Butrus al-Bustani
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Butrus al-Bustani (
He is considered to be the first
Life
Al-Bustani was born to a
The latter recommended him to the Bishop of
In 1840, after completing his studies at ‘Ayn Warqa’, Al-Bustani moved to
In Beirut, he came into contact with the American Protestant missionaries with whom he worked closely until his death on May 1, 1883. Following his initial employment with the American Protestant Mission in Beirut al-Bustani spent most of his years working for the American Protestant Mission. It was during these years that al-Bustani
thus bringing the number of languages he mastered to nine.He was married to
Role in the Nahda
In the late 1840s, al-Bustani obtained the position of the official dragoman for the American Consulate in Beirut which he held until he passed it on to his son Salim in 1862. Through the 1850s Bustani continued to work closely with the Protestant Missionaries in their attempt of proselytizing and educating Arab Christians in the
Following the
It was during the proceeding years throughout the 1860s that his major contributions to the Nahda emerged. These included a daily newspaper and the first Arabic encyclopedia Muhit al-Muhit (The Ocean of Oceans) and an Arabic dictionary dairat al-ma’arif (dictionary of knowledge). Al-Bustani's intention in these works was to form a common body of knowledge which, though very French, was considered universal. It was at this time that he came to be known famously as the Master and Father of the
Al-Bustani made large strides in forging a nationalism for Arabs by adopting and contextualizing
Education, for Bustani, was the main vehicle to achieve an Arab identity and nationalism and it was only by the mass production of literature and its speedy circuit throughout the Middle East, afforded by the Nahda, that such an identity could be formed. Al-Bustani's years in the Protestant Mission led him to be at odds with educating a people about remote places and histories clearly seen in a quote from a lecture of his on education, "[
Achievements
In the social, national and political spheres, he founded associations intending to form a national élite and launched a series of appeals for unity in his magazine Nafir Suriya.[8]
In the educational field, he taught in the schools of the Protestant missionaries at
Al-Bustani compiled an Arabic dictionary and published eleven volumes of an Arabic encyclopedia with the help of his sons. He wished to spread awareness and appreciation for the Arabic language, hoping to promote the cultural significance of the Middle East in the modern world.[9]
In the cultural/scientific fields, he published a fortnightly review and two daily newspapers. In addition, he began work, together with Drs
His prolific output and groundbreaking work led to the creation of modern Arabic expository prose. While educated by Westerners and a strong advocate of Western technology, he was a fierce secularist, playing a decisive role in formulating the principles of Syrian nationalism (not to be confused with Arab nationalism).
Stephen Sheehi states that al-Bustani's "importance does not lay in his prognosis of Arab culture or his national pride. Nor is his advocacy of discriminately adopting Western knowledge and technology to 'awaken' the Arabs’ inherent ability for cultural success (najah) unique among his generation. Rather, his contribution lies in the act of elocution. That is, his writing articulates a specific formula for native progress that expresses a synthetic vision of the matrix of modernity within Ottoman Syria."[11]
Works on Education
- 'Discourse on Education Given at the National School.' In: Al-Jinan (Beirut), no. 3, 1870.
- 'The National School.' In: Al-Jinan (Beirut), no. 18, 1873.
- 'Discourse on Science among the Arabs', Beirut, 15 February 1859.
- 'Discourse on the Education of Women', given in 1849 at the meeting of members of the Syrian Association and published in the Actes de l'Association syrienne, Beirut, 1852.
- 'Discourse on Social Life', Beirut, 1869.
- Boutros al-Boustani. Textes choises. With a commentary by Fouad Ephrem al-Boustani. Beirut, Publications de l'Institut des Lettres Orientales, 1950. (Collection Al Rawai')
- The writings and speeches of Butrus al-Bustani, either in published or manuscript form, are preserved in the 'Yafeth' Library at the American University of Beirut and available to readers and researchers.
Early Educational Works
The Van Dyck Version of the Bible –the Arabic translation of the Bible
Muhit al-muhit –the Arabic Dictionary
Dairat al-Ma’arif – an Arabic Encyclopedia, 1876[12]
Nafir Suriyya – a magazine
Associations
Al-Bustani along with Nasif –al-Yajizi and Mikhail Mishaqa played a crucial role in the founding of three associations:
- the Syrian Association (1847–52)
- the Syrian Scientific Association (1868)
- the Secret Association (1875)
Masonic activities
He belonged around 1865 to the first lodge of Lebanese Freemasonry, the lodge "Palestine N ° 415" in the East of Beirut, lodge founded in Beirut on May 1861 by the Grand Lodge of Scotland.[13]
References
- ISBN 978-1-136-29301-6.
- ISBN 9780521274234.
- ^ "History | Boustani Congress". 2020-11-30. Archived from the original on 2020-11-30. Retrieved 2023-12-09.
- ^ "La familia y 30.000 más | elmundo.es". www.elmundo.es. Retrieved 2024-02-09.
- ^ ISBN 9780520971158.
- ^ ISBN 978-9920-677-00-4.
- ^ Bianka Speidl (2011). "Distance in vicinity: Beirut's Zuqaq el-Blat, a place of transformation, conflict and co-existence". Études sur la Région Méditerranéenne. 20: 37.
- ^ a b Prospects: the quarterly review of comparative education(Paris, UNESCO: International Bureau of Education), vol. XXIII, no. 1/2, 1993, p. 125-133.
- ^ William L. Cleveland
- ^ Notes from the website of the American University of Beirut
- ^ Stephen Sheehi, "Butrus al-Bustani: Syria's Ideologue of the Age," in "The Origins of Syrian Nationhood: Histories, Pioneers, and Identity", edited by Adel Bishara. London: Routledge, 2011, pp. 57-78
- OCLC 44851625.
- ISBN 978-1985235090.
Further reading
- Rana Issa, "The Arabic Language and Syro-Lebanese National Identity Searching in Buṭrus Al-Bustānī's Muḥīṭ Al-Muḥīṭ," in "Journal of Semitic Studies", October 2017, pp. 465–484.
- Britannica article
- William L. Cleveland, A History of the Modern Middle East. Westview Press, 2013, pp. 119.
- Stephen Sheehi, "Butrus al-Bustani: Syria's Ideologue of the Age," in "The Origins of Syrian Nationhood: Histories, Pioneers, and Identity", edited by Adel Bishara. London: Routledge, 2011, pp. 57–78.
- Stephen Sheehi, Foundations of Modern Arab Identity, Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2006.