Personality of the Month: Dr. Zahia Kaddoura

Dr. Zahia Kaddoura

* A graduate of the American University of Beirut.
* She received the master's degree in history from the Faculty of Arts of Fuad I University.
* The first Arab young woman to receive the doctorate in history from the same university, in 1951.
* In the course of her specialization she wrote two theses:
1 - Aisha, Mother of the Believers
2 - The Shu'ubiyya and Its Social and Political Influence in the First Abbasid Age.
* She was recently appointed professor of history at the Lebanese University.

Let us now begin putting our questions to Dr. Zahia Kaddoura:

Q — First, what led you to choose Lady Aisha, Mother of the Believers, as the subject of your first thesis?

A — I chose Lady Aisha, Mother of the Believers, as the subject of my first thesis because she occupied a great place in history. She was a singular womanly personality, with whom people were preoccupied living and dead; and I, as a woman, wished to give her her due of study and research, and to establish scientifically the case of this lady, who was among the most eminent women of Arab history without exception.

Q — In view of your deep study of this singular personality, may I ask, Dr. Zahia, your opinion regarding the dispute between Aisha and Ali?

A — Do not suppose, Mrs. Shayboub, that in my book on Lady Aisha I take her side or show her favor. Yet despite my intense admiration for her intelligence, her culture, and her personality, I hold that, like every human being, she was not immune from error; and in my book I lay some blame upon her for throwing herself into the affairs of the caliphate and setting herself against the person of Ali ibn Abi Talib at the famous Battle of the Camel... I should greatly have preferred that Aisha hold herself above that thorny position, and so spare herself, and the daughters of her sex after her, contentions that occupied people for an age!

Q — I agree with you entirely in this view, and I prefer for the sober woman moderation in exposing herself to violent political situations that do not accord with her nature...

My second question concerns your second thesis. I understand, Dr. Kaddoura, that the subject of Aisha is a women's subject that appeals to women enough for them to give it its due importance; but your second subject, the Shu'ubiyya — what is its connection to you, and why did you choose it in particular as the subject of the thesis that earned you the doctorate?

A — What drew me to choose the subject of the Shu'ubiyya is that this age has become the age of nationalisms, and discussion has multiplied in it over the origin of the rise of the national idea; and so I wished to give it a broad, impartial study, imbued with the scientific spirit that such researches demand.

Q — Well done... And what was the new idea at the center of the research in your thesis on the Shu'ubiyya?

A — The new idea is that the Shu'ubiyya was, in effect, the awakening of the national idea, among Arabs and Persians alike; the awakening of nationalism began in that early period, before which the religious idea alone had held sway. We know that the religious bond was, in the Middle Ages in Europe, the seat of absolute executive authority and the fundamental bond uniting peoples and nations; the national idea in its true sense did not appear until the age of the Renaissance, and then grew strong in the nineteenth century — it is the idea by which the modern ages are distinguished from the medieval.

Q — Am I to understand from what I have heard that the national idea arose among the Arabs before its rise in Europe, only there it went on growing down to our own age?

A — What is beyond dispute is that the Muslims, whether Arabs or Persians, laid the national kernel in the first Abbasid age, and in this they preceded the West, which lagged behind them until the age of the Renaissance in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. But the national idea in the first Abbasid age did not keep pace with time; its bonds weakened and it fell behind the march of the national idea in the modern sense; and in this period the West took swift strides in this field, and still does.

Q — Thank you, Dr. Kaddoura, for this information. Now let us pass on to talk of the Lebanese University. Do you believe that its founding was a necessity for our life?

A — I was and remain among the most ardent enthusiasts for the founding of the Lebanese University, after the example of all the advanced countries, for the founding of such a university meets a great national need by way of culture, learning, and sound guidance. And in my view, this kernel that has been planted for the Lebanese University is a strong step in true independent construction.

Q — And are you satisfied with the present condition of what they call "the Lebanese University"?

A — Do I catch in your question, Mrs. Shayboub, a whiff of mischief and embarrassment? No doubt the university has deficiencies, whether in structure or in content; that is unavoidable in the period of founding. And I am confident that the Lebanese University will grow steadily and move forward, completing its structure day after day.

Q — That is what we all wish for it. And now — how many students has the university this year?

A — The number of the university's students in its first year is 114, among them 24 girls.

Q — And how are they distributed among the various branches?

A — Their distribution among the branches is roughly as follows:

French language and literature: 7
English and Spanish: 14
Arabic language and literature: 28 students

Philosophy, 25; history and geography, 15; mathematics, 9; natural sciences, 25; and fine arts, 3.

Q — Does the university intend to open new institutes for the coming year?

A — Yes, the university intends to open two institutes next year: the Institute of Social Welfare and the Institute of Higher Administration.

Q — And has the university begun founding a library? For we know that the library is the mainstay of universities, especially in the branches of letters, which demand wide reading and comprehensive knowledge.

A — You are right, Mrs. Shayboub, and that is what we are working for. Indeed, the kernel of a library has already been assembled, containing eight thousand volumes, now on its way to us; and we hope that by the end of next June the number of books will reach 25,000 volumes.

Q — Not bad figures for a beginning. And before we close this session, we can only wish our national university project steady and vigorous progress at the hands of those in charge of it, that it may reach the level of the world's universities and fill the void we feel today in our national life. Thank you, Dr. Kaddoura.