Mary Ajami ماري عجمي | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Native name | ماري عجمي |
| Born | 1888 Damascus, Ottoman Syria |
| Died | 25 December 1965 (aged 76–77) Damascus, Syria |
| Occupation | Journalist, poet |
| Language | Arabic |
| Genre | Poetry, non-fiction |
Mary Ajami (Arabic : ماري عجمي; 1888 – 25 December 1965) was a Syrian poet and pioneering feminist writer in Arabic, who launched the first women's periodical in Western Asia called Al Arus (Arabic: the Bride). [1]
Ajami was born to a large Greek Orthodox Christian family in 1888 and raised in Damascus, modern-day Syria. [1] Her father was Abdallah al-Ajami, a prominent Damascene landowner, businessman and influential figure of the church, whilst her mother was a Syrian woman of Greek descent. [2] She spent her formative years in Damascus, where she received an education from Irish and Russian missionary schools, before studying nursing and graduating from the Syrian Protestant College in Beirut in 1906. [1] [3] Even while she was a student at the Syrian Protestant College, she began teaching as a visiting teacher in Zahlé, Lebanon.
After graduation, she began teaching in Port Said, Egypt. The following year she moved to a school in Alexandria, Egypt before returning to her native Damascus to teach English to students attending the Russian military school there.
Ajami was a writer, frequently publishing her work under the pseudonym of Layla (her mother's name) for fear of reprisals.
Ajami began freelance writing about social and political topics for Muhammad Kurd Ali's weekly newspaper Al Muqtabas and in 1910 began her own periodical Al 'Arus (Arabic: the Bride), which was the first Syrian publication to defend women's rights, and ran for 11 years. As the editor-in-chief, she was able to employ a few educated girls to serve on its editorial board, although she had the young women sign their journalist contributions under an assumed name for their protection from harassment in Syria's male-dominated society. Ajami's first editorial in the new periodical was a manifesto for Syria's emerging feminist movement, dedicating her work
"To those who believe that in the spirit of women in the strength to kill the germs of corruption, and that in her hand is the weapon to rend the gloom of opposition, and in her mouth the solace to lighten human misery."
She personally raised the necessary funds to support the journal, which soon became recognized as "one of the highest quality periodicals in the Arab world." While the journal was a rousing success among the country's female educated elite, it was scorned by conservative Muslim readers who condemned its messages and sought to abolish it.
During World War I, the journal suspended publication and Ajami wrote editorials for the Egyptian newspaper al-Ahrar (Free Patriots), and for al-Islah (Reform), an Arabic newspaper based in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
She was fiercely opposed to the Ottoman Empire, especially after 1915, when authorities in Beirut executed her fiancé, Petro Pauli, for criticizing the occupying military regime of Sultan Mohammed Rashad V. [1]
From 1918 to 1920 she headed the Christian Women's Club, an organization aimed at promoting Arabism amongst the Christians of Damascus and Beirut.
In 1919, she officially restarted publication of al-Arus, but not without controversy. In 1920, religious leaders demanded that Ajami be brought to trial for promoting heresy by publishing a story supporting civil marriage. [1]
In 1920, after the Ottoman Empire collapsed, Ajami founded the Damascus Women's Literary Club and spearheaded the movement to give women the right to vote, going directly to King Faysal I, the first post-Ottoman Syrian ruler. [1] In that same year, she established a weekly salon in her home that was well attended by both men and women, who took that opportunity to discuss politics, philosophy and religious affairs. Her salon was groundbreaking at the time, because allowing men and women to engage in discussions together was unheard of in Syria. She described the salon's aim as "reviving female intelligentsia." [1]
Ajami's successful career was tempered by elements of tragedy in her personal life. For many years, she longed to continue her studies abroad, but her father's death and the outbreak of war prevented her from doing so. [4] Joseph T. Zeidan reminds us that her achievements "must be assessed in the light of formidable obstacles she encountered while struggling to keep her journal alive, not least of which were her father's attempts to persuade her to quit." [5]
In 1947, her poem "The Peasant’s Hope" won first prize on BBC radio in London. [6]
He is the peasant farmer. If not for his struggle,
the basil wouldn’t show its signs of beauty.
He is the heavily burdened bulwark
Upon whose face are the flames of torches.
— Mary Ajami, The Peasant's Hope
Ajami was somewhat of an anomaly for her time, and, like her more famous peer May Ziadeh, Ajami never married. She died on December 25, 1965, and was buried in the St. George Greek Orthodox Church in Damascus’ Bab Sharqi neighborhood. [1]
Fares al-Khoury, the two-time prime minister of Syria, was a frequent visitor to Ajami's literary salon, and compared her to Ziadeh when he said in verse form,
My friends take it from me,
I can say that Mary Ajami
can match with May Ziadeh
For skill and ingenuity. [7]
The Nahda, also referred to as the Arab Awakening or Enlightenment, was a cultural movement that flourished in Arab-populated regions of the Ottoman Empire, notably in Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, and Tunisia, during the second half of the 19th century and the early 20th century.
May Elias Ziadeh was a Palestinian-Lebanese Maronite poet, essayist, and translator, who wrote many different works both in Arabic and in French.
Ghadah Al-Samman is a Syrian writer, journalist and novelist born in Damascus in 1942 to a prominent and conservative Damascene family. Her father was Ahmed Al-Samman, a president of the University of Damascus. She is distantly related to poet Nizar Qabbani, and was deeply influenced by him after her mother died at a very young age.
Aisha Abd al-Rahman was an Egyptian author, editor and professor of literature who published under the pen name Bint al-Shāṭiʾ [Daughter of the Riverbank].
Martyrs' Day is a Syrian and Lebanese national holiday commemorating the Syrian and Lebanese Muslim-Christian Arab nationalists executed in Damascus and Beirut on 6 May 1916 by Jamal Pasha, also known as 'Al Jazzar' or 'The Butcher', the Ottoman wāli of Greater Syria. They were executed in both the Marjeh Square in Damascus and Burj Square in Beirut. Both plazas have since been renamed Martyrs' Square.
Colette Khoury is a Syrian novelist and poet, born in 1931, who is also the granddaughter of former Syrian Prime Minister Faris al-Khoury. Khoury graduated from Damascus University with a bachelor's degree in French literature and she received a diploma from the school of literature in Beirut. Khoury's notability stems from her work in politics and literature. Her work as a writer focuses on love and erotica, a subject that was previously taboo in Syrian literature.
Syrian literature is modern fiction written or orally performed in Arabic by writers from Syria since the independence of the Syrian Arab Republic in 1946. It is part of the historically and geographically wider Arabic literature. Literary works by Syrian authors in the historical region of Syria since the Umayyad era are considered general Arabic literature. In its historical development since the beginnings of compilations of the Quran in the 7th century and later written records, the Arabic language has been considered a geographically comprehensive, standardized written language due to the religious or literary works written in classical Arabic. This sometimes differs considerably from the individual regionally spoken variants, such as Syrian, Egyptian or Moroccan spoken forms of Arabic.
Lebanese Turkmen, also known as the Lebanese Turks, are people of Turkish ancestry that live in Lebanon. The historic rule of several Turkic dynasties in the region saw continuous Turkish migration waves to Lebanon during the Tulunid rule (868–905), Ikhshidid rule (935–969), Seljuk rule (1037–1194), Mamluk rule (1291–1515), and Ottoman rule (1516–1918).
Maryana bint Fathallah bin Nasrallah Marrash, also known as Maryana al-Marrash or Maryana Marrash al-Halabiyah, was a Syrian writer and poet of the Nahda or the Arab Renaissance. She revived the tradition of literary salons in the Arab world and was the first Syrian woman to publish a collection of poetry. She may have been the first woman to write in the Arabic-language daily newspapers.
The tradition of women's literary circles in the Arab world dates back to the pre-Islamic period when the eminent literary figure, Al-Khansa, would stand in the 'Ukaz market in Mecca, reciting her poetry and airing her views on the scholarship of others. From this, a culture of literary criticism emerged among Arab women, and under the Umayyad dynasty, Sukaynah Bint Al-Husayn established the first literary salon in her home. The tradition was revived during the late nineteenth century, as a result of sweeping social, political and economic change within the Ottoman Empire and Europe's increasing political and cultural influence in the region. The initial pioneers of the Arab salon were women from wealthy families in the region of Syria and Egypt, who returned influenced by interaction with European women during their time spent studying abroad and frequenting Parisian salons, or studying in schools run by European or American missionaries. The salon evenings, run by women but attended by both men and women, provided a unique opportunity to have discussions about social, political and literary trends of the day. Though the tradition died out somewhat after the Second World War, it has left a lasting legacy on literary culture and women's issues throughout the Arab world.
The history of Middle Eastern newspaper publishing goes back to the 19th century. The Nahda was an important period for the development of newspaper publishing in the Middle East. During this period, a shift from government and missionary publishing to private publishing occurred. Especially in Egypt and Lebanon, newspapers became intertwined with daily life. Consequently, the rise of newspaper publishing impacted nationalism in Arab countries.
Afifa Karam was a Lebanese-American journalist, novelist, and translator. A writer for the New York City-based Arabic-language daily newspaper Al-Hoda, Karam authored three original Arabic novels as well as a number of Arabic translations of novels from English and French. She was an advocate for women's rights in the Mahjar, or Arab diaspora, and of Arab Feminism.
Zaynab Fawwaz (1860–1914) was a Lebanese women's rights activist, novelist, playwright, poet and historian of famous women. Her novel "حسن العواقب/Ḥusn al-Awaqib", is considered the first novel in Arabic written by a woman. Her play, "الهوى والوفاء/Al-Haawa wa al-Wafa", is the first play written in Arabic by a woman.
Hind Nawfal was a Lebanese Antiochian Greek Orthodox journalist and feminist writer. She was the first woman in the Arab world and the broader MENA area to publish a women's magazine and an early promoter of feminism.
Al-Muqtaṭaf was an Arabic journal of popular science. The journal was published monthly from 1876 to 1952 in Beirut and Cairo with a total of 121 issues. Along with Al-Manar and Al-Hilal, it was one of the Arab world's three most popular journals in the early 20th century.
Nicola Ziadeh was historian and author of Palestinian origin, Lebanese nationality, born in Syria.
Salma al-Haffar Kuzbari was a Syrian writer and translator. She is best known for her literary criticism and biography on the women's rights activist and writer May Ziadeh, as well as for her writing on Spain's Andalusia region, notably the book The Two Eyes of Seville.
Hadiqat al-Akhbar was a weekly newspaper which was published in Beirut in the period 1858–1911 with a two-year interruption. Its subtitle was Ṣaḥīfat Sūriyya wa-Lubnān. The paper was the first private daily in Beirut, the first Arabic newspaper which had a regular literary section and the first weekly Arabic newspaper in the region.
Nadra Haddad was a Syrian poet, and a founding member of The Pen League, the first Arabic-language literary society in North America.
Al Arus, also known as Al Arous was a women's magazine which was one of the earliest feminist publications in the Middle East. It was also the first Arabic women's magazine in Syria. The magazine appeared between 1910 and 1925 with some interruptions. The founder and editor of the magazine was a Syrian woman, Mary Ajami. It was first based in Alexandria, Egypt, and then in Damascus, Syria.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
Media related to Mary Ajami at Wikimedia Commons