Rose Atallah Shahfa Is Dead — As I Knew Her

Sedateness in character, courtesy in conversation, kindness in dealing, sincere patriotism, unceasing struggle, devotion in work, self-sacrifice in the service of woman and society, a driving eagerness toward the highest ideals and lofty aims, a fidelity rare of its kind. Precious jewels, gathered together in Rose Atallah Shahfa.

I knew her as president of the Arab Women's Union, a firm pillar; in every society she had a generous, self-sacrificing hand in the service of woman, mother, and child, marching at the head of every women's delegation to demand woman's political and civil rights — a caller to complete, all-embracing union and to the casting off of hateful sectarianism.

She says in one of her speeches: 'This age is the age of political and literary upheavals; if we do not move with its powerful current we shall be scattered and dwindle away before we reach the shore of the union and concord that will make us a nation proud of an inherited intelligence and lofty souls.'

Her resonant, gentle voice still rings in my ears at the ceremony opening the first congress of the general Arab Women's Union in Cairo in 1944 — she being then president of the Lebanese Arab Women's Federation — saying: 'It is one of the blessings of time that the fates should unveil the face of Arab Lebanon, so that it fills its place among its sisters the Arab lands and mingles its Arabism with the League of Arab States, so that Arabism is Egyptian, Iraqi, Syrian, Palestinian, Lebanese.'

Thus I knew her: self-sacrificing in the service of society and homeland; her traits gentleness, modesty, mildness, kindness, devotion, and fidelity; a friend faithful to the farthest bounds of fidelity; bold in her words and her deeds; working in silence and constancy, far from the love of show, sacrificing her rest and her health for the sake of union, solidarity, and fruitful work.

I knew her as a virtuous wife, watchful over her home and her husband's comfort, devoted to raising her children with a sound upbringing; and she gave to Lebanon young men and young women of whom it is proud.

O my faithful friend: if your body has departed from us, your lofty spirit is with us forever, your high qualities stand before us, and your noble services to your society and your homeland will remain immortal signs.