Birth: NULL/NULL/1874 Death:NULL/NULL/1949
Born in Nazareth in 1874; studied in the Russian School (1887-1892) and later became principal of the Russian elementary schools in Syria and Palestine; publisher of An-Nafa’es (Treasures) (1908) and the subsequent An-Nafa’es Al-‘Asriyya (Modern Treasures) weekly literary journals published in Haifa (1909) and later in Jerusalem (1911-13); publication stopped during WWI but resumed in Haifa in 1919-20; was involved in the 1916 riots against the Ottoman rule demanding equality for the Arabs; maintained a rich library, made himself a name as short-story writer and novelist, and translated a number of books from Russian into Arabic, incl. some of Tolstoy’s works; during the 1948 Nakba, his home was raided by Zionists who stole his manuscripts and possessions and forced him to leave; he fled to Jordan and then to Beirut, Lebanon, where he died in 1949.
