Born28 December 1848
Abayh, Deir al-Qamar, Ottoman Syria
Died19 September 1884(1884-09-19) (aged 35)
Bouarij, Zahlé, Ottoman Syria
Resting placeBeirut
Occupation
  • Translator
  • Journalist
  • Writer
LanguageArabic
Period1870–1884
GenreNovel
SubjectHistorical fiction
SpouseHannah Ayyub Thabit
Children2
Relatives

Salim Al Bustani (1848–1884) was a Lebanese journalist, novelist and political figure who edited many publications with his father Butrus. He is known for being the pioneer of the genre of historical novel in Arabic.[1]

Early life and education

Bustani was born in a village, Abayh, in the northwest of Deir al-Qamar on 28 December 1848.[2] He was the second eldest of Butrus al-Bustani and Rahil Ata's nine children.[3] He studied French, English, Turkish and Arabic.[2]

Career and activities

At age 14 Salim became the translator at the American consulate in Beirut in 1862 succeeding his father in the post.[4] Salim resigned from the post 1871 and began to work as an administrator of the National School founded by his father.[2] There he also taught English,[2] history and natural sciences.[5]

Salim had been editing a newspaper, Al Janna, established by him and Butrus in 1870.[2][4] From 1871 he also edited the Al Jinan magazine which was started by his father.[6][7] His column in the magazine was titled Reform.[8]

In addition, Salim was a member of various organizations. He was both a member and vice president of the Syrian Scientific Society. He also served as a member of the Eastern Scientific Society and the Municipality of Beirut.[2]

Personal life and death

Salim was married to Hannah Ayyub Thabit, a daughter of Salim Thabit who was a merchant.[2] They had two children, a son and a daughter.[2]

He died of heart attack at age 35 in the summer house of his father-in-law in Bouarij, Zahlé, on 19 September 1884.[2][9] He was buried in Beirut after the funeral ceremony in the Protestant church.[2]

Work and views

Salim was the author of the following historical novels: Al-Huyām fī jinān al-shām (1870; Arabic: Passion in Syrian Gardens), Zanubiya (1871) and Budur (1872).[1][10] The first one which is about the conquest of Syria by Muslims in the 7th century and was serialized in Al Jinan[10] was one of the earliest novels in Arabic.[11] His other novels were also published in the same title.[12]

Salim was part of the Nahda movement. His articles in Al Jinan and in other publications attempted to make a synthesis between the Ottoman Sultan Abdulmejid's principle of the equality of the Ottoman citizens before the law and the Western concepts.[5] Therefore, he focused on the following topics: division between religion and state and the establishment of a national bond without depending on religious sects and communal groups.[5]

He harshly criticized economic imperialism of the Western countries and initiated a protest against the use of their products in 1870.[13] He argued that there were significant damages caused by this since these countries bought raw materials from the Middle Eastern countries and sold the products made with these materials to the same countries.[13] For him, this cycle was the major reason for the poverty of people and the destruction of local commercial activities.[13]

In regard to the underdevelopment of the Arab nations Salim cited the lack of positivist knowledge as its cause which he regarded as the prerequisite for cultural and technological growth.[14] He was one of the supporters of women's education which his mother, Rahil, attached importance.[9] Salim stated "She who rocks the cradle with her left hand moves the world with her right."[9] He was among the Lebanese intellectuals who advocated the idea of romantic love between individuals with freedom.[13]

References

  1. 1 2 Hala Mohamed Kamel Amin (January 2021). "Alternative Histories in Youssef Ziedan's Azazeel: Historiographic Metafiction in the Contemporary Arabic Historical Novel". Bulletin of the Faculty of Arts. 81 (2): 77. doi:10.21608/JARTS.2021.68428.1119. S2CID 233530993.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Constantin Georgescu (1978). A Forgotten Pioneer of the Lebanese Nahdah: Salim al-Bustani (1848–1884) (PhD thesis). New York University. pp. 49–54. ISBN 979-8-204-67080-8. ProQuest 302884803.
  3. ↑ François Zabbal (2019). Boutros al-Boustani (1819-1883). Pionnier Libanais de la Renaissance Arabe (in French). Casablanca: Centre culturel du livre. p. 24. ISBN 978-9920-677-00-4.
  4. 1 2 Butrus Abu-Manneh (May 1980). "The Christians Between Ottomanism and Syrian Nationalism: The Ideas of Butrus Al-Bustani". International Journal of Middle East Studies. 11 (3): 289, 294. doi:10.1017/S0020743800054647. JSTOR 162662. S2CID 162944945.
  5. 1 2 3 Y. Choueiri (1987). "Two Histories of Syria and the Demise of Syrian Patriotism". Middle Eastern Studies. 23 (4): 497. doi:10.1080/00263208708700722. JSTOR 4283206.
  6. ↑ Ashraf A. Eissa (2000). "Majallat Al Jinan: Arabic Narrative Discourse in the Making". Quaderni di Studi Arabi. 18: 42. JSTOR 25802893.
  7. ↑ Albert Hourani (1983). Arabic Thought in the Liberal Age, 1798-1939. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 245. ISBN 978-0-521-27423-4.
  8. ↑ Stephen Sheehi (August 2005). "Arabic Literary-Scientific Journals: Precedence for Globalization and the Creation of Modernity". Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East. 25 (2): 439. doi:10.1215/1089201X-25-2-439. S2CID 143166875.
  9. 1 2 3 Fruma Zachs (2011). "Subversive Voices of Daughters of the Nahḍa: Alice al-Bustani and Riwayat Saʾiba (1891)". Hawwa. 9 (3): 337, 342. doi:10.1163/156920811X599149.
  10. 1 2 "Al-Huyām fī jinān al-shām novel by Al Bustānī". Encyclopædia Britannica.
  11. ↑ Shmuel Moreh (1975). "An Outline of the Development of Modern Arabic Literature". Oriente Moderno. 55 (1–2): 21. doi:10.1163/22138617-0550102003. JSTOR 25816240.
  12. ↑ Gretchen Head (Fall 2004). "Book review. The Polymath by Bensalem Himmich and Roger Allen". Arab Studies Journal. 12–13 (2–1): 210. JSTOR 27933919.
  13. 1 2 3 4 Stephen Sheehi (May 2007). "A Social History of Early Arab Photography or a Prolegomenon to an Archaeology of the Lebanese Imago". International Journal of Middle East Studies. 39 (2): 186, 190. doi:10.1017/S0020743807070067. JSTOR 30069572. S2CID 232248436.
  14. ↑ Stephen Sheehi (1997). "Failure, modernity, and the works of Hisham Sharabi: Towards a post‐colonial critique of Arab subjectivity". Critique: Critical Middle Eastern Studies. 6 (10): 39. doi:10.1080/10669929708720099.
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