under-garment; Lithuanian zipouas a
g
7
B
of
cangOM'
J^Tt
« h > ^ura^a Srt
of cap
Old Czech,
cuba, a'?*'
fur-coat^
} Old Polish zoppa, a sort of
wZut sf rmentlSerb°-Cr0atian dzUbe' a lon« Wer4armen
ZUny a a dreSS COat n
a
work
cL Russ.
R ' Dialect
nUS,Smn cananu,
? a sort of" under-wear.
'
S-"**
work-coat;
All these forms have a varied history. Some came into Slavic through Persian and Turkish, some through Ita "an and
G rman S me are lder th
th
YetTll
hirfh
K meaning—some
- °
° form °the-though
-efore
let all have
the basic
of dress,
the
dress may vary immensely from the original
it HI ApLlthUamanu We ,have a curio^ muddle. Lithuanian, though
it is the most archaic language spoken in Europe, has been influenced greatly by German and Slavonic, betweenwhich two groups
it is spoken. We have subas, suba, meaning a fur-coat. The 3
has been borrowed from the German. From the Slavonic^
ing
trill'Ter' rZTl m
T
/^
V^-Sown,
and no"
SC 10n
word
n
for lord 2 TI I
?
^
~P° ^ is their word
tor lord si. They kept the words ziuponas and ponas separate
but on their analogy they formed the feminine ziupone-a ladv
tTese wo hi?" ****»-<* a J-fc lady-like" Neither "f
these two have any connection with clothing, except that perhaps
5J&SSL
W
mU
Ve al
aziup5nas and therefore
"
de
bbah
if h ?
n !?
>
here in eastern Europe. As I said
e Wa d
hWt^hefa iV
; " ^ " lndla-and P***PS further
tlCS t0 aSCCrtain that But t0 tr
Lti
A
I
avel from Arabia
to the edge of one continent and close to the edge of anotte is
quite a distance to travel-and to be still alive 2Efl£ri*£ tZ
centimes after starting on the journey! That's wonderful isn'tTt
s*J\
J^J&
FROM THE ARABIC
^^\ u ^5 U
%*Li Sy.
er^ \
4»U-1
"Hard is the fate of him who's blind,"
Moaned a blind man in despair
"Indeed it's so," joined a one-eyed man,
"For of that I'm half aware."
A
�FEBRUARY, 1931
45
Will Syria Have Another King?
Recent Happenings That Portend Important Changes in the
Relations of the French and the Royal Hashemite Family.
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A
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gYRIA has not been able as yet to extricate itself from the grip
of political confusion. M. Ponsot regularly ferries between
Syria and France and is represented on every trip as having negotiated the final solution, although he himself is careful not to
let anything escape from his closely sealed lips. But in the final
checking up nothing is found to have been accomplished. The
Syrian situation still is where it was two years ago upon the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly; the Tajeddin government
is still in power despite all the hue and cry raised against it; the
Nationalist Party is still undecided whether or not it will participate in the coming elections; the "coming" elections, in fact,
have been long coming yet never arrived, and the High Commissioner will not say when they will be held. And even at this late
hour there seems to exist grave doubt as to the form of government that will be given Syria, whether it will be republican or
monarchical, the decision of the Constituent Assembly to make
Syria a republic notwithstanding.
During the months of January and February M. Ponsot
made several trips to Damascus and held many conferences. So
did Sheikh Tajeddin make several trips to Beirut, but although
the movements of the heads of States could not be concealed the
objects were effectively shrouded in mystery. The only positive
fact is that nothing tangible has yet transpired of all the elaborate
preparations going on so far.
One thing, however, has transpired which portends a possible serious change in the Syrian situation. It is the apparent
swerving of sentiment in favor of establishing a monarchy in the
country and the possible placing of one of the sons of ex-King
Hussein of Arabia on the throne. The Syrian press discusses
frankly such a possibility and gives indications of growing sentiment in favor of a monarchy.
What would lend credence to rumors to this effect is the extraordinary enthusiasm displayed by the populace in the reception of ex-King Hussein and his sons on their recent visit to Syria
and the solicitude of the French authorities in surrounding them
�46
THE SYRIAN WORLD
with all forms of attention and honors. Nor was this display the
product of chance and confined to a single instance, because it
was repeated on three different occasions with growing manifestation of enthusiasm. The first occasion was the visit of ex-King
Hussein himself to Beirut on his way from his exile at Cyprus
to Transjordania where he still remains with his son Abdullah.
The second was the visit of ex-King Ali, eldest son of Hussein,
which followed quickly upon that of his father. And the last
that of Emir Zeid, youngest of Hussein's sons, which took place
in February.
The greatest manifestations, however, were those which attended the visit of ex-King Ali who had succeeded his father on
the throne of Arabia in a vain effort to save the throne from the
powerful enemy of the Hashemite family, King Ibn Saoud. King
All is now a resident of Baghdad, where he frequently acts as
regent in the absence of his brother, King Feisal. He had journeyed to Amman, capital of Transjordania, where his other
brother Emir Abdullah rules, ostensibly to visit his father exKing Hussein. But upon his return he came to Daraa, which is
within the territory of the French mandate, to make connections
for the trans-desert journey back to Baghdad. This apparently
gave the French mandatory authorities in Syria an opportunity
to extend the ex-King a fitting welcome, and the High Commissioner sent a special representative to invite him to Beirut, which
is far out of his way, as the guest of the French authorities. In
Beirut Ali was received with a great display of official hospitality
and was in conference for several hours with the High Commissioner.
Later, in Damascus, the Arabian ex-King was received with
much acclaim by the populace but he consistently refused to discuss politics. His younger brother Emir Zaid, also traveling to
Baghdad with his two sisters, was at Beirut the guest of the High
Commissariat which also put at his disposal a private car to convey him to Damascus. He was accompanied on this trip by Fakhry Bey Baroody, the Nationalist leader, at whose house he stopped to receive the dignitaries of the city.
The exceptional display of hospitality by the French to the
visiting members of the royal Hashemite family is interpreted
by many as indicative of a new political move in Syria which
might hasten the solution of the country's knotty problem. The
solution, it is claimed, might be the reversal of the policy that
gave rise to the problem itself. The first serious difficulties in
k
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�FEBRUARY, 1931
47
His Majesty Ex-King Hussein of Arabia
Who has been permitted by the English to leave his exile in
Cyprus and visit his son Emir Abdullah of Transjordania hi<
visit giving rise to new rumors on the possibility of placing his
son Ali on the Syrian throne.
�48
THE SYRIAN WORLD
Syria, it is pointed out, sprang from the ambition of the Hashemites to create an Arab union at the head of which would be King
Hussein, the father, reigning in Arabia with his several other
sons ruling in the surrounding Arab States. The first step towards
the fulfillment of this broad scheme was the proclamation of
Emir Feisal King in Syria soon after the end of the World War
and the withdrawal of the Allied troops under Gen. Allenby
from Damascus. But the events of 1920 which led to the French
occupation of the interior of Syria and the abdication of King Feisal, to be followed later by the victory of King Ibn Saoud of
Arabia over King Hussein and his son King Ali, brought the ambitions of the Hashemite family to an abrupt end. Now the only
redeeming feature of the scheme is that Feisal is king in Iraq
while his brother Abdullah is Emir of Transjordania.
If, however, Syria is again made a monarchy and one of the
sons of King Hussein placed on its throne three brothers would
be kings of Arabian States and France will have won over the
Hashemites and at the same time solved the Syrian problem by
putting an end to the prevailing uncertainty as to the form of
government as well as to the unending plotting of political leaders for power.
Aside from the immediate change involved in the Syrian
situation proper, such a move might have an important bearing
on the Arabic world in general, especially in what affects the relations of the countries controlled by the Hashemites with the
kingdom of Al-Hejaz and its powerful ruler Ibn Saoud, who
was the cause of the downfall of the Hashemite dynasty. It is
pointed out, on the other hand, that a treaty of amity and peace
was concluded between King Ibn Saoud of Al-Hijaz and King
Feisal of Iraq through the good offices of Britain not long since,
but whether these bonds will stand the strain of the threatening
danger implied by the formation of a strong coalition of Hashemite kingdoms around Ibn Saoud's country remains to be seen. It
is obvious that the situation is fraught with serious possibilities,
and that Syria has assumed a.place of prime importance in shaping the political future of the Arabic-speaking world.
I
�FEBRUARY, 1931
49
Political Developments in Syria
ENGLAND REVERSES ITSELF
IN PALESTINE POLICY
A wave of jubilation swept over
Jewish circles throughout the world
When word was flashed that the
British government had materially
modified its stand on the question
of its Palestine mandate as expressed in the official White Paper
of Lord Passfield, Colonial Secretary, issued last October. By reverse
order, this new move created consternation in Arab camps and
brought forth vigorous protests.
Powerful pressure undoubtedly had
been brought to bear on the Labor
government to cause it to so quickly
and completely turn about face and
incur the anger of the whole Moslem world. After a lapse of almost
a month, however, the government
has been able to keep matters well
in hand.
The new British po'icy was enunciated in a letter of Prime Minister
MacDonald to Dr. Ohaim Weizmann,
former President of the World Zionist Organization, and placed before
the House of Commons February 13.
The letter, although nominally "explaining
certain
misconceptions
which have arisen in connection with
the government's position on Palestine," in reality makes some very
definite and generous concessions to
Zionists on important points of the
White Paper to an extent as to reverse the meaning of the original
document.
The government's most important
concession is doubtless on the point
of Jewish immigration, which is restored to the old principle of "immigration according to the absorptive capacity of the country" instead
of the principle of "estimating Jewish immigration with regard to
Arab and Jewish unemployment,"
wh'.ch the Passfield White Paper introduced.
Another
important
concession
which altered the conditions existing prior to the issuance of the
White Paper is the establishment of
the "right of the Jews to a share of
employment on public and municipal
work commensurate to the Jewish
contribution to public revenues."
This takes the place of the previous
method of establishing the Jewish
s'hare in this work on the basis of
their share in the population of the
country. Restrictions on land purchase by Jews is virtually removed,
and many other concessions are
made with the intention of proving
the British government's sympathy
with the Jewish cause.
Naturally, the Jews were elated
over this signal success, but the
Arabs, in the words of the formal
protest sent by the Arab Executive
to the High Commissioner for transmission to London
regard MacDonald's policy as a retreat and
show a clear disposition to fight the
issue through. The Arab newspaper
Al-Hayat, organ of the Moslem Supreme Council, asserts that MacDonald's letter had at one stroke destroyed the Arabs' confidence in the
mandatory power's good faith, while
the English Edition of the Arab
newspaper Falastine, in voicing its
surprise and indignation at the MacDonald letter treats with the broader
principle of Eastern and Western
civilization declaring that "the issue becomes clearer daily that Zionism means to the Arabs and other
�50
THE SYRIAN WORLD
Moslems the spear point of imperialism and foreign culture, but the
East refuses to be Europeanized under the false plea of civilization and
intends to shape its own destiny."
JEWS FEAR OUTBREAK
A report by the Arabic paper
Falastine of Jaffa that a Jew had
been caught in the act of kidnapping
two Moslem children, and hinting
that the purpose might be "ritualistic murder," gave rise to fear
among the Jews that the Moslems
were planning another anti-Semitic
outbreak such as took place in the
summer of 1929. Another Arab paper later explained the origin of the
report as the attempt of a halfwitted Jew to play with some children in the Arab quarter. Falastine
was indefinitely suspended by order
of the High Commissioner.
SITUATION IN SYRIA
Ever since the return of M. Ponsot from France, ostensibly carrying in his portfolio a plan for a
definite solution of the Syrian political problem, nothing has transpired as to his intentions. The Syrian press gives expression only to
hopes and promises and seems occupied with discussing the attitude
of the various leaders towards the
coming elections. What has been
lately rumored but vigorously denied, is that dissension has crept
into the ranks of the Nationalists,
some being reported as favoring
participation in the elections while
others are holding out for the original provisions of the Constitution
as drafted by the Constituent Assembly. Other rumors would 'have
some prominent Nationalist leaders
favoring a monarchy and joining a
federation of Arab States.
The Nationalists continue to com-
plain of the unlawful tactics which
they accuse the Tajeddin government of employing to prevent them
from holding meetings. Such occurrences have taken place not only in
Damascus but in Aleppo as well.
Formal complaints 'have been lodged
with the High Commissioner but the
press continues to report repetitions
of the same harassing tactics.
An important development is the
apparent success which the royalist
party is reported making in impressing public opinion with the advantages of establishing a monarchy in
Syria and placing a son of ex-King
Hussein of Arabia on the throne.
This phase of the Syrian political
situation is treated separately elsewhere in this issue.
BRUTAL ATTACK ON
LEBANESE EDITOR
The daily Arabic paper Al-Hoda
of New York received a special
cable dispatch from the secretary of
the Press Club in Beirut on January
23 stating that Joseph Mokarzel
editor of Ad-Dabbour, the most
widely circulated paper of Syria,
had been brutally attacked by two
masked men while on his way to
his home late in the evening of the
22nd. The cable asked for moral
assistance and stated that public opinion was highly incensed over
the attack on the popular editor.
The Lebanese papers reaching
New York late in February gave
the following details of the attack
and the causes leading to it:
Joseph Mokarzel had waged a
strong campaign against certain
clergymen of his own faith, (Maronites), who had been known to
sympathize with the Papal Nuncio
in Syria in his supposed efforts to
create sentiment in favor of an
�FEBRUARY, 1931
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51
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Joseph Mokarzel
Italian mandate over the country.
The situation was aggravated by
the fact that ten thousand Maronites had a dispute with their bishop
and announced their intention of
turning Latins, otherwise coming
under the direct jurisdiction of the
Nuncio. Certain relatives of one of
the clergymen under attack resented the imputations of the paper
and waylaid the editor while about
to enter his house, beating him with
sticks and striking him with brass
knuckles until he was left for dead.
Nothing daunted, the plucky editor filled the following issue of his
weekly with even more bitter attacks on the political activities and
motives of the
Nuncio, which
brought forth official protests from
the latter to the High Commissioner
who ordered Ad-Dabbour suspended
for one month on the ground of
having offended the representative
of a friendly power.
The Press Club of Beirut sent a
special delegation to wait upon the
Secretary of the Interior protesting such attacks on men of the
journalistic profession. What they
demanded, and in this they have the
support of all the papers both in
Arabic-speaking countries and in
America commenting on the incident, is that suspension of papers
should not continue to be on summary action of the administration,
but that wherever there is cause for
complaint papers should be subject
only to judicial discipline.
The Beirut police later apprehended the perpetrators of the attack, but the editor refused to press
a charge against them preferring to
fight his battle along his own lines
with 'his trenchant pen.
SULTAN PASHA ATRASH
PLANS NEW CAMPAIGN
A news dispatch to the New York
Evening Post from Paris dated February 26 reports that Sultan Pasha
Atras'h, leader of the Druze revolt
of 1925-26, and now in voluntary
exile in the Syrian desert outside of
the zone of the French mandate is
planning another campaign against
the French to be launched the latter
part of May. The report first came
from Egyptian sources, but the general tendency is to discredit it owing
to the known limited resources of
Atras'h Pasha in men and materials,
not to take into consideration the
fact that in planning a campaign no
general will notify the enemy in
advance.
�52
THE SYRIAN WORLD
About Syria and Syrians
SYRIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH
ELECTS TWO PATRIARCHS
Ever since the demise of His
Beatitude Gregory IV, Patriarch of
the Greek Orthodox Church of Syria
and bearing the title of Patriarch of
Antioch and the East, the Syrian
Orthodox Church has been meeting
with difficulties in electing his successor in view of the dissension
which has beset the church following the Russian debacle. Russia, having been the largest Orthodox nation,, exercised influence over the
affairs of the church throughout the
world, but with the advent of the
Bolshevists and their avowed antirehgious policy, the different Orthodox churches began to act independently, causing considerable confusion. Syria was not to escape the
effects of this chaotic condition.
On February 10, however, two
Syrian papers of New York received cables bearing the glad news
that the long-drawn confl;ct between
the factions of the Syrian Orthodox
church had been composed resulting
m the election of the Rt. Rev. Arsanius Haddad bishop of Latakia,
to the Patriarchate. But following
quickly on the receipt of the first
dispatch came another cable emphatically denying the legality of the
first election and promising further
details. These came through the
mail which reached America the latter part of February and announcing that although the Rt. Rev. Haddad was elected by a majority of
the conclave of bishops meeting in
the monastery of Homaira, he was
not the people's choice, since the
laymen in the Orthodox Church have
defined rights in proposing candi-
dates for the high office.
As a result of these differences
four of the eleven bishops of the
church repaired to Damascus where
they held another conclave and
elected the Rt. Rev. Alexandres Tahhan, bishop of Tripoli, to the vacant
office. The latter election is in accordance with the wishes of the Orthodox laity of Damascus which is
said to control the majority of the
popular vote.
The situation was officially brought
to the attention of the civil authorities by both factions seeking recognition and support, but neither the
native nor the mandatory authorities were reported to have taken any
official action in the matter. Appeals
have also been sent to the various
Orthodox Patriarcchs throughout
the world.
ARABIA YIELDS SECRET
TO ENGLISH EXPLORER
Bertram Thomas Succeeds in Crossing the Great Desert of
Rab'ul-Khali.
In a copyrighted despatch from
Be'hrein, on the Persian Gulf, received February 23, the New York
Times announced that the English
Orientalist and explorer Bertram
Thomas, had successfully crossed
the great desert of southeastern
Arabia known as Rab'ul-Khali, having left Dhofar, in Southern Arabia,
in December and reached Dohah, on
the Persian Gulf, fifty-eight days
later.
This first news was supplemented
�FEBRUARY, 1931
a few days later by a succinct personal account of Mr. Thomas himself describing his experiences. His
most important discovery, it would
seem, was a salt water lake seven
miles long, together with traces of
an old caravan route which traders
in ages past must have used in crossing Arabia. The possibility of there
being an old people living in isolation from the rest of the world and
constituting a remnant of the once
flourishing Arabian civilization was
exploded.
This great section of the Arabian
peninsula which had defied all efforts at exploration comprises a territory of about 500,000 square miles,
extending 650 miles from north to
south and 850 miles from east to
west.
Mr. Thomas' feat was acclaimed
by scientists as ranking foremost
among the world's great discoveries
comparable to the explorations of
Livingstone,
Peary,
Shackleton,
Scott and Amundsen.
In their report of this important
news, we noticed that the Times and
other papers gave the name of the
great hitherto unknown Arabian
desert as Ruba-el-Khali. In the interest of correct transliteration we
would respectfully submit that the
name should be written Rab'-ulKhali, and more correctly with the
addition of the definitive article
here pronounced "Ar" instead of
"Al" for euphony. In the first form,
"Ruba", the word would mean quarter, in the sense of one-fourth, while
in the second form "Rab' ", it would
imply a meaning of space, which the
Arabic word clearly indicates. The
original meaning of the word
"Rab*" in Arabic is a camping
ground, so applied because of its
relation to spring and to grass,
which the nomad Arabs sought
most in selecting their camping
53
grounds. The term was later applied
to any section of land without dist'nction.
Exception should also be taken to
the use of the term "white man" in
describing the exploit of Mr. Thomas. Both in their bold headlines and
in the text of their despatches the
Times and other papers frequently
refer to Mr. Thomas' journey as
being the first to be successfully accomplished by a "white man." If by
the use of the term is meant Europeans it should so be stated to escape
the objectionable reflection that the
Arab natives of the country are not
"white."
DAGHER NIGHT
A GREAT SUCCESS
Many celebrities as well as State,
Federal and City government officials were present on Dagher Night,
the 31st annual ball in honor also
of George C. Dagher. executive
member and leader of the 1st Assembly District Republicans which
was held at the Elks Club in Brooklyn Tuesday, February 10th.
Mr. Dagher is the only American
of Syrian extraction to be a leader
and executive of a political organization in the State of New York
if not in the United States. His interest in politics, good government
and civics very early in life has
brought him into contact with many
prominent officials in the community. His ability has been shown early
and he was quick to rise. It is the
first affair of the club itself of which
he is now the head. Last year when
he won this promotion his friends,
both Syrian and Americans, gave
him a testimonial dinner under the
auspices of the American-Syrian
Federation.
�54
SYRIAN PHYSICIAN CHAMPIONS
PALESTINE ARAB CAUSE
Although hardly organized, while
their Jewish opponents are highly
organized, the champions of the
Arab Palestinian cause in America
are meeting with telling success in
their efforts to bring to the attention of the American public a better
understanding of the basic differences underlying the bitter struggle
between Arab and Jew in Palestine.
Ameen Rihani, celebrated Syrian
author and lecturer, has unquestionably made the largest single contribution along this line, traveling
throughout the country engaging in
debates, delivering lectures and
writing for newspapers and magazines. His countrymen entertain for
him the warmest appreciation for
these effective voluntary services.
Others contributing in a limited
way are the students from Arabicspeaking countries at Columbia and
other American universities. But
perhaps foremost among the laymen
volunteers is Dr. Fuad I. Shatara of
Brooklyn whose qualifications as a
logical speaker are enhanced by his
willing response to what he terms
the call of duty in defense of the
Arab cause. Dr. Shatara is Palestinian by birth and a close student
of the politics of his native land,
as shown by his many articles published over the course of years in
the Syrian World.
Dr. Shatara was a guest speaker
at a dinner given by the Economic
Club of Portland, Me., on February
14 to discuss the Palestinian question. Other speakers were Elihu D.
Stone, U. S. district attorney of
Boston and president of the New
England Zionists for seven terms,
who defended the Zionist viewpoint;
and Capt. Lothian Small, assistant
secretary general of the Interna-
.
..:
:.
'
THE SYRIAN WORLD
tional Federations of the League of
Nations Societies, who spoke from
the British angle.
Reporting on Dr. Shatara's address, the Portland Sunday Telegram of February 15 states that
the speaker "declared the opposition of the Arabs in Palestine is
to the setting up of a Jewish political State through the creation of
a majority of Jews over the wishes
of the majority of the present occupants ...
He denied that the
Arabs would object to equal rights
for the Jews in Palestine, but that
they refuse to admit that the Jews
have any more of a right to establish a nation in Palestine than the
Arabs would in Spain which they
once colonized. The occupancy of
Palestine by the Jews was but a
matter of 400 years while the Arabs
have lived there over 1300 years."
While in New England, Dr. Shatara engaged in another debate at
the Dorchester Forum with Rabbi
Abrams of Boston, on Sunday, February 15 and where his argument
was equally well received.
SYRIAN AVIATRIX PLANS
TRANS-ATLANTIC HOP
Miss Alice Khoury, a Syrian girl
of Hopewell, Va. and still in her
teens, has qualified as an expert
flier and already plans a solo transAtlantic flight, according to reports in the New York Syrian papers. The only reason for her not
being a licensed pilot, continues the
report, is that she has not reached
the legal age of twenty-one.
Miss Khoury is the daughter of
Mr. and Mrs. Assaf George Khoury
of Niha in the Shouf district of
Lebanon. Her parents moved to
Hopewell during the war boom attendant upon the manufacture of
�FEBRUARY, 1931
ammunition at the Du Pont factories there. She, however, was educated for a stenographer, but living
in the proximity of an aviation field
inspired her with the desire for flying. She has already made several
solo flights and it is said that the
cit'zens of Hopewell are planning
to make her a gift of a plane to
be bought by popular subscription.
This is the second instance brought
to public attention of a Syrian girl
in America having taken up aviation. Of young men there are a
much larger number, men'ion of
whom has previously been made in
the Syrian World.
P.ROOKLYN PASTOR HONORED
ON 25TH ANNIVERSARY
The Rt. Rev. Archimandrite Paul
Sanky, pastor of Virgin Mary's Melchite Syrian Catholic church in
Brooklyn celebrated the twentyfifth anniversary of his ordination
to the priesthood on February 5, on
which occasion a singing high mass
was held at the Syrian church by
the Rt. Rev. Bishop Molloy of
Brooklyn assisted by a number of
visiting Syrian Catholic clergymen.
Following the religious ceremony
a banquet was held at St. George
Hotel which was attended by over
four hundred guests. Mr. Edward
Leon, who presided, presented the
Rev. Sanky with a purse of $500.00
raised by popular subscription from
the congregation in token of their
love and appreciation for their
pastor.
IN DEMAND
Lissan Ul-Hal of Beirut reports
that for six vacancies on the Police
force there were 750 applicants,
some of whom being college graduates. An advertisement for a night
watchman brought 1000 applicants,
55
notwithstanding that the monthly
pay is eleven Syrian pounds, amounting to less than $8.00.
SYRIAN FEDERATION
HOLDS RECEPTION
The American-Syrian Federation
held its annual reception at its
clubrooms in Brooklyn on February
21 and provided a wealth of enjoyment to the several hundred
guests who fi led the two main
floors of the building. An American
orchestra provided dance music for
the younger generation, while lovers of native music were entertained
on another floor by excellent singers
and oud players.
The occasion was the seventh
birthday of the Federation. In his
printed word of greeting, the President assures the community of
"our willingness and readiness at all
times to place the facilities of the
Federation at their disposal, to make
its home the center of all educational, civic and social activities."
ARABIC PLAY GIVEN
FOR CHARITY SUCCESSFUL
The Ruler by the Will of God, an
eccentric caliph of the Fatimide
dynasty who claimed divinity and
terrorized Egypt in the 13th century, was again brought to life in
the play of his name given at the
Brooklyn Academy of Muse on
January 13 by the Al-Kalimat Committee. The proceeds of the performance were devoted to charity
and the play was well patronized.
The Ladies' Aid Society of New
York was the recipient of half of
the proceeds for distribution among
the Syrian needy of America while
the Al-Kalimat Committee, the
original sponsor of the play, devoted its share to the building of a
home for the aged in the city of
Aleppo.
�56
THE SYRIAN WORLD
SULTAN'S KIN CLAIM
PROPERTY IN SYRIA
EGYPTIAN CIVILIZATION
IN VENEZUELA REPORTED
Cable dispatches from Beirut
late in January stated that all the
Princes and Princesses of the former
Ottoman ruling family met in that
city to discuss continuing their legal battle for the possession of the
vast properties left by the Sultan
Abdul Hamid in Syria and Lebanon,
despite their recent defeat' in the
Turkish courts of Istanboul to obtain control of the properties which
were taken by the victorious powers after the World War. A deputation of the Princes waited upon
the French High Commissioner to
lay the claim before him. The Ottoman Princes under the Treaty of
Lausanne, are allowed to apply to
the native Syrian courts. Their
counsel are now drawing up a list
of the late Sultan's possessions in
Syria and Lebanon before filing a
plea for restitution.
The Syrian press publishes pathetic accounts of the conditions to
which some of the Princes have
been reduced. Not a few of them
have been forced to become taxi
drivers, and the humiliation they
feel when encountering a fare of
their acquaintances is pitiful.
The disclosure of secrets of the
earliest civil'zation in South America is promised soon when Dr. Rafael Requena, president of the State
of Aragua in Venezuela, publishes
the results of a life study on his
part declared to present conclusive
evidence of the existence of an ancient Egyptian civilization in Venezuela, according to a correspondent of the N. Y. Times cabling from
Port of Spain Trinidad, on Feb. 18.
JAMES J. TUNNEY
ON SYRIAN TOUR
Late in January Major James J.
Tunney, popularly known as Gene
Tunney, former heavyweight champion of the world, sailed with his
wife to Syria to join an archaeological expedition. He will spend a few
weeks in Egypt before proceeding
to Beirut, Damascus and Baghdad.
It is not yet known whether he
will remain with the Haardt-TransAsiatic expedition in its proposed
travels through central Asia.
The correspondent declares that
Dr. Requena gave him an interview
at his headquarters at Maracay, the
capital of Araqua, where the military headquarters of General Gomez,
former President and now dictator
and commander-in-chief of the army,
is located.
A remarkable private museum attached to the house contains excavated idols of primitive man, bones
of prehistoric monsters and flint
hammers.
"I firmly believe in the ancient
existence of Atlantis," Dr. Requena
said. "When Atlantis was submerged
the survivors, originally Egyptians,
found their way here. I have indubitable proof which will startle the
scientific world. I intend to write a
Spanish treatise and translate it into
French and hope to publish it this
year. Years after the Egyptians
came there was an invasion of Chinese colonists from across the Pacific."
The fact, that the Egyptians were
never a sea-faring people, but employed the Phoenicians for the conduct of their trans-maritime trade,
may in the end prove the latter to
be the real founders of the ancient
American civilization.
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
The Syrian World Newspapers
Description
An account of the resource
<h4>Biographical/Historical Note</h4>
<p>Salloum Mokarzel, a Lebanese American intellectual, founded<em> The Syrian World</em> in 1926. Salloum Mokarzel was the younger brother of Naoum Mokarzel, the publisher of the Arabic-language newspaper <em>Al-Hoda. </em>Together, the Mokarzel brothers ran Al-Hoda Publishing, and in 1909, they published <em>The Syrian Business Directory.</em> </p>
<p>Mokarzel created <em>The Syrian World</em> in order to document and celebrate the culture and history of "Syria." At the time, Syria referred to the modern-day countries of Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Israel, and Palestine. The publication was primarily aimed towards second-generation children of immigrants, but Mokarzel hoped that it would also appeal to the general American public.</p>
<h4>Scope/Content Note</h4>
<p><em>The Syrian World</em> was published between 1926 and 1932 as a journal. In 1932, the format was changed from an academic journal style to a newspaper style, which continued until the periodical's end in 1935. After the death of his brother Naoum, Salloum took over the publication of <em>Al-Hoda.</em></p>
<p>The articles in <em>The Syrian World</em> cover a variety of topics spanning from the practical to the theoretical. Practical subjects include international and domestic travel, historical and contemporary Arabic and Arab-American art and literature, and the mental and physical health and hygiene of immigrants. More theoretical, philosophical, and ideological subjects include ideologies of race, the changing role of women, the formation of Syrian and Lebanese-American societies, and the political and psychological relationships between immigrants and their countries of origin.</p>
<p>All issues of <em>The Syrian World</em> are available, along with full indexes for the first four volumes. For volumes five and six, there are tables of contents at the start of the issues.</p>
Subject
The topic of the resource
Arabs--United States
Arabic periodicals
Newspapers
Arab American Newspapers
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Salloum A. Mokarzel
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
New York Public Library
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Moise A. Khayrallah Center for Lebanese Diaspora Studies
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1926-1935
Relation
A related resource
<em><a href="http://lebanesestudies.omeka.chass.ncsu.edu/collections/show/41" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Syrian Business Directory</a></em>
<a href="http://lebanesestudies.omeka.chass.ncsu.edu/collections/show/44" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Mokarzel Family Papers</a>
<a href="http://hdl.handle.net/11299/175685" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Annotated Index to the Syrian World, 1926-1932</a> at the University of Minnesota Immigration History Research Center Archives
<a href="https://lebanesestudies.omeka.chass.ncsu.edu/collections/show/58" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><em>Al-Hoda Newspapers</em></a>
Language
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English
Contributor
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Processed by Claire A. Kempa, 2015-2017. Collection Guide written by Claire A. Kempa, 2017.
Collection Guide updated by Laura Lethers, 2023 August.
Rights
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The donor retains full ownership of any copyright and rights currently controlled. Nonexclusive right to authorize uses of these materials for non-commercial research, scholarly, or other educational purposes are granted to Khayrallah Center pursuant to U.S. Copyright Law. Usage of the materials for these purposes must be fully credited with the source. The user assumes full responsibility for any use of the materials.
These materials are digital copies of an original resource held by another institution. The KCLDS Archive often works with other institutions to make digital materials available online to the public. KCLDS is not able to grant permission to use or reproduce these materials. The KCLDS Archive strongly encourages users to contact the holding institution for permission to use or reproduce materials from their holdings.
Identifier
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NS 0002
Access Rights
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This digital material is provided here for non-commercial research, scholarly, or other educational purposes pursuant to U.S. Copyright Law.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Identifier
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TSW1931_02reducedWM
Title
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The Syrian World Volume 05, Issue 06
Date
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1931 February
Description
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Volume 5 Issue 06 of The Syrian World published February 1931. In Dr. Philip K. Hitti's article titled "Are the Lebanese Arabs?" he discusses this question that was posed to him by Salloum Mokarzel. In his reply he traces the history of Lebanon in order to discover the answer, looking back at the various ethnic groups that were at one time settled in Lebanon. In Salloum Mokarzel's second article covering his travels through Jebel-Druze he highlights his experiences in Soueida, the capital city. More specifically, he talks about his visit to the State Orphanage for Druze children in which he describes his most interesting observations of the French officials stationed there. Rev. W. A. Mansur is also featured for his contribution concerning the Commission of Syrian "pioneers" to their Posterity in America. While there are numerous poetic contributions in this issue of known poets like Gibran, J.D. Carlyle, and Asa, Don C. Seitz is also featured for his poem concerning The Arabian Nights. Seitz as a nationally well-known American author presents the very reasons the young generation should praise the classic literature of their mother-tongue. Another part of the "Ali Zaibaq" series is again featured in this issue, before Labeebee A. J. Hanna's poetic "Advice to a Girl." The last article featured is by Joseph J. Raymond, on the word Al-Jubbah, and the significance of its travel throughout the world. The issue closes with a discussion of Syria's potential to have a future king, political developments of Syria, and excerpts from the Arab press that represented Syria and Syrians.
Subject
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Arabic literature--History and criticism--Periodicals
Arabs--United States--Periodicals
Lebanese-Americans--United States--Periodicals
Language
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English
Creator
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Salloum A. Mokarzel
Syrian-American Press
Source
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New York Public Library
Publisher
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Moise A. Khayrallah Center for Lebanese Diaspora Studies
Coverage
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104 Greenwich St., New York, NY
Format
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Text/pdf
Type
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Text
Rights
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The donor retains full ownership of any copyright and rights currently controlled. Nonexclusive right to authorize uses of these materials for non-commercial research, scholarly, or other educational purposes are granted to Khayrallah Center pursuant to U.S. Copyright Law. Usage of the materials for these purposes must be fully credited with the source. The user assumes full responsibility for any use of the materials.
1930s
Al-Jubbah
Druze
J.D. Carlyle
Joseph J. Raymond
Kahlil Gibran
Labeebee A.J. Hanna
New York
Philip Khuri Hitti
Poetry-English
Reverend W.A. Mansur
Thomas Asa
Travel