Wikipedia

Francis Marrash

Francis bin Fathallah bin Nasrallah Marrash(Arabic:فرنسيس بن فتح الله بن نصر الله مرّاش,ALA-LC:Fransīs bin Fatḥ Allāh bin Naṣr Allāh Marrāsh;1835,[1]1836,[2][a]or 1837[3][b]– 1873[5]or 1874[1]), also known asFrancis al-MarrashorFrancis Marrash al-Halabi,was aSyrianscholar,[6]publicist,[6]writer and poet of theNahdaor the Arab Renaissance, and a physician. Most of his works revolve around science, history and religion, analysed under anepistemologicallight. He traveled throughout West Asia and France in his youth, and after some medical training and a year of practice in his nativeAleppo,during which he wrote several works, he enrolled in a medical school inParis;yet, declining health and growing blindness forced him to return to Aleppo, where he produced more literary works until his early death.

Francis Marrash
Native name
فرنسيس بن فتح الله بن نصر الله مرّاش
Born1835, 1836 or 1837
Aleppo,Aleppo Eyalet,Ottoman Syria
Died1873 or 1874
Aleppo,Aleppo Vilayet,Ottoman Syria
Occupation
  • Scholar
  • publicist
  • writer
  • poet
  • physician
LanguageArabic
PeriodModern (19th century)
Genres
Literary movementNahda
Relatives

Historian Matti Moosa considered Marrash to be the first truly cosmopolitan Arab intellectual and writer of modern times. Marrash adhered to the principles of theFrench Revolutionand defended them in his own works, implicitly criticizingOttoman ruleinWest AsiaandNorth Africa.He was also influential in introducingFrench romanticismin theArab world,especially through his use of poetic prose andprose poetry,of which his writings were the first examples in modernArabic literature,according toSalma Khadra JayyusiandShmuel Moreh.His modes of thinking and feeling, and ways of expressing them, have had a lasting influence on contemporary Arab thought and on theMahjari poets.

Life

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Background and education

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Francis Marrash was born inAleppo,a city of Ottoman Syria (present-day Syria), to an oldMelkitefamily of merchants known for their literary interests.[7]Having earned wealth and standing in the 18th century, the family was well established in Aleppo,[8]although they had gone through troubles: a relative of Francis, Butrus Marrash, was killed by thewali's troops in the midst of aCatholic–Orthodox clashin April 1818.[9]Other Melkite Catholics were exiled from Aleppo during the persecutions, among them the priest Jibrail Marrash.[10][c]Francis' father, Fathallah, tried to defuse thesectarianconflict by writing a treatise in 1849, in which he rejected theFilioque.[12]He had built up a large private library[13]to give his three children Francis,AbdallahandMaryanaa thorough education, particularly in the field of Arabic language and literature.[14]

Aleppo was then a major intellectual center of theOttoman Empire,featuring many thinkers and writers concerned with the future of the Arabs.[6]It was in the French missionary schools that the Marrash family learntArabicwith French and other foreign languages (Italian and English).[6]But Francis at first studied the Arabic language and its literature privately.[15]At the age of four years, Marrash had contractedmeasles,and had ever since suffered from eye problems that had kept worsening over time.[16]Hoping to find a treatment, his father had therefore taken him to Paris in 1850; Francis stayed there for about a year, after which he was sent back to Aleppo while his father remained in Paris.[17][d]In 1853, Francis accompanied his father once again, on a business trip of several months toBeirut,where there was a noticeable presence and cultural influence of Europeans.[19]Francis experienced similar cultural contact later on, when he received private tutoring in medicine for four years under a British physician, in Aleppo—he had by then developed a keen interest in science, and in medicine in particular.[20]At the same time, he wrote and published several works.[21]Marrash practiced medicine for about a year;[15]however, deeming it safer for his trade to become a state-licensed physician, he went to Paris in 1866 so as to continue his medical education at a school.[20]But his fragile health and his growing blindness forced him to interrupt his studies within a year after his arrival.[15]He returned to Aleppo completely blind, but still managed to dictate his works.[6]

Literary career

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Ghabat al-haqq

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Title page of an 1881 reprint ofGhabat al-haqq

Around 1865, Marrash publishedGhabat al-haqq( "The Forest of Truth" or "The Forest of Justice" ), an allegory about the conditions required to establish and maintain civilization and freedom.[22][e]This allegory relates the apocalyptic vision of a war between a Kingdom of Liberty and a Kingdom of Slavery, resolved by the capture of the latter's king and a subsequent trial before the King of Liberty, the Queen of Wisdom, the Vizier of Peace and Fraternal Love, the Commander of the Army of Civilization, with the Philosopher from the City of Light—who represents the author—as counsel.[26]In this work, Marrash expressed ideas of political and social reforms,[f]highlighting the need of the Arabs for two things above all: modern schools and patriotism "free from religious considerations".[28]In 1870, when distinguishing the notion of fatherland from that of nation and applying the latter to theregion of Syria,Marrash would point to the role played by language, among other factors, in counterbalancing religious and sectarian differences, and thus, in defining national identity.[29]

Although Marrash's poetical expression lacked the legal meticulousness found in works fromEnlightened Europe,[30]orientalistShmuel Morehhas stated that Marrash became, withGhabat al-haqq,"the first Arab writer to reflect the optimism andhumanisticview of 18th-century Europe. This view stemmed from the hope that education, science and technology would resolve such problems of humanity as slavery, religious discrimination, illiteracy, disease, poverty, war, and other scourges of mankind, and it gave utterance to his hope for brotherhood and equality among peoples. "[31]Yet, his views on freedom differed from those of the French revolutionists and of his Middle Eastern contemporaries; indeed, he considered pleading for freedom on the basis of natural analogy to be superficial, for even nature responds to its own set of rules, according to Marrash.[32]As a consequence, nothing in the universe may yearn for liberty without satisfying essential rules and needs that guarantee its existence.[32]Being one of these, the need for progress may therefore justify the abolition of any restriction that does not serve as a regulator for a good system.[32]In light of this reasoning, and in reference to the ongoingAmerican Civil War,he thus inGhabat al-haqqsupported the abolition of slavery.[33]

It is by Love that the whole world is maintained, [by Love all things move,] by Love each creature perpetuates itself separately, and by Love the whole preserves its parts [and so forth]. [...] He who calls Love the goddess of human society is not wrong, because of the strange effects and miraculous impressions produced by her among men. If a statue of her were to [be created] and set upon the altar of the mind, it would take the form of a woman who is all fair, without one blemish.

—Excerpt fromGhabat al-haqq,translated byKhalil Hawi[34]

But the significance of this work also lay in Marrash's attempt to blend European thought with his own reading of the Christian belief in universal love.[35]Indeed, he had tried to reconcile his philosophical understanding of the concept of liberty with his belief in the benevolence of the Catholic Church's authority.[36]As stated byNazik Saba Yared:

He argued that only the spiritual kingdom [i.e. the kingdom centered on religion] could curb evil [...] and consequently guarantee the freedom of man. Love is one of the pillars of Christianity, and Marrash, like someSufisand Romantics, considered it to be the basis of civilization, indeed of the entire universe [...]. Since love, for Marrash, was the general law, and freedom meant participation in that law, it followed that freedom would be inseparable from love and religion.[30]

Later writings

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Title page of an 1883 reprint ofMashhad al-ahwal

In 1867, Marrash publishedRihlat Baris,an account of his second journey to Paris.[21]The book begins with a description of his progress from Aleppo toİskenderun,Latakia,Tripoli,Beirut,Jaffa,Alexandria,Cairo,and then back to Alexandria from which he had boarded a ship toMarseille,where he arrived in October 1866.[37]The Arab cities had inspired in him revulsion and indifference, except Alexandria and Cairo, whereIsmail Pashahad already begun modernization projects.[38]He had then travelled through France, with a stopover inLyonbefore ending up in Paris.[38]Marrash was fascinated by France, and by Paris the most; everything he described in his account, from theParis Exhibition of 1867togas lightingin the streets, served to praise the accomplishments of Western civilization.[39]InMashhad al-ahwal( "The Witnessing of the Stages of Human Life" ), published in 1870, Marrash would again compare the East and the West, writing that "while the East sank deeper into darkness, the West embraced light".[40]The optimism he had formerly expressed about the first reform currents under the reign ofSultan Abdülazizin the Ottoman Empire[g]gave way to pessimism inMashhad al-ahwal,as he realized these reforms were superficial and that those he had hoped for would not soon come into being.[42]Yet, inDurr al-sadaf fi ghara'ib al-sudaf(Pearl Shells in Relating Strange Coincidences), which he published two years later, he depicted the Lebanese social life of his day and criticised the blind imitation of Western customs and the use of the French language in everyday life.[43]

Throughout his life, Marrash composed many essays about science (especially mathematics), and about education,[44]a subject which mattered a lot to him; indeed, he wrote inGhabat al-haqqthat "without the education of the mind, man is a mindless beast".[45]He also wrote many articles in the popular press;[46]in those published inButrus al-Bustani's journalAl-Jinan,he showed himself favourable to women's education, which he restricted however to reading, writing, and a little bit of arithmetic, geography and grammar.[21]In an 1872 issue ofAl-Jinan,he wrote that it is not necessary for a woman "to act like a man, neglect her domestic and family duties, or that she should consider herself superior to the man"; he nonetheless closely followed his sister's studies.[6]Marrash also condemned Arab men's severe treatment of their wives and daughters.[47]In his later works, he tried to demonstrate the existence of God and of the divine law; theSharia,as he conceived it, was not restricted to the sphere of theIslamiclaw alone.[6]

Works

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List

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Title page of an 1872 print ofMir'at al-hasna'
  • Dalīl al-ḥurrīyah al-insānīyah(Guide to Human Liberty), 1861.[21]
  • Al-Mirʼāh al-ṣafīyah fī al-mabādiʼ al-ṭabīʻīyah(The Clear Mirror of Natural Principles), 1861.[21]
  • Taʻzīyat al-makrūb wa-rāḥat al-matʻūb(Consolation of the Anxious and Repose of the Weary One), 1864—pessimistic discourse on nations of the past.[21]
  • Ghābat al-ḥaqq fī tafṣīl al-akhlāq al-fāḍilah(The Forest of Truth in Detailing Cultured Manners), c. 1865.[48]
  • Riḥlat Bārīs(Journey to Paris), 1867.[21]
  • Kitāb dalīl al-ṭabīʻah(Guide to Nature), c. 1867.[49][h]
  • Al-Kunūz al-fannīyah fī al-rumūz al-Maymūnīyah(Artistic Treasures Concerning the Symbolic Visions of Maymun), 1870—poem of almost 500 verses.[21]
  • Mashhad al-aḥwāl(The Witnessing of the Stages of Human Life), 1870—collection of poems and short works in rhymed prose.[50]
  • Durr al-ṣadaf fī gharāʼib al-ṣudaf(Pearl Shells in Relating Strange Coincidences), 1872—a romance with songs for which he supplied the tunes.[51]
  • Mirʼāt al-ḥasnāʼ(The Mirror of the Beautiful One), 1872.[21]
  • Shahādat al-ṭabīʻah fī wujūd Allāh wa-al-sharīʻah(Nature's Proofs for the Existence of God and the Divine Law), 1892 (posthumous).[21]

Writings published in periodicals:

Title Periodical Date Translated title
الكون العاقل Al-Jinan August 1870(16)
القرن التاسع عشر Al-Jinan September 1870(18)
التمدن والمتوحش Al-Jinan October 1870(20)
النور[١] Al-Jinan December 15, 1871(2)
النور[٢] Al-Jinan February 1, 1871(3)
الجرائد Al-Jinan March 1, 1871(5)
سياحة العقل Al-Jinan April 15, 1871(8)
رسالة من حلب Al-Jinan July 15, 1871(14)
السلوك Al-Jinan September 15, 1871(18)
يوم باريز Al-Jinan March 1, 1872(5)
موشح Al-Jinan March 15, 1872(6)
الأمانة Al-Jinan April 15, 1872(8)
المرأة بين الخشونة والتمدن Al-Jinan September 1, 1872(17) Woman between Coarseness and Civilization
في تربية النساء Al-Jinan November 15, 1872(22) On the Education of Women[4]
الأعيان Al-Jinan February 15, 1873(4)
الانسان Al-Jinan January 1, 1874(1)
حل لغز عبدالمجيد أفندي ناميه Al-Jinan April 15, 1874(8)

Style

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Mention no longer the driver on his night journey and the wide striding camels, and give up talk of morning dew and ruins. [...]
I no longer have any taste for love songs on dwellings which already went down in seas of [too many] odes. [...]
So, too, theghada,whose fire, fanned by the sighs of those enamored of it, cries out to the poets: "Alas for my burning!"[i][...]
If a steamer leaves with my friends on sea or land, why should I direct my complaints to the camels?

—Excerpt fromMashhad al-ahwal,translated byShmuel Moreh[31]

Marrash often included poems in his works, written inmuwashshahandzajalforms according to the occasion.[53]Shmuel Moreh has stated that Marrash tried to introduce "a revolution in diction, themes, metaphor and imagery in modern Arabic poetry",[54][j]sometimes even mocking conventional poetic themes.[56]In the introduction to his poetry bookMir'at al-hasna'(The Mirror of the Beautiful One), which was first published in 1872, Marrash rejected even thetraditional genres of Arabic poetry,particularlypanegyricsandlampoons.[57]His use of conventional diction for new ideas marked the rise of a new stage in Arabic poetry which was carried on by theMahjaris.[53]Shmuel Moreh has also considered some passages fromGhabat al-haqqandRihlat Baristo be prose poetry, while Salma Khadra Jayyusi has described his prosaic writing as "often Romantic in tone, rising sometimes to poetic heights, declamatory, vivid, colourful and musical", calling it the first example of poetic prose in modern Arabic literature.[58]

Legacy

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Portrait of Francis Marrash byKahlil Gibran,c. 1910

Kahlil Gibranwas a great admirer of Marrash,[59]whose works he had read atal-Hikma Schoolin Beirut.[60]According to Shmuel Moreh, Gibran's own works echo Marrash's style and "many of [his] ideas on enslavement, education, women's liberation, truth, the natural goodness of man, and the corrupted morals of society".[61]Khalil Hawihas referred to Marrash's aforementioned philosophy of universal love as having left a deep impression on Gibran.[62]Moreover, Khalil Hawi has stated that many of Marrash's recurring expressions became stock images for Arab writers of the 20th century: he has mentioned, for example, "the valleys of mental contemplation", "the wings of thoughts", "solicitudes and dreams", "the veils of history", "the Kingdom of the Spirit", "the nymphs of the forest, the spring and the dawn", "golden diadems", "the jewels of light", "the storms of days and nights", and "the smoke of revenge and the mist of anger".[62]

Notes

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  1. ^Jurji Zaydanprovided the date of "June 29".[2]
  2. ^Sharon Halevi and Fruma Zachs referred to an obituary of Marrash published in an 1897 issue ofAl-Hilal.[4]
  3. ^Little is known about the lives of Butrus Marrash and Jibrail Marrash. Butrus was married by the time he was killed, and the name of his father was Nasrallah Marrash;Niqula al-Turkwrote a funeral ode for him.[11]
  4. ^Marrash's father seems to have been chosen by the Greek Orthodox Church "to collect aid from the governments and churches" of "various countries" on behalf of Aleppine Christians after themassacre of Aleppo of 1850.[18]
  5. ^The first edition ofGhabat al-haqqwas printed by theMaronitesof Aleppo.[23]After Marrash's death, it was reprinted in Cairo in 1880 or 1881, and in Beirut in 1881.[24]A revised and prefaced edition byAbd al-Masih al-Antakiwas printed in Cairo in 1922; the editor removed some grammatical errors and colloquial expressions found in the work.[25]
  6. ^For example, he called for the introduction of representative democracy withequal suffrage,equality before the law,the development of infrastructure, support for trade and commerce, state funds for inventors, and the regular maintenance of buildings and public space.[27]
  7. ^In 1861, shortly before Abdülaziz's ascension to the throne, Marrash had already published a poetic eulogy toMehmed Fuad Pasha(an influential Ottoman statesman in theTanzimatera) in the 7 February issue ofHadiqat al-Akhbar(the first bi-weekly newspaper in Beirut).[41]
  8. ^This work was serialized in one of theOttoman official journals.[49]
  9. ^The charcoal of theghadatree (Haloxylon persicum) was frequently mentioned in classical Arabic poetry as retaining its fire a great length of time.[52]
  10. ^For example, Marrash tried to derive new poetic images from modern inventions and scientific discoveries.[55]In a poem from his collectionMir'at al-hasna',he thus wrote that "the passing of the day in a life span is speedy like the wheels of a train in the desert"; in another poem, he spoke of the "electricity of the languor in the eyelids" (translations by Shmuel Moreh).[55]

References

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  1. ^abAl-Ḥimṣī 1925,p. 20.
  2. ^abZaydān 1922,p. 253.
  3. ^Halevi & Zachs 2015,p. 24.
  4. ^abHalevi & Zachs 2015,p. 172.
  5. ^Zaydān 1922,p. 253;Halevi & Zachs 2015,p. 24.
  6. ^abcdefgTomiche 1991,p. 598.
  7. ^Wielandt 1992,p. 119;Zeidan 1995,p. 50.
  8. ^Wielandt 1992,p. 119;Hafez 1993,p. 274.
  9. ^Wielandt 1992,p. 120;Charon 1903,p. 115;Kuroki 1993,pp. 6–7.
  10. ^Charon 1903,p. 115.
  11. ^Wielandt 1992,p. 120;Charon 1903,p. 115.
  12. ^Wielandt 1992,p. 120.
  13. ^Zeidan 1995,p. 50.
  14. ^Wielandt 1992,p. 122;Tomiche 1991,p. 598.
  15. ^abcMoosa 1997,p. 185.
  16. ^Tomiche 1991,p. 598;El-Enany 2006,p. 22.
  17. ^Wielandt 1992,p. 122.
  18. ^Al-Shidyaq 2014,pp. 301, 551.
  19. ^Zaydān 1922,p. 253;Wielandt 1992,p. 122.
  20. ^abWielandt 1992,p. 123.
  21. ^abcdefghijTomiche 1991,p. 599.
  22. ^Wielandt 1992,p. 124;Hourani 1983,p. 247.
  23. ^Al-Qaʽīd 2000.
  24. ^Wielandt 1992,p. 124.
  25. ^Hawi 1982,p. 58;Wielandt 1992,p. 124.
  26. ^Khūrī 1983,p. 31;Ostle 2008,p. 156;Moreh 1988,p. 93.
  27. ^Wielandt 1992,pp. 129–130, 135.
  28. ^Moreh 1988,p. 95;Hourani 1983,p. 247.
  29. ^Suleiman 2003,p. 114.
  30. ^abYared 1996,p. 22.
  31. ^abMoreh 1988,p. 93.
  32. ^abcKhūrī 1983,p. 50.
  33. ^Wielandt 1992,p. 136;Khūrī 1983,p. 50.
  34. ^Hawi 1982,pp. 59–60.
  35. ^Jayyusi 1977,p. 23;Bushrui & Jenkins 2001,pp. 54–55.
  36. ^Hawi 1982,p. 58.
  37. ^El-Enany 2006,p. 22;Marrāsh 2004,pp. 27–36.
  38. ^abEl-Enany 2006,p. 23.
  39. ^El-Enany 2006,pp. 23, 215.
  40. ^Tomiche 1991,p. 599;El-Enany 2006,p. 23.
  41. ^Hanssen 2005,p. 38.
  42. ^Khūrī 1983,p. 31.
  43. ^Moreh 1976,p. 44;Moreh 1988,p. 96.
  44. ^Eldem, Goffman & Masters 1999,p. 77.
  45. ^Algazy 1990,p. 480.
  46. ^Moosa 1997,pp. 185–186.
  47. ^Yared 1996,pp. 53–54.
  48. ^Tomiche 1991,p. 599;Wielandt 1992,p. 124.
  49. ^abAl-Azmeh 2009,p. 120.
  50. ^Tomiche 1991,p. 599;Moreh 1976,p. 44;Wielandt 1992,p. 135.
  51. ^Tomiche 1991,p. 599;Moreh 1988,p. 96.
  52. ^Mac Guckin de Slane 1843,p. 453.
  53. ^abMoreh 1976,p. 44.
  54. ^Moreh 1976,p. 45.
  55. ^abMoreh 1988,p. 42.
  56. ^Moreh 1988,p. 34.
  57. ^Somekh 1992,p. 44.
  58. ^Moreh 1976,p. 292;Jayyusi 1977,p. 23.
  59. ^Moreh 1976,p. 45;Jayyusi 1977,p. 23.
  60. ^Bushrui & Jenkins 2001,p. 55.
  61. ^Moreh 1988,p. 95.
  62. ^abHawi 1982,p. 61.

Sources

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Further reading

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