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SEPTEV
VOL. IV. NO. l.(
THE
4
I
SYRIAN WORI
A MONTHLY MAGAZINE IN ENGLISH D
WITH SYRIAN AFFAIRS AND ARABIC LITE
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i
ON THE WAY TO SYRIA
THE EDITOR
THROUGH PALESTINE DURI
RECENT UPRISING
MANDATES IN THE NI
AMEEN RIHANI
ISAF (A SHORT SI
LABEEBEE A. J. H
)LITICAL DEVELOPMENTS
ABOUT SYRIA AND S
THE COPY
��T!-?S NFW YCF.t
C LIBRARY
9577A
THE
ASTOR, LENOX AND
T1LDEN FOUNDATIONS
R
1930
L
SYRIAN WOKEB
SALLOUM
A.
MOKARZEL,
Editor.
PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY THE SYRIAN-AMERICAN PRESS
104
GREENWICH STREET, NEW YORK,
By subscription $5.00 a year.
N. Y.
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. IV. NO. 1.
SEPTEMBER, 1929.
CONTENTS
PAGE
On the Way to Syria
3
THE EDITOR
Fire — A Riddle
Translated from the Arabic by J. D.
Mandates in the Near East
16
CARLYLE
17
AMEEN RIHANI
Arab Proverbs
23
Thwarted (Poem)
24
DR. SALIM
Y.
ALKAZIN
Isaf (A Short Story)
LABEEBEE
25
A. J. HANNA
�__————-——
CONTENTS (Continued)
PAGE
Success (Poem)
29
THOMAS ASA
Beyond (Poem)
29
ALICE MCGEORGE
Through Palestine During the Recent Uprising
SALLOUM A. MOKARZEL
30
Books and Authors
4-0
Editorial Comment
Grateful Acknowledgment
The Editor's Itinerary Abroad
43
44
Spirit of the Syrian Press
46
Political Developments in Syria
49
About Syria and Syrians
51
ILLUSTRATIONS IN THIS ISSUE
Syrians Dancing the Dabke
Reception in Honor of King Fuad I
DATES OF PUBLICATION
Due to unforeseen conditions resulting from the
editor's extended absence abroad, publication of the
September number of THE SYRIAN WORLD was delayed until the end of October. An attempt will be made,
however, to issue future numbers at less than a month's
interval in the hope of coming up to our regular schedule before the first of the year.
�Mfc.
THE
SYRIAN WORL
VOL. IV. No. 1.
SEPTEMBER, 1929.
On the Way to Syria
A CHRONOLOGICAL RECORD OF THE EDITOR'S
TRIP ABROAD
By THE EDITOR
Note—Syria being our ultimate destination and the country in which
we are chiefly interested, a description of the first leg of our voyage up to
our arrival must necessarily be brief, serving only as an introduction to
the more lengthy accounts that are to come.
s. A. M.
I
QUR eventful voyage began on July 2nd. The term eventful
is^ used here advisedly in the sense that the voyage was replete
with interesting events, especially to one who had not taken a trip
abroad in thirty years and whose knowledge had been confined to
book information based on the observations of others. The prospects, therefore, of going out into the big, broad world; of feeling anew the sensation attending an ocean voyage; of visiting
countries strange yet familiar, having a hoary history yet just
being reborn again to new conditions and to a new life; of visiting ancestral lands which have been hallowed by the most glowing accounts of recorded history; of seeing the remains of a once
astonishing civilization which have withstood the ravages of centuries and which still bewilder and perplex modern man at the
contemplation of the work of his distant ancestor for his vastness
of conception and his masterly execution; all these prospects
keyed one's expectations to the highest pitch and created a happy
disposition to appreciate the many surprisingly delightful treats
that were to come.
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THE SYRIAN WORtD
Most of the passengers being American tourists or returning
emigrants, and all under the entrancing spell of the same expectations, the atmosphere on board the S. S. Providence of the Fabre
Line was a particularly buoyant and happy one. Farewells were
taken not amid tears but with radiant smiles. The milling throng
on board and on the dock was in holiday spirits. It was rather
a disappointment on the p'art of the stay-at-homes at not being
able to join those departing. Not even when the shrill siren of
the big steamer gave its first warning blast was there a tear shed;
not even when it cast off its moorings and began to move slowly
away from the dock. The waving of hands and handkerchiefs
was almost one of glee. Why not when the season for travel
was so propitious and the trip so promising?
The morning of the next day we were in Boston. It is one
thing to travel to the Hub City by land and another to approach
it by water. Its sight is most impressive. One can detect in it
even some imposing skyscrapers, which proves that its commercial aspirations, as well as its intellectual achievements, run high.
It supplied us with a substantial quota of our passenger list, who
proved, as the voyage proceeded, to be very human and sociable.
The young college girls from Boston and vicinity were not exactly a terror, but they did not suffer from lack of life. They
could execute the latest step in dancing, and they could talk any
professor to a standstill on any subject. They represented the
modern American girl in her happiest form, and they were fit
ambassadors of modern American feminine culture abroad.
But that was not all. We had on board as many types as we
had classes, if not more. The cosmopolitan nature of our passenger list was surprising. For we had a Catholic bishop and
several priests; Protestant ministers of all denominations; professors, teachers, high school principals, and mere worldly laymen and laywomen. The ensemble was a gorgeous affair which
amalgamated easily in spite of the differences in sex, social position and creed. I saw Protestant ministers attend regularly Catholic mass, and many Catholic laymen regularly attend Protestant
services. Priests and ministers even came together and talked
politics and religion, and, thanks to the presence of a Jewish
Rabbi and his talented wife who made no secret of her zeal for
the Zionist cause, the relative merits of Moses and Jesus were
not infrequently given a public trial. The lady, however, could
not understand why anybody but the Jews should have a right
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of claim to Palestine, holding that not only was it promised to
them by God, but that they were its first settlers, whose claim
to possession should be valid even after the lapse of two thousand years. She was gently reminded that the Jews came into
possession of the country as invaders and conquerors, and that
prior to their occupation the country was densely settled by other
races. The Bible was extensively quoted to prove this fact, but
only on the admonition of her learned husband that "Yes, dear,
our forefathers originally came into the country as invaders and
conquerors," would she own that Palestine, at various times, belonged to other races.
This, of course, was a mere incident and served but to add
to the various interesting aspects of the voyage. The congeniality and goodfellowship of the passengers was evident always
and everywhere. Even what later proved to be a most humorous
incident when a septuagenarian Jewish patriarch mistook the
reflection of the stairs in the wall mirror for a continuation of
the steps and plunged headlong down the whole flight of ten
steps, then rolled down from the lower landing over another
four steps, only occasioned heartfelt pity. The venerable patriarch was on his way to the land of his ancestors in the hope of
being near when time came to be gathered to them and before the
sounding of the last trumpet, but while on board it occurred to
him to make an inspection of all the quarters of the curious floating thing which was carrying him towards his destiny. Acting
on this impulse, he awaited the opportunity when most of the passengers were at lunch and climbed the steep stairs from the third
class quarters until he reached deck A, where he sauntered around
for a while and then entered the smoking room. He saw that
the hall was long and did not bother to count his steps, and while
admiring the beautiful decorations about he suddenly took the
dangerous plunge and found himself moaning and groaning at
the lower landing.
This account would not be written in such vein but for the
happy ending of the incident. The patriarch was but a mere skeleton of skin and bones and was easily carried up to a comfortable
chair in the smoking room. There he began a systematic series
of physical examinations, testing first the right arm, then the
leftj raising one leg at a time, and bending, kicking and twisting itj then feeling his ribs one by one to see if they were all
sound, and finally taking a deep breath to insure that his heart
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and lungs were functioning properly. During all these tests the
circle of worried passengers which had formed about him were
breathless in their anticipation, but their fears were dispelled
when, after his exhaustive tests, the venerable patriarch beamed
with joy and executed a sprightly dance. He then began to tell
volubly of his plans j how after a lifetime of labor and economy
in America he had acquired possession of two small buildings,
somewhere in Chicago or vicinity} and how he expected to derive
from these buildings a steady income of six dollars a week on
which he was assured he could live comfortably in Jerusalem.
When he was affectionately told that he must have led a most
worthy life for God to have spared him until he reached Jerusalem where he would be buried in the ancestral land of his people, instead of dying at sea and being thrown to the fish, he
seemed to more fully appreciate the gravity of the danger to
which he had been exposed and thanked God anew for his safety.
As the voyage progressed the passengers indulged in all forms
of diversions. The most fascinating, perhaps, was the dabke
dance performed by the Syrians. Being on the way back to their
homeland, they loved to evoke memories of their earlier associations in life, and the dabke was the one form of folk dance which
aroused m them the tenderest spiritual emotions. And they were
not long in finding the necessary requisites. An old man who,
perhaps, had not acquired much of his new surroundings other
than some American money and an American garb, produced a
reed flute. A circle soon formed which proved that these returning immigrants had lost neither their love for their folk songs
and dances nor the rhythm of their motion. It was not long before a crowd collected to watch and admire them. The flute
player obligingly posed for photographs in the kneeling position he assumes during the height of the performance and was
slightly disappointed when he discovered he could not be given
a copy immediately.
Then it was the turn of the Jews to claim a right to the ship
and to public attention, and they took it with determination No
sooner had the Syrians started their dance than they began
giving exhibitions of their own. Both the Syrians and Jews being Semitic their dances, like many of their other characteristics,
must have had a common origin. Certainly the dabke and the
hora were performed in much the same manner. The dancers in both instances formed into a circle, holding hands, with a
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leader to cheer and inspire. Their steps were well measured,
although they covered very little distance. It became evident
as the dance progressed that the vocal accompaniment was a necessary requisite. The dancers raised their steps higher and
stamped harder as they became more and more enthused by the
words of the song. In one main feature, however, the Syrian
and Jewish dances differ, and that is in the tone and volume of
the singing. In the dabke the leader alone sings the verses while
the circle of dancers repeat the chorus, while in the hora all
verses are sung in unison. On one particular occasion two performances of the Syrian and Jewish dances were staged at one
time, the Jews following close on the formation of the Syrian
circle, and the amount of noise the Jews created soon drowned
the softer strains of the Syrian song.
This was by no means the only form of entertainment. There
was dancing and music and moving pictures and games of many
descriptions. A Syrian first-class passenger won the championship in shufHeboard. He was of a most genial disposition and
consented to being awarded a medal. For lack of the necessary
facilities and material for casting an appropriate medal of metal
one of cardboard had to be devised. A resourceful Wall Street*
broker conceived the happy idea, and his pretty and willing wife
proceeded to put it into execution. With consummate artistic
skill she carved the medal in the shape of a huge star, and with
deft and dainty fingers executed the colored designs and knotted
the ribbons. The presentation address was delivered in the main
dining hall by the ranking Protestant minister on board, who
showed in so doing no mean ability to rise to the appropriateness
of the occasion, while genial Captain Vidal pinned the medal
on the breast of the worthy champion.
Far be it from us to claim for Syrians what does not rightly
belong to them, but in the interest of record we find it necessary
to further state that a Syrian also was almost unanimously acknowledged the finest specimen on board of masculine pulchritude. Athletic of build, affable of disposition and generous with
his money, of which, it may be said, he had aplenty, his popularity soon became evident. His intellectual equipment added
to his personal charm, and, naturally, he was a favorite with the
ladies. At the masquerade ball given before the ship reached
Lisbon, he dressed as an Arab sheikh, winding a curtain for a
turban, using a silk bathrobe for dress, and a red scarf borrowed
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from a lady for a sash. He proved the center of attraction.
Captain Vidal proved a most capable, popular and resourceful commander. He appreciated the cosmopolitan nature of his
passengers and provided them with diversions to suit their tastes.
There being on board a goodly representation of the intellectual
class: college professors, high-school principals, teachers, ministers and students, he arranged for them a program of highly
instructive lectures, for which he drew on both the ship's talent
and on the passenger list. It was the intention to give a series
of comprehensive talks on the countries we were to touch upon.
While the Portuguese and Italian ship's physician spoke on their
respective countries, a Jewish rabbi spoke on Palestine and the
editor of The Syrian World on Syria and Lebanon. The various lectures gave rise later to many interesting group and individual discussions.
Thus passed the first leg of our journey. The passage from
New York to the Azores occupied eight days. The ocean had
lost its terrors or had exceptionally favored the "Providence"
and its holiday company. The only ripple on the surface of the
water was that caused by the prow of the ship or the sportive
jumps and dives of the numerous schools of purpoises. A
whale once appeared to give a little variety. The skies were
beautifully clear and it was a delight to watch the perfect sunsets. Not onpe did it rain or even threaten to. Travel in summer
by the southern Atlantic route is certainly a source of continuous pleasure.
Under the conditions, sight of land caused but slight excitement. The seafarer's joy at the first sight of land is but an
expression of relief from the monotonous or dangerous sea journey. But the sea had given us cause neither for fear nor ennui j
rather, the steady riding of the ship and the many entertainments provided and the pleasant personal relations formed
prompted a desire for an extension of the voyage.
The island of St. Michel gradually loomed bigger as we
approached until we could distinguish Ponta Delgada. The
little city was fascinating in its picturesqueness—a pile of multicolored houses some of which rose directly from the sea, giving
the impression that they once formed a part of the fortifications.
On an eminence stood a church which, we were told, dates back
to the earlier days of the discovery of the Azores in 1432.
While the ship was unloading freight we had an opportunity
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to go ashore. Almost all of us made a bee line to the post office
to mail letters and cards. We had been away from home too
short a time to neglect the duty of writing, and while at sea,
there had been left a few spare moments in which to do it.
This done, we dispersed in small parties and went sight-seeing. Our own party consisted of five, none of whom could speak
a word of Portuguese, and the driver could understand not a
word of English or any other language we knew. But we had
a merry time of it, especially when we attempted to instruct the
driver to take us out into the country. With us was a Hebrew
scholar who could also speak German, and besides our common
knowledge of English, we had command of French, Arabic and
some faltering Spanish. But do what we could, we failed to
make ourselves understood. We quoted many terms, some in
earnest and others in jest, giving them Spanish terminations:
country, terra, camfagna, environs, suburbs, hors de ville, and
some other tefms which caused us, at least, no end of amusement. Still the driver kept on taking us up one narrow street
and down another until the whole thing became monotonous and
we motioned him back in the direction of the ship.
Our drive through the city was not, however, devoid of
incident. Occupying the center of the back seat in the open car
was our handsome Syrian sheikh, and he very soon became the
center of attraction. Pretty senoritas, or whatever they call
them in Portuguese, who peeped out of their windows or over
their high garden walls, began to pelt us with a variety of flowers. Lilies, roses and daisies the size of saucers soon filled the car.
Some of them even threw kisses and immediately disappeared
behind their shutters. The generous disposition of the people
took such proportions that we entertained fears they might even
pelt us with some of the big, luscious pineapples for which their
island is famous.
The streets of Ponta Delgada are narrow and uninviting.
The people we found untidy, due, perhaps, to the fact that we
were making a fresh comparison with America. Everywhere
there were urchins who held out their hands and begged for
money. At every turn and every alley you encountered them,
with but the single word on their lips, "money." We could not
possibly begin by giving one for fear of collecting a whole army
of beggars about us.
But in this dismal setting there was a sudden flash of mod-
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ernity. From a dilapidated house in one of the narrow streets
emerged a beautiful young woman dressed in the height of fashion. She appeared as if she had just stepped from the pages of
the latest edition of a fashion magazine. How do they manage
it, these women of a lonely and forsaken island almost out of
touch with civilization? But the ingenuity and vanity of women
is one thing we should not question.
On the way back to the wharf, we encountered another returning party who had met with an experience similar to ours
with a dumb driver, and who suggested that we repair to a cafe
close by. Why not, when we were Americans on a spree and
there was still an hour to spare? So to the little cafe we repaired
and began to sample the different wines. Certainly they were
tasty and effective. An elderly gentleman in dapper clothes who
spoke English volunteered his advice as a connoisseur in wines.
He had been in dry Boston and was now back in his native land
just to enjoy its fine vintage. He insisted on treating, as did
every one of us in good, old American fashion, and by the time
the ship's whistle gave its warning blast we all felt as though
we could float back on our own spirits!
Once on board, I sought the ship's Portuguese physician and
asKed enlightenment on the Portuguese term for country. The
memory of our dismal failure still haunted me. I may never
have a chance to use it again, but I was incurably curious.
The doctor obligingly explained that the Portuguese term
for countryside was "pays," just as it is in French; but why we
had not thought of it is one of those ironies of fate which cannot
be explained.
One thing led to another. I had read in literature on the
Azores that the name in Portuguese meant falcon. The word
not only m its sound but in its meaning, is Arabic. I expounded
my theory on the philology of the name to the doctor and he
explained that owing to the long occupation of Portugal bv the
Arabs the Portuguese language contained many wordc of Arabic
ongn. This condition existed long before the discovery of the
Azores when the Arabic words in Portuguese, by reason of common use, became integral. Upon the discovery of the islands
tftey were found to abound with the falcon, and they were named
after rhe bird.
The word Azores is spelled in Portuguese Acores. In Arabic the name for falcon is As-Saqr. «A1" being the article in
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Arabic, the letter "1" is omitted whenever the article occurs befoie so-called sun or "Shams" letters. The "Sad" is one such
letter and it occurs at the beginning of the Arabic name for falcon "Saqr." Furthermore, the difference in sound between the
"s" and the "c" corresponds exactly to that between the letters
"seen" and "sad" in Arabic, which is further proof of the Arabic
origin of the word. The "s" at the end is the common plural
sign.
It is not the claim that the islands have any connection with
Arabic influence, but that the name has.
Another short sail under ideal weather conditions brought
us to the beautiful port of Lisbon, on the river Tejo. The panorama of the city, to use the term frequently employed in the
official English guidebook, is "explendid." If the reader is in
doubt as to the meaning of the word, he may consult his dictionary, but we took it to mean splendid, which in fact the panoramic view was. The numerous hills which projected gently
amidst and around it were crowned either with castle or with
old forts, and pleasantly broke up the vastness of the city which
claims a population of a million. The tower of Belem stands
majestic and beautiful in her white robe at the harbor entrance.
Our ultimate objective being Syria and Lebanon, and having
in mind the analogous historical background of old Phoenicia and
Portgual in maritime exploits, we were strongly inclined to make
comparisons. We were surprised to discover, for instance, that
the present area of Portgual is much less than that of the Republic of Grand Lebanon, being only 154 kilometers at its greatest length (Melgaco-Faro) and 75 kilometers at its greatest
width (Espozende-Mirando do douro). The population is approximately 6,100,000.
Lebanon, which is but a part of Syria, is about 280 by something over 100 kilometers. It is the land of the Phoenicians
whose maritime exploits rival if they do not exceed those of the
Portuguese. The present population of the whole country does
not exceed 700,000.
In Lisbon we spent a day, and it was a crowded one. One of
the principal sights of the city, by common agreement among
those who had made an earlier visit, was the suburb of Cintra,
the once summer resort of Portuguese royalty. So to Cintra
we went driving through some fine squares and avenues of the
city, principally that of the Avenue of the Republic. The sur-
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rounding country is most picturesque, abounding in sweet-smelling pine groves. The people of the countryside seem to have
lost none of their romantic characteristics, and many peasants
were encountered along the road who were dressed in their
multi-colored costumes and were either driving primitive carts
or leading oxen. We were told that bulls in Portgual were not
permitted on the highways unless led, otherwise they had to be
driven along a parallel pathway. There had been too many
accidents by bulls charging into passing automobiles.
Cintra is a magnificent resort. Long before reaching it one
observes two huge and almost monumental chimneys, conical in
shape and rising to a great height, issuing from a group of buildings which was once the Dowager Queen's palace. We later
discovered that they were but great ducts designed to absorb the
fumes of the enormous kitchen.
The Queen's Palace fades into insignificance when one later
comes in view of the barbaric grandeur of Pena Castle. This
is reached by a steep winding road through dense forests or
walled gardens, where the grandees of the court built themselves
beautiful villas surrounding Castle Mill. The Castle itself is a
mass of incongruities, but greatly impressive in sections. The
entrance is a winding, vaulted passageway of great height, leading to a spacious court. The walls of the old building rise directly from the edge of a perpendicular cliff, and when one
slowly and nervously makes his way to the top of the great dome,
a superb view is afforded of both land and sea. The King who
chose this spot used it as an observation post when watching for
his incoming fleet.
The sights of Lisbon are varied and interestnig. After visiting Cintra and Pena we yet had time to visit Jeronimous, that
cluster of beautiful buildings which once were a monastery, now
turned into orphanage and museum. The inner court of the
main building, where played at the time of our visit several hundred young boys, is a marvel of detail of execution. Not two of
the columns are alike and many there are which are entwined
in formation and fashioned from a single stone. The symbols
were mostly of a nautical nature, intended to carry out the general scheme of Portuguese maritime enterprise. Several rooms
were set apart as a national pantheon, in which reposed the remains of Vasco de Gama, the great navigator, and other Portuguese patriots, poets and historians.
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Some of the passengers had chosen to tarry in the city and
take a dip in the surf, the heat being rather uncomfortable. But
although others had travelled far afield, all were able to regain
the steamer on schedule. The breeze, immediately the steamer
weighed anchor, was a welcome relief. That night we doubly
appreciated the benefits of being at sea.
Our next step was at Naples. The approach to the harbor
is a sight never to be forgotten. Close on both sides rose beautiful land robed in delicate green, bathed in golden sunshine,
wafting a scented, cool breeze—a veritable delight to the senses.
Then rose into sight, imposing and ominous, the famous Vesuvius. It looked from the distance so close to the great city by
the sea that one wondered how the latter could escape its wrath
when in eruption. By unanimous decision a visit to Pompeii,
the famous victim of the great volcano, was first choice with all
onboard.
Our landing at Naples was effected speedily and smoothly.
The Italian government has abolished certain passport regulations, and the simple formalities attending the disembarkation
of transients enabled us a substantial saving in time. Once on
land we broke up into convenient small parties to make the trip
by automobile to Pompeii.
Along the wharf had gathered a large group of urchins who
milled and fought and gesticulated in traditional Italian form
offering their services to the passengers. Most of them spoke
English, and when one of them was asked if he had learned the
language in America, he explained that he had never been away
from Naples, and that he picked up his knowledge along the
waterfront through contact with sailors and tourists. He said
he was fourteen but looked eight, and he flavored his English
with delectable American slang. He was also a good judge of
American money values, and a small tip in payment for the
information he had given drew a sneer.
On the way to Pompeii we went through a section of old
Naples, past beautiful churches and quaint little courts and open
markets and ever so many statues of saints reposing either on
individual altars or in niches in the walls of private buildings.
On that particular day, July 16th, there were preparations for
celebrating the feast day of one of the local patron saints, and
they were being undertaken in conformity with all known Italian traditions of this nature. The square was bedecked with
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bunting and strung with thousands of colored electric lights.
The facade of the church was almost fully draped in cloth of
vivid colors, and the streets opening on the square were a beehive of activity.
We emerged into a wide street leading out of the city. The
dust raised by passing carts and automobiles and flocks of sheep
and goats was blinding. Our guide must have been a bacteriologist or a specialist in hygiene, for he took great pains to allay
our fears, assuring us that the dust of Naples was "clean dust,"
and that we need have no concern over its effect.
We were not so much concerned over its possibilities of contagion, as over its dirty inconveniences.
We soon reached the fine new toll road which, to our relief,
had been opened only a week since between Naples and Pompeii.
Automobiles were tearing down the road at the rate of sixty and
seventy kilometers, not to take into account the pace of the frequent spurts when the hot blood of Italian drivers seemed to be
transmitted to their motors. At times we thought we would not
mind either foregoing the visit to Pompeii or missing our ship.
But we landed safely at a new, clean hotel at the entrance
of the Pompeii enclosure, where we were asked to have an early
lunch to conserve our time for the tour of the dead city. During that brief half-hour we must have heard all the strains of
classical and popular music, opening and ending with O Solo Mio.
Of course, the hat was passed around.
Pompeii is an impressive and instructive sight. From it one
can gain a clear insight as to the mode of life of the ancient
Romans. Some of the dwellings have been retrieved almost intact, with their lead piping, mural paintings and mosaic work in
almost perfect state of preservation. In one such house they
now grow flowers in the inner court as it must have been two
thousand years ago. If the city were only roofed it would again
become inhabitable.
Pompeii has no great temples or other public buildings of outstanding architectural or artistic distinction. Its importance lies
in the fact that it is a city buried whole and recovered whole
after so many centuries. The Pompeii museum is of great archseologic and historical interest.
Our next port of call was Palermo, the really city beautiful.
Its clean streets, well dressed shops and magnificent public buildings are a delight to the eye. The old Saracen Palace of dis-
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tinctive Moorish architecture remains one of the wonders of the
city. But we were advised to see first the beautiful cathedral of
Monreale, and it was excellent advice. The church is situated
at about an hour's drive from the city, on a ledge in the mountain reached by a fine road, amidst beautiful fields and gardens.
For a work of mosaic we were told it stood first in its class in the
world, and it looked the part. Almost every inch of ceiling,
floor, columns and walls is covered with the beautiful work in
masterly execution and extremely fine design. The colors seem,
as bright now as when first set, and the hour we spert there
admiring this wonder of delicate and skillful workmanship was
most profitable.
The legend bearing on the erection of this church is that a
certain Saxon king of Sicily buried somewhere vast treasures without leaving any record as to their whereabouts. His son, who succeeded him, had an apparition by the Virgin directing him to dig
for the treasures under a certain tree. When he dismissed the
vision as a dream, the Virgin again appeared to him and his resultant search for the cache met with success. Out of gratitude
to the Virgin for her favor he devoted the whole of the vast sum
he had unearthed to the erection of a basilica to her on the spot
of the discovery. The building he started took two-hundred
years to complete, but it proved well worth the pains.
We passed through the straits of Messina by night, and the
illuminated coastline, the sharp silhouetting of the rugged mountain skyline against the clear ephemerical sky of southern Italy,
was a feast to the senses.
Early in the morning of July 19th, we reached Pireaus, in
Greece, where we encountered the first landing inconvenience.
The Greek authorities insisted on retaining our passports, for
which they gave us numbered chips similar to hat checks. The
passports were thrown pell-mell in a heap in the disorderly little
cage, and when we came to reclaim them later, we were at the
mercy of the leisurely convenience of the two not over-anxious
clerks.
But we were fully repaid for all the discomforts attending
the delay at the landing office and the long drive to Athens
through extremely barren and uninteresting country by the glorious ruins of the Acropolis. We could see them from the distance crowning the high hill dominating the city which lay spread
at its feet. On that historic hill was so much to be seen and ad-
�16
THE SYRIAN WORLD
mired that we deferred the drive through the city itself until
such time that we felt satisfied with the principal visit in our itinerary. And the decision taken proved to be a wise one, for there
was room for study and admiration in that group of magnificent
ruins to engage one not for a day but for weeks. To attempt a
search for adequate adjectives in description of the great ruins
would be a sheer waste of effort. There they stand, majestic
and overwhelming in their grandeur, as an ever living testimony
to the glory that was Greece. One is no sooner through wondering at the magnificent and imposing scheme of the sacred hill
than he is confronted by the wonder of the propylaea, or entrance
buildings, and the many individual temples that form the Acropolis. What great skill, and effort, and unlimited wealth was
expended over long stretches of time to create this masterpiece
of the architect, the builder and the sculptor. Even the changes
wrought in the original scheme by the transformation of the
buildings from their original purpose, first into Christian, then
into Moslem places of worship, could not materially detract from
the original beauty and imposing grandeur of conception and execution.
Our departure from Piraeus was delayed for several hours
owing to the interlocking of anchors in the open harbor. We
finally cut the chains and left the anchors behind. We had to
make Beirut Sunday the 21st. according to schedule, which we
did, although a little late.
If
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FIRE — A RIDDLE
(Translated from the Arabic by J. D.
CARLYLE)
The loftiest cedars I can eat,
Yet neither paunch nor mouth have I,
I storm whene'er you give me meat,
Whene'er you give me drink, I die.
•i i
�SYRIAN?
ANCI NG THE DABKE
A group of Syrians returning on a visit to the motherland performing the native
dance of Dabke on board the « Providence" of the Fabre Ltne.
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17
Mandates in the Near East
First Decade of European Supervision Over Iraq, Syria and
Palestine Reviewed by the Author of "Maker of Modern Arabia"
< i
By
'V
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I ,*
AMEEN RIHANI
HTHE Near East for the last ten years has been a school for
mandate and parliamentary government. Both the mandatory authorities and the nationalists are still going through their
schooling—and paying for it. They paid dearly at the beginning,
because everyone started with the assumption that the hornbook
spelled nothing but force. Hence the revolutions in Syria and
in Iraq. Hence, too, the growing discontent in Palestine and
Transjordania. But along with this is a growing desire to master the art of diplomacy. The subject before the class is now:
Bargaining in its relation to the rights of nations.
A survey of the most important events that led up to the present position must be very brief. When the planks of the bridge
of Bagdad, to begin at the beginning, were groaning under the
artillery and the tanks of the British army, the people of the city
were reading the proclamation of General Maude, which promised them in the name of the Allies, liberation from Turkish rule
and peace and prosperity under a self-determined rule. Those
who could read praised Allah for the army of liberation. But
those who could not read, principally the tribes, who are more
numerous than the urban population, were much like the planks
of the bridge of Bagdad. And had the planks an imagination,
like the tribesmen, the more would have been their groaning.
True, the Turks had gone; their 4001 years of misrule, of
tyranny and corruption, of bureaucratic and military blackguardism had come to an end. Moreover, the conquering army of the
West, in the twentieth century, unlike the hordes of Central
Asia in the fifteenth, did not write with fire and sword the first
page of its history of Iraq. It was in the inception an army of
liberation; having had its fill of war, it sincerely desired peace.
But the tribes cared little for peace, and they were not in need
of liberation. Under the rule of the Turks, so long as they
said, "The Sultan of Stamboul is our Sultan, billah!" and so
�18
THE SYRIAN WORLD
long as they left his Bagdad Government in peace, they were
free to do as they pleased.
The tribes do not like a strong government, because it prevents them from raiding and it makes them contribute to its revenues. It is a double curse in their eyes, and what they fear
most is taxation. Indeed, taxation was the monster that stalked
around the camps when the bridge of Bagdad was sagging and
groaning under the heavy-footed army of the British, and in less
than a year that imaginary monster became a reality. His name
was Collector of Taxes. How he first fared among the tribes
need not be dwelt upon. Suffice it to say that he never traveled without a bodyguard, which were often reinforced by a
detachment of the British soldiery. This contact between the
armed Britisher and the tribesman did not make for peace. A
mutual tolerance soon developed into an attitude of be-advisedand-beware on both sides.
There were other elements of discontentment in the country,
as, for instance, the Shi'a population, and when the tribes and the
Shi'a joined forces in 1920 a revolution was declared. It was
the first attempt to force the British out of Iraq. But the revolution would not have lasted almost a year and would not have
caused the British a staggering loss in men and money had it
not been for the tribes; and because of the tribes,who joined it
only to get rid of the tax collector, it served no national purpose.
Minor revolutions broke out in the north among the Kurds
before Faisal was made King of Iraq in September, 1921. A
year later, on King Faisal's anniversary, an abortive attempt was
made to free Iraq from British control. But the nationalists
did not altogether fail. They succeeded in getting a treaty for
twenty-five years with the British Government, and in the negotiations which followed several clauses in the treaty were modified to satisfy their nationalist aspirations.
Three times in five years that treaty was revised, and there
remain now only three questions in dispute. Diplomatic and
consular representation of Iraq in foreign countries, outside of
a single representative in London, the British Government will
not admit; a nationalist army raised by conscription it will not
encourage; and the admission of Iraq into the League of Nations
has been postponed from year to year.
The Nationalists have also another grievance arising from
what they consider a technical error in the placing of the mili-
�*=£—.
SEPTEMBER, 1929
«
4
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19
tary forces of Iraq, which include the native army, under one
single command, that of the Royal Air Force. It might be said
that, outside the extremists, whose scowl.is either temperamental
or professional, the officers of the native army are the most discontented.
But neither the militarists nor the politicians nor the leaders
of nationalism give a correct expression of the principal tendencies of a nation. Nor are political events always indicative and
conclusive. The question, after all, is this: What are the signs
of development and progress, if any, in the life of the people
of Iraq? The most important enterprise, which is destined to
revolutionize Iraq—that is the vast irrigation scheme of Sir William Willocks—is yet in abeyance, and the exploitation of the oil
fields of Mosul has not yet had any effect upon the economic life
of the country.
Otherwise, there are a few signs of progress. The tribes are
beginning to have some respect for government, they no longer
shoot the tax collector, and when the raiding lust is on them
they go down south toward Nejd or they cross the border to the
Syrian desert. The Shi'a of Nejaf and Karbala, who in the past,
under the Sunni Turks, were humbled in the dust, and who have
been pampered by the British, are now a free and vital and very
active element of the State, which they would destroy. They
are opposed to the British, to the Nationalists and to King Faisal himself; and at heart they recognize only one authority,
that which emanates from the Persian Shi'a throne at Teheran.
A constitutional government, with a parliament and a cabinet, has opened the doors of opportunity to men of talent who
in the past could only aspire to a place in the servants' hall of
a privileged bureaucrat. The automobile lines between Bagdad
and Damascus, between Teheran, in fact, and the Mediterranean coast, have increased the importance of Iraq as a centre
of trade and transportation.
But the most promising and the most wholesome sign of
development and progress in the life of the people of Iraq is a
sign I have seen in the main street of Bagdad. It is a billboard,
which shares the place of honor with the latest announcements
at the doors of the cinemas. I have seen it in different wordings
written also on the walls and stuck on the lamp posts: "Education Is Life; Ignorance is Death." "Thou Shalt Seek Knowledge from the Cradle to the Grave." "Ignorance Is Servi-
�20
THE SYRIAN WORLD
tudej Knowledge Is Freedom and Power." "Said the Prophet:
'Seek Thou Knowledge, and Though it be in China'."
Who was responsible for these signs? Who pays to advertise education? Neither the government nor the mandatory
power. A Society of Culture in Bagdad, composed of young
intellectuals, conceived the idea, and what they spent in advertising quickly showed amazing results. But the government
schools were not sufficient to meet the demand for education.
Illiteracy in Iraq was overwhelming, but men were fired with the
passion to learn, at least, to read and write.
The Society of Culture conceived another idea—the logical
outcome of the first. It established a chain of elementary night
schools-^-the first one opened in 1922. In a year from that time,
with the help of a few Arab philanthropists, among them King
Faisal, it had established night schools in the principal cities of
Iraq, and its teachers were teaching hygiene, as well as the
A B C's to 30,000 young and old, from the age of 10 to the
age of 50, and instilling in them a national spirit. In addition
to this movement of combating illiteracy and raising patriotism
above all the sectarian passions, there are today more than 200
Iraq students at the American University of Beirut, and many
graduates are acquiring the technical sciences in the universities
of England and America. Whatever happens politically in Iraq,
therefore, the spread of education will continue and it will chasten and perpetuate its national spirit.
In Syria and Mount Lebanon the situation does not jusitfy
an optimistic point of view. But I must say, before I set down
anything against the French, that the problems they have inherited from the Turks are unmatched in all the junk shops of
world politics and religions.
There are in Syria and Mount Lebanon four principal religions and a dozen different sects, which the Turks tended with
political care, humoring and browbeating them alternately, but
always keeping them apart and playing them against each other.
The result is that every sect became a political party, which has
its own platform, its own ideas of self-government or no government, its own truckling politicians, and its own religious leader,
who is a cross between a Turkish pasha and a Tammany boss.
Moreover, there is among this multitude of politico-religious
sects four minorities, each with its own litany of woes, its own
fundamental curse of non-cooperation and its own scheme of
1
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�SEPTEMBER, 1929
A
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21
salvation. No form of government other than a benevolent despotism can bring these four minorities together and, redressing
their grievances as far as is humanly possible, mold them gradually into a decent element of the State.
These minorities are the Maronites of Mount Lebanon, who
are noted for their eloquence and Francomaniaj the Druses of
Hauran, who are famous for their bravery and warlike achievements} the Alawites in the north, who are the most submissive,
and the Shi'a in the south, who are the most fanatical. They
are all, in fact, more or less fanatical, and only a benevolent despotism, as I have said, can force upon them a spirit of tolerance
and national solidarity.
How did France deal with these minorities? The answer
is plain when I say that the French Mandatory Government is
neither a benevolent despotism nor a despotism pure and simple. It has been, on the whole, for the past ten years a government of makeshift and negation. In ten years France has sent
six High Commissioners to Syria, each of whom had a temper
and policy of his own. Gouraud the Good, Weygand the Grim,
Vindenberg the Gentle, Sarrail the Mad, Jouvenel the Loquacious, and Ponsot the Silent—here is a colorful array of the
Statesmen of Despair. For every one of these gentlemen came
to Syria with one administrative program and went back with
another.
General Gouraud, who was called Pere Gouraud because of
his subservience to the Jesuits, divided the country into six independent States to please the minorities, especially the Maronites,
and returned to Paris when the insurgent bands were still operating in the north of Syria. General Weygand, the ablest administer of them all, was sacrificed to party politics at home. He
only had time to pacify the northern border, and when he was
recalled, the Druses were polishing their rifles and filling their
cartridge belts. General Vindenberg was a gentle tourist who
was not given- time enough to see the whole country.
General Sarrail antagonized everybody, from the Jesuits to
the Druses, who had already shouldered their rifles. He precipitated the revolution of 1925 and lost his position. M. de
Jouvenel came to repair the work of General Sarrail, but his
flow of oratory impeded, I think, his progress. He was able to
establish, however, merely by fiat, the little republic of Mount
Lebanon.
�22
THE SYRIAN WORLD
The revolution was finally subdued and M. Ponsot came to
inaugurate an era of peace. For more than a year he applied
himself to the study of the intricate situation from every angle,
without making a single public utterance. When at last he spoke,
he proved himself to be the most liberal of administrators. Syria
received the right to elect a constituent assembly for the purpose
of drafting a constitution and establishing a government. The
elections were most orderly and, with one or two exceptions,
free from governmental interference.
But the Natoinalists, emboldened by their triumph, drafted
a constitution that conflicted in a few articles with the mandate.
M. Ponsot went to Paris to get his government's consent to a
solution that would harmonize the two documents, returned to
Damascus with a proposition that was not wholly satisfactory
to the Nationalists, and again went to Paris for another conference, leaving the situation as obscure as ever.
In Palestine there is no shilly-shallying and no obscurity.
There is a triple government with three official languages and
three official temperaments. It is a Panus with three instead of
two faces, and they all look to the East and the West with hope
everlasting. The first is furrowed by age and suffering; the
second is bronzed by the desert sun of pride; the third is slightly
pale, with a serentiy amazingly sustained. The first reflects a
racial and religious dream; the second is a symbol of national
superiority that will not be stifled; the third is expressive of
resolution and power. The Zionist, the Arab and their British
overlord—will they continue to go on as they have for the last
ten years, or will one of them in the end have to drop out?
But in the following picture of life in Palestine, with its
historical and political implications, the reader may at least see
how the wind blows. It has always been the custom of Christians, in ancient as in modern times, to make a pilgrimage to
Jerusalem during Holy Week, and in the days of Saladin, who
wrested from the Crusaders the greater part of Jerusalem, they
came in thousands and were a menace to the Moslem population.
Saladin, who would not be guilty of intolerance, placed no restrictions upon the pilgrimages, but, to protect the city and maintain peace, without betraying any suspicion or apprehension of
the Christians, he conceived the idea of balancing the power of
one multitude by another.
Accordingly, he instituted the fete of Nabi Musa, whose
.'*
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SEPTEMBER, 1929
23
shrine is preserved till this day—it is half way between the Holy
City and Jericho—and appointed Easter Sunday for its celebration. The Moslems, therefore, flocked in thousands to Jerusalem during Holy Week, ostensibly for this purpose, and were
thus ready to repel any surprise attack by the Christians.
The fete of Nabi Musa is still celebrated, and its political
purpose, which was of no significance and therefore forgotten in
the days of the Turks, is now being revived by the Arabs.
Two years ago I was in Jerusalem when three holidays were
being celebrated in the same week by Christians, Moslems and
Jews. Easter and Nabi Musa and the Passover brought to Jerusalem a universal boon—the whole city was plunged in a sea of
jubilation. But the parade of the Moslems, which continued
for six hours to flow through Bab'ul-Khalil and down the narrow streets to the Aksa Dome, was the most imposing and the
most significant. In it was revived the Nabi Musa purpose of
Saladin's days, and it was neither hidden nor implied. It was
written on the banners and echoed in the slogans and expressed
in the mottoes that distinguished the delegations from every city
in Palestine. Political songs were sung by the different delegations as the procession moved; political speeches were made by
the delegation leaders every time the procession paused in its
march j and the burden of every song and every speech was the
Balfour Declaration. I read on one of the banners "The Arab
and the Native Jew are Brothers," but the prevailing slogans
were: "Down with Zionism!" "Down with the British!" It
was otherwise a peaceful parade, but in it were all the elements
of the present uprising in Palestine.
i .1
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I
ARAB PROVERBS
He who envies others is beginning by bringing injury to him-
t
self.
ill
One must be in the last stages of need to have to ask help
cf a knave.
Only a fool takes poison depending on the antidote.
How can a fool appreciate the delicious taste of wisdom?
�THE SYRIAN WORLD
24
Thzvarted
\\
(Suggested by an Old Arabic Poem)
By
DR. SALIM
Y.
ALKAZIN
No more will roses feel her tender hand,
Or nestle in her hair, or 'gainst her heart;
Nor will the lily range her virgin band
To greet my love each morn, for now, apartThrough her sire's tyranny,
Her mother's jealousy—
She lives, from herb or flower,
Or shady, fragrant bower,—
Since once I said, "O rose, take her my love!"
No more the breeze, twin sister of the morn,
May kiss her cheek or frolic with her hair 5
Nor will the eve's breath, with spices borne
From drowsy groves, embrace her beauty rare;
For through this tyranny,
This strange, strange jealousy,
She may not greet the dawning,
Nor bid farewell to evening,
Since once I said, "O breeze, take her my love!"
Then said I to my Phantom-self, "When o'er
Her couch you hover, O, beware! Beware
Lest when you tap at her heart's secret door,
Or touch her lips, you stir the brooding air
And awake this tyranny,
This strange, strange jealousy,—
Then rest will be denied her,
Lest even in her slumber
A willing ear she turn unto my love!"
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25
SEPTEMBER, 1929
ISAF
f.4 5/?or; S/ory based on an Arabic legend)
By
LABEEBEE
A. J.
HANNA
"ISAF, Isaf, let us friendly be:
If once in the year the moon is dark, will there no longer)
moon be?"
"Ya Bint Amar, your tooth has decayed
Since two years the shame has been too true.
I am Isaf, I am a camel for strength:
The wildest horse has been my drudge and you know.
If the flies gather on my food, never again is it mine.
If the dog licks from the bowl of the wolf, the wolf no longer
finds pleasure in the bowl.
If two have sat on the one silver saddle—is it not a shame that
their faith be marred?
I shed my raiment, ya Bint Amar, and stand alone."
i
'
DABE was in the kitchen in her uncle's.home in Dedham. Uncle
John was on the porch singing attabah. She ran out to him.
"What a lovely song!" exclaimed Babe. "My dad sang bewt
attabah and I love them!"
"This has a fine story attached to it," answered John.
Babe thought a moment, then said, "They all seem to have,
and they're so unusual!"
"Yes, they often have an interesting meaning to those who
really understand them. This story concerns an unfaithful wife.
Would you like to hear it?"
"Why, of course!"
'
Little Nimry, the daughter of John, heard, and so did Aunt
Najibi and a house guest, Isabel. All assembled on the porch to
hear the story of John.
Little Nimry begged her father to sing again, though she did
not understand.' All listened attentively as he repeated the song
and when he had finished there was silence for a moment.
"We are very anxious to hear the story," said Isabel, who
�•
26
THE SYRIAN WORLD
made herself pleasant under all circumstances and took every
opportunity to smile and show her one dimple on the left cheek.
"Yes, papa," cried Nimry. "Hurry! Hurry!" This, though
she really could not understand her father's stories but was enthralled by the beauty of the sound of Arabic and the enthusiasm
of her father in all things Arabic. "Do you know this story, mamma."—and she went to her mother and put her arms about her
shoulders.
"I know it, yes, dear," said Najibi, sitting as a queen, although
in her kitchen apron, "but your father can give it proper emphasis." Her quiet dignity lent a certain charm to any and all
gatherings.
Nimry dropped her arms and went to sit beside her father.
Thereafter, her eyes never left his face and she gave the appearance of a wonder-child who understood all these difficult
words and expressions of the pure Arabic.
John began:
"The daughter of Amar had been faithless to her husband
and he, on learning of this unfaithfulness, placed a sword between them at night. His wife, noting his unusual procedure,
enquired its meaning.
"Isaf answered, 'You are my sister to me.'
"This unexpected answer quieted Bint Amar, but set her on
her guard.
"The next morning Isaf prepared his horses and person and
said, T am going to visit your folks.'
"She answered, 'I shall be your companion.'
" 'Come then, prepare yourself,' he said.
" 'Well, then,' said the wife, 'by the voice, you will not speak.'
" 'By the voice I shall not tell, wallah.'
Isabel here interrupted, and enquired, "What do you mean
'by the voice'."
Babe answered, "It is a promise that he will not tell of her
unfaithfulness: that no word of his will betray their condition."
"Ah!" agreed Nimry, though she did not understand.
John went on:
"The horses were ready and they went on their way.
"They were just two miles within Amar's home. Amar the
woman's^ father, standing with his wife at his door, saw a cloud
of dust in the distance. Soon he could make out the forms of
those coming.
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III
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SEPTEMBER, 1929
I
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27
" 'Ya hraimah,'' he called his wife, 'your daughter has sinned.'
" 'How can you tell,'
" 'Note their position as they come. She is not on his right
hand. When they arrive take her to your chamber and speak to
her.'
"On the arrival of the two, the mother with her daughter
sought the chamber for privacy, and there the daughter confessed
her duplicity without any ado, though she knew in her father's
house such a confession meant certain death.
Najibi here said quietly, "She might have lied."
"Of course," said Isabel, "and saved herself."
"The Arab has no fear," said Babe. "She probably realized
she deserved death. I think I'd feel the same way."
"Well, she confessed," said John, and continued:
"While the mother and daughter were speaking, the father
and Isaf discussed the weather and horses, and then, —
" 'Why is your grass so high.' asked Isaf. 'This might be a
fine pasture for your sheep.
"We are troubled,' said Amar, 'by a fierce wolf. He lives not
far from here and preys upon our cattle. No one dares face him.
He destroys our men.'
" 'I shall face him,' said Isaf. 'Give me three days. If I do
not return then, consider me destroyed.'
"He would not change his mind.
" 'If you are determined, very well,' said Amar reluctantly.
"So next morning, Isaf shed himself of all but the necessary
raiment and, taking only one revolver and a knife, set out on foot
in the direction of the wolf's lair.
"That evening he found the wolf sleeping.
"Isaf thought, 'I can easily shoot him but I shall not take advantage. I, too, am tired, and shall sleep.' So he lay down beside
the wild animal.
Isabel here interrupted, "Has he no fear."
"Oh," said John, "this is the famous Isaf—a wolf in strength
himself. He feared no one and nothing."
"In the morning the wolf awoke, and saw the man beside
him—sleeping peacefully.
" 'This can be no ordinary man who dares to lie down beside
me,' thought the wolf. 'I shall not harm him.'
"In time the man awoke and each stared and noted the
strength and power of the other.
�28
THE SYRIAN WORLD
" 'Why do you come here?" asked the wolf. 'Others came
and found death here.'
" % too, am a wolf and were it not for that I should not seek
you to play with you,' answered the man.
" 'What will you play?' asked the wolf.
" 'Let us box.'
"They boxed, but neither won.
"Then they wrestled and again were equal in strength. And
they awaited the third day.
" 'What will you play now?' asked the wolf.
" 'This time it is to the death in earnest,' said the man. 'Let
us dash at each other and one of us shall be killed.'
" 'As you say,' agreed the wolf.
"Both walked in opposite directions and stood looking at each
other. As though at the firing of a gun they ran toward each
other at the identical moment. As they came together, the man
clenched his powerful fist and shot it out full at the abdomen of
the wolf and felled him.
"Isaf cut the wolf's head off and, putting it under his own
head as a pillow, lay down and slept.
"Meanwhile, the third day having arrived, Amar, with a
party of men set out to find Isaf, and located him sleeping on
the head of the wolf.
"Thereafter, the sheep were free to use the pasture and men
no longer feared
"On arriving at his father-in-law's house, Isaf made preparations to return home.
" 'The stranger longs for his own folks,' he said to Amar.
'Where is my wife?'
" 'She has four sisters, said Amar, 'and she has gone to visit
each one for a week. She will return in a month.'
"Then Amar sent one of his servants to procure a certain
bundle. When this came, he gave it to Isaf, saying, 'Before you
have gone many miles you will be thirsty. Open this bag, which
contains a watermelon, and quench your thirst.'
"Isaf thanked him and after many salaams, departed.
"As Amar foresaw, Isaf became thirsty.
"Ah!' said he, "I am thirsty. Surely that watermelon would
be pleasant now.'
"He tore the wrappings open—to find—the head of his wife."
"But, father," said Nimry, "how can a wolf talk?"
"'
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SEPTEMBER, 1929
A V
"I don't know," said John. "That's the story. I am not making it up out of my own head."
Then, at Babe's urgent request, John sang attabah again and
explained the meanings of the pure Arabic expressions.
Success
* i
By
THOMAS ASA
A magic word that casts its potent spell,
O'er all the breathing things above the beast,—
Without exclusion of the greatest or the least;
And transforms the light into a ling'ring hell,
Of blinding discontent where peace should dwell.
And like the*eager hand that seeks the hidden East,
No star to clear the maze before desire has ceased;—
To merge the hopes of years amid the mournful knell,
That sounds the moulding of a morbid end,
Of dead desires and broken threads of dreams,
That bridged the chasm of approaching years,
And viewed with joy the forms that life may send.
But this has changed, the madness of success now seems
To be, not gold, but dross and endless fears.
Beyond
By
ALICE MCGEORGE
Blue, illimitable, star-decked skies,
Eagerly searching, the soul of me sighs;
Vainly, with wisdom of ages, it tries;
Seeking what mystery yonder lies.
Hoping to learn, before it dies,
What life is like beyond those skies.
�30
THE SYRIAN WORLD
Through Palestine During the
Recent Uprising
(Reprinted, with some additions, from
"The Commonweal" New York.)
By SALLOUM A. MOKARZEL
^/HEN the Prophet Mohammed witnessed the beauty of
Damascus from a distance, he refused to enter the city for
fear of jeopardizing his chances of entering the Jannat. In some
respects I had a similar experience in the case of Jerusalem, except that I was near the city and anxious to enter it but could not.
In my travels in Syria I had counted on making my visit to Jerusalem the supreme goal of my excursions. Proceeding southward
through beautiful Lebanon, I had consistently resisted the pressure of friends to tarry longer with them and was making rapidly iov the northern border of Palestine. A night at hospitable
Jedaidat Marjioun was all I would permit myself, so anxious
was I to conserve my time for a more prolonged stay in the Holy
City.
Everything in the beginning seemed to go in my favor.
Thanks to the representations of my last two companions, Nairn
Farha, a prominent native of Jedaidat recently returned from the
United States, and Joseph Mokarzel, an influential newspaper
publisher of Beirut, the border inspection both at the Lebanese
post of departure and the Palestinian post of entry at al-Mutellat
was cuickly dispatched. A moment later our car was tearing
the road at reckless speed over the steep hills of northern Palestine and later through the fertile plains of Al-Houle. Our first
halt was at the military post of al-Ja'oune where a thorough
search of the car was made and our identity ascertained. Only
a few minutes were spent in giving one of the civil officials
information about his uncles in New York. The father of this
official, upon being informed of my presence, hastened to further
cueston me about his brothers. He was a Protestant minister
stationed at Haifa and he extended me a sincere invitation to
visit his city for a stay of a few days. But the desire to go to
Jerusalem was all-compelling and we were soon on our way to
�SEPTEMBER, 1929
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the Holy City. I had little anticipated having to go to Haifa
the very next day, uninvited.
At al-Ja'oune I observed a splendidly built young native officer in trim khaki uniform circling around the automobile. The
formalities of inspection having been dispensed with, the movements of this officer puzzled me. He seemed to have something *
to say which he was holding back. Being anxious to leave, I
asked him what he wanted and in all politeness he begged for a
"Jift" to Tiberias. To this I readily consented and the officer,
with only a whip and a small bundle of clothes, lightly stepped
into the vacant back seat and we were soon on our way to Tiberias.
It was well that we had this native officer for companion.
He proved to be not only a versatile entertainer but a purveyor
of many bits of unique and delightful information. To the inquiry of my driver as to the safety of the road, he having learned
of a recent hold-up in the section which we were traversing, the
officer replied that the highwaymen had been apprehended and
dealt with summarily. He attributed this quick success to the
ability of the native police who, he said, were drawn from the
rural districts because of their better knowledge of the_ topography of the country which gives them an advantage in discovering the hiding places of criminals.
Our officer companion was evidently one of those talented
native constables whom he had so eloquently praised. MoslemJewish riots having taken place in Jerusalem and other cities of
Palestine, he was being transferred from the comparatively quiet
sections of the border to more exposed interior localities. His
name was Ta'ih Nemr, meaning the Roaming Tiger, and he was
living up to it. We picked him up at al-Ja'ouni and dropped
him oS at Tiberias. The next day we met him at Haifa.
Roaming Tiger explained to us many points of interest which
neither I nor my Syrian driver had known. We were then approaching the sea of Galilea which lies about six hundred feet
below sea level in a deep hollow surrounded by high hills. The
natural scenery at sunset was wondrous. The bleak hills took
on a rich reddish tinge which was accentuated by the gathering
darkness on the water. Th«re was something severe and awesome about the panorama, especiallv when viewed in the light
of its historic associations. And the Sea of Galilea is no peaceful little body of water. The Tiger explained that in times of
storm it is capable of raising waves that wash the roadway which
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THE SYRIAN WORLD
skirts it even at places twenty or thirty feet high. In this my
Syrian driver concurred as he frequently conducted tourists in
Palestine in winter.
Why Lake Tiberias holds its fury in leash is because it is
appeased by the exaction of two human victims annually, according to the explanation of Tiger. The origin of this legend the
native police officer could not explain, but he was positive in his
assertion that the minimum number of the lake's annual victims
was two, although in some years it requires more. Our informer was also uncertain as to the sex or age of the victims and
to what extent the natives believed in the legend.
The night of August 23 was spent in a comfortable hotel
in Tiberias conducted by a German. Although it had accommodations for a hundred or more people, the guests on that day
did not exceed four: a resident German archaeologist, a missionary
and his wife from the American Colony in Jerusalem visiting
for a day, and I. At Tiberias I inquired about hotel accommodations in Jerusalem and was given the impression that
travel was possible inasmuch as the disturbances of the previous
week had been suppressed and the authorities had the situation
well in hand. On this assurance we planned to cover the distance
of a hundred and seventy-five kilometers from Tiberias to Jerusalem in five hours at the most.
So early on the morning of Saturday, the 24th, we hastened
to leave Tiberias after but a brief visit to its famous thermal
baths and the old quarter of the town. We were rapidly gaining
the top of the hill of Hatteen which was the scene of the decisive
battle between Moslems and Crusaders which ended forever the
occupation of the Holy Land by Christian Europe. Less than
an hour later we had reached Kafar Canna, the same Cana of
the Gospels where Christ transformed the water into wine. Our
next halt was at Nazareth, which, quite in contrast with the other
cities of Palestine we had seen, presented a most invitingly clean
appearance. It is situated on a gently sloping hill at a short distance from the vast and fertile plain known as Marj Ibn Amer
where now flourish many Zionist colonies, principal among which
is Balfouriat, named after Lord Balfour in recognition for his
having given Palestine to the Jews as a national homeland.
It was Saturday and Balfouriat was peaceful and quiet. On
the main highway skirting the town was a gang of Arab workmen breaking stones. We stopped to question an isolated one as
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to general conditions in that section. "The Jews have taken
possession of the land and driven us out. We have naught to do
but break stones," he complained.
My knowledge of Arabic gained for me the confidence of
this workman as well as of others whom we met later. It was
Undoubtedly due to it that I was saved from possible grave danger. I engaged the workman in conversation in the hope of
getting the true reaction of the peasant element to the developments attending the Zionist occupation.
"But why did you sell our land to the Jews? Couldn't you
have retained it and worked it in the same manner as they are
now doing so profitably?"
There was a look of deep anguish in the man's eyes as he
grasped the meaning of my question. This was his explanation:
"It was not we who sold to the Jews. It was the landowners. The whole of the Marj plain was owned by Sursuq of
Beirut who was tempted by the high price offered, and sold, and
drove us out of employment. For countless generations we had
been tenants working the land for the benefit of the masters. We
could not, or did not think of saving. What could we earn to
invest in the price of land when the whole plain was held as a.
single unit and would not be parceled out in small lots? Under
these conditions, and inasmuch as we had been in occupation of
the land for countless generations, we felt ourselves secure in
our possession of it. When the sale was consummated to the
Jews we were reduced to the necessity of breaking stones on the
roadway as the only remaining alternative."
From my conversation with this native Palestinian Arab, I
gathered that feeling ran as high against the landowners as
against the Jews. The concern of the Arabs is how to earn a
living in the traditional manner obtaining in their country from
time immemorial. The land problem in all of Syria appears to
be the same. I came across the same conditions in northern Syria
and in Houran and the Druze Mountain. It is due to this condition of insecurity that the immense Syrian plains present the appearance of desert wastes, especially after harvest time. Not a
single tree or shrub is to be seen for miles. The peasants would
not waste their efforts planting trees which took time to give
fruit and which they felt they had to plant for the benefit of
others.
From the outskirts of Balfouriat we pushed along rapidly
�34
THE SYRIAN WORLD
to Al-Afoule. On the way we were stopped by an automobile
coming; from the opposite direction. The driver was a native
but the occupants appeared to be American or English missionaries: a serious-miened, middle-aged gentleman riding with two
boys in the back seat and a spectacled lady sharing the front seat
with the driver. The driver offered his advice for "the generous
face of Allah." It was unsafe to proceed any farther, he said.
They had been stepped before reaching Janin and made to return.
AU roads leading to Jerusalem were barred as the disturbances
in the city had been renewed. Large numbers of Arabs were
fl ' ' ig to the city from neighboring towns and were intent on
dealing- decisivelv with the unreasonable ambitions of the Jews.
safe
oad s were unsafe
The military were helc
I could divine by the tone of this voluntary adviser that he
was • greatly fearful for his charges. Being a native, he was in
con-. /-t. f.ton to tee! better the pulse of the country. There appeared to be no doubt that feeling among the Arabs was running high as never before. They had even left the picking
of their sumsum crops in the most critical satge to take part in
the demonstrations.
At this point my own driver began to falter. True, he was
wearing a tarboush, which was in itself assurance of safety.
But I was wearing a hat which constituted an element of danger.
He begged to turn, but I refused. He explained that although
he was a Moslem he v,rns a shiite whom the sunnite Moslems
hated even more than they did the Jews. He was apprehensive
Jesl !
identity might be discovered which would prove dangerous for both him and me. Would I not please consider the
msness of the situation and decide to turn back?
I was able to prevail uoon him only when I explained that
I ran a double danger compared to him. Furthermore, the next
military rest at Al-Afoule was quite near and we would get
authentic information there.
At Al-Afoule there was gathered around the military post
a large number of Tews from the neighboring colony of Balfouriat. They immediateJv swarmed around our car seemingly
to get information. The ofHcer in charge was insistent upon preventinsi us from proceeding any farther. He had strict orders,
he said, not to let anyone pass no matter what his representations.
Up to this time I had seen no real indications of any disturbance and could not conceive of any reason for retracing our
�SEPTEMBER, 1929
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course. Representing myself as an American citizen going to
Jerusalem on urgent business, I protested that the general orders upon which the officer was acting did not apply to me and
insisted upon seeing: someone of higher authority. This argument had its effect and we were allowed to proceed to Janin,
lying some twenty-five kilometers further south on the road which
lends to Jerusalem.
©n the way we encountered but two peasants directly on the
road close to a native village. We stopped ostensiblv to inquire
the distance to Janin but actually to Ret some possible further
information about conditions. The older of the two peasants
looked at us suspiciously and blurted out the information that
the inhabitants of this particular village were all Moslems. Upon
being questioned further he assumed a belligerent attitude and
we derided to push on. I was fearful that further such incidents
would affect the morale of my driver who was none too willing
to continue.
At last we reached Janin. It was but ten in the morning and
considering that it was harvest time and that the day was not a
day of rest, Friday being the Moslem sabbath, there were what
seemed to us surprisingly large crowds in the square of the
mosoue at the entrance to the town. We saw several soldiers
md policemen but passed them bv. I had instructed my driver
to keep on until stopped, and it was not long before we were.
We had not proceeded a hundred and fifty feet beyond the
mosque when a crowd motioned frantically to us and ordered
us to turn back and report to the authorities. Some were waving
s'icfcs and showed bv their gestures and general demeanor that
they did not approve of the liberty we were taking.
My driver did not need any argument. I must admit that
T rjjgQ feU ?orr!e concern as it was plain from the action of the
crowd that they were not friendly. I hastened to soeak to them
in Arabic, explaining mv haste for proceeding on the way to Jerusalem, and representing myself as an American citizen compelled
to report to the American consul. There was unmistaken determination on the part of the crowd, however, that I see the authorities first. They seemed to have their suspicions about my
motives.
So back we went to report- to the authorities. I was directed
to the office of the Chief of Police and left to climb the unguarded stone stairs on the outside of the building alone. But
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THE SYRIAN WORLD
the Chief of Police was not to be found. Only the window was
open but the door was locked.
Upon descending to where the
crowd remained watching me and reporting the situation, a young
fellow volunteered to come up with me again, but when he found
that that wanted official was really not there he consented to lead
me to the office of the governor of the district who immediately
ordered me ushered in upon the presentation of my card.
"We have read about you in the Syrian newspapers," he said,
"and we are glad to have you come to Palestine, but regret that
you are coming under such unfavorable conditions. We have
strict orders not to allow anyone to go to Jerusalem. The roads
are dangerous and the authorities are in no condition to guarantee anyone's safety. I would be only too willing to give you
an escort if I could but spare a single soldier."
Twice during my stay at the Governor's office he was called
on the telephone apparently from headquarters in Jerusalem.
"Our district is now comparatively quiet," was the gist of his
replies. "The crowds that gathered from neighboring towns
were induced to return to their homes today. They are now engaged in the gathering of their sumsum crops. Yes, sir. I am
sure we now have the situation well in hand. My forces are
inadequate but I anticipate no further trouble. Yes, sir. The
roads are all guarded and the distance between here and Afoule
is under regular patrol. Yes, sir, your orders shall be strictly
carried out."
Urjon learning that the governor was of the Husseini family,
I asked him if he was related to Haj Ameen Husseini, the grand
mufti of Jerusalem and leader of the Arab movement in Palestine. He replied that he was his first cousin. I then produced
a letter of introduction which I carried from America to the
Mufti from one of his personal friends and represented that I
had urgent business with him. But the governor was unrelenting. "Not that we do not wish to let you pass, but we simply
think the roads are not sufficiently safe for us to take such risks."
Still I would not give up. I said that once in Palestine I had
to report to the American consul in Jerusalem and would take
upon myself the risk of reaching him. If I should encounter any
interference on the way, I felt sure I could explain the situation
to the satisfaction of the Moslem population.
The Governor gave me the reason for not entertaining even
such, an argument: "You will not be given an opportunity to ex-
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plain. The mob will not listen to reason and even were I to give
you a letter of recommendation there is the grave danger that
you will not have a chance to produce it."
We were then interrupted by the entry of an American missionary, he whom I had seen the previous night at the hotel in
Tiberias and whom I was told was stationed at the American
Colony in Jerusalem. He also wanted permission to proceed
to his home in Jerusalem, but upon being told of the dangers
attending the trip, he-immediately decided to return to Nazareth.
The action of this American resident of Palestine irreparably
damaged my chances, as the Governor was now in a better position to logically refuse my request. We then shifted the conversation to general topics, at which the governor seemed visibly
relieved. We discussed the merits of the Zionist ambitions for
settling Palestine as a national home.
I could see that the
Governor, being a government official, held views compatible
with his office. "The country belongs to its conquerors," he said.
"The Jews first took possession of it by right of conquest. The
Arabs can lay to it no better claim. The country now needs cooperation for its full development, and it is regrettable that the
spirit of strife should be so rampant as to retard the progress of
Palestine materially."
Upon leaving the governor's office, I found that a large crowd
had collected by my automobile, but it was plain that they were in
a friendly mood. My chauffeur had proved a most able press agent.
Being a native and wearing a tarboush, he was asked about my
identity and my business and he explained to them in words to
which fear lent added eloquence that I was a friendly Christian
travelling about the country to study conditions; that I was a prominent Syrian publisher in America and that I had been honored
and feasted everywhere I went in Syria and Lebanon and even
extended exceptional official courtesies by the authorities. Consequently it was a different crowd around my automobile when I
emerged from the governor's office. They courteously opened
a way to let me pass and some of them bestowed upon me approving smiles.
When I reached the car the driver was in earnest conversation
with a dapper young man in a silk Gombaz and a new tarboush
who sported a whip as his only weapon. I overheard him admonish the driver not to consent to drive me to Jerusalem if he
were offered a hundred pounds. "Not even for a thousand,"
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THE SYRIAN WORLD
replied the driver, who now appeared overjoyed at his safety
and in his feeling of assurance that his argument against proceeding would prevail.
Then the dapper young man began to deal some of his advice
to me. "We would loath to see any harm befall you," he said
"We have been informed about you and would wish to show you
all hospitality. But if you are safe here you may not be so elsewhere. Now if you will take my advice you will discard your
hat as it may cause you to be mistaken for an enemy. No, you
will not be given a chance to explain your identity and your motives in the present mood of the population."
Therein was the secret of the danger to which I had been
exposed. Everyone wearing a hat was taken for a Jew and set
upon. A flimsy pretext, indeed, but one sufficiently valid to cause
tragic results. I later learned that a young Christian in Jerusalem,
because of his wearing a hat, was attacked by a mob and badly
beaten. While prostrated on the ground one of the mob was
about to plunge a knife into him when he was recognized by a
native Moslem and spared. My authority for this story is a
trustworthy Christian whom I met at Haifa and who had escaped
from Jerusalem that very day.
I finally decided it was impossible to continue to Jerusalem
and that I would take my chances getting to Haifa in my hat.
On the way derisive calls of "Jew, Jew" were hurled at us by boys
and workmen on the road, but our car was speeding at too fast
a pace to permit of any other interference.
We entered Haifa shortly after noon. I proceeded directly
to Cook's office both for some information and some Palestinian
cash. At Cook's they looked worried over the situation; they had
not received mail from Jerusalem for three days, and telephonic
communications were interrupted.
Up to that time there had been no disturbances at Haifa.
During the afternoon conditions in the city appeared to be normal, but towards evening large crowds began to collect in groups
in the principal streets. And they were not promenading. An
educated Palestinian Christian with whom I was sitting on the
veranda of our hotel told me that many among the crowd were
peasants from neighboring villages who had come to take part
in a proposed demonstration. But that night the authorities ordered all theatres and public places closed. In the morning we
learned that in the Jewish colony of Mt. Carmel, the mountain
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39
suburb of Haifa, one Jew had been killed and three had been
wounded.
Travel from Haifa was possible only by train, and inasmuch
as reaching Jerusalem was out of the question I decdied to leave
the next day for Egypt. At the station I was surprised to see a native soldier approach me with a familiar greeting. He was our
friend of yesterday, Taih Nemr,—or the Roaming Tiger, whom
we had met at the military station of Al-Ja'oune and taken to
Tiberias. The authorities had been anticipating trouble at Haifa
and ordered every man they could spare from outlying districts
to the scene of possible disturbances.
At the junction of Ludd, many refugees boarded the train
seeking safety in Egypt. A certain German Jew from Jaffa was
outspoken in his commendation of the English. "At a mass meeting of the Jews in Jerusalem yesterday," he told me, "a telegraphic petition to the League of Nations begged that the mandate over Palestine be given either to the United States or to
Italy." At my expression of surprise over the choice of the Jews
for an Italian mandate, he said his people would be safer with
any power than with England. "England," he explained, "is
the instigator of all these troubles. She is now performing in
Palestine the role she played in India. She is inciting one faction against another to weaken both sides and strengthen her hold
on the country. England never wished the Jews well."
At Gaza our train stopped to take on water. Engaged at
the same task was a troop train headed in the opposite direction.
It bore the first military contingent sent from Egypt to Palestine.
"Australians?" I asked a tommy who was peering curiously
out of the window.
"No, from South Wales," he replied.
"You will soon quiet them," I remarked, by way of encouragement.
"They may quiet us, for all we know," was his laconic reply.
We had not proceeded far when we met another train loaded with artillery and ammunition. At Al-Cantara, the ferry town
on the Suez Canal, we were informed that the British were draining Egypt of all available men to reinforce their ridiculously
small force garrisoned in Palestine.
�40
THE SYRIAN WORLD
Books and Authors
DR. HITTI'S TRANSLATION OF USAMA
An Arab Syrian Gentleman and Warrior of the Crusades.—Translated from the Arabic by Dr. Philip K. Hitti. New York,
Columbia University Press. 265pp. $4.50.
Works of scholarship are generally considered dull and uninteresting except to a restricted number of scholars. The scholar,
in the preparation of his work, has in view the amount of his
contribution to knowledge by his efforts and cares only for the
opinion of the learned few. Hence the unpopularity with the
general reading public of works of this character.
Happily, this condition does not apply to the latest work of
Dr. Philip K. Hitti which was published in September of this
year by the Columbia University Press of New York, being a
translation into English of Usamah Ibn-Munqidh's Kitab AlPtibar in Arabic. The subject matter of the book is most entertaining and the fact that it is a scholarly work does not in the
least detract from its bid for popularity.
Usamah, according to the definition of Dr. Hitti, was a hunter, a gentleman, a poet and a man of letters. His life was an
epitome of Arab civilization as it flourished during the early crusading period on Syrian soil. He was a flower of the Arab-Syrian
chivalry which found its full bloom later in his patron and friend,
the great Saladin.
Usamah, in his memoirs, proves to be all that Dr. Hitti claims
for him. He is a keen observer and a most entertaining raconteur.
He flavors his accounts with witticism of the most delectable nature, viewed even in the light of modern times. Readers of THE
SYRIAN WORLD will recall some of his chapters published in advance of the publication of the book.
Dr. Hitti based his translation on the original copy of Usamah
in the Locurial Library of Madrid. This manuscript, judged by
the specimen pages reproduced in the book, is written in the
Arabic characters of Al-Maghreb and is further rendered difficult
by the fact that only rarely do the characters bear any diacritical
marks or dots. The astuteness of Dr. Hitti's scholarship could
have been put to no severer test than that of deciphering such an
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�SEPTEMBER, 1929
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enigmatic document. But the results achieved fully justify the
labors undergone.
The book is divided into three sections j the first dealing with
wars, travels and other experiences; the second with rare anecdotes, and the third with the author's hunting experiences.
The erudite introduction of Dr. Hitti is a most enlightening
treatise on conditions obtaining in Syria during the life of the
Arab author. The study of this period should be of the greatest interest not only to scholars but to all students of history in
that it represents the critical times in which the greatest struggle
between Crusaders and Saracens took place for the mastery of
the Holy Land.
THE LANGUAGE OF CHRIST
The Language of Christ in America, Rev. Peter F. Sfeir, Buffalo, N. Y. 32 pp. 50c.
The main object of the author in the preparation of this
work is to prove that the liturgical language of the Maronites
is the original language used by Christ himself. The Maronites
constitute a large proportion of the Syrians in the United States,
and to shed light on the old language which they still use for
their religious services is a genuine service not only to the descendants of the Maronites themselves but to the American public at large. The author further lends value to his work by epitomizing the history of the Maronites and recording the testimonials of noted travelers concerning them. The conclusion is
an analytical description of the order of the Maronite Mass.
Father Sfeir is well qualified for such work. He was formerly a professor at St. Joseph's University in Beirut and is now
assistant rector of the church of St. John Maron in Buffalo, N.
Y. It is to be hoped that in future editions some of the flagrant
typographical mistakes will be eliminated.
<-
A STUDY OF THE TUBERCULAR GERM
A paper dealing with "The Cytology and Microchemistry of
Mycobacterium Tuberculosis" and prepared by George Knaysi,
of the Department of Dairy Industry of Cornell University, was
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THE SYRIAN WORLD
published in the Journal of Infectuous Diseases for July, 1929,
and reprinted separately.
It is not the purpose here to review such a highly scientific and
technical work. But an acknowledgment of such a paper should
be of interest to our readers in that the author is a Syrian and an
able and indefatiguable student of bacteriology who has already
achieved for himself a name in that branch of science. We shall
be further proud to hear of his success in discovering a cure for
tuberculosis, upon which we understand he is now working as the
ultimate end of his researches.
A MYSTERY SOLVED!
The Origins of the Druze People and Religion, by Dr. Philip
K. Hitti. Columbia University Press, New York. 88 pp.
What may rightly be classed among the most valuable contributions to the cause of knowledge on the mysterious people
known as Druzes and their religion is Dr. Philip K. Hitti's latest
book on the subject published by the Columbia University Press.
Dr. Hitti is eminently fitted for the task and has acquitted himself well in his undertaking of it. As Prof. Richard Gotheil of
Columbia University appropriately states in his foreword to the
book, "Professor Hitti is probably better fitted to make this attempt than is any other scholar. Born in the Lebanon Mountains, Arabic is his native tongue. As a boy, and as a young man,
he associated with the Druzes. He has had, and still has access
to their literature. It is likely that he knows more about them
than they do about themselves."
The book is an erudite and comprehensive study of the origin
of the Druzes, their theology and folklore. Two photostatic
reproductions of pages of their sacred books are taken from manuscripts in the Garrett collection deposited in the library of
Princeton University.
The book has not yet been placed on the market, and the
above is written after a cursory perusal of an advance copy. We
shall have more to say about this important work of Dr. Hitti
later.
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EDITORIAL COMMENT
public acclaim. In the face of
such unexpected honors, the
editor can account for the spon"THE editor's trip to Syria and taneity and warmth of these
other countries of the East demonstrations only in the light
was a most enjoyable one to of the following reasons:
himself. Let us further hope
First: For being a member
that by the new contacts estab- of the Arabic-language newslished, the experience gained paper fraternity in America
and the first-hand information with which he has been congathered, it will also be a profit- nected in various capacities for
able one to the readers of THE the past thirty years. ConseSYRIAN WORLD.
quently, in honoring him as
Not only in the nature of the such, the honors were really inrecognition given, but also in tended for, and logically dethe profusion of unexpected served by, all his colleagues in
honors displayed, there were America.
marks of the most genuine corSecond: For being a reprediality in the reception. This sentative of that class of Syrian
also resulted in the placing at emigrants who, despite their
the disposal of the editor of ex- loyalty to their adopted countraordinary facilities for the try, retain a love for their mothstudy of all sorts of problems er country and an appreciation
and conditions. He was receiv- of its traditions that prompt
ed by the heads of all the gov- them to proclaim publicly their
ernments of the Syrian States, convictions along that line and
and was extended extraordinary
make no secret of their pride
honors in the form of official
in their ancestry.
banquets by the President and
Third: For having actively
the Prime Minister of the Lebsponsored
the movement to enanese Republic. The reception
by the press of all political courage tourism in Syria, with
shades was also uniformly a view to cultivate an appreciation of its natural and historical
cordial.
The statement was made that excellences.
For this last mentioned reano returning emigrant was ever
son
due credit should be given
given such official recognition or
his arrival hailed with such to Mr. A. K. Hitti whose keen
GRATEFUL
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
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vision and sincere love for the
welfare of his mother country
made the launching of this
movement possible.
It can be plainly seen, therefore, that a combination of circumstances placed the editor of
THE SYRIAN WORLD in a situation where he had to be the
recipient of honors which he
believes are due others. Under
the conditions, and with heartfelt appreciation for all testimonials of recognition and affection, both official and private, shown him during his visit to the mother country, he
feels confident that in the expression of his personal gratitude, he is also interpreting the
feelings of his fellow immigrants for all the marks of
love and esteem shown by; our
countrymen abroad.
Naturally, a brief acknowledgment of this character must
of necessity be general. In the
detailed account of his travels
which the editor will prepare
for serial publication, a full
description of places, events
and personalities will be given.
This also will have to be viewed
in the light of recording facts
in relation to their intended objectives, with a view to demonstrating the high esteem in
which our fellow countrymen
of the motherland hold their
brother emigrants in general,
as otherwise it would be im-
THE SYRIAN WORLD
pardonable presumption! on our
part to lay a personal claim to
all honors shown.
THE EDITOR'S
ITINERARY ABROAD
WHILE in Syria, the editor
made Beirut his main headquarters, and the starting point
for the special trips to all other
parts of the country. Zahle,
however, proved to be an irresistible magnet which attracted him on many occasions, and
because of the fact that it is
centrally located, there was always the temptation to take
the drive of less than two hours
over a fine asphalted road leading through mountains and
valleys of bewitching scenery.
Longer trips were taken to
North
Lebanon,
passing
through historic Byblos by the
river Adonis to Batroun, then
to Bcharri and the immortal
Cedars. The stop at Ehden was
utilized to pay homage to the
remains of Joseph Bey Karam,
the most famous Lebanese
patriot and leader of modern
times. Ad-Diman, the summer
seat of the Maronite Patriarch,
situated on a hill overlooking
Wadi Kadisha, or the sacred
valley, was one of the principal
stopping points in this section.
Tripoli and its famous cru-
�"
"»'
44
vision and sincere love for the
welfare of his mother countrymade the launching of this
movement possible.
It can be plainly seen, therefore, that a combination of circumstances placed the editor of
THE SYRIAN WORLD in a situation where he had to be the
recipient of honors which he
believes are due others. Under
the conditions, and with heartfelt appreciation for all testimonials of recognition and affection, both official and private, shown him during his visit to the mother country, he
feels confident that in the expression of his personal gratitude, he is also interpreting the
feelings of his fellow immigrants for all the marks of
love and esteem shown by our
countrymen abroad.
Naturally, a brief acknowledgment of this character must
of necessity be general. In the
detailed account of his travels
which the editor will prepare
for serial publication, a full
description of places, events
and personalities will be given.
This also will have to be viewed
in the light of recording facts
in relation to their intended objectives, with a view to demonstrating the high esteem in
which our fellow countrymen
of the motherland hold their
brother emigrants in general,
as otherwise it would be im-
THE SYRIAN WORLD
pardonable presumption: on our
part to lay a personal claim to
all honors shown.
THE EDITOR'S
ITINERARY ABROAD
Y^HILE in Syria, the editor
made Beirut his main headquarters, and the starting point
for the special trips to all other
parts of the country. Zahle,
however, proved to be an irresistible magnet which attracted him on many occasions, and
because of the fact that it is
centrally located, there was always the temptation to take
the drive of less than two hours
over a fine asphalted road leading through mountains and
valleys of bewitching scenery.
Longer trips were taken to
North
Lebanon,
passi
through historic Byblos by the
river Adonis to Batroun, then
to Bcharri and the immortal
Cedars. The stop at Ehden was
utilized to pay homage to the
remains of Joseph Bey Karam,
the most famous Lebanese
patriot and leader of modern
times. Ad-Diman, the summer
seat of the Maronite Patriarch,
situated on a hill overlooking
Wadi Kadisha, or the sacred
valley, was one of the principal
stopping points in this section.
Tripoli and its famous cru-
l
�t
SEPTEMBER, 1929
saders' citadel were conveniently reached from this point in
Lebanon, and ja drive over a
fine new highway along the
coast took us through to Latakia, capital of the Alouite State.
Aleppo, in the north of Syria,
was reached by a fine new road
which runs over a range of picturesque mountains and crosses
the Orontes into the vast plains
of that region. Thence the way
led southward again through
Hama and Horns to Baalbeck
and its famous ruins.
Farther inland Damascus
and its famous Ghouta were
visited as well as Houran and
the Druze Mountain, scene of
the last revolution in Syria.
On the return journey the
party had the exciting experience of being lost in the desert
for several anxious hours.
Southern Lebanon also had
its distinctive attractions. Crossing the Bakaa plain to Mashgara, the steep twin mountains
of Al-Towmat were crossed to
Jezzine, whence the way led to
Al-Mukhtara and the palace of
Sitt Nazira Jenblatt, then to
Beit Eddin and its famous palace of Emir Bashir Chehab.
A visit to this section is reminiscent of the old feuds and
struggles for supremacy among
the different clans in Lebanon.
Another trip along the southern coast of Lebanon led
through Shweifat and Damur
45
to the old Phoenician city of
Sidon. Then again up the
mountain to Jedaidat Marjioun
and Hasbaya and across the
Palestine border.
In Palestine the editor met
with many experiences of
which the account published in
this issue covers only a small
part.
And finally it was the home
stretch through Egypt, France
and England.
It may be readily seen from
the extent of the distance covered and the countries visited
that a comprehensive account
of the whole tour cannot be
encompassed by a few articles,
but will have to be spread over
an extensive series.
This
prompts us to ask of those interested in reading about particular sections and conditions
to grant us their indulgence for
the publication of a chronological account.
Besides the written (account,
our readers may expect to see
reproduced in coming issues of
THE SYRIAN WORLD a large
variety of special photographs
of persons and places taken on
the trip. That this number of
the magazine is not profusely
illustrated is because our stock
of photographs covers particularly those countries which were
the principal objective of our
voyage.
�THE SYRIAN WORLD
46
Spirit of the Syrian Press
Under this caption we hope to present from time to time a microcosmic
picture of the Arabic press, not only in this country, but wherever Arabic
dailies and magazines reflect the opinions of responsible, thinking writers
who are treating the different problems that confront the Arabic-speaking
world from all conceivable angles. Needless to say, we will take no part in
the discussions reproduced, nor assume any responsibility. Our task will
simply consist in selecting, to the best of our knowledge and with utmost
sincerity, what we think is representative of the public opinion as expressed
in these editorials.
Editor.
LEBANON NOT FOR
EXPERIMENTATION
Lebanese emigrants are elated at
seeing the efforts of the home press
centered now on the discussion of
the most vital matter confronting
the country, namely, the question of
Lebanon's independence. It is high
time that the term "independence"
for Lebanon be defined so that it
may be understood in the meaning
which true patriots conceive and not
in the manner sought by opportunists, political brokers and jellybone
proteges of special interests.
There are evidences that a certain faction of Lebanese profiteers
is in conspiracy with a certain
French faction of like motives for
depriving Lebanon of its prerogatives
of independence. In the face of
such a condition, the Lebanese emigrants are ready to again take up
the fight in the interest of their
mother country. To this end the
Lebanon League of Progress of New
York has called a meeting in which
a resolution was passed to petition
the French government for the
proper safeguarding of the rights
of Lebanon.
Al-Hoda, N. Y., Oct. 22, 1929.
THE CRIME OF THE ARABS!
Truly the Arabs have sinned
against the Zionists, because the
latter only came to Palestine to
substitute civilization for barbarism, and to help its people emerge
from the dismal darkness in Which
they were plodding aimlessly. Naturally, also, they came to enrich the
people of the country and to live
with them only as brothers!
The Zionists have used their
tainted money, gained by monopoly
and usury, to subsidize the European and American press in an effort to influence world opinion.
But the Arab cause, despite the
funds spent by the Zionists for
propaganda, has not been lacking
of support. There were papers
which refused to sell their honor
for Zionist gold and which placed
truth above personal interests.
Foremost among these papers is
the Daily Mail whose publisher may
rightly claim the undying gratitude
of the Palestinian Arabs for his
fearless support of their cause in
the face of organized Zionist propaganda.
Meraat-Ul-Gharb, N. Y., Oct. 21, '29.
�SEPTEMBER, 1929
OMENS OF ARAB UNITY
[
The Arabs have shown in the Palestine crisis a fine spirit of unity
which augurs well for the future of
the Arabs in general. For this reason we believe the people of Palestine will sooner or later come into
their rights no matter what the obstacles in their way.
The Arabs are now conscious that
what they lacked is this spirit of
national co-operation which was obstructed in the past by religious differences and sectarian considerations.
That they have now outgrown these
impediments is evidenced by the fact
that Moslems, Christians and Druzes
are now working side by side for
the success of the universal Arab
cause.
We hail this new and healthy spirit among the Arabs and pray for
its continuation. In which case there
would be no further excuse for anyone to insist on the division of
Arabic-speaking countries, especially
Syria, on the ground of incompatibility arising from religious differences. The protagonists of this
principle held that successful unity
could be achieved only on the condition of the eradication of religious
intolerance. Now we see that such a
condition has come to exist, and for
that reason there remains no further excuse for holding out against
unity.
The Syrian Eagle, N. Y., Oct. 15, '29.
CRYING NEED OF SYRIANS
The Syrians in the United States
are facing a serious condition which
if not corrected will lead to deplorable results. They are still, unfortunately, susceptible to the old influences of discord which for long
47
have torn them into numerous factions and prevented their cohesion
as a race. These influences, we are
'rained to admit, emanate from
New York, and, what is worse, they
are the result of the petty newspaper policies which should not aft the course of our life.
Who can deny that we in this
country are more in need of concentrating our attention on our immediate social and economic interests than wasting our time and efforts on old country politics or religious differences which cannot result
in any benefit to us. On the contrary, we can only bring harm upon
ourselves by such diversion of attention because of the resultant disruption in our ranks and the destruction of our chances for creating
a solid, compact racial unit in this
country.
By concentrating our efforts on
promoting our racial welfare in this
country we know that we are striving towards a known and worthy
goal, whereas if we interest ourselves in the polities of the mother
country we do not know the cause
of whom we serve, while the subject
of our interest might be ridiculing
us in secret.
In view of this condition we find
ourselves in absolute need of disregarding these petty differences and
old feuds for the sake of uniting
together in strong racial ties. Especially that we are now in a country which has become our home
whether we so admit or not. And
by binding together and fostering
this spirit of racial unity we will be
i7i a position to present a better
front and not only benefit ourselves
but a^o the coming generations to
whom we would transmit a wholesome spirit of race solidarity.
As-Sayeh, N. Y., Oct. 19. 1929.
�II
—
mammmm
THE SYRIAN WORLD
48
LIFE OF ARABIC
NEWSPAPERS LIMITED
Readers of Arabic newspapers in America have the choice of
two alternatives, either to discontinue or pay. By following either
course they would be bringing relief to themselves and to newspaper
publishers. Unless they are intent
upon torturing the publishers for a
crime of which they are not guilty,
a policy to which we cannot think
they would stoop. For when was
public service considered a crime
which merits punishment?
We do not deny that the days of
Arabic newspapers in this country
are numbered. For this there are
many reasons to which we have alluded on several previous occasions.
But it is unkind of the readers to
bring sorrow and disappointment to
the newspapers in the closing days of
their lives. Rather, it behooves them
to let the newspapers die in peace and
in the feeling of satisfaction that
they have exhausted every effort in
the service of their people and country.
Ash-Shaab, N. Y., Oct. 23, 1929.
FAILURE OF RELIGIOUS
BIGOTRY
We must reiterate our oft repeated
statement that we do not approve of
everything Jewish. The Jews evince
many characteristics which are objectionable, whether in politics, in
business or in social customs. But
we hold that it is cowardice to persecute the weak, especially if he is
of proven worthiness. And the Jew
is worthy in more than one way.
He proves it by his industry, his
learning, his experience and his beneficial example. The neighbors of
the Jew are stimulated by his ex-
ample to more productive effort, and
this alone should outweigh all his
other faults and shortcomings. The
Arabs, to be sure, are sorely in need
of emulating the Jew in his good
qualities.
Al-Hoda, N. Y., Oct. 16, 1929.
KINGS AND PRINCES!
Syrian papers seem to attach
much importance to the rumor that
Fiance has now decided on the
policy of creating Syria a kingdom
and Lebanon a principality. In this
it is following in the footsteps of
England which has sponsored monarchies in all its spheres of influence
in the East. Egypt, Iraq, Al-Hijaz,
and Transjordania have all been
given this form of government.
But why the importation of Emir
Adel Ibn Iyad for the proposed Syrian throne ? Surely there are in Syria
many men who by their descent and
their training are better fitted for
the post.
Then, too, why impose on Syria this
archaic form of government when
she is striving to follow in the footstops of the West in modern administrative methods?"
Undoubtedly, France seeks by this
move to use the king as a puppet
so that her word will be supreme in
the future management of the affairs
of the country.
But as to Lebanon, it is hardly
conceivable that this little country
which has long been trained in the
art of representative government
should be thrown back to autocracy.
What Lebanon needs is not a change
of government but a change of personnel in the government and the
abolition of the excesses which are
causing the country extreme economic retrogression.
Meraat-Ul-Gharb, N. Y., Oct. 18, '29.
�RECEPTION IN HONOR OF KING FUAD I
Guests at the reception given by the Egyptia n Consul in New York at the Hotel Ambassador Oct. 9 in celebration of the anniversar y of the accession of His Majesty King Fuad
I of Egypt.
�llJ.„^.
„_„^^
•« '
*
?*mMMffli
�SEPTEMBER, 1929
49
f /
Political Developments in Syria
#1
-• i
i
4 1
Rumors persist that there will be
a change in the form of government
in Syria in the near future. The
source of these rumors is Paris and
there are many among the Syrians
who seem to place much credence
in them. The continued absence of
the High Commissioner in Europe,
dividing his time between Geneva
and Paris in an effort to arrive at
some sort of solution of the Syrian
political tangle, is taken by many
as an added proof of some bold
move by France which might not be
far from establishing a monarchy.
The name of the Tunisian Prince
Adel Ibn lyad is frequently connected with the proposed throne in some
reports, while in others France is
said to favor Ahmed Namy Bey,
the damad, who was at one time
president of the Syrian State and
claims a large following among the
Syrians.
Rumor would also have it that
once France proclaims Syria a
monarchy and installs the man of
her choice on the throne, she will
immediately conclude a treaty with
Syria and give it then, and only
then, the right to draft a new constitution. Under these conditions
there would be no further fear that
the constitution could go counter to
the treaty obligations.
In an effort to create the proper
psychology for this change, Sheik
Tajeddin, provisional president of
the Syrian State, is said to be exhausting every effort to come to an
understanding with the Syrian Nationalists who had disowned him after his supposed defection from their
ranks in support of the policy of
the French. President Tajeddin is
known to have had a long conference with Riad'h Bey Sulh, one of
the accredited Syrian representatives
in Europe while the latter was in
Aley, the summer capital of Mt.
Lebanon. This meeting of the two
leaders of opposing groups in Syrian politics gave rise to all sorts of
rumors, but the prevailing interpretation seems to be the one just advanced relative to the intention of
Sheikh Tajeddin.
Following these developments,
Hashem Bey Atasi, leader of the
Nationalists and president of the
Constituent Assembly, was reported
by a native paper to have tendered
his resignation from the leadership
of the party in protest against what
he termed the inconsistency of some
of the Nationalist leaders. Atasi
Bey later denied he had ever made
any disparaging remark against any
of his party or threatened to resign,
but the reporter responsible for the
story was as strongly insistent that
he had done so.
Other reasons advanced for the
reluctance of France to permit any
discussion as to the form of the
Syrian Constitution at the present
time are ascribed to the prevailing
disturbances in Palestine. France is
said to have secured the consent of
the League of Nations to this delay
on the ground that to engage on
such a delicate matter under prevailing conditions of upheaval would
revert to the injury of the cause of
al) European powers among Eastern nations. England is said to have
fully sanctioned this move.
Meanwhile, everything is waiting
upon the return of the High Commissioner who is expected back in
5C9577A
�50
Beirut on Oct. 23. M. Ponsot, quite
characteristically, is keeping silent
on his plans. The latitude he had
given the Nationalists during the
elections to the Constituent Assembly and later during the deliberations as to the form of the constitution represented the maximum he
could give at the time. What new
arrangements he has been able to
come to with the home government
concerning the solution of the Syrian problem during his long stay in
Paris this summer no one knows.
But what seems to be felt is that
France will take some definite action in the matter without further
delay.
DEVELOPMENTS IN LEBANON
Ministerial crises have been taking place in Lebanon at the rate of
one every three months. The cabinet of Bishara Bey Khoury lasted
during the summer recess of the
Representative Assembly only because no action could be taken on
its tender of resignation. The Prime
Minister, conceded to be one of the
ablest lawyers and administrators
in the country, felt compelled to resign only because he could not reconcile between the widely divergent
demands of the many political factions. He was appointed on a program of economy because of the
widespread dissatisfaction over the
present 'high rate of taxation. In
his efforts to effect some economy,
he reduced the ministerial posts
from five to three, but in that he
met with the objection that he was
not dealing fairly with all the religious denominations who have a right
to representation in the cabinet.
Upon the return of M. Emil Eddy
from Paris the latter part of September, the President invited him
•to form a cabinet with a wide lat-
THE SYRIAN WORLD
itude of power. M. Eddy reverted
to the old formation of a cabinet of
five in the hope of satisfying the
different factions. He is said to have
been offered the post while he was
still in Paris, and he profited of the
occasion to discuss the matter with
the High Commissioner and the
French Ministry of Foreign Affairs
and was promised a free hand in
dealing with the situation.
The formation of the Cabinet, as
announced on Oct. 12, is as follows:
Nejib Bey Abou Sawan, Minister
of Justice.
Moussa Bey Nammour, Minister
of Finance.
Hussein Bey Ahdab, Minister of
Public Works.
Said Ahmed Husseini, Minister of
Agriculture.
The Prime Minister reserved for
himself three portfolios, that of the
Interior, Public Health and Public
Charities.
The economic situation in Lebanon
is causing much eoncern. By a new
arrangement for the distribution of
customs receipts the republic's portion was reduced from the original
47 per cent, to 42 per cent. The
French company holding the tobacco
monopoly has received an extension
of time over the limit of its concession. There is everywhere dissatisfaction over the impediments that
the French are accused of placing
in the way of native enterprise.
«fl
JEBEL DRUZE
The resignation of Col. Clement
Grandcour, military Governor of the
Druze Mountain, was reported in
the Syrian papers of Oct. 8. He
plans to return to France. His successor is Col. Moran.
Jebel Druze remains under direct
French administration since the revolution of 1925-1927.
!
�,
'
SEPTEMBER, 1929
51
About Syria and Syrians
ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENTS
OF PALESTINE DISTURBANCES
-1
The disturbances in Palestine have
had their repercussion in all parts
of the world. Organized propaganda
has helped to exaggerate the events
and to place the blame wholly on
one side or the other.
The reasons for the recent occurrences may be said to be both local
and foreign. The last convention of
the Zionists in which it was decided to create a central agency to
vigorously prosecute anew the cause
of Zionism was the foreign cause,
while the local and immediate cause
was the clash over the claims to
Al-Buraq or the Wailing Wall.
Wednesday, August 14, was the
anniversary of the destruction of
the Temple of Solomon and about
ten thousand Jews nocked to Jerusalem to commemorate the event.
On Friday, the 16th, the Moslems
gathered in large numbers in the
Mosque of Omar and held public
demonstrations of protests against
what they claimed was the increasing aggressive designs of the Jews.
On Saturday, the 17th, while some
young Jews were playing football
in a field outside Jerusalem, the ball
fell repeatedly in a tomato patch
owned by Moslems and some plants
were trampled upon: "This led to a
fight between the football players
and the owners of the field which
resulted in nine Moslems and seven
Jews being wounded. The police arrested fourteen Arabs and ten Jews.
One of the wounded Jews died later
in the hospital and his coreligionists staged for his funeral a large
procession which they insisted should
pass through the principal streets
of Jerusalem against the orders of
the police. This time the fight was
between the Jews and the British
military.
A week later, Friday, August 23,
the riots were renewed on a much
larger scale and spread from Jerusalem to many other cities and
towns in Palestine. Reports at the
time represented the occurrences as
a massacre of Jews by Arabs, but
later authenticated statistics showed
that the casualties on both sides
were about equal.
The Syrians in the United States
sympathizing with the Arab cause
sent a delegation to Washington
headed by Ameen Rihani to lay the
case of Palestine before Secretary
of State Stimson. They also held a
national convention in New York
on September 23 at which three organized bodies were represented,
namely, the New Syria Party,
claiming fifty branches throughout the country; the Syrian Pales-,
tinian League and the Moslem Young
Men's Society.
The convention passed resolutions
to fight both Zionist ambitions in
Palestine and Zionist propaganda
abroad, and to help the people of
Palestine to achieve their national
aspirations in establishing a native
government in the country on the
basis of popular representation.
During the three sessions of the
convention Messrs. Salim Towtah of
New York, Ferris Maloof of Boston,
and William Catzeflis of New York,
alternated as chairmen.
Among the speakers at the various
sessions were Dr. Fouad Shatara,
of Brooklyn, Professor R. C. Hana-
�52
way, of Wagner College, Ameen
Rihani, author, E. D. Mady, publisher of As-Sameer; Joseph M.
Khoury, editor of Ash-Shaab; Rajah
Hourany, a Syrian student at Columbia, and Ameen Bey Hamadi, a
political Syrian envoy.
EXTENSIVE IMPROVEMENTS
IN WASHINGTON STREET
Washington Street, the heart of
the so-called old Syrian Quarter in
New York, is being gradually transformed from a district of old tenements to one of first class modern
apartments and hotels. It must be
a matter of but a short time when
the section will be known as the
Syrian Quarter no more.
Between the Battery and Morris
St., a forty-story building is rising
to serve as the future home of the
Downtown Athletic Club. This organization draws its membership
from the financial district.
Further to the north, between
Morris and Rector Sts., the Battery
Tower, an apartment hotel of the
first order, is now under construction. The architects' plans call for
an arcade on the street level extending from Washington St. to West
St., while the first seven floors will
be devoted to offices and all other
floors to living quarters. The hotel
will accommodate both permanent
residents and transients.
The north-east corner of Washington and Rector Sts. will soon be
in the hands of wreckers. An office
building will rise on the site and
present tenants have been notified
to vacate by the first of the year.
Other improvements include the
renovation of the facade of the
building of Al-Hoda, the principal
Syrian newspaper in the United
THE SYRIAN WORLD
States, located at 55 Washington
St., and that of St. Joseph's Maronite
church adjoining it. More elaborate
improvements are planned for the
Greek Melchite church at 103 Washington St. along designs prepared
by Harvey Kassab, a Syrian architect of the city.
Notwithstanding all the construction work going on, Rector St. continues to draw shoppers for linens
and fine embroideries from all parts
of the city by reason of the large
number of Syrian shops dealing in
these articles in this locality.
CASE OF SYRIAN
MURDERED IN FLORIDA
The Syrians throughout the United
States were aroused over the murder, on May 16, 1929, of Nicholas
Romey, styled Romeo, and his wife,
in Lake City, Fla. The couple were
reported at the time to have met
their death at the hands of the police
following an altercation over the
display of vegetables on the sidewalk in front of the Syrian's store.
The woman was shot and killed outright while the husband was wounded and taken to jail, and later spirited away by a mob and killed on a
lonely road.
It was the imputation, at the time,
that if the police had not themselves
perpetrated the act, at least it was
done with their connivance.
Following the publication of the
details of the double tragedy in
Syrian newspapers, a committee of
Syrians was formed in Jacksonville,
Fla., to investigate the circumstances
of the murder and take necessary action to bring those guilty to justice.
The Jacksonville committee, after
having conducted a preliminary investigation, decided that it could not
proceed further with the case for
�SEPTEMBER, 1929
lack of sufficient public support. The
funds it had raised were returned
to the contributors.
A relative of the dead couple, who
is the guardian of their minor children and who has moved with them
from Florida to Birmingham, Ala.,
is now attempting to form another
committee to take up interest in the
case. He has published an open letter of appeal in the Arabic press of
New York suggesting the appointment of Dr. H. Elkhoury general
agent to collect funds for the prosecution of the case. The suggestion was well received by the Arabic
papers but no further action on the
matter has been reported.
RECENT AMENDMENTS TO
NATURALIZATION LAW
By Joseph W. Ferris
"pHE Naturalization Law is a mat* ter of general interest and the
difficulty in understanding the provisions because of the technical
language used will excuse their restatement in the following form:
The Amendments went into effect
July 1st, 1929.
1st. The fee for the issuance of
a declaration of intentions (first papers) has been increased from $1 to
$5.
The fee for filing a petition for
naturalization has been increased
from $4 to $10.
In all cases where a certificate of
arrival is required, a charge in the
form of a fee of $5.00 is made for
the issuance of this certificate,
whether it is issued for a declaration or a petition.
Where the certificate of arrival
is obtained, prior to the filing of the
declaration of intention it can be
used as the basis for filing a peti-
53
tion for naturalization at such time
as the declarant is in a position to
complete his naturalization.
2nd. All aliens arriving before
June 3rd, 1911, who cannot definitely
prove the exact time and manner
of arrival or aliens who came to
this country without the payment of
a head tax before July 3rd, 1921,
are now able to have their legal
residence established by payment of
a $20. fee.
Applications should be made to
the nearest Immigration office to establish residence.
Establishing a legal residence is
an absolute prerequisite of final naturalization or citizenship.
3rd. A residence of one year in
the State immediately preceding
filing of a petition for naturalization was repealed and a six months
residence in the county has been
substituted in its place.
4th. No declaration of intention
(first paper) on and after July 1st
can be made regardless of the date
of arrival of the applicant in this
country until a certificate has been
furnished showing his arrival in the
United States for permanent residence.
Previously this procedure was
practiced only in cases of those
aliens arriving after June 3rd, 1921,
by regulation of the Department of
Naturalization.
5th. It is necessary to submit
with the application for declaration
of intention or petition for naturalization two full face photographs of
the applicant, two and one half
inches by two and one half inches.
These photographs should be unmounted, printed on thin paper, with
a light background, clearly showing
a full front view of the features of
the applicant, without a hat, and
must be taken within thirty days of
the date they are furnished.
�' —"" "•"-
"--
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54
Full length portraits, snapshot*
or group pictures will not be accepted.
The applicant must sign each
copy of the photograph in such a
way as not to obscure the features.
6th. Copies of a lost, destroyed
or mutilated declaration of intention or certificate of naturalization
can now be issued only by the Commissioner of Naturalization. The
fee for this is $10.
7th. The recent amendments also
include a new feature of the law.
It provides for the issuance of certificate of derivative citizenship.
A married woman claiming citizenship through her husband, or any
child over the age of 21, claiming
citizenship through a parent, may
upon the payment of $15.00 ($5.00 for
the issuance of certificate of arrival
and $10.00 for the issuance of certificate of derivative citizenship)
make application for one of these
certificates and after furnishing said
evidence or proof that the citizenship was so derived, a certificate will
be issued.
8th. Prior to July 1st of this year,
depositions necessary to prove residence outside of the State in which
a petition was filed were taken by
a notary public for a fee fixed by
the notary. Now all depositions will
be taken by naturalization examiners without charge.
ANOTHER SYRIAN
ADMITTED TO BAR
Mr. George J. Mandour, son of
Mr. J. A. Mandour, founder of the
Lebanon National Bank, was admitted to the bar in New York
State and has taken up offices at 80
Maiden Lane, New York City.
—
THE SYRIAN WORLD
LEBANON LEAGUE TO
HOLD ENTERTAINMENT
According to an announcement in
Al-Hoda, the Lebanon League of
Progress of New York will give an
entertainment at the Brooklyn Academy of Music on November 23 for
which a varied program has been
arranged.
S. A. Mokarzel, editor of The
Syrian World, who has returned recently from a visit to Syria, will
speak in Arabic on his experiences
and observations. He is expected to
give a comprehensive analysis of
conditions in general from the point
of view of an impartial observer.
Mr. Zaki Murad, a visiting singer
from Egypt, together with Mme. Fedora Kurban and Mrs. Julia Asia,
will co-operate in giving an extensive musical program.
RECEPTION IN HONOR
OF EGYPTIAN KING
His Excellency Anis Azer Bey,
Royal Egyptian consul in New York,
gave a reception at the Hotel Ambassador on the afternoon of Wednesday, October 9, on the occasion
of the anniversary of the accession
of His Majesty King Fuad I of
Egypt.
The reception was attended by
over two hundred guests representing the diplomatic, social and business world of the city.
Mme. Fedora Kurban, the talented
Syrian singer, styled the Syrian
nightingale, gave several operatic
selections which were well received
by the critical audience.
The Syrian newspaper editors of
New York were invited to the reception. Among those present were
N. A. Mokarzel, editor of Al-Hoda;
/
�J. - —I
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SEPTEMBER, 1929
Ameen Rihani, Syrian author and
lecturer, and S. A. Mokarzel, editor
of The Syrian World.
RADIO TALKS BY
SYRIAN WORLD EDITOR
'.
Twice during the month of October, on the 9th and the 23rd, the
editor of The Syrian World gave
short radio talks over station WPCH
in New York City on the subject of
his recent trip to Syria. The talks
were in the form of interviews with
Miss Theresa Nagel.
On both occasions the interview
was made to cover such subjects as
the historic importance of the country, its principal cities, its present
form of government and the social
conditions of its inhabitants. A
statement on the number and general status of the Syrians in the
United States was also brought out in
the radio interview.
t
«
SYRIAN PRIVATE
BANK SUCCESSFUL
A report of the condition of D. J.
Faour & Bros., private Syrian Bankers in New York, as of September
27, 1929, published in the Journal
of Commerce of October 5, gives
the total resources of this institution as $1,381,740.15.
A comparative statement issued
by the bank covering the last ten
years shows that its resources have
increased almost 100 per cent, during this period, being in 1919 only
slightly over $600,000. Their statement for this year shows that the
public securities alone they own is
much above the whole amount of
their combined resources a decade
ago.
55
LARGE ENROLLMENT
AT THE A. U. B.
Albert W. Staub, American Director of the six American Colleges in
the Near East, recently stated that
in spite of the disturbances in Palestine, enrollment at the American
University of Beirut is larger than
ever before and that more Palestinian students have enrolled than in
previous years.
Mr. Staub said that 233 Palestinians are studying at the University
this year whereas only 215 were enrolled last year and that there has
been a corresponding increase in
the number of students from other
countries of the Middle East including Egypt, Persia, Iraq and
Trans jordania.
The total enrollment in the University including the practice teaching school is 1,371. An Institute of
Music, opened this fall as a new
school in the University, has an enrollment of forty-two students. The
Institute of Music is really the outgrowth of a series of concerts given
at the University to cultivate an interest and understanding of classical
European music.
TWO SYRIAN ENGINEERS
Messrs. Aziz Tabet and Sadek Baroody, both of Beirut, have graduated this year from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with
honors, the first in the textile option of engineering and the second
in civil engineering. Both young
engineers are expected to leave in
the near future for Syria to engage
at their chosen profession. It is expected that their services will be
much in demand in the present stage
of development in that country.
�THE SYRIAN WORLD
56
INDUSTRIAL EXPOSITION
IN DAMASCUS
As a means of demonstrating the
extent of progress of native industries, an exposition was held in Damascus during the first two weeks
of September which is said to have
proved a great success. Exhibitors
flocked to it from Beirut, Aleppo,
Horns, Hama and other cities known
for their special industries. The attendance was comparatively large,
averaging about ten thousand a day.
It is claimed by the sponsors of the
exposition that it had the effect of
stimulating appreciably consumption
of home products and manufactures.
The principal exhibits, representing the relative importance of home
products, may be classified as follows:
Textiles—comprising wool, cotton
and silk manufactures. This branch
of Syrian industry is expanding so
as to take in the manufacture of
materials for all contemporary needs,
from dresses and underwear to
broadcloth and heavy tapestries.
Tanning—this industry has so far
advanced in its methods that the
raw material, a native product, is
turned into finished form through all
the modern processes known to the
industry.
Furniture—Aside from the wellknown native makes, this industry
is now producing articles for all
modern requirements. Some factories in Damascus and Beirut are
known to be equipped for the production of complete sets for all home requirements designed to meet the
most exacting tastes.
Brass Ware—comprising the famous manufactures of Damascus in
this line with notable modern improvements.
The sponsors of the industrial exposition plan to make it an annual
event, in the hope of not only promoting home industry but of creating a better market for its products.
To that end they are now fostering
the creation of a permanent central
body representing the principal
chambers of commerce of the country to work collectively for the common cause.
COMPANY TO EXPLOIT
THE DEAD SEA
A $2,000,000 company to exploit
the vast chemical resources of the
Dead Sea was formally registered
in London Oct. 31 under the name
of Palestine Potash, Ltd., according
to a special dispatch to the New
York Times.
Actual work will be begun immediately at the confluence of the
River Jordan and the Dead Sea,
Where elaborate drying plants have
been erected and 400 workers engaged.
The Earl of Lytton, former Viceroy of India, will be chairman of
the new company, which intends to
increase its capitalization as business warrants. Shares already have
been subscribed by the British and
American directors, but additional
capital will be offered to the public
in accordance with the terms of the
concession.
Among the American directors
are Felix Warburg and Bernard
Flexner of New York.
Although the start necessarily will
be slow, the company is bound by its
concession to produce at least 50,000 tons of potassium chloride annually after the tenth year. The
work will be carried out by means
of huge drying tanks built on the
hills on each side of the Jordan's
mouth.
./
�SEPTEMBER, 1929
57
A VALUABLE GIFT
TO SUBSCRIBERS OF THE SYRIAN WORLD
We wish to double the number of our subscribers before
Christmas.
THE SYRIAN WORLD will be better than it has ever been before, and we would like to see it more generally circulated among
the Syrians of America. Our regular subscribers who have loyally
stood by us and encouraged us in our efforts during the past three
years need no inducement. But to those who have not yet had occasion to be acquainted with the publication, and to those who are
willing to co-operate in enlarging its circulation, we make the
following liberal introductory offer:
Every -paid subscriber making a gift of a subscription, or procuring a new direct subscription, will receive free any one of the
books listed below. For every additional subscription he receives
an additional book.
»
'
Think of the opportunity of securing free one or more of
these fine books by two of our foremost authors. Think of the
timeliness of making gift subscriptions of THE SYRIAN WORLD to
your friends durng the Christmas season and securing for yourself a free fine gift besides. Especially that the gifts are books
that all Syrians should be proud to possess.
BOOKS GIVEN SYRIAN WORLD SUBSCRIBERS
The books we are offering as prizes are the following:
The Syrians in America — By Dr. Philip K. Hitti.
The Path of Vision, A book of Prose — By Ameen Rihani.
A Chant of Mystics and Other Poems, A book of Selected Poetry,
By Ameen Rihani.
Here is a wide range of subjects for your selection—History,
Essays and Poetry. And each or all are yours for only the little
effort of procuring a new subscriber.
Besides, you have the satisfaction of helping propagate an
organ published for you and your cause.
Won't you show your interest?
�THE SYRIAN WORLD
TWO NEW BOOKS
By Dr. PHILIP K. HITTI
(Not only for the scholar but for everybody)
THE ORIGINS
PEOPLE AND
EXTRACTS
SACRED
OF THE DRUZE
RELIGION WITH
FROM THEIR
WRITINGS
This is the first scholarly attempt
to determine the basic dogmas and
tenets of belief of a unique, secret
Oriental sect, and to trace them
back, through Mohammedan channels, into Jewish, Christian and other
sources. After a brief presentation
of the racial and historical background of the Druze people—from
the time they figured first in the
period of the Crusades down to their
recent armed uprising against the
French mandate in Syria—, their
theology with its deification of alHakim and his Five Ministers, and
its emphasis on Prophetic Succession is outlined. This is followed by
a discussion of their esoteric and
mystical interpretation of the Koran,
the Cult of the Calf, their belief in
transmigration of souls, predestination, dissimulation and the seven
moral precepts of Hamza'h. The Appendix includes six extracts from
their sacred writings most of which
have never appeared before in any
European language. Even in Arabic,
the originals are almost inaccessible.
Price $2.00
AN ARAB-SYRIAN GENTLEMAN
AND WARRIOR IN THE PERIOD
OF THE CRUSADES
Usamah was a warrior, a hunter,
a gentleman and a poet who sojourned in the courts of the Fatimite
caliph in Cairo, of Saladin in Damascus and of Zanki in al-Mawsil.
His Memoirs, of which only one copy
is preserved in the Escurial Spain,
constitute an invaluable contribution to our knowledge of Arab-Syrian culture in itself and in its relation to Western thought and practice.
Usamah gives us a first-hand description of some of the battles in
which he took part in the defence
of his castle, Shayzar, against the
Fianks and native enemies. He then
devotes a section to rare anecdotes,
more delectable than which can be
found nowhere in Arabic Literature.
In their simplicity of narrative, dignity and wealth of contents and general human interest, these Memoirs
stand unexcelled in the literature of
the Crusades. They acquaint us
with the Syrian methods of warfare,
hawking and medication and usher
us into the intimacies of Moslem
court life as well as private home
life.
Price $4.50
Other works by the same author
THE SYRIANS IN AMERICA
$1.25 postpaid.
ON SALE AT THE OFFICE OF THE SYRIAN WORLD
I
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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
A language of the resource
English
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Processed by Claire A. Kempa, 2015-2017. Collection Guide written by Claire A. Kempa, 2017.
Collection Guide updated by Laura Lethers, 2023 August.
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
NS 0002
Access Rights
Information about who can access the resource or an indication of its security status. Access Rights may include information regarding access or restrictions based on privacy, security, or other policies.
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
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
TSW1929_09reducedWM
Title
A name given to the resource
The Syrian World Volume 04, Issue 01
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1929 September
Description
An account of the resource
Volume 4 Issue 01 of The Syrian World published September 1929. The issue begins with a chronological report of editor Salloum Mokarzel's trip abroad. This travel journal details the journey to Syria. Following it is a riddle translated from Arabic by J.D. Carlyle titled "Fire." Ameen Rihani has an article next that discusses mandates in the Near East, specifically a review of the First Decade of European Supervision over Iraq, Syria, and Palestine. Dr. Salim Y. Alkazin continues the issue with a poem titled "Thwarted," which seems to discuss the loss of his beloved. Following it is a short story titled "Isaf" by Labeebee A. J. Hanna, based on an Arabic legend. Both Thomas Asa and Alice McGeorge have poems featured in the issue, followed by an account of the Palestine Riots by Salloum Mokarzel. The Palestine Riots were a major event concerning the dispute between Arabs and Jews over access to the Western Wall in Jerusalem. The issue concludes with excerpts from the Arab press and more on the political developments in Syria.
Subject
The topic of the resource
Arabic literature--History and criticism--Periodicals
Arabs--United States--Periodicals
Lebanese-Americans--United States--Periodicals
Language
A language of the resource
English
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Salloum A. Mokarzel
Syrian-American Press
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
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
104 Greenwich St., New York, NY
Format
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Text/pdf
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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.
1920s
Alice McGeorge
Ameen Rihani
Iraq
Jerusalem
Labeebee A.J. Hanna
New York
Palestine
Poetry-English
Salim Alkazin
Syria
Thomas Asa
-
https://lebanesestudies.omeka.chass.ncsu.edu/files/original/0256c2568d3a7038ea1a276717c3084f.pdf
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VOL. IV. No. 7
MARCH, 1930.
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THE
SYRIAN WORLD
A
MONTHLY MAGAZINE IN ENGLISH DEALING
WITH SYRIAN AFFAIRS AND ARABIC LITERATURE
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MEETING THE MARONITE PATRIARCH
SALLOUM A. MOKARZEL
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THE OLD AND THE NEW IN ARABIA
AMEEN RIHANI
HAROUN AL-RASHID AND THE TWO LOVERS
(AN ARABIAN NIGHTS* STORY)
THROUGH SOUTHERN LEBANON
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SALLOUM A. MOKARZEL
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CAUSES OF PALESTINE RIOTS
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THE
SYRIAN WORLD
Tublished monthly by
SALLOUM
A.
THE SYRIAN-AMERICAN PRESS
MOKARZEL,
Editor.
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.
MARCH, 1930,
VOL. IV. No. 7.
CONTENTS
PAGE
Meeting the Maronile Patriarch
SALLOUM
A.
7
MOKARZEL
The Old and the New in Arabia
19
AMEEN RIHANI
On Life (Poem)
27
J. D.
CARLYLE
Haroun Al-Rashid and the Two Lovers
28
(An Arabian Nights' Story)
On Giving and Taking
KAHLIL
32
GIBRAN
�CONTENTS (Continued)
PAGE
The Tzvo Answers (Poem)
DR. SALIM
33
Y. ALKAZIN
The Traveler (Poem)
3+
ALICE MCGEORGE
Through Southern Lebanon
35
SALLOUM A. MoiCARZEL
Advice to a Rash Youth (Poem)
LABEEBEE
43
A. J. HANNA
Editorial Comment
44
Causes of Palestine Riots
46
Political Developments in Syria
S3
About Syria and Syrians
56
GREAT SYRIAN WORLD
CONTEST
FOR
A FREE TRIP TO SYRIA AND RETURN
IS ANNOUNCED
ON PAGES 4, 5 AND 6 OF
THIS ISSUE
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�IN THIS ISSUE
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ROVERS of travel will find
in this issue much material
to their liking. Mysterious
Arabia and romantic 'Lebanon
are here described in some of
their most interesting phases.
AMEEN RIHANI gives us a
further account of his experiences in Jeddah — how King
Hussein made his subjects live
up to the Koranic law and how
they proceeded to break it once
he turned his back. He also tells
how banking operations are conducted in the public square, the
President and Cashier leaving
their money unguarded, simply
covering it with a straw mat, to
attend to their noon prayers at
the mosque. The whole narrative abounds in the most interesting information. * * *
THE EDITOR describes in a
special article his visit to the
Maronite Patriarch at his summer residence. Some of the
truly wonderful natural scenes
in Northern Lebanon are worth
knowing about, and they are
fully described and illustrated.
The Patriarch's opinions on
home politics and on the religious future of his spiritual children in America are faithfully
recorded. * * * In another article describing his journey
through Southern Lebanon, the
editor recalls some amusing experiences and gives an account
of his observations in Mashgara, Jezzine, Kfarhouna, AlMukhtara, Beit Eddeen and
Deir El-Kamar. * * * KAHLIL GIBRAN is preeminent
in his originality of thought.
He is here quoted on the nature
and meaning of giving and taking. The beautiful decoration
appearing with his quotations is
of his own design. * * * DR.
SALIM Y. ALKAZIN, as
usual, contributes some of his
highly valued poetical compositions, as do Labeebee A. J.
Hanna and Alice McGeorge.
* * * A SHORT STORY, in
the nature of those of the Arabian Nights, is an original translation from the Arabic. Many
are the tales of love and tragedy that have not yet found
their way into English and
which THE SYRIAN WORLD
gives for the first time to its
readers. * * * A SUMMARY
of the official report of the
Shaw Commission of inquiry
into the causes of the bloody
riots of last August in Palestine is published in this issue,
as well as a full account of the
political developments of the
month in Palestine, Syria and
Lebanon.
JOIN
THE GREAT
SYRIAN WORLD
CONTEST
�Great Syrian
For a FREE TRIP to
The editor of THE SYRIAN WORLD having made a trip to Syria in
the summer of 1929, which he is now describing in a series of articles in
the magazine, came to realize not only the great educational and cultural
advantages of such a trip, but its unrivalled possibilities for pleasure and
recreation. In our enthusiasm for the benefits of such tours, we decided to
offer one as a prize to our readers. This is on a par with the most liberal
offers made by the biggest American publications, whose readers are hundreds of thousands and even millions. Needless to say that this is unprecedented in the history of Arabic journalism, whether in America or abroad.
THE SYRIAN WORLD, in making the great prize offer in spite of
the heavy sacrifice involved, considers that in so doing it is promoting the
cause of sympathetic understanding of the motherland. This is in keeping
with the main object behind the publication of the magazine. Whether the
winner be a boy or girl, American or Syrian, the purpose would have been
served by the actual contacts established with the great scenic beauties
and places of immense historical intei'est in our country of origin.
The proposition is unprecedented, the advantages great, the conditions most liberal. It is surely the opportunity of a lifetime for the ambitious.
ITINERARY OF TRIP
The free trip offered by THE SYRIAN WORLD takes the same route
followed by the editor in his recent trip to Syria. Passage will be Cabin
class on the luxurious steamer Providence, of the Fabre Line, sailing from
New York July 2nd. Stops on route and shore excursions will be made at
Ponta Delgada, Azores Islands; Lisbon, Portugal; Naples, Italy; Palermo,
Sicily, and Piraeus and Athens, Greece.
In Syria and Lebanon the winner may remain as long as he desires
and return on any of the Fabre Line steamers to New York, also Cabin
Class.
Sailing from New York will be under the direction and full assistance
of the firm of A. K. Hitti & Co., the well-known steamship ticket agents.
The Beirut Branch of the same firm will render the winner all necessary service and advice free. The editor, thanks to the contacts contracted
on his last trip, will also give the winner letters of introduction and recommendation to many influential friends who would render all necessary
courtesies. The winner, representing THE SYRIAN WORLD whose services
are fully recognized in the motherland, will be assured of the most friendly
reception by the authorities and the public.
a>*^xa*i~.-i*i"±a.
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�World Contest
SYRIA and RETURN
SYRIAN WORLD OFFER
The prize offered by THE SYRIAN WORLD to the winner in the contest is free passage, Cabin Class, both ways from New York to Beirut and
return, together with a liberal cash allowance for the shore excursions
above mentioned on the outward passage. Is this not a worthy prize to
try to win?
CONDITIONS OF CONTEST
v
1. THE SYRIAN WORLD prize of a Free Trip to Syria and return will be
awarded the individual securing the largest number of New subscribers to the magazine at the regular price of subscription.
2. Considering the great value of the prize offered, the minimum number
required to win the award must be not less than one hundred.
3. Every contestant, other than the winner, securing more than one hundred new subscriptions, will be awarded a special cash premium of
$1.50 for every subscription. Those securing less than one hundred will
be given $.100 for every subscription. In the event of two or more contestants tying for the Grand Prize, all will receive identical prizes.
4. The contest closes June 10, 1930. Letters post-marked later than this
date will not be counted. Announcement of the awards will be made
June 15.
5. Every subscription must be a new subscription, and must be accompanied by a remittance of the full price of $5.00.
6. Gift subscriptions will be counted as direct subscriptions. For instance,
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�IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT
ON THE SUBJECT OF THE
SYRIAN WORLD CONTEST
QWING to the appreciation by the public of our liberal offer
of a free trip to Syria as a first prize in the current Syrian
World Contest, and in compliance with numerous requests to
this effect, we have decided to extend our offer as follows:
1—While the minimum number of subscriptions required to win
the Free Trip remains at one hundred, any contestant, besides the winner, procuring one hundred subscriptions has
the option of receiving either the cash prize or a one-way
free trip to Syria.
2—If a contestant should procure two hundred, he receives a
free round trip.
3—For all subscriptions above two hundred the winner, as well
as any other contestant, receives a cash premium of one
dollar for each subscription in excess of two hundred.
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reached and sail on any Fabre Line steamer, cabin class,
before the date set for the close of the Contest.
Registered contestants to date are the following:
H. J. Hashem, Poughkeepsie,
N. Y.
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TWO
IN
Mrs. J. Rafful, Toledo, Ohio
Ed. Hershewe, Fort Dodge,
Iowa.
S. Kallil, Detroit, Mich.
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N. H.
MORE MONTHS
WHICH
TO
WIN.
�THE
SYRIAN WORLD
MARCH, 1930.
VOL. IV. No. 7.
Meeting the Maronite Patriarch
NJ
By
SAI.I.OUM
A.
MOKARZEL
"THE MARONITES are the largest single group in the population of Lebanon. They take their name from that of St.
Maron who lived in the fifth century and whose disciples sought
refuge in the fastness of Mt. Lebanon fleeing their flourishing
monasteries on the banks of the Orontes to escape religious persecution. For almost fifteen centuries they maintained themselves in Lebanon against great odds in defense of their rights
to independence and freedom of worship.
The Maronite clergy has always played a leading role in the
shaping of the destinies of this valiant people. From time immemorial the clergy were looked upon as not only the guardians of
the faith but as defenders of the political liberties of the nation
as well.
These traditions have obtained, in an unbroken succession,
ever since the Maronites became a homogenous entity. During the
almost continuous internecine feuds and wars with native and foreign enemies, and during the trying times following the crusades,
the Patriarch, as the ranking prelate in the Maronite hierarchy,
was the accredited representative of his nation in both political
and religious matters. Even the chaotic conditions resulting from
the World War could not shake these deeply entrenched traditions. Rather, the momentum which they had gathered during
fifteen hundred years seems to have carried them beyond their
natural bounds, so that the Maronite Patriarch was conceded
the highly complimentary distinction of representing all the
religious groups of Lebanon, Christians and non-Christians—Orthodox, Melchites, Druzes and Moslems alike—at the Versailles
�I
8
I
THE SYRIAN WORLD
peace conference. On that occasion he was given by common
agreement of all elements, who for once forgot their party differences for the sake of the common weal, the significant and
all-inclusive title of the "Lebanese Patriarch," instead of his restricted title of the "Maronite Patriarch."
Nor have the frequent readjustments in the political alignments and administrative changes in Lebanon during the postwar period apparently affected the prestige of the Maronite
Patriarch. Bekerkey is still a name to conjure with in matters
affecting the political destinies of the country. We read that the
President of the Republic, on the occasion of his reelection, inaugurated his new term of office by paying a visit of courtesy to
the seat of Maronite ecclesiastical authority. The French High
Commissioner must be persona grata with Bekerkey, and is bound
by tradition to call on the Patriarch to exchange expressions of
good-will between France and the Maronites. Admirals of
French fleets visiting Syrian waters are lacking of tact if they do
not pay the customary visit to Bekerkey, and when the Patriarch
elects to return the call he is given a salute of twenty-one guns,
like heads of states.
Bekerkey is the official seat of the Maronite Patriarch. It is
situated directly above the seaport of Jounieh at a short distance
north of Beirut, and in the heart of the almost exclusively Maronite district of Kesrawan. It serves as the residence of the
Patriarch during nine months of the year.
In this respect, Bekerkey has the logical and weightier claim
to be symbolic of Maronite ecclesiastical authority. It is so considered in the public mind.
But during the three months of summer the Patriarch takes
up his residence at Ad-Deeman, situated in North Lebanon at a
short distance from the famous Cedars and in the Heart of a
densely populated district that is exclusively Maronite. From
the viewpoint of tradition and historical associations, as well as
of geographical location, the summer seat should be more representative of Maronite prestige and ruggedness of character.
The buildings may be comparatively recent, having been undertaken by the present Patriarch some thirty years ago, but the
location itself is associated with the history of the Maronites
from their earliest settlement of the country. Forming a sort
of semi-circle around Ad-Deeman are the important towns of
Hadath, Hasroun, Becherri, and Ehden, which figure prominently in native lore, while in the other direction there is afforded
I
�*. ,
I
MARCH, 1930
Rising on the very brink of the precipice is the town of Hadsheet,
the windows and balconies of its houses overlooking Wadi Kadisha in a sheer drop of 2500 feet.
the most imposing view of Wadi Kadisha, so called because of
its many monasteries and hermitages where the disciples of St.
Maron first took up their abode. No more appropriate location
could be chosen for the seat of the Maronite authority and the
perpetuation of their traditions. I was fortunate in having had
the opportunity to interview the Maronite Patriarch in these
imposing surroundings, so rich in historical and romantic associations.
*
*
*
The morning of August 3 we left Al-Hadath in the direction
of Ad-Deeman. The summit of Al-Mizab, the highest peak in
Lebanon, rising to a height of 10333 feet, loomed surprisingly
near, while the winding valley of Kadisha offered an ever-changing panorama of wondrous scenery. Along the way we came
across a view that was not only arresting, but awe-inspiring to
the utmost degree. We stopped in our tracks for a considerable
time to marvel at the extraordinary setting.
Rising from the depths of the valley, which seemed fathomless from our high position, was a perpendicular cliff, crescentshaped and projecting into the yawning gorge. The cliff was of
solid rock with hardly a trace of vegetation along the sides, but
s^
=»
�10
THE SYRIAN WORLD
crowned by a plateau which abounded in mulberry groves, interspersed here and there with tall and stately poplars, indicating
the existence of abundant water.
But this was not the cause of our surprise. We could well
imagine that the vulcanic convulsions responsible for these earth
formations could cast them into any fantastic shape. Rather it
was what seemed to us either the desperation or the foolhardiness of man which gave the place its awe-inspiring aspect. For
rising directly from the edge of the precipice, in fact, an unbroken
coninuation of its steep sides, were a cluster of dwellings bordering the fringe like a crown, or like some battlements surmounting the walls of a huge natural fortress. One could see any number of windows opening directly on the valley, while in some
cases there were overhanging balconies balancing precariously over
the abyss. I was told that the sheer drop to the bottom of the
valley was somewhere around eight hundred meters, or more
than 2500 feet. I could also distinguish a church built in like
manner on the very edge of the gaping gorge. The founders of
the town must have had a special reason for adopting such a
building policy, and all succeeding generations lived up to blind
tradition ever since. I further learned from trustworthy sources
that an average of three or four fatal falls, mostly among children or workmen, take place every year. I could not be informed whether the town has a special graveyard at the bottom of the
valley for the unfortunate victims. The name of the place is
Hadsheet.
We arrived at Ad-Deeman at about ten A. M. and were met
in the outer court by the personal attendant of the Patriarch who
informed us that his Beatitude was then at his prayers, it being
his life-long custom to fast on Saturdays and consecrate the day
to devotion to the Virgin Mary. The attendant, Mansur Harb,
proved in many respects a good entertainer and well-informed
guide. He conducted us to an overhanging rock commanding a
superb view of the Sacred Valley, pointing out to us the monastery of Kanoubeen, in the lower reaches of the valley, and appearing like a white speck amidst the dark green of the forests and
mulberry groves and vineyards. This was the former seat of the
Maronite Patriarchs, who chose the location for its inaccessibility
and security. The monks, by the patient labor of centuries, succeeded in terracing the steep sides of the valley to save the soil
from being washed away by the floods, and were thus enabled
. ..,
:
-
..
;
-.;
-
�11
MARCH, 193D
The Sacred Valley in Northern Lebanon as viewed from the
heights of Ad-Deeman. The white spots on the terraced sides
to the right are the old monasteries.
m
to make the soil yield to them the bare necessities of a frugal
existence.
Wadi Kadisha is unquestionably the most majestic and imposing view of Lebanon. Setting aside its historical associations,
its proximity to the Cedars and the many thriving towns it supports on its massive shoulders, the natural view itself gives rise
to the greatest admiration and wonder. The earth formations at
some places are both majestic and phantastic. The opposite side
as you look from Ad-Deeman, for instance, gives the impression
that a great temple, with massive columns and arcades as if designed by a master architect, is wrought in the solid rocky ribs of
the mountain. The recesses distinguished by the deepening shadows indicate the existence of numerous caverns. Huge slabs of
rock protruding over the precipice give the impression of overhanging balconies.
The Valley is uniformly deep, but takes a winding course
which makes possible varying effects of light and shadow at all
hours of the day. One could spend hours and days admiring the
kaleidoscopic colors of its fascinating beauty, but the attendant
had many other places of immediate interest to point out, start-
',.'.
;
. ~:~~
�JL
12
THE SYRIAN WORLD
ing with the
solitary tree on
the projecting
rock immediate1y
below
where
we
stood, and under which
Archbishop Joseph Dibs, the
famous Oriental scholar,
spent many a
month working
on his "History
of Syria." He
was about to
relate more
about places
and things in
this little spot
s o abounding
in interesting
associat ions,
when
Bishop
Paul Akel, secretary to the
Patriarch arHis Beatitude Elias Petrus Howayeck,
rived to greet
us. He conducted us by the main entrance and through a
labyrinth of vaulted corridors to a large reception hall whose
windows on the one side opened in the direction of the Cedars,
and on the other on Wadi Kadisha. The furnishings were of the
simplest—windows with wooden shutters but no curtains; an
unpretentious divan with stationary masnads, or back rests, running along the four walls, and a solitary table in the center on
which were a few books. The walls were also bare except for a
few sacred pictures. The whole atmosphere of the place was thi
of such simplicity as to be severe in its quiet dignity. It was ii
strict keeping with the traditions of extreme austerity characteristic of the Maronite clergy from time immemorial. There is,
however, another reception hall on the upper floor of Ad-Dee-
^
w1*"**"
I
I Thi
�MARCH, 1930
13
I
The lowly, yet exalted throne of the Patriarch who in spite of
his eighty-six years insists on rising unaided.
man, furnished in a style befitting the dignity and prestige of
the nation which the Patriarch represents. This is used only on
the most formal occasions.
Soon the room began to fill with clergymen and laymen, residents and visitors. Archbishops Abdallah Khoury and Elias
Reesha soon entered, followed by many priests and seminars
and visiting priors of near and distant monasteries, while a group
of young people accompanied by a village priest paced nervously
one of the corridors. They had come from the farthest end of
Lebanon for a special dispensation to consummate a marriage
without the publication of banns. The priest came with them to
intercede and to plead. Youth was impatient!
It was now almost eleven and the Patriarch was still at his
devotions, but having been informed of our arrival he graciously
consented to grant us an interview before noon. Soon the measured fall of a cane on the stone-paved corridor was faintly heard
in the distance. As the sound drew nearer a hush fell on the
assembly in the room. The Patriarch was coming!
He presently entered. To one knowing his age he appeared
to be bearing well under the weight of his eighty-six years. The
large bright eyes gleaming from beneath the bushy eye-brows
showed vigor of spirit that defied the physical weight of age
�14
THE SYRIAN WORLD
indicated by the stooping shoulders. The Patriarch walked majestically, slowly. He proceeded to the corner of the room where
a large cushion was spread on the floor and squatted on it, Oriental
fashion, the rising sides of the high divan serving as his back
rest. The lowly cushion was the Maronite Patriarch's exalted
throne! I was told that he receives princes in this informal fashion.
He chooses to assume this position both for reasons of comfort
and of humility.
I had seen his Beatitude Elias Howyeck once before some
thirty years ago when he was elevated to the Patriarchate, but I
was in no position then to fully appraise either the man or the
dignity of his office. On the present occasion, however, three1
decadds of ^experience had their effect in bringing to me a fuller
appreciation of both the office and its incumbent.
The Patriarch was most solicitous for the well-being of the
Maronites of America. "Is it not strange," he remarked, "that
fully fifty per cent, of our people have now migrated to lands
across the seas! We ask the Almighty to grant them the grace
of persevering in the faith of their forefathers. It would be a
most grievous calamity if the precious legacy which has come
down to us through fifteen centuries should be lost in a generation."
A candid discussion of the spiritual conditions of the Maronites in America followed, the Patriarch displaying the keenest
interest in the subject. He readily agreed that the crying need
was for missionary priests capable of understanding the spirit of
the times and appreciating the evolutionary processes of the
changing conditions. Only those priests who have a thoroughly
modern education and are capable of true missionary zeal and
sacrifice should be permitted to come to America, and not those
who are still primitive or provincial or mercenary or exploitative.
Perhaps, it was suggested, a Maronite bishop in America might
succeed in coordinating and controlling the now loosely held
strands of authority. Would not Rome consider the special privileges and traditions of the Maronites and grant a request to
that effect? It was agreed that the plan was beset with many
obstacles, but that an effort was, nevertheless, worth attempting.
Then someone injected the question of politics, and it proved
like the proverbial snow-ball that gathered momentum the more
it rolled. From that moment on nothing else was discussed.
Owing to the great prestige of the Maronite Patriarch, his
opinion on matters political is anxiously sought and appropriately
i
!
�15
MARCH, 1930
The four Maronite prelates, keepers of the old Maronite faith
and traditions, are from left to right: Bishops Elias Reesha and
Abdullah Khouri, the Patriarch and Bishop Boulos Akel.
i
evaluated. Nor was his Beatitude averse to discussing the political and economic situation of the country. The temporal welfare of his people was of paramount concern to him after their
spiritual well-being. It affected him deeply, he said, to see the
people of Lebanon being driven to economic ruin through the
muddling tactics of politics. He who in spite of his advanced
age undertook the trip to Paris to safeguard the interests of his
people, can he suffer seeing them being systematically deprived
of the little they possess of economic resources through the greed
of some unscrupulous foreign interests? Would that he could
again undertake the journey to Paris to fight for the rights of his
beloved people! If this proves impossible there remains the
alternative of sending a delegation of dignitaries direct to Paris,
and over the heads of officials in Syria, to plead the cause of
saving the country from impending ruin.
Then the Patriarch quoted his favorite Latin motto to the
effect that right will assert itself and prevail in the end, no
matter how hard the trials.
It was now noon and the Patriarch made an effort to rise.
He supported himself with both hands on the edge of the divan
and was able to rise only in slow stages and with visibly painful
effort. I was surprised that those nearer him made no effort to
—^-——
�*
16
THE SYRIAN WORLD
Main entrance to Ad-Deeman, summer seat of the Maronite
Patriarch, overlooking Wadi Kadisha, or the Valley of the Saints.
assist him. They stood in their places motionless, speechless. The
situation was getting beyond my power of endurance. Could it
be that the code of manners here was so diametrically opposite
to that obtaining in civilized countries where the weak and the
aged are concerned? I took a step forward in the direction of the
old prelate intending to profer assistance, but a bishop intercepted, and in a quiet tone laden with despair confided to me:
"His Beatitude never countenances assistance from anyone and
insists on rising unaided."
Then it was that the situation became clear to me, and for
the few moments that I watched the laborious efforts of the aged
Patriarch struggling under the weight of his years, summoning
the strength of the spirit to overcome the weakness of the body,
the whole history of the valiant Maronite people, struggling for
centuries against the heaviest handicaps, flashed rapidly through
my mind. How symbolic was the incident! Here was the head
of a nation who may be deemed old judging by standards of age
among individuals, and here was his nation that may be deemed
equally old judging by standards of life among nations. The
chief, through sheer will power and strength of character, refuses
to admit weakness and insists on rising alone. Will his nation
act likewise? Can the action of the aged Patriarch be interpreted
as a good augury? Through fifteen centuries this nation has
i
�mmm^
MARCH, 1930
17
Rear view of Ad-Deeman, showing the new magnificent chafel
under construction.
fought enemies both of elements and of men. It has wrought
the miracle of transforming a barren mountain into a smiling
garden. Will it succeed in maintaining its traditions under
changing circumstances which call for the same fundamental
strength of character but only by resort to different tactics?
We stood for the Patriarch to pass. His gait was slow and
measured and the company that followed seemed a part of a
ceremonious religious procession. At a certain point at the intersection of the corridors the Patriarch halted. To us who were
strangers to the routine of this religious establishment every
movement, as well as every stop, seemed to be charged with an
element of mystery. Bishop Akel, who walked by my side, seemed to read my thoughts but apparently delighted in my mystification.
At a certain marble block in the pavement the Patriarch
raised his cane and tapped once, twice, three times. He repeated
the operation again and again and before the echoes of his tapping had stopped reverberating, through^ the.-vaulted corridors
he proceeded in the^directiohof-the^tfKhg^rrxtfri.'./ ,
Then the mystery was cleared.- The tappings were the equivalent of the dinner bell, and at their sound doors began to fly
open from all directions in the various corridors and a stream of
bishops, priests, and secretaries came flocking to swell the ranks
�18
THE SYRIAN WORLD
of the marchers. These and the scores of visitors falling in step
formed an imposing procession.
To call the great hall in which meals are served a dining
room would be a misnomer. It is rather a mess hall—a huge
vaulted room about a hundred feet or more in length having a
single center table reaching from one end to the other. The
Patriarch sits at the head of the table by the entrance, the bishops
taking their positions at the right and at the left, followed by
whomsoever guests are to be honored, after whom sit the priests
and the general visitors. At times there are two or even more
sittings.
After lunch the Patriarch and the bishops graciously consented^ to pose for a photograph. And when I asked for an autographed photograph of his Beatitude he conducted me to his
private1 room which caused me no end of surprise at its austere
simplicity. All the personal luxury that the powerful Patriarch
of the Maronites enjoys is a plain iron bed, two chairs and an
apology of a wardrobe. Perhaps the nearest thing to luxury in the
furnishing of his room was a prie-dieu.
Twice while I was in the Patriarch's room official papers were
brought to him to sign, and on both occasions I was able to observe
the same surprising charasteristic. No matter how long the document, he never affixed his signature to it until he had read it
through.
Then bishop Akel took us for a tour of inspection through
the building. Up the grand staircase we went to the main reception hall which was not yet completed but even then gave indications of great sumptuousness. A corridor led to the roof of an
extension building from which we could admire the new elaborate
chapel under construction. But from this vantage point a view
could be had of something greater than man could ever build
of the Sacred Valley, with its many natural temples, winding its
way in a majestic sweep to the very hill on which nestles the
famous grove of the Cedars of Lebanon, reverentially called the
Cedars of the Lord, toward which we set our course that same
afternoon.
�19
MARCH, 1930
The Old and the New in Arabia
By
AMEEN RIHANI
INCONSISTENCIES may meet in every man; and for every
Arab of note today there are two Kaabas, the Kaaba of religion
and the Kaaba of the world. He may turn his face towards the
East once or five times, between sunrise and sunset; but for the
rest of the day he turns towards the West, towards Europe. O
thou my Kaaba when I dress, and when I eat, and when I ride
in the automobile. But the new Kaaba is hedged about with
complications and expenditures, which cannot be conquered
without the help of either international treaties and financial
loans, or scientific expeditions and economic concessions. King
Husein tried both, and was still wavering when I saw him between
a foreign treaty and a national concession.
He sent to Syria for specialists, mining and agricultural, chemical and medical,—the alchemists of modern science,—who would
discover and dig up for him the wealth of Al-Hijaz; and they
were all Arab Moslems who could go anywhere, in the sacred
precincts and beyond, without let or hindrance. For a whole year
they roamed and nosed about; smelling oil here; seeing gold
there; giving to certain hills and spots such names as copper,
mica, iron; and asserting that there is even a diamond mine in the
vicinity of Mecca. But there was not in all Arabia a national syndicate to exploit this hidden wealth and save His Majesty from
the fangs of foreign corporations.
Soon, however, a syndicate, headed by a Syrian Muslem, was
formed for the special benefit of King Husein and Al-Hijaz.
Its resources, financial and technical, were adequate; its conditions for exploitation were incredibly liberal; and its Muslem
sentiment, which washed its motives of every tinge of selfishness, was unquestioned. It would give the Government of AlHijaz 40% of its net profits and an option of purchasing 25%
of the shares of the Companies formed. It also offered to build
for the Government two railroad lines, one from Jeddah to
Mecca, another from Yambo* to Al-'Ala, free of charge, as the
pious friends of the Syndicate put it. What the Syndicate proposed was to build the lines, turn them over with all their equip-
�20
THE SYRIAN WORLD
ments to the Hijaz Government, for its exclusive use, and collect the bill afterwards by instalments paid out of the 40% profit.
If there were no profits, more would be the gain to the Hijaz
Government who would have gotten two railroads free of charge.
But King Husein was still dreaming his pan-Arab dream,
which necessitated a treaty with Great Britain, whose conditions,
to be favorable to His Majesty, depended upon his granting the
concession to an English company closely connected, it was said,
with the Colonial Office. So, the offer of the pious Muslem Syndicate was rejected, and the Anglo-Arab treaty in the end met
with a like fate. What was left to the Hijaz, therefore, of the
fruits of the Scientific Expedition were the Military College and
the Agricultural School of Mecca. The two do not hang together
in a modern scheme of progress j but the Agricultural School is
of no use in a country that has no agriculture.
As for the Military College its success depended upon the
Bedu, who are the born enemies of order and discipline. They
know how to carry a rifle, putting it always to its right use, and
that is sufficient. If you would teach them anything else and
subject them to a rule, you have to pay them, instead of charging
a fee. King Husein paid something at the start; for he would
replace, at any cost, the regular army of Al-Hijaz which was
wiped out in the winter of 1919 by the Ikhwan, the Wahhabys
of Najd, in the battle of Tarabah.
In order to maintain the Military College, therefore, and
reestablish a regular Army, which was to redeem the pride and
glory of Al-Hijaz, King Husein came down with a heavy hand
upon the merchants of his Kingdom. How else could he arm
the Bedu and teach them to step in line? The merchants paid
and groaned at first in the bazaar; but His Majesty would make
them pay double for groaning. Willy nilly, they paid and did
their groaning afterwards at home. Some of them, however, who
had no homes, were offered the hospitality of the jail. Or they
were asked to Mecca, which is much worse. For there, King
Husein had a dungeon, many feet underground, which 'was as
prominent in the history of Al-Hijaz under his reign as was the
Bosphorus in the days of Abd'ul-Hamid. He was terrible in his
anger; and when any one by royal order was sent to Mecca,
there was nothing left for him but the dungeon and the mercy
of Allah. Guilty or innocent, they wrote their wills before leaving their homes, they who were ordered to Mecca.
A British squadron anchored one day in the waters of Jed-
�MARCH, 1930
21
dah and was the topic of conversation. "But the Hashemite squadron," said one of the citizens, who was deemed a wit by some,
a fool by others, "the Hashemite Squadron is greater. Otherwise, the battleships of the English would not have come to
make salaam." A few days later he was ordered to Mecca; and
when he arrived at the Holy City, he was taken directly to the
dungeon where he remained four months without a hearing and
without knowing what was his offence. He was then brought before His Majesty the Great Emancipator, who pinched his ear
and gave him a lecture to help him in the future to better speech
when the Hashemite Government and its Navy are mentioned.
I spoke with one of the distinguished citizens of Jeddah
about a bright boy he had, and asked him to send him, not to
Europe, but to Egypt or to Syria for an education. Reply: That
is my wish, but Saiyedna will not permit. There are others too in
Jeddah who would educate their children outside of the Hijaz,
in Syria or in Egypt—but Saiyedna (our Lord) will not permit.
I have already dwelled upon King Husein's profound respect
for tradition. Even more profound is his respect for the Koranic
law. Everything that is contrary to it in word and deed, in the
life of a Muslem; and everything that has aught in it with a
tendency to give the Muslem a freedom, which might take him
out of the law and the tradition; yea, everything with a germ of
knowledge in it, which might develop, even after two or three
generations, into a grub of infidelity, these are evils which the
wise legislator and the just ruler, if they be far-sighted, will
alwavs combat even before they come to light.
Above all things King Husein desired eternal happiness for
the Muslem people;—the happiness which Allah describes and
to which the Prophet points in the Holy Book;—the happiness
that does not depend upon music or dancing or wine or riches,
nor upon education in foreign schools. If, however, he tolerated
certain things, which do this "eternal happiness" no ill, as aeroplanes and armored cars, to use against the Ikhwan, or a condenser to use against the malaria of Al-Hijaz, he could not tolerate at all such things of knowledge as would confuse the mind
and corrupt the heart. He could not tolerate anything that has
the tendency of drawing the Arabs, even though a span, from
the straight path of their religion, which is their most precious
treasure in this world and the next.
His Majesty often said to me that the only education the
Arabs need is that which suits their life and the nature of their
�22
THE SYRIAN WORLD
land, "and enables them, within the bounds of religion—I say,
within the bounds of religion—to enjoy its perfections." There
are two public schools in Jeddah, where about two hundred boys
find these "perfections" in the three Rs, a little geography and
history, and a profusion of the Koran. At both of these schools,
which I visited, speeches were made by the "stars" of the class
welcoming the guest, their "brother Arab" who has come from
atar to help "our rising Mother" to achieve the perfections (the
King's phraseology was the style in those days); and one of the
boys, a hery little spirit, after the usual praise overture, impressed
upon me, m eloquent words and gestures, the need of my doing
so 'without fear or compromise". But there was an undue
amount of the alcohol of politics, for a boy of his age, in the
sherbet of his praise. He informed me that the Hijaz is indebted
to His Hashemite Majesty the Great Emancipator and to his
valiant sons for the freedom and independence it has regained
hut we want to see this freedom and this independence spread
all over the Arab Peninsula." And then, in the bold and fearless manner of his race, after asking me pointblank if I did not
think so, he proceeded to answer his own question. "You would
not have come from far-away America, the mother of freedom,
to Al-Hijaz, the first-born of Arab-freedom, if you did not
think so."
From the school we went to a more modern and more specialized public institution, the T. and T. (Telegraph and Telephone) Office, which is one of the modern Departments of the
Hijaz Government. It is called the Department of Communication, and the Chief has time to receive visitors and do the customary honors. Coffee and tea and soda water were served in
succession, other guests coming in at that particular moment to
share in the bounty of the Government, while the Chief was
dilating on the easy tenor of his Department's way. The operators are all Arabs, who use the Arab system j and their business
is simple, for they send every message by cable across to Port
Sudan—the only cable connecting the Peninsula on the West side
with the outside world.
Next to the Chief's private office is the Markaz, or Central,
the only place of its kind in the world, I think, which is not hallowed by the presence of the hallo-girl, nor her "allo" sister.
The operators are gentlemen in long skirts, who hide the receiver
under silk sumadahs crowned with silk ighals, and add a line to
their fine figures with a red or a green sash wound jauntily
�MARCH, 1930
23
around the waist.
Markaz! Central! and the affable young gentleman is ever
ready with marhaba (welcome). The perpetual smile is there
too—in his voice. 1 said, "ever ready" in haste; for he is at
times, especially in the afternoon, caught napping. His switch
board has twenty-five wires distributed to the Government Departments and the long-distance to Mecca and At-Taief, Markaz'—Mecca—His Majesty. And you hang up the receiver. In
half a minute, a minute at the most, your telephone rings and
Markaz calls you respectfully by your name. How did he knowI
He knows the voice of every one of his customers. Marhaba, riis
) Majesty will speak with you.—Or his Eminence the Supreme
jucw _or anyone you desire in the Government outside the
Kaaba! There, the telephone wires, unlike the wires of the electric, are not permitted.
On our way back from the T. and T. Office, as we were walking up the main street, I was attracted to a little square balustered
platform, jutting between the baker's shop and the grocers, on
which sat or rather knelt two men opposite each other. One of
them had a roll of bills in his hand; and before him on the
carpet were little stacks of silver of small denomination, while
in a movable case with shelves and pigeon-holes were stacks of
dollars of various kinds—Egyptian, Turkish, American, etc. One
of the men was counting his bills, the other was counting his
1
i
It was about noon when we passed, and 1 witnessed what was
more extraordinary than the open-air bank or the kneeling bankers The Mosque was across the way, and the muazzen was in
the minaret calling the Faithful to the noon devotion. So, when
the man finished counting his bills, he and his partner got up,
stepped down from the platform, covered it with a straw mat,
ind leaving their bank thus behind them, went to say noon-day
ra'r __0 Memory, be not unkind. Efface the vision of the
city bandits of the West who walk into a bank at high noon, and,
under the muzzle of a gun, make away with what they find
before them. Or shall I ever forget the straw mat guarding the
bank of Jeddah while its President and its Cashier were making their genuflections in the Mosque to Allah and the Prophet?
But the Justice of the Peace, whom 1 met the following day
at a dinner, was not surprised at all when I was relating enthusiastically about the matter. "There are no robberies in the City,
he said "Because we apply the shot* (The Koranic Law); and
�***
24
THE SYRIAN WORLD
there are but few people in the jail. The political offenders are
sent to Mecca; the robber, after his hand is cut off, is set free to
be an example and a warning; and only those who are guilty of
petty offenses do we imprison. The Arabs quarrel very much,
with reason or without reason,—they fight for nothing,—a word
said in anger, even a word which one fails to say sometimes,
causes a fight. In sooth, such a case once came before me. A
beduin quarreled with another and struck him because he did not
reply to his greeting. But the poor fellow, who failed to salaam,
was deaf. The Arab is often foolish in his pride, and his temper
is like fire."
His Honor, a burly but unconcentrated figure of a gentleman in stockingless feet and a heavy turban, was neither an Arab
nor a Sudanese, but a third or fourth generation one would say,
of both. For he was of a color hard to define:—burned ivory
under a wash coating comes nearest to it. Nevertheless, he had
the manners of a sherif brought up in Stamboul. I asked my
host afterwards if His Honor was a good judge. "He fills the
diwan" was the reply. He sprawled, to be sure, upon the diwan,
but he had the politeness to conceal his feet. Nor would he have
spoken of the law and the jail, had I not opened the subject. It
is one of the fine traits of the Arabs that they do not talk shop.
But Captain Yanni,whose official title is assistant Director of
the Aviation Department, is neither Arab nor Muslem, and is
therefore forgiven for airing his views ever and always on the
Air Force of King Husein. He had, moreover, a shop of ideas
which he would never close for the sake of Arabia. Captain Yanni
would have been a centre of trouble, of change, of activity, of
infidelity, of progress in Hijaz the Holy, if Hijaz the Holy was
not a wilderness. He was the one man in Jeddah who did not
hold down in the presence of the King. And he drank, and he
smoked, and he once had a Muhammedan mistress. Captain
Yanni is a bandit of the spirit: he has in him the blood of his
own bandit-ancestors, the modern Greeks, as well as that of a
saintly Syrian family. His maternal uncle was a bishop; his father
was a publisher, and he was in Hijaz the necessary evil of King
Husein.
The necessary good, if the Old Man knew well his business.
Yanni would supply the Hijaz Government with all the instruments of modern warfare,—the surplus or the second-hand stock
of one of the Allied Powers,—in perfect condition, at one-tenth
of the cost price!—Tanks at a -$1,000 each to mow down the
�Wahhabys; aeroplanes at $500 apiece to scatter the Idrisi forces
to the wind and banish the Idrisi House clean out of Arabia;
auto-busses at the price of a second-hand Ford for the comfort
and delectation of the pilgrims; and, ye Gods of the Acropolis!
this infernal Roumi, this Greco-Syrian revolutionary, would open
a cafe and a cinema in the very heart of Jeddah. A performer
of miracles, if the Old Man would only nod.
What he did once, for my benefit, was equal to a miracle.
The Condenser was out of order for a few days, and there was
no water in Jeddah but that of the wells, which was brackish and
lukewarm and scarce and dirty. Even the water that oozed out
of the earthen jar and gathered in the bowl that held it was of
the color of whey. I took it with lemon juice, in addition to the
quinine, to ward off the malaria. The Condenser water was clean
but not always perfectly desalted. Besides, it was always as lukewarm as the water from the wells. This was the calamity that
lasted twenty days. Never in my life did I have a greater desire,
a more oppressing desire, for a glass of ice water.
One day I heard a noise in the kitchen that resembled the
tinkle of ice in a pitcher of water in the hand of a negro boy at
the door! and I was transported to New York, elated for a trice,
and tormented for a long time after with the disillusion. I poetized before my friend about ice water, even about spring water,
even about the water of Ashokan in distant Manhattan. And
what happened: The following day at luncheon a glass of ice
water was placed before me. I could not believe my eyes. I could
not believe my hand. But the glass was ice cold and the vapor
was on my ringers. Praised be the Most High! No glass I have
ever raised to my lips gave me a more intoxicating delight.
Now, where in Jeddah did the ice water come fromr Yanni
is not a magician—I say—in the manner of His Majesty—he is
not a magician. But I will discover to you the trick and leave
you to judge of his ingenious and enterprising mind. A steamer
had anchored in the harbor, and Yanni had seen the two thermos
bottles I had in my bag. A moment later one of his Takrourmyrmidons, with a note and the said two bottles in his hand, was
seen hiring a sanbook at the port.
The King was still in Mecca that day. So in the evening,
our friends who came to dinner took their Scotch with water
instead of soda—ice water, thanks to Yanni—and took it in the
drawing room! But when His Majesty was in Jeddah, we had
to go into a closet and in the light of a candle do the bloody deed.
-
-
'
'
'
�i
THE SYRIAN WORLD
MA
He had us all cowed, the Old Hashemite. For in his days Jeddah was supposed to be dry, and the smuggling of liquor was
inevitable. Much of it was even smuggled into Mecca. One of
the King's Secretaries once lost his job, because, while packing
to return to the Holy City, a bottle dropped out of the bag in
the presence of the King. But as soon as His Majesty was out
of the city gate, Jeddah began its celebrations. The bottles came
out of the chests, the lute and the tambourine were uncovered,
and he who had a voice gave it the freedom of the night. The
King is gone to Mecca, Allah be praised!
But when he came back to town, the Jeddites put on sackcloth and ashes, and their city became a sanctuary submerged in
tea and soda-water and milk. The drinking in the closets by the
light of the candle, nevertheless, continued, and Pericles of the
cork helmet and the latest brand from Athens or London, came
withal to the King's majlis, and kowtowed and fawned and kissed
Majesty's hand. The bootlegging Greek! if the son of the
Prophet but knew.—In Jeddah once I met an accursed Roumi
who was what the Americans call a bootlegger, and I took him
by the throat and smote him thus.
Old Pericles, feeling a distant kinship to Yanni, often came
in the evening bringing a bottle with him; otherwise, the Army
officers would not Jet him join in a game of poker. A few came
to the Guest House for fellowship—and a drink—only; and one
of these had a few ideas as wild as Yanni's. He was the most
liberal turban in Jeddah, and he would always drink till his
liberalism began to reel. Sheikh Qasem, who speaks English,
Turkish and Arabic, was sent to Constantinople in the days of
the Young Turks to represent the Hijaz in Parliament. There
he met and befriended the translator of Homer into Arabic, the
Christian philosopher and poet Sulaiman Bustany; and every time
they had a discussion, Qasem would say to Sulaiman: "The only
way to reform the world is to make you Sheikh 'ul-Islam and be
myself the Pope of Rome." He would then quote, being an
orthodox boozer, from the English translation of Omar Khayyam:
noth
26
"Would we not shatter it to bits and then
Remould it nearer to the heart's desire?"
When Sheikh Qasem first told us the story, one of the Army
officers exclaimed: "Nothing can reform it but the sword."
The poet demurred: "You had the sword and you reformed
are i
ing
over
t
Mil
X
Shei
tinu
the
or r
till
—A
(l)
(2)
(3)
�mm—mm
"—
""'
27
MARCH, 1930
nothing."
The merchant interposed: "Our curse is the Bedu—the Bedu
are a problem which only Allah can solve."
Whereupon Captain Yanni, leaving the poker table and coming to the centre of the room: "Armed ignorance can only be
overcome by armed education."
"Excellent!" exclaimed the Army Officer. "The Hashemite
Military College was established for that purpose."
"Hashemism can reform nothing." The voice was that of
Sheikh Qasem, who calmly laid down his glass and calmly continued, "Zu Hasan (1) will remain robbers and cut throats till
the end of time;° the Bedu of Ruwais (2) can never be educated
or reformedj and the Buqoum (3) will lie and cheat and betray
till Allah wipe out the last of their seed. Pray upon the Prophet!
—And thou O Roumi, fill the glass."
(1) Zu Hasan are sherifs who live between Lith and Jeddah along the
coast and are pirates and highway robbers.
(2) The Bedu of Ruwais who are like Zu Hasan beyond Government control, operate in the north between Jeddah and Yambo'.
(3) The Buqoum is a tribe that lives in Tarabah and Khurmah on the border
line between Najd and the Hijaz; and among them are Sherifs who
have become Wahhabys. The King claimed them because they are of
Benu Luaiy, the sherifs of the Hijaz, and the Sultan of Najd claimed
them because they had become Wahhabys. But the question was settled at the battle of Tarabah (1919), in which the Army of the Hijaz,
12,000 led by the Ameer Abdalla'h, was wiped out completely by 6,000
of the forces of Ibn Sa'oud.
On Life
Translated from the Arabic by J. D.
CARLYLE
Like sheep, we're doom'd to travel o'er
The fated track to all assign'd,
These follow those that went before,
And leave the world to those behind.
As the flock seeks the pasturing shade,
Man presses to the future day,
While death, amidst the tufted glade,
Like the dun robber, waits his prey.
�THE SYRIAN WORLD
Haroun Al-Rashid and the Two
Lovers
AN ARABIAN NIGHTS' STORY
(Translated from the Arabic original)
[N the days of the illustrious Haroun Al-Rashid, there lived
in the city of Baghdad a great musician and singer by the name
of Mouabbad whose fame had spread throughout the land and
who sang not only in the court of Jaafar but in the court of the
caliph himself. Through the excellence of his art he had amassed
great wealth, so that in his affluence he consented to sing only for
the highest circles and for exceedingly large fees. Those of moderate or limited means could never aspire to the distinction of
having him sing for them.
As related by an Arab chronicler on the authority of Mouabbad, the latter found himself one day face to face with a strange
situation which demanded quick decision, inasmuch as it affected
his personal prestige on the one hand and the loss of a large
sum of money on the other. He was not slow in coming to the
decision, but his surprise was not in the personal benefit involved
as much as in the happy ending which his action brought about in
one of the strangest love incidents ever to happen in the city of
Baghdad, even at the pinnacle of its romantic career during the
merry and glorious reign of the caliph Haroun Al-Rashid.
Mouabbad relates his strange experience as follows:
"On the afternoon of a certain day, when I had chosen to
seclude myself in the privacy of my house, denying myself
to all callers, my servant came to report that an insistent young
man was at the gate seeking a private audience with me. The servant had strict orders not to admit anyone, and it seemed to me
strange in the extreme that in the face of my explicit orders he
should disturb me with such a request. But his excuse was that
the determination and insistence of this particular caller were
such that he could not deny him at least the transmission of a
message. And I could trust the intelligence of my servant to feel
confident that he must have exhausted all possible means before
he chose to bring the request to me.
�MARCH, 1930
29
"Realizing the situation, my curiosity was aroused and I had
the caller admitted. He proved to be a youth of handsome features and stately bearing, but who seemed to suppress under a
serene countenance emotioas of the deepest pain. He greeted me
politely, and almost without any preliminaries laid before me a
bag of three hundred gold pieces, saying:
" 'In consideration of this sum please sing for me the following couplets:
" 'My eye has brought deep torture to my heart,
But it shall pay in floods of bitter tears.
No! Never with my secret will I part,
Until I die, or she to me appears.' "
Said Mouabbad:
"I sensed in the poetical selection that some love tragedy
had befallen the youth, but rather than disappoint him by
refusing to sing them, I thought that by complying with his
request I might soften his sorrow and I forthwith tuned my oud
and sang the verses in a soft and plaintive tone which 1 improvised to fit the meaning of the verses. Imagine then my surprise
when the youth fell unconscious, so that it was with great effort
that my servant and I could revive him by'sprinkling his face
with rose water and rubbing his hands.
"The youth showed his extreme gratefulness by bending over
my hands and feet and covering them with kisses, but so great
was his longing that he implored me with copious tears to repeat
the song just once more. This I refused to cio, telling him bluntly
that I feared for his life if I were to again tap the source of his
pent-up emotions by a repetition of the song which had so affected
him. But again he was insistent and exclaimed, 'Oh! of what
value is my life any more! Would that I could only meet my
death amidst such sweet melodies!'
"Yielding to his solicitations, I again sang the verses even in
a more touching manner, and as on the previous occasion, he
again swooned and fell unconscious, and it was with much more
effort that my servant and I could revive him this second time.
But once he came to, I laid the bag of gold in his lap saying:
T have had sufficient trials for the day. Please take back your
gold, may Allah have pity on you, and depart in peace.'
"The youth, however, would not listen to my counsels and
importunities. Rather, in his desperation, he countered by saying: 'Master, not only this sum, but another of equal amount
�30
THE SYRIAN WORLD
will I give you if you but sing me the verses just another turn.'
And again he fell at my feet weeping as if he had lost all control of his will.
"I will admit that the double sum which the youth offered me
tempted my weakness, and I consented to his request only on
condition that he accept my hospitality and partake of some food
that he might be able to withstand the coming ordeal. To this he
proved agreeable and in this manner I was able to extract from
him an account of the experience which brought on him his present state of misery.
" 'About a year ago,' he began, 'I sought the banks of a brook
in a picnicking party with some members of my tribe. There we
encountered a company of young women, apparently of a strange
tribe, disporting themselves in the water, and among them was
a maiden the like of whom I had never beheld, and never expect
to behold. She had the beauty of the rising sun, except that I
would compare the sun to her, she being the more beautiful in
my eyes. Her eyes were overpowering magnates, irresistible in
their attraction. One felt in her presence that life was of no
value to be laid at her feet. I became her helpless slave the
moment I first laid my eyes on her.
'That night I returned to the encampment in a state of bewilderment. I was ill with an illness which the doctors of the
tribe could not diagnose, but an illness, nevertheless, that was
: devastating my frame and reducing me gradually to a mere skeleton of skin and bones. The women of the tribe alternated in
keeping vigil over me as I was expected to pass away any moment.
'One of my cousins, suspecting the cause of my illness, implored me one day to confide in her my secret. By that time I
had grown so weak and despondent that I thought I had better
die with the secret of my heart on my lips, and with burning
words I told my cousin the story of my love.
'Now this cousin smiled at me sympathetically and said: 'Why
grieve you thus when you know not whether your love is unrequited or not? Perhaps the damsel entertains for you the same
love that you bear for her. Take courage, then, and let me assist
you in discovering a means of communicating with your beloved.'
'Saying which she explained to me that the tribe of this
damsel was in the habit of passing by our district twice every
year, in the spring and in the fall, and since they had now gone
south they were due on their return journey within a few short
months. She also promised to keep watch for the return of the
A*
�"
mm
">
MARCH, 1930
31
tribe and to do all possible to put me in communication with the
captivator of my heart.
'Under the gentle ministrations of this sympathetic and understanding cousin I began to take courage and become stronger,
and in due course of time the tribe returned, and my cousin and
I sought the banks of the same stream, and to my great delight
saw there my own beloved damsel.
'I felt as if I could fly to be by her side, but modesty restrained me, and I had my cousin recite to her the following
verse:
'She shot a dart that found the heart and left
Without attempting once to heal the wound.'
'Upon hearing which the damsel replied by the following
quotation:
'Our case is even worse than you suspect,
Abide your time, for succor may be near.'
,
Continued the youth: 'Hearing this, I refrained from any
further exchange of quotations and waited until the damsel and
her company departed, I following them until I discovered her
tent. After which we used to meet under the mantle of night
and exchange the sweetest conversation. But this bliss was of
short duration, because her folks soon became aware of our trysts
and caused her to be kept under the strictest surveillance and
seclusion, even refusing to consider my offer of marriage for the
well-known reason among the Arabs of preventing any marriage
between persons whose love relations become publicly known.
And here I am a helpless prey to my love, while I know that the
love is returned and only the moral code of the Arabs prevents
the consummation of our happiness.'
Said Mouabbad: "Having heard the story of the youth, I
felt no further reluctance in singing him the verses and he departed apparently relieved. But it was now my turn to be troubled,
and I forthwith sought the court of Grand Vizier Jaafar and
asked permission to sing him the very verses which the youth had
suggested in the same tune I had composed for them. And Jaafar was exceedingly pleased, and asked me how 1 had come by
this beautiful selection. This was the very occasion I was seeking
and I recounted to him the whole story of the youth and his
predicament. Whereupon Jaafar commanded me to fetch him,
and I did, and he had us all accompany him to the presence of
MM
�M
THE SYRIAN WORLD
32
the great caliph Haroun Al-Rashid who, upon hearing the song
and the story of the youth wrote to his agent in Al-Hijaz, where
the tribe of the damsel was then encamped, ordering them to
his presence. And at his command the two lovers were united in
marriage regardless of all considerations of moral codes or traditions, he even supplying the bride with the necessary dowry and
bestowing upon the couple many valuable gifts."
On Giving and Taking
By
KAHLIL GIBRAN
k,
We are all beggars at the gate of the temple, and each one
of us receives his share of the bounty of the King when he enters
the temple, and when he goes out.
But we are all jealous of one another, which is another way
of belittling the King.
You cannot consume beyond your appetite. The other half
of the loaf belongs to the other person, and there should remain
a little bread for the chance guest.
I stopped my guest on the threshold and said, "Nay, wipe
not your feet as you enter, but as you go out."
Generosity is not in giving me that which I need more than
you do, but it is in giving me that which you need more than I do.
You are indeed charitable when you give, and while giving,
turn your face away so that you may not see the shyness of the
receiver.
The difference between the richest man and the poorest is
but a day of hunger and an hour of thirst.
v
�>
1
33
MARCH, 1930
The Two Answers
By
alf
DR. SALIM
Y.
ALKAZIN
A MIDST a loving few the Prophet sat,
Inhaling deep the balmy breath of night,
Musing, pondering long; his eyes tracing
Upon the domed page of heaven the signs—
The mystic signs of fate—the awful lines
Of light and flame—and what between the lines
He read, I cannot tell.
He listened long,
He gazed and gazed. Perchance Gabriel's face
He saw among the stars and heard his voice.
Or more, perchance the airy legions he
Perceived with faces turned towards the Throne
And heard their song.
A sigh the silence broke—
How deep the sigh! How awful was the spell
It broke! Then one by one upon the ears—
The anxious ears, and longing, thirsting hearts—
Like drops of dew upon the parched land
His words now fell:
"All, all that dwell in heaven
Above, and all that crowd this earth below
And all that fill the space between extol
And praise Allah! At night the gates of heaven
Are open wide—extol and praise Allah!"
The name of God the spell of silence broke.
Then one, a stranger lately come, a new
Convert unto the faith, advanced and said:
"O Prophet of Allah, my heart has gone
To thee. I love thee well—dost thou in turn love me?"
"Thy heart will tell thee, friend. It knows, for hearts
Are witnesses." The Prophet spake and turned
His back upon him and he vanished in
The night.
"What made him go?" the whisper ran,
�34
THE SYRIAN WORLD
"The question put: the answer given: and what
Is there:.... Yet hold, how strange that answer was!"
Then one, "I love thee, too; my heart has gone
To thee, O Prophet of Allah. Hast thou
A place, though small, within thy heart for me?"
"My friend, there is a silent, secret road—
A bridge from heart to heart. I've answered thee."
The Traveler
By
ALICE MCGEORGE
I saw a pleasant winding roadway,
Trees lapping overhead,
'Twas splotched with sunshine, knit with shadow
I wondered where it led.
It slyly whispered, "Follow, follow,"
There's romance just ahead;
Adventure lurks, and pleasures beckon.
"I come," I softlv said.
A river winding down the valley,
Trees arching overhead,
The eddying current dimpled brightly,
I wondered where it led.
It boldly shouted, "Follow, follow,"
Then breathless on it sped,
No time to loiter, or to reckon,
"The rapids," I cried in dread.
�MARCH, 1930
!
35
Through Southern Lebanon
A CHRONOLOGICAL RECORD OF THE
EDITOR'S TRIP ABROAD
VI
By
'
SALLOUM
A.
MOKARZEL
f"YWING to its central location, Zahle was my starting point for
many flying excursions in all directions of Syria and Lebanon.
It is situated mid-way between Beirut and Damascus, while tht
famous city of Baalbek, in the northern end of the Beka' plain,
is at less than an hour's drive. The southern end of the plain is
equally as convenient to reach from Zahle. So taking advantage
of the ready convenience, we bid farewell early one morning to
the host of friends along the Bardouni and sped along an even
road in the direction of Mt. Hermon.
My destination for that day was Mashgara, the native town
of my better half, whose folks I had heard so much about but
never met. For over twenty years I was having it dinned in my
ears that Mashgara was the most beautiful town in the world—
a terrestial paradise, and attributed the statement to the natural
pride of every native in his own home town. And if that native
happens to be of the fair sex, and above that your wife, there
remains no ground for fair objection, and submission or acquiescence becomes inevitable.
Now, however, I was afforded the opportunity of visiting
the town for the first time in my life, without the benefit of wife.
I could judge it by its appearance, free from any interference,
and whatever merits there be to the case I could take at their
face.
At a point near Kabb Elias we left the level road and began
a gentle ascent up the mountain which permitted of a wider
perspective of the enchanting beauty of Al-Beka' plain the
higher we rose. This section of Lebanon is but sparsely settled,
and one could admire on one side the rugged, natural beauty of
the mountain, and on the other the symmetrical and designed
beauty of the plain. The scene continues thus until one comes
�36
THE SYRIAN WORLD
abreast of Mt. Hermon, when the western Lebanon range is
broken in the higher reaches and permits of a sharp turn from
south to west through a narrow pass. It is then that one comes
into the thickly populated section of Al-Beka', passing in rapid
succession through such important towns as Saghbin and Aitaneet,
until one reaches the metropolis of the district, Mashgara. The
reason for this condition is that water abounds on the western
slopes and is scarce elsewhere. Mashgara, owing to its abundant
water supply permitting of the development of a tanning industry, fared better than any other town in Lebanon during the
.war, because of the need of the Turkish army for leather.
We passed a point midway between Aitaneet and Mashgara
which I cannot pass here without comment. Rising on a prominent hill was a beautiful mausoleum of Carrara marble, which I
was told was especially imported from Italy. A wide path was
cut from the main highway to the mausoleum enclosure, and
such pains were taken to beautify the place that shade trees were
planted on both sides of the path, giving it the appearance of a
miniature Taj Mahal!
The legend of this beautiful sanctuary of the dead in its
manifestly odd surroundings is that a certain citizen of Aitaneet
migrated to America and prospered. He returned and impoverished himself by heavy investment in property. Again he returned to America and accumulated a second fortune, but this
time he acquired for himself a rich wife and conceived the idea
of the mausoleum to perpetuate his memory. Such carefully laid
plans did he have, and such pains did he take in the execution
of every detail, that he even planted vines and a variety of fruit
trees for the accommodation of the visiting pilgrims to his grave.
He wished them to eat and drink and be merry and ask mercy
for his soul! The surprising development is that even before
his demise he saw both the trees he planted and the plans he laid
come to fruition. One of his entesprising young townsmen, aided
by his pretty and coquettish wife, opened a cafe alongside the
mausoleum which became immediately popular with the lovers
of Kaif!
The automobile road to Mashgara was in the early stages
of construction at the time of our visit in year of Our Lord 1929.
This would sound strange for a progressive district metropolis,
but in justice to the otherwise laudable enterprise of the Mashgaranians it must be recalled that Mashgara before the war was under direct Turkish rule as a part of Syria, and not annexed to auto-
�MARCH, 1930
37
Mashgara, whose lower quarter stretches into the valley of the
river Litani in a beautiful setting.
nomous Lebanon as it is now. And a royal road to Mashgara
in its rugged mountainous setting takes time to build.
At the town boundary we came to a bifurcation in the road
which exemplifies the enterprising spirit of the people of Mashgara. One branch led to the heart of the town and that was the
public highway, while another branch led to the upper quarter
which is populated predominantly by the Trabulsi family. The
Trabulsis built this private road out of their own funds. The
town owes them also many other public improvements, principal
among which is the contemplated project for generating hydroelectric power in the falls of the Litani intended to provide the
town with electricity.
At the end of the private road, which, by the way, is of considerable length, we came to the house of Suleiman Trabulsi,
leading citizen of Mashgara and for several decades its sheikh
or magistrate. His benign face and outstretched arms bespoke
his open hospitality. And that not because I was his brother-inlaw, as he was known for this generous quality throughout the
length and breadth of the land.
Then came Sophia, sister of Helena my wife, blessed be
the souls of both! She made me feel the first touch of feminine
�38
THE SYRIAN WORLD
lips since I left home. And she was so motherly prodigal in the
display of her affection! She kissed me first for, her sister, then
for each of her children and grandchildren in America. \o\v of
her children alone in America there are seven, and of grandchild
dren an equal number. Under her volley of kisses I felt that
she must have taken account also of her children at home of
whom there are no less than four, and added a liberal quantity
for good measure. I promised to distribute some to her loved
ones upon my return. What sterling qualities this grand old
woman of Mashgara has! Her voice rang with such sincerity
when she told me that she considered me like Nesib, her oldest
son, who, by the way, is about my own age.
The Trabulsi house hugs tightly the side of a steep mountain which rises abruptly to the rear. From the heavy stone railing of the flat roof a magnificent view is had of the opposite
mountain and of the rolling hills marking the opening of the
valley. The town below seems piled one house above the other
in serrated formation. The incline is so steep that no lower story
of any house seems to need but three walls, the fourth being
the solid side of the mountain.
But amidst this profusion of rustic scenery there was brought
a touch of ultra modernity that was all but amazing. Wonderful
America, how far thy influence has traveled!
Within the enclosure of the Trabulsi property, made by
planing several terraces, was a tennis court! A modern apartment was built on a corner of the immense flat roof of the house
that is all but a New York penthouse! The furniture is in period
style and the windows have wire screens! A bath room is available with running hot and cold water! And to further carry out
the effect, you have the luxury of a day bed! Yes, you are cramped for space in Lebanon!
Elias, a son of Suleiman, is a dealer in antiques in New
York. He paid a visit to the parental home a few years ago, and
this modern creation in an antique setting was the result.
That night almost half of Mashgara gathered at the Trabulsis to congratulate them on meeting with their brother-in-law.
We chose to hold the reception on the roof bathed by the silvery
rays of the moon and in close,proximity to the twinkling stars.
John Trabulsi was also there. He too is of New York where
he has an exclusive Fifth Avenue apartment and loves the comfort of American city life. He had been to Paris but left it with
�MARCH, 1930
39
the impression that it was still very much wanting in comparison
to American cities. To Mashgara, his beloved hometown, he
wanted to bring all the possible modern conveniences and amenities that would make it worth living in.
John would have the streets, if such there are, swepUgnd
sprinkled in summer as a sanitary measure. If the public revenue
of the town is only eight hundred liras it should be increased
by further taxation. The roads should be kept in good repair
and cheap electricity provided. Joseph Mokarzel, the progressive publisher of Ad-Dabbour, approved of John's suggestions
in toto. But the rest of the people were groaning under their
taxes as they are, and felt that if a few rich citizens of the town
in America could stand an increase in taxation, they could not.
John finally had to satisfy his civic zeal by liberally sponsoring
the hydroelectric project.
The following day we decided to visit Jazzine and continue
on our trip through Southern Lebanon. A military road had been
opened the year previous between Mashgara and Jazzine over
the twin mountains called At-Towmat, which it was proposed
we should take. The fact that the road was very steep most
of the way, and had been badly washed out in places by the
heavy rainfall of the previous winter, gave us ground for many
exciting experiences. We were.in two automobiles and, contrary
to most similar accounts we read, it was our car and not the other,
fellow's which went awry. At every climb it would simply
refuse to move, and we would have to scramble out and take
the shorUcut and meet it at the next turn. Even when we had
reached the summit and began the descent, we rode only in short
hauls, preferring to walk than to trust our lives to a balky car
and a cranky driver.
We had climbed in and climbed out so often that I became
careless of my movements. And therein was the cause of another
calamity. It so happened that while leaving the car at one time
in disgust, I was caught on the seat of my trousers by the sharp
point of the door, and the rip that resulted was in proportion
to my disgust. What added to my discomfiture was the ringing
laughs of the ladies riding in the other car,—Trabulsis all, by
the way,—Rasheedi of New York, Olga of Zahle and Angele
of Mashgara.—And I could not possibly retort. I only appealed
to their sense of decency to turn their faces the other way, slipping meanwhile behind a boulder for a few minutes. What a
relief to have an extra pair of trousers! Let the comedians poke
�THE SYRIAN WORLD
40
m -. •
-«*U •;
I . !
/:
View of Jazzine from the north, showing the high 'perpendicular
cliff and the numerous large, modern hotels.
all the fun they want at those buying two-pants suits and burning a hole in the coat."The hole there is better than elsewhere!
The engagement of that car was the poorest bargain John
ever made. He was carried so far by his desire to patronize
a townsman that he had dismissed for his sake a chauffeur
of a neighboring town who had served him long and well on
many other journeys.
At Jazzine we were the guests of Dr. and Mrs. Habib Nassif who lived up to the highest traditions of Lebanese hospitality.
I had heard much of the beauty of Jazzine from its many sons
in America, and on this visit I discovered that they were not
exaggerating. Especially is the view of its famous cliff and falls
imposing. The sheer drop is even higher than that of Niagara,
but the volume of water, especially in summer, is unconsequential.
We took refreshments on the balcony of a hotel built by Mgr.
Paul Rizk directly at the edge of the precipice. Jazzine has
become within the past few years one of Lebanon's most popular
summer resorts, and its many hotels are among the largest and
the best appointed in the country.
A suggestion was made that we go to Kfarhouna, a town near
Jazzine, to witness the celebration of the feast day of the local
patron saint. The reason advanced was that this fete attracted
annually enormous crowds from all the countryside. Obviously,
the proposition was an attractive one, because it afforded us a
w
�MARCH, 1930
i
/
i
!
41
unique opportunity to see a typical native celebration of these
feast days on an elaborate scale.
Kfarhouna lies in a depression amidst several low hills. We
reached it at dusk when the festivities were at their height. In
the principal square were several thousand people of all ages
bent on merry-making. Here was a group drinking and listening
to an oud player; there was another drinking and listening to
a quawwal or singer ; still another group was drinking between
their dabke dances, and finally any number of groups just sitting
and drinking. I observed several parties who had brought phonographs in the conviction that the instrument would obey them
in giving their choice selections more than the temperamental
human artist. But nowhere was there any rowdyism or objectionable drunkenness. The only surprising feature was that the
church was deserted!
I tried to extract from an old resident of the town an account
of how the feast originated and he obligingly informed me that
Our Lady of Kfarhouna had miraculous qualities. He could not
recall just what miracles were wrought through her intercession,
but the first intimation of her powers was when she revealed herself in an apparition to a notable of the town .and directed him
to dig for water at a certain spot and there would gush forth a
spring which would bring great blessing to the town. When the
notable doubted, she appeared to him again, and this time he did
dig at the spot indicated and struck water. The water effected
many cures and believers began to flock to the town in increasing
numbers as the years went by. And this in spite of the fact that
the spring dried up shortly after its appearance.
Incidentally, I learned that the said notable was a large
property owner. All honor to him, for his dream has actually
come true, and his having obeyed the command to dig has brought
a never-drying stream of prosperity to his town.
From Jazzine and Kfarhouna we proceeded to visit other
interesting places in Southern Lebanon. Passing through an intensively cultivated country we reached the town of Al-Mukhtara, seat of the powerful Druze family of Janblatt. There Sitt
Nazira rules in her beautiful ancestral palace, but not in the
manner of the feudal system of yore. She is not only one of the
most enlightened, but one of the most progressive women of
the country. Her initiative in inaugurating industrial progress
is truly admirable. She generates electricity from the abundant
water supply of the palace which once went to waste and uses the
... ... .......
�-
42
THE SYRIAN WORLD
The approach of Belt Eddeen from the south is over a road that
skirts a steep precipice appearing in the right foreground
The palace is in the center background
power to operate a flour mill, an olive press and a carpentry shop,
besides lighting the palace and part of the town. I had an interview with her which lasted almost two hours, in which she discussed unreservedly the widest range of subjects, from the economic rehabilitation of the country to the status of the Druze
women both at home and abroad. A fuller account of this interview will be given separately.
At a short distance to the north we came to Beit Eddeen, the
one-time capital of Lebanon during the long and glorious reign
of Emir Bashir Shehab. Unquestionably the Emir's palace is
the finest example of Eastern architectural and decorative art
in Lebanon. It can be truly called a palace both in its proportions and in its fine design and arrangements. It is still in the
finest state of preservation.
Then the road led on a straight line north to historic Dair ElKamar which also claims the distinction of having once been the
capital of Lebanon. Through the massive door of the old Saraya one reaches the inner court where in the war of 1860 a
thousand Christians were trapped by the treachery of the Turks
and slaughtered in cold blood. You are shown the balcony from
which the bodies of the victims were thrown to an outer yard
which still serves as their resting place and is called the martyrs'
graveyard.
�MARCH,
1930
43
But for the good road.s in this district we could not have
visited so many interesting places in less than a day. As it was,
we had ample time to visit the famous springs of Al-Barouk and
Ain Zhalta and reach the heights of Dhour Kl-Baidar, on the
Beirut-Damascus road, before the sun had stolen from Sannin
its golden crown and hid behind the placid waters of the Mediterranean.
Advice to a Rash Youth
By
I
LAIJEEBEE
A. J.
HANNA
I would not sail on what I knew—
Straight to the open sea:
I'd try to learn a little more
To go on some mad spree!
1
A little knowledge does not give
A license — or a wing!
I'd want to know the notes and rhythm
Before I tried to sing!
I would not travel with a young fool
To show that I could lead3
I'd rather follow an able guide—
No others do I need.
I would not shout to the heavens
When a stormy wind blows by;
I'd rather sing on a summer's day
My voice would reach the sky!
:
�THE SYRIAN WORLD
44
EDITORIAL COMMENT
^E TRUST that the change
in format, introduced with
this issue of THE SYRIAN
WORLD, will please our readers.
Hitherto the quality of paper
used was bulky but light,
whereas the present paper is
smooth and heavy. This permits of printing the illustrations
in conjunction with the text, insuring their appearance nearer
the points intended to illustrate.
Obviously this was impracticable with the former arrangement when the illustrations
were printed separately and inserted where convenient.
While this change will affect the apparent thickness of
the magazine, it will not actually cause any reduction in
the amount of Reading matter.
The number of pages remains
the same, and whenever the
necessity arises additions could
always be made.
*
*
Vj7E would be anxious to bring
THE SYRIAN WORLD up to
the highest standard obtaining
among American periodicals.
Nothing would please us more
than to be able to double and
triple its size, to print it in colors, to have the material especially illustrated, and otherwise
introduce such typographical
improvements that would materially enhance- its attractiveness. We know that some of
our critics take pleasure in
pointing out our shortcomings
particularly along that line.
They see the appeal in the
great American magazines and
establish the comparison without consideration of capital invested, staff engaged and revenue from advertisements and
from a circulation running into
the millions. While we who
cannot use even the plural for
thousand in counting our subscribers, who do violence to the
editorial "we" in reference to
staff and who even have to contend with the still prevalent
Syrian notion that a subscription is synonymous with a gift,
we are expected to attain the
high standards of American
publications on such meager resources! Our critics do not even
stop to consider that if we were
to pay for contributions there
would not be left the shade of
a possibility of publishing a
single issue.
We have exhausted all
available methods for increasing circulation, our last and
most ambitious effort being the
prize offer of a free round trip
to Syria. We would be loath
�-
45
MARCH, 1930
to admit that the Syrian business instinct asserts itself even
in matters cultural to the extent of buying quantity instead
of quality—of wanting size and
appearance in a publication regardless of the cause it is meant
to serve. But the contrary remains to be proven.
for the kind of service we have
pledged ourselves to promote.
*P
*l*
*P
ALTHOUGH six installments of the account of the
editor's trip abroad have so far
been published, the subjects
have been confined almost exclusively to Lebanon. With the
coming installment, however,
A GAIN we would emphasize we hope to bring the account of
that THE SYRIAN WORLD is our travels in Lebanon to an
under no subsidy and that it end and proceed to other parts
receives no financial assistance of Syria, following our itinerof whatever nature or from ary in chronological sequence,
whatever source. It was under- traveling from Tripoli through
taken for the service of an ideal the Alouite State to Aleppo,
and the only obligation it feels Hama, Horns and Damascus.
is to that company of voluntary Jebel Druze will follow with a
contributors who have given of full account of the many intertheir best towards the promo- esting experiences met with in
tion of this service. They are that section of Syria lying on
the thinking element who feel the fringe of the desert and
the value of the principles still abounding with the elewhich THE SYRIAN WORLD ad- ments of romance and mystery.
In order, however, to further
vocates and have generously
rallied to its support. If their expedite the account, interviews
efforts and ours meet with such with religious and political
little response, then something leaders will be dealt with sepamust be radically wrong either rately, following the manner
with us or with the Syrian pub- of describing the meeting with
lic for which the publication is the Maronite Patriarch appearintended. We would like to ing in this issue. This would
learn where the fault really lies mean the publication of two
and what could be done to- articles dealing in some form
wards its correction. We pledge or other with the editor's exourselves to give full publicity periences in Syria in each of
to all opinions of whatever the coming numbers. The apshade or tenure. Let us see if preciation of these descriptive
we can get together on some and highly informative acconstructive effort and ascer- counts shown by our readers
tain if there is really any need justifies the action taken.
�THE SYRIAN WORLD
Causes of Palestine Riots
SUMMARY OF THE REPORT OF THE SHAW COMMISSION OF INQUIRY ON THE RESULT OF ITS INVESTIGATION INTO THE
CAUSES OF THE PALESTINE DISTURBANCES OF AUG.,
1929.
_ Editor's Note:—The long-expected report of the Shaw commission of inquiry was made public in London on March 31.
Forecasts of the findings of the Commission cabled earlier in the
month represented the report as favoring the Arabs. It does favor
them to the extent of absolving them from the charge of premeditation in the August riots, as well as of any hostile design
against the British mandate. The Grand Mufti, however, is subject to mild censure for having failed to exercise the prestige of
his office to ward off the danger. At the same time, the Jewish
Palestine Executive is given to understand plainly that it is not
entitled to share in the function of government, while the several
constructive recommendations of the commission would clarify
the political situation in Palestine, regulate immigration, curb
the press and maintain a strong military garrison capable of coping with further outbreaks. The dissenting member of the commission, Harry Snell, a Laborite, lays a greater share of blame
for the riot at the door of the Grand Mufti and is otherwise
more partial to the Jewish cause. The following summary of
this historical document was cabled from London on the day of
publication by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency and published in
the New York Times of April 1.
Summarizing its findings as to the cause of last August's outbreak,
the Shaw Commission declares that the fundamental cause "without which!
in out opinion, the disturbances would either not have occurred or would
have been little more than a local riot, is the Arab feeling of animosity
and hostility toward the Jews, consequent upon the disappointment of their
political and national aspirations and fear for their economic future.
"The feeling as it exists today is based on the two-fold fear of the
Ar^bs that by Jewish immigration and land purchases they may be deprived of their livelihood and in time pass under the political domination
of the Jews. In our opinion the immediate causes of the outbreak were, first
a long series of incidents connected with the Wailing Wall which began
on the Day of Atonement in September, 1928, and ended with the Moslem
�MARCH, 1930
I
47
demonstration of August 16, 1929.
"These must be regarded as a who'e, but the incident among them
which in our view contributed most to the outbreak was the Jewish demons
stration at the Wailing Wall on August 15.
"Next in importance we put the activities of the Society for the Protection of the Moslem Holy Places and in a lesser degree of tha Pro-Wailing
Wall Committee; secondly, the exciting and intemperate articles which
appeared in some Arabic papers, in one Hebrew daily paper and in the
Jewish weekly published in English; thirdly, the propaganda among the
less educated Arab people, of a character calculated to incite them; fourthly,
the enlargement of the Jewish agency; fifthly, on the inadequacy of the
military forces and reliable police available; sixthly, the belief due largely
to a feeling of uncertainty as to the policy that the decisions of the Palestine Government could be influenced by political considerations."
The commission's report, devotes considerable space to recommendations for the future. In this regard it says, "We attach the highest importance to our recommendation that his Majesty's Government should
consider the advisabiHty of issuing a clear statement of policy, the value
of which would be greatly enhanced if it dealt with the points which we
set out in the second stipulation of the following clause:
"Our recommendations regarding immigration and land questions are
largely based on the assumption that in their definition of a policy the
government will clearly state that the rights and position of non-Jewish
communities in Palestine are to be fully^safeguarded."
In defining this policy the report says, "It is our view that the issuance
of a clear statement of the policy which the government intends to pursue
in Palestine is essential to good government. We therefore recommend that
the government consider the advisability of issuing such a statement with
the least possible delay.
"It is important that the government make clear that they intend
to give full effect to that policy with all the resources at their command.
Whatever form the statement of policy may take, its value would be
greatly enhanced if it contained a definition in clear and positive terms of
the meaning which the government attaches to passages in the mandate
providing for the safeguarding of the rights of non-Jewish communities in
the country and if it laid down for the guidance of the Palestine Government directions more explicit than any yet given as to the conduct of
the policy of such vital issues of land and immigration."
The commission's recommendation on immigration declares that "any
uncertainty as to the line of policy to be pursued in the vital matter of immigration is bound to be reflected in the conduct of the Palestine Government
in the attitude and temper of the Arab people and those representing Jewish interests. We recommend, therefore, that the government issue at an
early date a clear and definite declaration of the policy which they intend
to be pursued regarding the regulation and control of future Jewish immigration to Palestine, and in framing that declaration they should have
regard to our conclusions on the subject of immigration.
"The administrative machinery for the regulation of immigration
should be reviewed with the object of preventing a repetition of the excessive immigration of 192.3-26. Consideration should be given to the pos-
�48
THE SYRIAN WORLD
sibility of devising some more suitable method of regulating the disposal
of immigration certificates under the labor schedule. Until such time as
some form of representative government is established in Palestine, machinery should be, if possible, devised whereby non-Jewish interests in
Palestine could be consulted upon matters which, had there been a legislative council, would have been referred to a special immigration committee, of which mention is made in a statement of policy contained in the
White Paper of 1922."
Discussing the land problem the report recommends that "a scientific
inquiry should be taken by experts into the prospects of introducing improved methods of cultivation in Palestine. The land policy could then be
regulated in the light of the facts ascertained by these scientific investigations. It is of vital importance that in any scheme of land development,
adopted as a result of the expert inquiry regard should be had to the certain and natural increase in the present rural population,
mentioned elsewhere. The Palestine Government should consider the posthe present tendency toward the eviction of peasant cultivators from the
land should be checked by the adoption of one of the alternative methods
mentioned elsewhere. The Palestine Government should consider the popssibility of reviving the agricultural bank or providing by other means for
the needs of the poorer cultivators who require credit facilities to enable
them to improve their present methods of farming."
On constitutional developments the commission declared: "We do not
wish to make any formal recommendation on this question. We would,
however, urge that when the question of the constitutional development
of Palestine again comes under review regard be had to our conclusion in
another chapter of this report that the absence of any measure of selfgovernment is greatly aggravating the difficulties of local administration."
Discussing the Wailing Wall, the commission declared: "In December last,
while we were still in Palestine, we communicated to you a recommendation that the government take steps to secure the early appointment under
Article XIV of the mandate of an ad hoc commission to determine rights
and claims in connection with the Wailing Wall. The early determination
of the rights and claims connected with the Wailing Wall is a measure
essential to the peace and good government of Palestine. We consider,
therefore, that the constitution of a commission and its departure for that
country should be expedited by every possible means."
Referring to fhe activities of religious societies, the report says: "Since
the disturbances in Palestine legislation dealing with offenses against the
State, including sedition, has been repealed and replaced by an ordinance
based on English criminal law. In the circumstances we feel that it is
unnecessary for us to make any recommendation under this head."
On the matter of the incitement of the press, the report recommends
that "steps should be taken to insure that the attention of the senior officers
of the Palestine Government in the future be called to any article appearing in the Palestine press which is of an inflammatory character and likely
to excite the feelings of the people. The Palestine Government should
examine the press law now in force with a view to making provision, if
such provision does not exist now, which would enable them to obtain convictions from the courts in any case in which it is proved that articles
�MARCH y 1930
49
tending to a breach of the peace hod been published in a newspaper in
palps tin6.,J
Regarding incitement, the report urges that steps be at one etaken
to remedy admitted defects in the intelligence service of Palestine. An
adequate and efficient intelligence service is essential to enable the government to check the activities of persons who endeavor to stir up racial feelings."
.
On the functions of the Zionist Organization and the Palestine Zionist
Executive the report recommends that "the government should reaffirm the
statement made in 1922 that the special position assigned to the Zionist
Organization by the mandate does not entitle it to share in any degree
in the government of Palestine. We recommend for the consideration of
the government that they should examine the possibility of laying down
some precise definition of the meaning of Article IV of the Palestine mandate."
,
. .,
Recommendations for defense and security are that "the question of the
most suitable form of garrison for Palestine should be referred to the
appropriate advisers of the government. Until that question has been
decided and thereafter until racial feeling has shown some marked improvement, no reduction should be made in the present garrison of two
battalions of infantry. An independent inquiry should be made by an experienced police officer from some other dependency into the organization
of the Palestine Police Department. You have already accepted and acted
on this recommendation. The Palestine Government should be instructed
to inquire into and report upon the possibility of forming a reserve of
special constables."
While praising the conduct of the British Police in Palestine during
the period of the disturbances, the report admits in discussing defense and
security that the policy of reducing the garrison in Palestine and Transjordania was carried too far.
"The Palestine Police, regarded collectively, were not to be relied upon
after fire had been opened or for purposes of fighting at close quarters,"
it says." "The Transjordanian frontier force behaved with exemplary
loyalty, but the intelligence service in Palestine proved inadequate."
The outbreak was not, nor was it intended to be, declares the report,
a revolt against British authority. Referring to the Zionist complaints
against the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, the report declares that the motive
of his alleged desire to make secure his own position as president of the
Supreme Moslem Council, which formed part of the case put forward
against the Mufti, had not been established.
"The Mufti, so far as we can see, had no reason to suppose that his
tenure of office was in any danger," says the report, "and in playing the
part that he took in the formation of societies for the defense of Moslem
holy places and in fostering the activities of such societies the Mufti was
influenced by the two-fold desire to annoy the Jews and to mobilize Moslem opinion on the issue of the Wailing Wall.
"He had not intended utilizing this political campaign as a means of
inciting to disorders. Inasmuch as the movement which he partly created
became through the force of circumstances, a not unimportant factor in
the events which led to the outbreak, the Mufti, like many others who
�-———————______—
50
THE SYRIAN WORLD
directly or indirectly played upon public feelings in Palestine, must accept
a share in the responsibility for the disturbances."
The report says that there is no evidence that the Mufti issued any
requests to the Moslems of Palestine to come to Jerusalem on August 23
and that no connection has been established between the Mufti and the
work of those who were either known or thought to have been engaged in
agitation and incitement. After the disturbances had broken out, the report
points out, the Mufti cooperated with the government in its effort both to
restore peace and to prevent an extension of the disorders.
Referring to the Zionist complaints against the Palestine Arab executive, the report concludes that the charges of premeditation and organization of the disturbances are not proved against the Palestine Arab executive, and "if made in relation to the actual events of August 23 and the
following days are negatived by the known facts. The charge of deliberate
incitement to disorder has not been substantiated against the Palestine
Arab executive as a body, but we have little doubt that some of the constituents who have been elected to the executive carried out among the
more ignorant Arab people a campaign of propaganda calculated to incite
them. It is probable, though except in one case there is no proof, that individual members of the Arab executive further exacerbated racial feeling
after the disturbances had begun. For their failure to make an attempt
during the week preceding the disturbances to control their followers, to
declare publicly and emphatically that they were on the side of law and
order, neither the Mufti nor the Palestine Arab executive can be acquitted
of blame."
No blame can be properly attached to H. C. Luke, Acting High Commissioner of Palestine during the riots says the report referring to the
Zionist complaints against the government on the ground that he did not
obtain reinforcements from neighboring countries before August 23.
"Looking back on the question in the full light of our present knowledge, it is our view that it would have been a reasonable precaution if Mr.
Luke had mobilized the troops within his jurisdiction at some convenient
place in Palestine some time during the days which immediately preceded
the disturbances, but for reasons which we have explained elsewhere we
do not think that any serious criticism can be properly levied against Mr.
Luke for his failure to adopt this course.
"We endorse Mr. Luke's action in declining to arm a considerable number of Jewish people, whose services were offered on the 17t)h. We are satisfied that in taking his decision that forty-one Jewish constables should
be disarmed, Mr. Luke was following the highest military advice available
to him and using his own unbiased judgment as to the line of action which
was best calculated to serve the interests of the people with whose wellbeing he was charged.
Many exciting and intemperate articles were published in the Palestine
press between October, 1928, and August, 1920. We consider that the
power of the Palestine Government to suspend the press should have been
invoked against the papers which published some of these articles.
"We cannot attach any blame to any police officer for the failure to
prevent the Jewish demonstration at the Wailing Wall on August 15.- It is
our view that those who were present during the discussions with the
�MARCH, 1930
51
leaders of the Jewish youth failed to make clear to Major Saunders that
the Jewish leaders declined to accept one of the conditions which Mr. Luke
attached to his decision that the procession should be allowed to go to
the Wailing Wall on the 22nd.- Any attempt to have prevented by force
the Moslem demonstration on August 16 would have been dangerous and
ill-advised.
"Rumors current in Palestine immediately before were the natural consequence of the two demonstrations of the 15th and 16th."
Turning to the complaint that the Palestine Government had consistently shown a lack of sympathy toward the Jewish National Home and
that its policy had been one of weakness the report says that this ' is in
large measure due to the difficulties inherent in the mandate and the failure
to appreciate the dual nature of the policy which the government has to
administer. It is our view that the government did discharge to the best
of its ability the difficult task of maintaining a neutral and impartial attitude between two peoples whose leaders had shown little capacity for
compromise."
.
On the subject of immigration the report admits that Jewish enterprise and Jewish immigration were not in excess of the absorbtive capacity
of the country and "have conferred material benefits upon Palestine, in
which the Arab people share. We consider, however, that the claims and
demands, which from the Zionist side had been advanced, regarding the
future of Jewish immigration into Palestine, had been such as to arouse
among the Arabs apprehension that they will in time be deprived of their
livelihood and pass under the political domination of the Jews.
"We further consider that Sir John Campbell was right When he
reported that the crises of 1927-28 were due 'to the fact that immigrants
came into Palestine in excess of the economic absorbing power of the country' There is incontestable evidence that in the matter of immigration
there has been a serious departure by the Jewish authorities from the
doctrine accepted by the Zionist Organization in 11)22 that immigration
should be regulated by the economic capacity of Palestine to absorb new
arrivals.
-„ . ,
In conjunction with other and more immediate causes for the disturbances, the feeling of Arab apprehension caused by Jewish immigration
was a factor which contributed to the outbreak.
The land problem comes in for considerable attention. On this matter
the report savs: "Soon after the institution of civil government in Palestine,
the administration became anxious lest the interest of the tenants and cultivators be prejudiced by the sale of large estates. The land transfer ordinances of 1920 and 1921 were passed with the object of protecting the
interest of cultivators and preventing their expropriation from the soil.
These ordinances failed to achieve their objects and were replaced by the
cultivators' protective ordinance of 1929.
"Between 1921 and 1929 there were large sales of land, in consequence
of which numbers of Arabs were evicted without provision of other land
for their occupation. In some cases, the Arabs who were dispossessed received cash compensation, and no criticism can be levied against the Jewish land companies in respect to these transactions. Those companies were
acting with the government's knowledge
�52
THE SYRIAN WORLD i
"The cultivator's protective ordinance of 1929, while giving compensa- I
tion for the disturbance, does nothing to check the tendency toward dispossession of the cultivators from their holdings. The mere provision of compensation in money may even encourage that tendency. The position is now
acute. There is no alternative land to which the evicted persons can be
removed. In consequence a landless and discontented class is being created.
Such a class is a potential danger to the country.
Source of Discontent Seen.
"Unless some solution can be found to deal with this situation the
question will remain a constant source of present discontent and a potential cause of future disturbance. Palestine cannot support a larger agricultural population than it at present carries unless the methods of farming
undergo radical changes. With more intensive cultivation, should this prove
to be possible, room might be found for a number of newcomers in certain
districts."
The constitutional grievances of the Arabs also come in for some attention in the report, Which says on this subject: "It is a matter of regret
that the Arab leaders did not accept the offer of a legislative council that
was made to them in 1922. Today the Arab people of- Palestine are united
in a demand for a measure of self-government. This unity of purpose may
weaken, but it is liable to be revised in full force by any large issue which
involves racial interests. It is our belief that the feeling of resentment
among the Palestine Arabs consequent upon their disappointment at their
continued failure to obtain any measure of self-government is greatly aggravating the difficulties of local administration."
The difficulties inherent in the Palestine mandate in the Balfour Declaration, the report declares, are factors of supreme importance in a consideration of the Palestine problem. "The issue of a clear definition of
policy backed by a statement that it is the firm intention of the government to supplement that policy to the full would be of the greatest assistance in securing good government of the country."
Labor Member's Reservations.
Harry Snell the Laborite member, differs from the other members in
attributing to the Grand Mufti a greater share in the responsibility for
the disturbances than is attributed to him in the report. He is of the opinion
that the Mufti "must bear the blame for his failure to make any effort to
control the character of the agitation conducted in the name of the religion
of which, in Palestine, he is the head."
Although he agrees that the Arab Executive was not of necessity
responsible as a body for the words or acts of its individuals or followers,
Mr. Snell finds it difficult to believe "that the actions of the individual
members of the Executive were unknown to that body, or indeed that these
individuals were acting in a purely personal capacity."
In regard to the campaign of incitement Mr. Snell is unable to agree
with the conclusions in the report acquitting the Moslem religious authorities of all but the slightest blame for the innovations introduced in the
neighborhood of the Wailing Wall. It is his opinion that the innovations
"were dictated less by the needs of the Moslem religion and the rights of
property than by a studied desire to provoke and wound the religious susceptibilities of the Jewish people."
«
The
�MARCH, 1930
53
Political Developments in Syria
four declaration. Judging by the
tenor of the commission's findings,
The Shaw Commission's report on
this interpretation could not be oththe causes of the Palestine disturb- erwise than a disavowal by Britain
ances of last August was published of any intention to help the Jews
in London on March 31, and if it establish a national home in Palescaused a certain degree of elation tine against the interest of the
among the Arabs, it aroused pro- Arabs. In fact, considerable sentiportionately twice as much bitter- ment seems to be developing lately
ness among the Jews. A summary
in favor of establishing cantons in
of the report is published elsewhere
Palestine similar to the Swiss sysin this issue of The Syrian World. tem of government. This would perAs a result of the commission's mit of local or district governments
findings, Premier MacDonald made bound together only by national
a statement in the House of Com- obligations. Where the Jews premons on April 3 reaffirming Great dominate, such as in the district of
Britain's resolve to continue to ad- Jaffa, they would be given the right
minister Palestine under the terms of autonomous government, in which
of the League of Nations' mandate.
case they would assert themselves
In this declaration of policy the Pre- within limited bounds. This would
mier received the hearty support of tend to relieve the tension created
both former Premier Baldwin for the by the desire of the Jews to lay
Conservatives and David Lloyd- claim to the government of the
George for the Liberals. This is whole country when their total numtaken to prove conclusively that ber does not exceed 150,000 as comGreat Britain's colonial policy can- pared to an Arab population of
not undergo any material change
something like 750,000.
under no matter what form of govThe native press of Palestine and
ernment. Those under British rule,
Syria
continues to publish frequent
in fact under the domination of any
reports
of attempts by the Jews to
European power, should by now
smuggle arms and ammunition into
realize the fact.
Press dispatches from Palestine Palestine. The Arab boycott of the
state that publication of the Shaw Jews is reported to be still in full
Commission's report in Jerusalem force, and although no fresh outbreaks have been reported, thanks
was received with a large amount
to the vigilance of the authorities,
of placidity, because both Arabs and
Jews had taken the forecasts se- passions seem to be restrained with
riously so that the publication of difficulty.
A Palestine Commission, headed
the official text caused little surby
the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem,
prise. The Jews, however, were the
the
one who is censured by the Shaw
ones to feel the disappointment more
commission
for having neglected to
keenly because of the commission's
recommendation of a more lucid in- use the prestige of his office to preterpretation by Britain of the Bal- vent the bloody riots of last August,
PALESTINE
�i MARt
THE SYRIAN WORLD
54
is now in London in the interest of
furthering the claims of Palestinian
Arabs. Upon the publication of the
commission's report, members of
the Palestinian delegation were reported to have expressed satisfaction with its findings and recommendations.
Lord Balfour, author of the famous Balfour Declaration pledging
England to help the Jews in the
establishment of a national home in
Palestine, died in London on March
18.
SYRIA
An important development in the
Syrian political situation was the
meeting in the week of March 16,
of the Constituent Assembly at
Damascus for the purpose of discussing the deplorable condition to
which the affairs of the country
have been reduced as a result of
the continued policy of procrastination by the French High Commissioner. What lends the meeting more
significance is the fact that the Assembly was dissolved by the High
Commissioner on the promise to
study its demands and find a mutually satisfactory solution. To have
convened without the approval of
the High Commissioner indicates
the degree of desperation to which
the members of the Assembly have
been driven. Their action constitutes
an open defiance of the authority
of the mandatory power.
The meeting was said to have been
attended not only by the legally
elected members but by many delegates of the Syrian Nationalist
Party from all parts of the country.
The deliberations continued for several days, resulting in the preparation of a memorandum to be presented to the High Commissioner as
embodying the final and concrete de-
:: :-
:
mands of the Syrian nation. The
signers are said to have emphasized
at the outset that the Constituent
Assembly remains the only legal
body empowered to represent the
people, inasmuch as it derives its
powers from the people themselves
through popular election. Furthermore, the Assembly consented to
the act of suspension only on the
understanding that by so doing it
would give the mandatory authorities time to consider the national
demands and promote the policy of
understanding. Now that over a year
has elapsed since the cessation of
its functions, during which time no
progress seems to have been made
toward effecting a satisfaetoi-y solution, the Assembly feels it is obliged
to resume its duties to save the
country from threatened economic
ruin.
The Syrian Nationalists further
insist that a copy of their tentative
draft of a constitution be submitted
to the League of Nations for consideration. By this they hope to forcibly call attention of the Powers to
the justice of their demands.
One of the main grievances of the
Nationalists, as set forth in the
petition, is the continuation in power of the Tajeddeen government.
They contend that this provisional
government was only set up to supervise the elections to the Constituent Assembly. It has continued
in power ever since and has grossly
abused its privileges by granting
national concessions to foreign interests. In this the Nationalists
claim the government is acting illegally because it cannot claim a
de jure status and they demand the
revocation of all grants and concessions so undertaken.
A Nationalist editor has been
sentenced to a year in prison for
having accused a minister of the
I
�MARCH, 1930
ever, was an argument which developed between him and the President of the Assembly, a Moslem,
over a point of parliamentary procedure. The next day a resolution
concurred in by 27 members was introduced demanding a vote of confidence in the Cabinet without debate. The signers of the petition,
sympathizers of the President of
the Assembly, being overwhelmingly
in the majority, carried the day with
steam-roller tactics. Premier Eddy
immediately handed in his resignation.
Reports state that consequent
upon these developments, the President of the Republic visited the
French High Commissioner to confer with him on the situation. The
Premiership was said to have been
refused by both the defeated Premier Eddy and former Premier
Bishara Khoury, as well as by many
others who would not expose themselves to the intrigues of a politiLEBANON
cal machine. Finally August Adeeb
The Eddy cabinet met the fate undertook to form a cabinet and
of its predecessors and was defeated succeeded in winning a vote of conm a stormy session of the Repre- fidence. His choice for Minister of
sentative Assembly on March 20 by Education was Gibran Twainy, who
an adverse vote of 27, the twelve is expected to placate the Moslem
other members present having re- element in the matter of the application of educational reforms. The
frained from voting.
This is all the more regrettable Eddy reform and economy program,
because of the high hopes placed on on which so much hope had been
the application of the ambitious re- placed, seems to have been thrown
form program of the Premier who into the discard.
The new Premier is a man of
seemed to be making considerable
progress in effecting needed econo- wide administrative experience. A
mies. He met his nemesis,, as it Lebanese by birth, he entered the
would appear, in the attempt to do employ of the Egyptian governaway with sinecures and abolish ment and rose to the highest post to
inefficient schools. The unfortunate which a foreigner is eligible in the
part is that most of these schools Ministry of Finance. Through purely
were for the Moslems who interpret- patriotic motives, he returned to his
ed the Premier's action as prompted native land at the conclusion of the
World War and was appointed delby religious bias.
The immediate cause of the crisis egate to the conference on the adwhich terminated in his defeat, how- justment of the Ottoman debts.
Tajeddeen government of profiteering by the granting of concessions.
A movement that threatens to assume serious proportions is the demand of the Aleppians for secession
from the central government of
Damascus. Six copies of a petition
whose authors claim the backing of
the overwhelming majority of the
Aleppians were being circulated
for signatures prior to presentation
to the High Commissioner when
the authorities took peremptory action to stop the movement as being
of a seditious nature. The grievances
of the Aleppians are that they are
not properly represented in the government, that they pay three-quarters of Syria's taxes and receive no
benefit in return, and that all poblic
improvements are being confined to
Damascus. The petitioners demand
separation from the State of Syria
as a measure of safeguarding their
interests.
i
55
�'
56
'
THE SYRIAN WORLD
About Syria and Syrians
RIHANI ON A LECTURE
TOUR OF THE COUNTRY
INCREASING APPROPRIATIONS
FOR BYBLOS EXCAVATIONS
Our noted traveler and author,
Ameen Rihani, is at present on the
Pacific coast fulfilling lecture engagements with universities, clubs
and societies. In the week of March
10 he gave a series of three lectures
at the University of Illinois on various political and historical topics.
The week following he lectured in
Kansas City and crossed west to
Portland, Oregon, thence proceeding to San Francisco and Los Angeles. Newspaper clippings reaching us from these various sections
through the courtesy of our readers
concur in describing the high degree
of enthusiasm with which Mr. Rihani's addresses are met at every
stage of his journey.
A bill asking for an appropriation
of £S35,000 for excavation work at
Jubail, ancient Byblos, for 1930 was
reported to the Lebanese Representative Assembly and is expected to
be favorably acted upon.
The author of the bill proposes
that about 75 per cent, of the appropriation go to the purchase of
land known to have been the site
of ancient cemeteries, the balance
being devoted to actual excavation
work. This section of Mt. Lebanon
is admittedly very rich in ancient
relics, as Byblos was once a
flourishing kingdom and the seat
of the Phoenicians' most advanced
civilization. In the excavation work
of 1929, relics of immense historical value were recovered and placed
on exhibition at the National Museum of Beirut, which is now one
of the principal places in the itinerary of tourists visiting the country.
The many specimens of exquisite
workmanship in jewelry and pottery executed by the early Phoenicians nearly four thousand years
ago are cause for the greatest
admiration.
SILVER JUBILEE FOR
A MARONITE PRIEST
The congregation of Our Lady of
the Cedars Maronite church in Boston will give a banquet on April
27 in celebration of the twentyfifth anniversary of the ordination
of their pastor, Rev. Stephen Douaihy, to the priesthood.
Father Douaihy has had a most
interesting career. Educated at the
Maronite College in Rome, he became private secretary to the Patriarch upon his return to Lebanon,
and accompanied the prelate to Paris
at the conclusion of the World War
on his political mission.
Father Douaihy came to the
United States in 1920 and was pastor of the Maronite congregation of
Scranton, Pa„ until 1929, when he
was transferred to Boston.
SYRIAN AND LEBANESE
STUDENTS IN FRANCE
An official of the French Ministry
of Education is quoted by a Syrian
paper as saying that the total number of registered Syrian and Lebanese students now in French schools
and universities is 208, of whom 156
are in the city of Paris.
An analysis of the courses of
study taken up by these students
t
MAR
�MARCH, 1930
shows a marked trend towards practical sciences, indicating an awakening to the pressing needs of the
country. While at one time the
studies were almost wholly literary
or artistic, there are now 57 students taking up courses in commerce and industry and 16 studyin%
scientific agriculture. Of medical
and pharmaceutical students there
are 39.
SYRIAN BOY WINS
HIGH SCHOLASTIC RECORD
A reader of The Syrian World
sends us a clipping of a New Bern,
N. C. paper which we are glad to
copy while extending the boy the
heartiest congratulations. Said the
American paper:
"Probably one of the best records,
in the history of American schools,
has been made by Joseph Salem, of
New Bern, North Carolina.
"Joe was born in Mt. Lebanon,
Syria, and came to America with
his parents, when he was nine years
old. At that time 'he could not
speak one word of the English
language, not even "Good morning."
Yet he completed eleven years of
school work in eight years and five
months; always stood at the head
of his class, and not once did he
have to take an examination, being
always exempted because of his
high daily average. For this unusual
record and high standing, a scholarship from the University of North
Carolina was granted him last June.
"Besides being a good student, he
is a gifted linguist, speaking three
languages fluently: English, French
and Syrian.
"Among the offices held by him
during his high-school days were
the following, Member of the National Honor Society; secretary of
the Hi-Y Club; secretary and treas-
57
urer of his freshman class; vice
president of his sophomore class;
treasurer of his junior class; assistant manager and assistant editor
of the Bruin school paper all four
years, and besides being interested
in these activities he worked continuously to help pay for his education."
EXILED DRUZE REBELS
IN DIRE STRAITS
Reient reports from Palestine
state that a son of Sultan Pasha Atrash, leader of the Druze revolt
against the French in Syria during
1925-27, arrived in Haifa and declared in an interview that the condition of the rebels under his father had become well nigh unbearable. Their number is now reduced
to eight hundred souls, counting
men, women and children. They occupy a section of Wadi Sirhan within the boundaries of Nejd, under the
protection of King Ibn Saoud. But
they have run out of provisions and
are reduced to eating the green
leaves of trees. They are in great
need of medical supplies owing to
the prevalence of disease.
HYDROELECTRIC PROJECT
ON THE ORONTES
A concession for the generation
of electricity from the waters of the
river Orontes (Al-Asi) has been
granted to a French company which
immediately started operations and
has now completed the digging of
the canal to a point midway between Horns and Hama, where it
intends to erect its plant. The canal
is six kilometers long, four meters
wide and two meters deep. The waterfall will be from a height of fifty
meters, and it is calculated that
four thousand h. p. could be gener-
�56
THE SYRIAN WORLD
About Syria and Syrians
RIHANI ON A LECTURE
TOUR OF THE COUNTRY
INCREASING APPROPRIATIONS
FOR BYBLOS EXCAVATIONS
Our noted traveler and author,
Ameen Rihani, is at present on the
Pacific coast fulfilling lecture engagements with universities, clubs
and societies. In the week of March
10 he gave a series of three lectures
at the University of Illinois on various political and historical topics.
The week following he lectured in
Kansas City and crossed west to
Portland, Oregon, thence proceeding to San Francisco and Los Angeles. Newspaper clippings reaching us from these various sections
through the courtesy of our readers
concur in describing the high degree
of enthusiasm with which Mr. Rihani's addresses are met at every
stage of his journey.
A bill asking for an appropriation
of £S35,000 for excavation work at
Jubail, ancient Byblos, for 1930 was
reported to the Lebanese Representative Assembly and is expected to
be favorably acted upon.
The author of the bill proposes
that about 75 per cent, of the appropriation go to the purchase of
land known to have been the site
of ancient cemeteries, the balance
being devoted to actual excavation
work. This section of Mt. Lebanon
is admittedly very rich in ancient
relics, as Byblos was once a
flourishing kingdom and the seat
of the Phoenicians' most advanced
civilization. In the excavation work
of 1929, relics of immense historical value were recovered and placed
on exhibition at the National Museum of Beirut, which is now one
of the principal places in the itinerary of tourists visiting the country.
The many specimens of exquisite
workmanship in jewelry and pottery executed by the early Phoenicians nearly four thousand years
ago are cause for the greatest
admiration.
SILVER JUBILEE FOR
A MARONITE PRIEST
The congregation of Our Lady of
the Cedars Maronite church in Boston will give a banquet on April
27 in celebration of the twentyfifth anniversary of the ordination
of their pastor, Rev. Stephen Douaihy, to the priesthood.
Father Douaihy has had a most
interesting career. Educated at the
Maronite College in Rome, he became private secretary to the Patriarch upon his return to Lebanon,
and accompanied the prelate to Paris
at the conclusion of the World War
on his political mission.
Father Douaihy came to the
United States in 1920 and was pastor of the Maronite congregation of
Scranton, Pa., until 1929, when he
was transferred to Boston.
SYRIAN AND LEBANESE
STUDENTS IN FRANCE
An official of the French Ministry
of Education is quoted by a Syrian
paper as saying that the total number of registered Syrian and Lebanese students now in French schools
and universities is 208, of whom 156
are in the city of Paris.
An analysis of the courses of
study taken up by these students
�MARCH, 1930
shows a marked trend towards practical sciences, indicating an awakening to the pressing needs of the
country. While at one time the
studies were almo.st wholly literary
or artistic, there are now 57 students taking up courses in commerce and industry and 16 studyin%
scientific agriculture. Of medical
and pharmaceutical students there
are 39.
SYRIAN BOY WINS
HIGH SCHOLASTIC RECORD
57
uier of his freshman class; vice
president of his sophomore class;
treasurer of his junior class; assistant manager and assistant editor
of the Bruin school paper all four
years, and besides being interested
in these activities he worked continuously to help pay for his education."
EXILED DRUZE REBELS
IN DIRE STRAITS
Reient reports from Palestine
state that a son of Sultan Pasha AtA reader of The Syrian World rash, leader of the Druze revolt
sends us a clipping of a New Bern, against the French in Syria during
N. C. paper which we are glad to 1925-27, arrived in Haifa and decopy while extending the boy the clared in an interview that the conheartiest congratulations. Said the dition of the rebels under his father had become well nigh unbearAmerican paper:
"Probably one of the best records, able. Their number is now reduced
in the history of American schools, to eight hundred souls, counting
has been made by Joseph Salem, of men, women and children. They occupy a section of Wadi Sirhan withNew Bern, North Carolina.
"Joe was born in Mt. Lebanon, in the boundaries of Nejd, under the
Syria, and came to America with protection of King Ibn Saoud. But
his parents, when he was nine years they have run out of provisions and
old. At that time he could not are reduced to eating the green
speak one word of the English leaves of trees. They are in great
language, not even "Good morning." need of medical supplies owing to
Yet he completed eleven years of the prevalence of disease.
school work in eight years and five
months; always stood at the head HYDROELECTRIC PROJECT
of his class, and not once did he
ON THE ORONTES
have to take an examination, being
A concession for the generation
always exempted because of his
of
electricity from the waters of the
high daily average. For this unusual
river
Orontes (Al-Asi) has been
record and high standing, a scholargranted
to a French company which
ship from the University of North
Carolina was granted him last June. immediately started operations and
"Besides being a good student, he has now completed the digging of
is a gifted linguist, speaking three the canal to a point midway belanguages fluently: English, French tween Horns and Hama, where it
intends to erect its plant. The canal
and Syrian.
"Among the offices held by him is six kilometers long, four meters
during his high-school days were wide and two meters deep. The wathe following, Member of the Na- terfall will be from a height of fifty
tional Honor Society; secretary of meters, and it is calculated that
the Hi-Y Club; secretary and treas- four thousand h. p. could be gener-
�58
ated with present facilities. Horns
and Hama are promised electric service by July, 1931, under the terms
of the franchise, but may get it in
the current year if the work is
maintained at its present rate of
progress.
LOSS OF TREASURE
DRIVES SYRIAN MAD
Losing money on stock speculation is not the only reason for insanity or suicide. Here is a novel
reason for driving a Syrian laborer
out of his mind.
While engaged in removing red
dirth in the vicinity of Aleppo, a
laborer noticed a black box which
he thought contained ammunition
left by the Germans and Turks in
their hasty flight from Syria. He
called the gendarmes who, upon
opening the box, found it to contain
forty thousand pounds in gold. The
laborer fainted at the sight of the
glistening yellow metal, and later
lost his reason completely.
SYRIAN PAPER HELPS
FRENCH FLOOD SUFFERERS
Al-Hoda, the Syrian daily of New
York, invited contributions for the
sufferers of the disastrous floods of
Southern France, opening the subscription list itself with a substantial sum. The lists published by AlHoda show that the response to its
appeals from its Syrian and Lebanese readers is both generous and
country-wide. The funds collected
were turned over to the French consul General in New York.
LOCUSTS IN SYRIA
The authorities in Palestine are
making considerable progress in
checking the locust invasion, but
the country is not yet free from
danger.
In Syria the locusts have invaded
THE SYRIAN WORLD
certain districts of Houran and
reached some outlying sections of
the Damascus territory, but have
not reached the G'houta proper.
Aleppo has so far escaped the danger, but the vanguaru of the locust
hordes have made their appearance
at a point sixty miles to the east
of Homs.
OTTOMAN PRINCE
A TAXI DRIVER
A reporter of a Damascus newspaper in Beirut hailed a taxi and
thought that he had seen the driver
sometime, somewhere. When the
driver's Arabic proved unintelligible the reporter addressed him in
Turkish, and it was then that he recognized him as Hassan, the grandson of the Tin-kish Sultan Abdul
Aziz and nephew of the Sultan Abdul Majid. The driver made no attempt to hide his identity, explaining that he was driven to this occupation as the only one open to
him for earning a living.
Shades of Russian nobility in
Paris and other cities of Europe!
SETTLING THE BEDU
There is in the government of
Syria a special department for the
regulation of the affairs of the bedu,
or the nomad Arabs in the country.
This department had laid a program
for the gradual settling of the nomads and the direction of their interests and energies to agriculture.
It is now announced that it plans
the enforcement of this program by
the erection this year of one thousand houses in the district of Deir
Ezzour, which will be turned over
to the Arabs on easy terms as an
inducement for them to settle permanently on the land. They will also
be taught modern methods of agriculture.
�
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
A language of the resource
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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TSW1930_03reducedWM
Title
A name given to the resource
The Syrian World Volume 04, Issue 07
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1930 March
Description
An account of the resource
Volume 4 Issue 07 of The Syrian World published March 1930. Editor Salloum Mokarzel opens the issue with a special article on his visit to the Maronite Patriarch at his summer residence, discussing his opinions on home politics and the religious future of his spiritual children in America. Ameen Rihani then presents a further account of his experiences in Jeddah including interesting discussions with King Hussein, specifically dealing with Koranic Law, and unorthodox banking operations. Followed by a poem by J.D. Carlyle and An Arabian Nights' Story, Kahlil Gibran showcases his thoughts on the meaning of giving and taking, surrounded by his own illustrations. Dr. Salim Y. Alkazin is next, contributing his another one of his poems titled "The Two Answers," followed by another work of poetry by Alice McGeorge. Salloum Mokarzel is featured yet again in this issue with more describing his trip, this time through Southern Lebanon, specifically to Mashgara, Jezzine, Kfarhouna, Al-Mukhtara, Beit Eddeen, and Deir El-Kamar. The issue ends with a poem by Labeebee A. J. Hanna titled "Advice to Rash Youth" in which she discusses the trouble with making quick decisions. The issue is once again closed with excerpts from the Arab press, information on the Causes of Palestine Riots, and more on political developments in Syria.
Subject
The topic of the resource
Arabic literature--History and criticism--Periodicals
Arabs--United States--Periodicals
Lebanese-Americans--United States--Periodicals
Language
A language of the resource
English
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Salloum A. Mokarzel
Syrian-American Press
Source
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New York Public Library
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
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
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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
Alice McGeorge
Ameen Rihani
Kahlil Gibran
Labeebee A.J. Hanna
Lebanon
Maronite Church
New York
Poetry-English
Salim Alkazin
Saudi Arabia