Letters: Fayza Abdul Majeed

On this page appear the letters of our readers, women and men; we have set aside another page for news.
The Woman's Voice is always pleased to remain in contact with its readers, so that these spiritual bonds between the magazine and its supporters may endure. So write to us, Madam, whatever you wish.

Among the finest and strongest letters in The Woman's Voice's mail this month is the letter of the literary Miss Fayza Abdul Majeed, author of the article published in this issue; she is a well-known woman of letters in the sister country, Palestine.

In this letter the writer Fayza Abdul Majeed gives a splendid picture of the Palestinian woman's struggle for the great cause for which all the Arabs are working today:

"How sorry I am for my delay in writing to The Woman's Voice! But since my piece on 'the Glorious Nativity' I have written absolutely nothing outside the scope of the national struggle, for it drains the greater part of my time and my efforts — so much so that a great veteran writer took pity when he perceived the extent of this self-effacement in work, as he read what I write in our daily papers in the name of the Union several times a week, to give voice to the stirrings of the Arab woman in Palestine and to publish a picture of her sacred fight at this decisive stage.

The writer advised me that another woman writer should join me, to take some of the burden from me so that I might be free for other important matters. But is there anything more sublime than the fight between liberation and bondage, between death and life?!

Nablus is now taking its great share of the struggle, and together with its district — 'Tulkarm and Jenin' — they form 'the dangerous triangle,' as the English call it; they have shied away from it, and it now surges with the fighting companies and their arms. And the Arab woman is now working at the man's side — according to her particular gifts. You will see that the Women's Union has established a complete hospital in which its members themselves attend to the wounded fighters — and it has filled to overflowing. Then, how precious is freedom, and how great the faithfulness of the Arab sisters...

Besides this, the Union carries on the work of all the committees it has formed — for first aid, for nursing, for sewing for the fighters, and for social affairs, for the relief of the families of the martyrs and of the destitute — with the greatest of efforts... As for morale, it is strong, splendid, and exalted in every single person in Palestine, drawn from true creed and from history — and 'creed and history' are the whole of civilization, in the phrase of 'Le Bon.' In short, we are in a struggle into which all forces and all efforts have been marshaled.

I return to the subject I am now submitting, the 'Brontë' sisters. It is a distillation I have gathered from many of the biographies written about the gifted sisters, and from several chapters of various books of literature. Truly, by God, I have labored much over it. Nothing spurred me to undertake it but that it is a living picture of the fight against despair and failure, worthy of the attention of us who have known harshness in the pursuit of the ideal. As for my style, which the Ustad commended in a previous letter, it is what strengthens me, along with this general encouragement — is it not this that pours reinforcement upon us on our striving way?!

So thank you, Ustad; and I have nothing to say of this except that 'none know the merit of the people of merit save those who themselves have merit' — and such, by God, are your ways. How great was your word about 'Huda,' and how tender your musings on Zinah... Give us more of these splendors, if you would be so kind..."

(Signed)