Francis bin Fathallah bin Nasrallah Marrash (1836 – 1873 or 1874), also known as Francis al-Marrash, was a Syrian scholar, publicist, writer and poet of the Nahda or the Arab Renaissance. He is considered to be the first truly cosmopolitan Arab intellectual and writer of modern times. His writings were the first examples in modern Arabic literature, according to Salma Khadra Jayyusi and Shmuel Moreh.
About Francis Marrash in brief
Francis bin Fathallah bin Nasrallah Marrash (1836 – 1873 or 1874), also known as Francis al-Marrash, was a Syrian scholar, publicist, writer and poet of the Nahda or the Arab Renaissance. He was born in Aleppo, a city of Ottoman Syria, to an old Melkite family of merchants known for their literary interests. He traveled throughout Western Asia and France in his youth, and after some medical training and a year of practice in his native Aleppo, he enrolled in a medical school in Paris. His declining health and growing blindness forced him to return to Aleppo, where he produced more literary works until his early death. His modes of thinking and feeling, and ways of expressing them, have had a lasting influence on contemporary Arab thought and on the Mahjari poets. He adhered to the principles of the French Revolution and defended them in his own works, implicitly criticizing Ottoman rule in West Asia and North Africa. In 1870, when distinguishing the notion of fatherland from that of nation, he wrote Ghabat al-haqq, an allegory about the conditions required to establish and maintain civilization and freedom. In this work, he expressed ideas of political and social reforms, highlighting the need of the Arabs for two things above all: modern schools and patriotism.
He would point to the role played by the language, among other factors, in counterbalancing religious differences, and thus, in defining national identity in the Greater Syria, thus, defining the national expression of the Arab nation. He died in Paris in 1874, but still managed to dictate his works. His writings were the first examples in modern Arabic literature, according to Salma Khadra Jayyusi and Shmuel Moreh. He also introduced French romanticism in the Arab world, especially through his use of poetic prose and prose poetry, of which his work was a work of art. His works have been translated into English, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Portuguese and Japanese. He is considered to be the first truly cosmopolitan Arab intellectual and writer of modern times. He wrote about science, history and religion, analysed under an epistemological light, and his works revolve around science, religion, and religion. He had a keen interest in science, and in medicine in particular, and wrote and published several works.
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