Personal Info
- Country of residence: Palestine
Information
Jamil al-Bahri (1895-1930) was a Palestinian author , playwright, and translator . He owned Al-Zuhour magazine and the National Library in Haifa. The Department of Culture of the Palestine Liberation Organization awarded him the Jerusalem Medal for Culture and Arts in 1990. The Palestinian Ministry of Culture reprinted his first book about the city of Haifa, “History of Haifa,” in 2022. He was assassinated at the age of thirty-five.
His life and family
Jamil Habib Afara (Al-Bahri) was born on May 12, 1895 in Haifa . The family was called Al-Bahri since the mid- eighteenth century , specifically during the days of Sheikh Zahir Al-Omar Al-Zaydani, Sheikh of Galilee and Governor of Haifa at that time. His great-grandfather owned a commercial sea fleet that sailed the Mediterranean Sea between Haifa, Acre and Tripoli , and hence his family was called Al-Bahri. His father was a church endowment agent, while his family members who still reside in Haifa owned tracts of land on the slopes of Mount Carmel and Haifa. Some of them worked in agriculture and others in maritime trade, and some of them held prestigious positions, such as Yaqub Habib Afara, who was a private secretary to the Governor of Haifa, Mustafa Pasha Al-Khalil, whose house still exists in Old Haifa, inside the walls, some distance from the Independence Mosque and near the Pasha Bathhouse , which was owned by the Governor.
Jamil joined the Greek Catholic school in the old town, which had 300 students at the time. He received his primary education from Catholic clergy , and learned Turkish as the official language of the country, which was under Turkish rule, and French as the school belonged to the Greek Catholic sect, which was sponsored by the French government.
He worked at the National Episcopal School and after World War I he joined the teaching staff of the Catholic Episcopal School in Haifa and was an Arabic language teacher .
His interests and contributions
He showed signs of interest in literature and writing. He published a series of novels that he wrote or translated from French into Arabic in Al-Masarra magazine, which was issued by the Paulist Society in Beirut . He and his brother Hanna were interested in activating the literary and intellectual movement in Haifa, especially after the end of Turkish rule and the arrival of British colonialism. They opened the National Library in Haifa in 1922. He contributed with a group of intellectuals to establishing the Literary Circle in Haifa to encourage the art of oratory and the Arabic language. He was joined in the establishment by the writer Tawfiq Zibak, Rafiq Bey Al-Tamimi , Dr. Qaysar Khoury, Adeeb Al-Jadaa, Tawfiq Al-Khatib , and Abdul Rahman Ramadan.
He issued the magazine “Zahrat Al-Jamil” in May 1921, then its name was limited to “ Zahra Magazine ,” which was a literary, moral, humorous, fictional magazine that was issued twice a month and continued until 1927. Then he issued a magazine under the title “Al-Zohour,” which was a weekly magazine, then it was changed to twice a week and continued to be issued after his death for about nine months in 1931.
His writings and translations
Al-Bahri wrote many works, including:
The play The Brother's Killer in 1919.
History of Haifa in 1922.
Loyalty of the Arabs novel 1922.
Beloved Homeland 1923.
The Siege of Tiberias play 1924.
The Traitor's Tragedy in Three Acts 1924.
A collection of short stories entitled The Carmelites.
Abu Muslim Al-Khorasani play.
A tragedy in the name of honor in five acts, 1926.
He translated many works such as: The Deaf Mute, The Strange Concealment, The Attack on Belgium, The Misfortunes of Christianity, The Roman Lover, The Leader's Table, The Blue Diamond, and The Mute.
His death
Jamil was working as a volunteer for Bishop Gregory Hajjar as a representative of the Awqaf in Haifa. There were major disputes between the Muslims and Christians of the city over the ownership of a cemetery in the Carmel Station neighborhood . While he was inspecting the conditions of the cemetery, two hired young men from Haifa attacked him, and one of them struck him with a sharp object, killing him on September 6, 1930. A sectarian war almost broke out between the people of Haifa, had it not been for the intervention of Mufti Hajj Amin al-Husseini and Bishop Hajjar.
A huge funeral was held for him, and elegiac poems and eulogies were recited and published in the Palestinian press, such as Al -Karmel newspaper and Filastin Al- Yafia newspaper.
His friend, the poet Wadih Al-Bustani, said in his eulogy:
Stand with me on the bloody grave of (the beautiful)
I send my greetings and peace to him
Is there anyone else but a modern boy after him?
For Christianity and Islam
Oh, you ungrateful ones, beautiful
And trampling his beauty under the carpet
Oh you who are standing to distance yourself from him
Oh, you who shine in the darkness
Neither religion nor its followers killed him
Oh you who strike the cold with arrows
Do not wear the true religion as a crime
Oh, you who commit great sins
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