28 Facts About Ameen Rihani

Ameen Rihani, was a Lebanese American writer, intellectual and political activist.

Ameen Rihani was a major figure in the mahjar literary movement developed by Arab emigrants in North America, and an early theorist of Arab nationalism.

Ameen Rihani was born on November 24,1876, in Freike, in the Mount Lebanon Mutasarrifate, Rihani was one of six children and the oldest son of a Lebanese Maronite raw silk manufacturer, Fares Rihani.

Ameen Rihani eventually became familiar with the writings of Shakespeare, Hugo, Darwin, Huxley, Spencer, Whitman, Tolstoy, Voltaire, Thoreau, Emerson and Byron, to name a few.

Ameen Rihani had a natural talent in eloquent speaking, and in 1895, the teenager got carried away by stage fever and joined a touring stock company headed by Henry Jewet.

Ameen Rihani had first become familiar with Arab poets in 1897.

Ameen Rihani wrote about social traditions, religion, national politics and philosophy.

Ameen Rihani published his first two books in Arabic in 1902 and 1903.

Ameen Rihani, who was influenced by the American poet Walt Whitman, introduced prose poetry to Arab literature.

Ameen Rihani worked, along with other national leaders, for the liberation of his country from Turkish rule.

In 1916 Ameen Rihani married Bertha Case, an American artist, who was part of the Matisse, Picasso, Cezanne and Derain group in Paris, and the Midi, and joined them in exhibiting her work at the Salon de Mai.

Ameen Rihani had requested that her body be cremated and that her ashes be sent to Freike to be buried next to her husband's.

In 1919 Ameen Rihani was asked to represent Arab interests at the Hague Peace Conference.

In 1922 Ameen Rihani traveled throughout Arabia, meeting and getting better acquainted with its rulers.

Ameen Rihani was the only traveler at that time, European or Arab, to have covered that whole territory in one trip.

Ameen Rihani acquired an invaluable and first-hand account of the character, vision and belief of each of these rulers.

Ameen Rihani developed a friendship with Ibn Saud, ruler of the desert kingdom that would soon become the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Ameen Rihani is considered by some scholars as a major figure in the intellectual development of Arab nationalism.

Ameen Rihani placed the greatest priority on the spread of nationalist and pro-unity feeling among the masses, and argued that rulers would have to follow.

Ameen Rihani participated in the Arab American movement championing the Arab Palestinian cause.

Ameen Rihani met with various US officials in this regard and, during the 1920s and 1930s, was active on behalf of the Arab American, Palestine Anti-Zionism Society.

Ameen Rihani publicly debated leading figures in the American Zionist movement and published numerous articles critical of political Zionism.

Ameen Rihani was laid to rest in the Rihani Family Mausoleum in Freike.

Ameen Rihani is the first Arab to write English essays, poetry, novels, short stories, art critiques, and travel chronicles.

Ameen Rihani published his works in the US during the first four decades of the twentieth century.

Ameen Rihani is considered to be the founder of "Adab Al-Mahjar".

Ameen Rihani is the first Arab who wrote complete literary works, either in Arabic or in English, and published in the US.

Ameen Rihani's writings pioneered the movement of modern Arabic literature that played a leading role in the Arab Renaissance and contemporary Arab thought.