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
Through his voice, Lebanon grew great in her eyes.
Zarifa Karam Malik was not like all women: her giving to humanity surpassed the giving of others, so it is her due to be looked upon with reverence, and to have mercies recited upon her name.
• That all the qualifications for attracting the tourist proclaim Lebanon: in its mountain and its plain, its greenery and its water?
• And that watercourses, or rivers, have a personality like the weather, with their own tales and stories?
• That the proportion of irrigated and cultivated land is 30 times less than the barren land?
• And that the Litani River, the largest of Lebanon's rivers, flows at a rate of 10 years of sufficiency and 5 years of shortage?
• And that if its surplus waters were impounded so that they should not go to waste....
• And that if the "Litani Project" were realized, the bounties of its waters could yield, instead of 15,000 Lebanese lira, 15,000,000 Lebanese lira?
• And that with the use of the Litani's waters, the waters of the Barouk could thereafter be set apart for the districts of the Aley mountain region?
• That creeping mud, like that which buried Tripoli, if it could be diverted to the plains, would possess goodness and fertility in great measure?
Arming Week, which embraced all the Syrian regions, gave conclusive proof of the patriotism of the Syrians and their surpassing awareness. Woman registered a great glory to which everyone bore witness — above all the Syrian Women's Union and the wide activity it exerted to spread the idea of "Arming Week" in all Syrian circles. The women's ardor had the strongest effect in confirming their standing, and in correcting the error rooted in the minds of men that woman still lags behind the procession and is not yet mature, nationally and patriotically.
We congratulate our sister, the Syrian woman, on this laudable patriotic ardor.
The new Egyptian constitution, which President Gamal Abdel Nasser proclaimed during the past month, did not come as a disappointment to the hopes of our sister the Egyptian woman; rather it granted her the right to elect, though not to be elected, and her participation in the elections is voluntary, not compulsory as is the case with the man —
We congratulate our sister the Egyptian woman on winning her political rights at last, even if the victory is not complete — and may the Iraqi woman's turn come next...