The Women of the Arabs

by Henry Harris Jessup

In the year 1847, a Literary Society was formed in Beirût, through the influence of Drs. Thomson, Eli Smith, Van Dyck, De Forest and Mr. Whiting, which continued in operation for about six years, and numbered among its members the leading men of all the various native communities. Important papers were read on various scientific and social subjects. The missionaries had been laboring for years to create an enlightened public sentiment on the subject of female education, contending against social prejudices, profound ignorance, ecclesiastical tyranny and selfish opposition, and at length the fruit of their labors began to appear. In the following articles may be seen something of the views of the better class of Syrians. The first was read before the Beirût Literary Society, Dec. 14, 1849, by Mr. Butrus Bistany, who, as stated above, married Raheel, and is now the head of a flourishing Academy in Beirût, and editor of three Arabic journals. I have translated only the salient points of this long and able paper:—

We have already spoken of woman in barbarous lands. The Syrian women, although better off in some respects than the women of barbarous nations, are still in the deepest need of education and elevation, since they stand in a position midway between the barbarous and the civilized. How few of the hundreds of thousands of women in Syria know how to read! How few are the schools ever established here for teaching women! Any one who denies the degradation and ignorance of Syrian women, would deny the existence of the noonday sun. Do not men shun even an allusion to women, and if obliged to speak of them, do they not accompany the remark with "a jellak Allah," as if they were speaking of a brute beast, or some filthy object? Are they not treated among us very much as among the barbarians? To what do they pay the most attention? Is it not to ornament and dress, and refining about styles of tatooing with the "henna" and "kohl?" What do they know about the training of children, domestic economy and neatness of person, and the care of the sick? How many abominable superstitions do they follow, although forbidden by their own religions? Are not the journals and diaries of travellers full of descriptions of the state of our women? Does not every one, familiar with the state of society and the family among us, know all these things, and mourn over them, and demand a reform? Would that I might awaken among the women the desire to learn, that thus they might be worthy of higher honor and esteem!

"Woman should be instructed in religion. This is one of her highest rights and privileges and her bounden duty.

"She should be taught in her own vernacular tongue, so as to be able to express herself correctly, and use pure language. Woman should learn to write.

"She should be taught to read. How is it possible for woman to remember all her duties, religious and secular, through mere oral instruction? But a written book, is a teacher always with her, and in every place and circumstance. It addresses her without a voice, rebukes her without fear or shame, answers without sullenness and complaint. She consults it when she wishes, without anxiety and embarrassment, and banishes it if not faithful or satisfactory, or even burns it without crime!

"Why forbid woman the use of the only means she can have of sending her views and feelings where the voice cannot reach? Now when a woman wishes to write a letter, she must go, closely veiled to the street, and hire a professional scribe to write for her, a letter which she cannot read, and which may utterly misrepresent her!

"Woman should also have instruction in the training of children. The right training of children is not a natural instinct. It is an art, and a lost art among us. It must be learned from the experience and observation of those who have lived before us; and where do we now find the woman who knows how to give proper care to the bodies and souls of her children?"

Mr. Bistany then speaks of the importance of teaching woman domestic economy, sewing, cooking, and the care of the sick, as well as geography, arithmetic, and history, giving as reasons for the foregoing remarks, that the education of woman will benefit herself, her husband, her children and her country.

"How can she be an intelligent wife, a kind companion, a wise counsellor, a faithful spouse, aiding her husband, lightening his sufferings, training his children, and caring for his home, without education? Without education, her taste is corrupt. She will seek only outward ornament, and dress, and painting, as if unsatisfied with her Creator's work; becoming a mere doll to be gazed at, or a trap to catch the men. She will believe in countless superstitions, such as the Evil Eye, the howling of dogs, the crying of foxes, etc., which are too well known to need mention here. He who would examine this subject, should consult that huge unwritten book, that famous volume called "Ketab en Nissa," the "Book of the Women," a work which has no existence among civilized women; or ask the old wives who have read it, and taught it in their schools of superstition.