Under Costruction

Dr. Khalil Saadeh


Collected Works of Dr. Khalil Saadeh



Novels:

- Prince Murad or the Syrian Prince: Published in London in 1893 (English)

- Ceasar and Cleopatra: Published in London in 1895 (English)

- Secrets of the Russian Revolution: Published in Cairo in 1905 (Arabic)

- Anthony and Cleopatra: Published in Brazil, n.d. (Arabic/English)

- Secrets of the Bastille: Published in Cairo in 1906 (Arabic)

- The Elegant Circusion: Published in Cairo in 1908 (Arabic)

Books:

- The Prevention of Pulmonary Tu-berculosis and its ways of Treatment: Published in Cairo in 1905 (Arabic)

- Saadeh's Lexicon: Arabic-English lexicon published in Cairo in 1911.

- Nublah fi Kannana: Istanbul 1883 (Arabic)

- Arabic Literature: Published in Cairo in 1886 (Arabic - al-Rabittah: A Collection of Articles published in Brazil in 1971.

Translations:

- The Gospel of Barnabus: Published in Cairo in 1908 - Appathia, Published in Cairo, n.d.

Basic References

- Ali Hamie, Khalil Saadeh: L'homme et L'oeuvre 1857-1934, PhD Dissertation, University of Paris, Sorbonne, 1986. - Nawaf Hardan, Al-Rabittah, Sao Paulo, 1971.

- A. Saadeh, Complete Works, Vol. 2, Beirut, 1982.

- Badr el-Hage, The Unknown Works of Khalil Saadeh, London, n.d. - Adel Beshara, "Khalil Saadeh: Nationalist Crusader," Middle East Quarterly, Vol. 3, Number 9, 1996.


4.1: Dr. Khalil Saadeh: A Nationalist Crusader

By Adel Beshara

During the nineteenth century, a small group of writers, who were set apart from those among whom they were living by education and experience, started a literary re-vival in the Arab East. One of the leading intellectual figures in this revival was Khalil Sa'adeh. whose ideas had a certain intrinsic inter-est. but none of whom have been fully explored. Dr. Sa'adeh, as he is generally known, belonged to that group of writers whose ideas served as forces in the process of change which gave the Arab East a new lease on life. Born in 1857, in the Leba-nese mountain village of Shweir. Khalil Saadeh studied at the Syr-ian Protestant College (currently the American University of Bei-rut). In those years, young Saadeh gave two indications that he would not be motivated purely by the desire for an average career. Firstly, he was elected as the official spokesman for the "Student Movement" which formed in 1882 to persuade the Ottoman authorities to recog-nize the medical degree offered by the university. This was the first major indication of the rebellious tendency in Khalil Saadeh's per-sonality. Secondly, despite his academic specialization and work in the field of medical science. Khalil Saadeh took a keen interest in the social and intellectual issues of the day. Indeed, his first article. aptly entitled "The backwardness of our Country and the Prospects for advancement," was published in al-Jinan, the Beirut periodical issued by Butrus Bustani. When political conditions in Syria suddenly turned sour under Hamid, Dr. Saadeh fled to Egypt along with many other Syrian in-tellectuals adversely affected by Hamid's repressive policies. At the time, the Syrians constituted a small but highly influential community in Egypt. Many of them were suc-cessful entrepreneurs and prominent thinkers who dominated the intel-lectual field. Their psychology bore on Khalil Saadeh in several ways. First of all. it enabled him to gain some sense of solidarity with other members of his community. More importantly. it made him more aware and appreciative of his na-tional background. For, according to Thomas Philipp, Syrians who had arrived in Egypt during the last two decades of the nineteenth century had to realize that they would remain marginal and barely tolerated in Egyptian national poli-tics. As emigrants in a foreign surrounding, they had, indeed, been made aware of their 'Syrianness.'" In Cairo, Dr. Saadeh led a life of intense intellectual produc-tivity and nationalist militancy. In addition to his medical writings (his first medical book was entitled The Prevention of Pulmonary Tu-berculosis and its ways of Treatment), he was a novelist (in English his novels included: Prince Murad, Ceasar and Cleopatra, and Anthony and Cleopatra), a histo-rian (he wrote two major studies. one on the Secrets of the Russian Revolution of 1905 and the other on the French Revolution - Mys-tery of the Bastille - which he described as a turning point in modern history), a linguist (his was the first major English-Arabic dic-tionary) an editorialist (he contributed to English and Arabic newspapers including The London Time.s and al-Ahram in Cairo), and a translator. The writings of Dr. Saadeh was a fragment of the autobiogra-phy of his age. It embodied both the force of nationalism and the spirit of rational socialism. Strangely enough, the most interesting aspect of it came from an unusual source. While he was in Cairo, Dr. Saadeh was appointed as a correspondent to The London Times. This en-hanced both his interest and skills in the English language and. in the long run, motivated him to publish. in 1919 a two-volume Arabic-Eng-lish dictionary entitled Saadeh's Lexicon. Although it took only two years to complete, the Lexicon was a fairly extensive work which in-troduced into the Arabic language the current terminologies in Sci-ence and the Humanities. In recognition of this outstanding achievement the Khedive of Egypt bestowed upon him the title of Bey. Saadeh 's exile in Egypt was not free from harassment and un-certainty; yet he always looked back on it with nostalgia. The most con-troversial part of it occurred soon after the appearance of the Gospel of Barnabus which he translated into Arabic. In the introduction to Barnabus, Dr. Saadeh wrote: I started translating this book which is called the Gospel of Barnabus well aware of the re-sponsibility that I had undertook. My aim was to serve historical studies and of course our lan-guage which is perhaps the most logical medium into which this work should be translated This is the first time that this hook has come out in the Arabic language. It is a gospel about which schol-ars and historians have differed sharply. In thses closing comments. though. I do have to stress that in this introduction all my discus-sions are purely scientific and historical in orientation and that I have been scrupulous to avoid all religious controversies which I left to those who are better equipped to deal with them.

Despite this unequivocal explanation. the publication of Barnabus in Arabic was met with some scepticism due largely to re-ligious sensitivity. The late Rashid Rida inflamed the public by pref-acing the work with a preamble that took its entire meaning out of context. The preamble was incorporated into the book without Dr. Saadeh's prior knowledge. In 1908, the year that Abdul Hamid revived the Midhat's constitution of 1976. Dr. Saadeh returned to his native village in the Lebanon. The resurrection of the constitution was greeted with enthusiasm. particularly in Syria where it was mistaken for real lib-erty.
As for Dr. Saadeh. he found himself embroiled in a serious dispute with the French ambassa-dor in Beirut. In the wake of this incident, he published an open let-ter to the Ambassador in Lisan al-Hal denouncing in the sharpest of terms French imperialist policy in Syria and France's claim to be the protector of the Lebanese Chris-tians. Both the French Ambassador and the Maronite Patriarch reacted wrathfully. Realizing the serious-ness of the situation, the Governor of Mount Lebanon, Mazfar Pasha, advised his friend Dr. Saadeh to leave the country until the contro-versy dies down. Dr. Saadeh returned to Egypt only to find that he was no longer welcomed there. He was ejected by the Egyptian monarch after his intimate association with Egypt's top nationalist leaders (Arabi Pasha, Mustapha Kamel and Sa'ad Zaghloul). came to light. At the same time as this was taking place. his wife passed away in Shweir, and his children were left on their own to survive in the fam-ine-stricken town. Unable to return to Syria due to the outbreak of the First World War. Dr. Saadeh elected to go to South America where the Syrian community was flourishing. Dr. Saadeh's strength lay in his gift to adjust to any kind of situation. Soon after arriving in Argentina, he began the same ar-duous work which he became accustomed to back in Egypt. He issued a periodical called al- Majallah and established The Syrian Press Trade Union. In 1919. he organized the First Syrian Na-tional Democratic Conference in a daring move to unite the Syrian community in Argentina around the cause of national independence. After the Conference. Dr. Saadeh announced the creation of the Na-tional Democratic Party which adopted the slogan ''An independ-ence that we must embark upon as virtual nomads is still better than slavery that seems to offer a civi-lized life. In 1920, Dr. Saadeh went to Brazil where he was reunited with his children. In Brazil, he quickly acquired prominence and became a community leader in his own right.
Assisted by his dynamic son, Antun (founder of the Syrian Social National Party) he published two newspapers, al-Majallah and al-Jaridah, and sponsored a number of important activities such as the outstanding project to raise a statue in memory of the late Youssef al-Azamah who died in the Battle of Maysaloun in 1920. To this very day, the statue stands in front of the Syrian parliament in Damascus. As a community leader, Dr. Saadeh showed considerable per-sonal courage in opposing the disunity and intolerable rifts that divided the Syrian community abroad. If one were to sum up the political and intellectual position of Khalil Saadeh, the following picture would emerge: (1) He was a strong advocate of the secular idea. Like others in the same capacity, he believed in the separation between religion and politics and in the elimination of the factors that impede social unity. (2) He regarded socialism as the ideal form of political organiza-tion. He was not a Marxist but a practical socialist who believed in equality and human dignity. (3) He was a nationalist crusader for the cause of Syrian unity. Although he was a Christian from Mount Lebanon, the idea of a separate Lebanese nationalism never appealed to him. In his last years in Brazil Dr. Saadeh was appointed honary chairman of the Syrian National League and editor-in-charge of its weekly periodical. al-Rabitah (The League). He passed away on April 10, 1934 leaving behind him a legacy that time has never been able to completely erase.