Abdallah bin Fathallah bin Nasrallah Marrash (Arabic

Arabic language

Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...

: / ALA-LC: ‘Abdallāh bin Fatḥallāh bin Naṣrallāh Marrāsh; May 14, 1839 – January 17, 1900), was a writer

Writer

A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....

 involved in various Arabic-language newspaper

Newspaper

A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...

 ventures in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 and Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

.

Life

Abdallah Marrash was born in Aleppo

Aleppo

Aleppo is the largest city in Syria and the capital of Aleppo Governorate, the most populous Syrian governorate. With an official population of 2,301,570 , expanding to over 2.5 million in the metropolitan area, it is also one of the largest cities in the Levant...

, a city of Ottoman Syria

Ottoman Syria

Ottoman Syria is a European reference to the area that during European Renaissance from the late 15th to early 18th century was called the Levant within the early period of the Ottoman Empire, the Orient until the early 19th century, and Greater Syria until 1918...

 (present-day Syria

Syria

Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....

), to an old and respected Melkite

Melkite

The term Melkite, also written Melchite, refers to various Byzantine Rite Christian churches and their members originating in the Middle East. The word comes from the Syriac word malkāyā , and the Arabic word Malakī...

 family known for its literary interests. The family was well established in Aleppo, although they had gone through troubles: Abdallah's uncle, Butrus Marrash, was martyred by Orthodox fundamentalists on April 16, 1818. Other Melkite Catholics were exiled from Aleppo during the persecutions, and among them the priest Jibrail Marrash. Fathallah, Abdallah's father, wrote a blasphemous book and created another scandal. He was a man of letters, and had built up a huge private library to give his three children Francis

Francis Marrash

Francis bin Fathallah bin Nasrallah Marrash , also known as Francis al-Marrash or Francis Marrash al-Halabi, was a Syrian writer and poet of the Nahda movement...

, Abdallah and Maryana

Maryana Marrash

Maryana bint Fathallah bin Nasrallah Marrash , was a Syrian writer and poet of the Nahda movement . She brought the tradition of literary salons back into the Middle East. She was the first Syrian female poet to publish a collection of poetry...

 a thorough education, particularly in the field of Arabic language and literature. Aleppo was then a major literary and philosophical center of the Ottoman Empire

Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...

, featuring many thinkers and writers concerned with the future of the Arabs. It was in the French religious schools that the Marrash family learnt Arabic

Arabic language

Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...

 with French

French language

French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

, and other foreign languages (Italian

Italian language

Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...

 and English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

).

He first studied in Aleppo, then went to Europe to pursue his studies while devoting himself to trade. He accessed the collections of Arabic manuscripts in London and Paris and copied what he thought was useful to his compatriots. He founded Kawkab al-mashriq (literally "The Star of the Orient"), a monthly Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

ian Arabic-French bilingual journal

Magazine

Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...

, the first issue of which was published on June 23, 1882. It was ephemeral.