From the Tunisian Woman to Her Lebanese Sister

From Tunisia we have received the two articles set down on these two pages. They are by two ladies who are among the leaders of the women's renaissance in that country, and among those well acquainted with the condition of woman and her progress throughout the Arab lands.

It gives The Woman's Voice — which has never ceased acquainting its readers with the aspects of the women's renaissance in the various countries — pleasure to convey today a new picture of a new region, one that has, as we have, its ambitions, its hopes, and its efforts toward a comprehensive renaissance. Its hope is to fulfill the wish of the two writers of these articles, who in a personal letter of theirs expressed their desire "to strengthen and draw closer the bonds of friendship between woman in the Arab East and woman in the Arab Maghreb."

My virtuous lady:

I raise to your sisterly station the loveliest heartfelt greeting, borne on the wing of the pride of Arabism and of sincerity. I pray God Almighty to make it a blessed greeting, that it may be a means of reviving what has faded of the landmarks of acquaintance between Arab sisters — sisters who drank in the principles of perfection from mothers of whose merit history boasts, who all worked for the happiness of the united Arab nation, who served the principles of true humanity alongside men, and who raised the standing of woman in the countries of the world, after woman had been oppressed and wronged, given no weight and deemed unworthy of the least respect.

O venerable lady:

The Arab woman has begun to shake from herself the dust of idleness and torpor, in the East of the earth and in its West, that she may be in truth a daughter of that mother, and that it may be said of her that she is the best successor to the best predecessor. All women are now attempting to recover their usurped rights, seized by the selfish among men — and they are many — in the days when they believed that there existed men and women, nay masters and slaves: the man had only to command, and the woman only to obey, even when wronged. How fitting it is to call this the colonization of woman's world by man's world. And colonialism is tyranny and injustice, which brings no good to its author. We ask God to deliver us all from it.

My lady:

I have read your magazine, The Woman's Voice, and my pen is too dull to do justice to its praise; I shall say only that the beautiful effects it will show in women's circles will be the finest necklace upon its shining neck and upon the necks of its reforming editresses, and that from its radiant light will spring the glory and felicity of woman and the happiness of the world, by God's power. The principles of your magazine, laboring in the cause of defending woman's rights and freeing her from the heavy chain of servitude, are the very principles that the association of the Muslim Women's Union in Tunisia has followed since the day of its founding, drawing its blessed women's movement from the very heart of the Islamic religion and from the history of the Arab woman in the age of the glory of Arabism and Islam — until the ranks of Tunisian women were united, bound together by the ties of love and affection, and their general level rose in every field. The Tunisian woman has thereby become a sound and working member, sharing in the best way in raising a temple of glory for her people, aware of her worth in society; she will not fall back from doing her duty, nor will she relinquish her rights, though the despots hate it.

My dear lady:

Most of what is written about woman today does not go beyond making known her position in society. This, in my view, counts as the first step on the way to realizing her hopes. As for the second step, its foundation will be mutual acquaintance, not mere making known — so that women may work together, not in the Arab countries alone, but in all the world. In this way women may have their share in guiding the world toward true progress and justice. Farewell.