Faris Nimr Explained
Faris Nimr (; 1856–1951), was a pioneer Lebanese journalist and intellectual. He cofounded Al Muqattam, an Arabic, Cairo-based newspaper.[1] [2]
Early life and education
Nimr was born in 1856[3] in Hasbaya, Ottoman Empire. He hailed from a Protestant family.[4] His father was killed in the 1860 civil conflict in Mount Lebanon, and he moved with his mother to Beirut, then to Jerusalem. They returned to Hasbaya in 1868.[2]
Nimr graduated from the Syrian College in Beirut in 1874,[5] and worked at the newly created Lee Observatory under Doctor Cornelius Van Dyck, before becoming the observatory manager himself.[2] In 1890 he graduated with a doctorate in philosophy from New York University.[2]
Career and activities
Following his graduation Nimr worked at the American College in Beirut as a lecturer.[6] There he taught chemistry, and one of his pupils was Ilyas Matar.[7] he was a member of the free mason organization.[7] In 1876, he founded the monthly Arabic popular science magazine Al Muqtataf with Yaqub Sarruf in Beirut. They both moved to Cairo in late 1884 where they continued publishing Al-Muqtataf with great success.[2] They managed to restart the magazine after they were permitted to resume its publication by the British authorities in Egypt.[8]
In 1889, Nimr founded Al Muqattam, an Arabic, Cairo-based daily newspaper with Yaacoub Sarrouf and Shahin Makaryus.[2] He became member of the Egyptian Senate.[2] As of 1918 Nimr was a member of the Syrian Welfare Committee of which other members included Suleiman Nasif, Haqqi al-Azm, Rafiq al-Azm and Fawzi al-Bakri.[9]
Personal life and death
One of Nimr's daughters, Katie, married George Antonius, an author and historian.[10] British diplomat Sir Walter Smart married his another daughter, Amy.[11] Nimr's sister, Maryam, married Shahin Makariyus who was a merchant and the founder of a magazine entitled Al Lataif.[12]
Nimr died in 1951.[3] [13]
Notes and References
- Web site: Muhammad Shafiq Ghurbal. Muhammad Shafiq Ghurbal. 1965. فارس نمر. 20 May 2022. موسوعة شبكة المعرفة الريفية. Dar Al Qalam. 25 December 2012. https://archive.today/20121225031959/http://encyc.reefnet.gov.sy/?page=entry&id=202347. dead.
- Web site: Khayr al-Dīn al-Ziriklī. 1980. الأعلام. Who’s who. encyc.reefnet.gov.sy. ar. 2022-05-21. 2012-12-24. https://archive.today/20121224202101/http://encyc.reefnet.gov.sy/?page=entry&id=260246. dead.
- Donald M. Reid. Syrian Christians, the Rags-To-Riches Story, and Free Enterprise. International Journal of Middle East Studies. October 1970. 1. 4. 10.1017/S0020743800000738. 163113257. 360.
- Web site: Leading personalities in Egypt (British diplomatic document). Nasser Library. 18 August 2022. 8 October 1946. 28.
- Donald M. Reid. Farah Antun: The life and times of a Syrian Christian journalist in Egypt. 119. 49371914. . Princeton University. PhD. 1969. 9798658704937.
- The Native Press of Egypt. The Muslim World. October 1917. 7. 4. 415. 10.1111/j.1478-1913.1917.tb01575.x.
- Y. Choueiri. Two Histories of Syria and the Demise of Syrian Patriotism. Middle Eastern Studies. 1987. 23. 4. 498. 10.1080/00263208708700722. 4283206.
- Book: Fawaz Gerges. Making the Arab World: Nasser, Qutb, and the Clash That Shaped the Middle East. 2018. Princeton University Press. Princeton, NJ; Oxford. 9781400890071. 43. Fawaz Gerges.
- Eliezer Tauber. Jewish‐non‐Palestinian‐Arab negotiations: The first phase. Israel Affairs. 2000. 6. 3–4. 170. 10.1080/13537120008719577. 144487385.
- Book: Ann M. Lesch. Philip Mattar. Encyclopedia of the Palestinians. 2005. Facts on File, Inc.. New York. 22. Antonius, George. https://books.google.com/books?id=GkbzYoZtaJMC&pg=PA22. 978-0-8160-6986-6.
- Book: Meir Zamir. The Secret Anglo-French War in the Middle East. Intelligence and Decolonization, 1940-1948 . 2015. Routledge. London; New York. 978-1-315-76542-6. 39.
- Byron D. Cannon. Nineteenth-Century Arabic Writings on Women and Society: The Interim Role of the Masonic Press in Cairo - (al-Lataif, 1885-1895). International Journal of Middle East Studies. 1985. 17. 4. 463–484. 154672274. 10.1017/S0020743800029433.
- Katlyn Quenzer. Writing the Resistance: A Palestinian Intellectual History, 1967-1974. Australian National University. PhD. 1885/155195. 2019. 49. 10.25911/5d5149b41c470.
