Charles Malik's Mother Has Died

Yesterday death folded away a noble face of my country — Mrs. Zarifa Karam Malik. She closed her eyes upon a smile of contentment, her children gathered around her; serene, she touched them one by one — on their lips supplications, and in their eyes tears: Charles, Gabriel, Melia, Ramzi, and Bahij — Linda alone far away in Australia. How abundant is her consolation in them all!

She died in Beirut at dawn on Friday, January 20, and on the afternoon of the following day her birthplace witnessed her majestic funeral. It was as if Lebanon, with its official and civil bodies, accompanied the bier to Bterram (Koura), to bid farewell to the dear departed, borne on the shoulders of her sons — the most magnificent picture of dutiful and devoted filial piety.

Mighty among women, our departed. Mighty in what she left to her homeland and to the world: offspring distinguished in the fields of learning and theology. Glory enough for her is the eldest of them, Dr. Charles Malik, whose name the world has echoed, and through