The First Muslim Woman Doctor in the Arab East — Dr. Saniyya Habbub

A historical glimpse:

It is natural to ask ourselves, as we watch the cohorts of women doctors graduating every year from the medical schools of Beirut, Cairo, Baghdad, and Damascus: how far back, one wonders, does this movement go? When did the medical schools in the Arab countries begin to accept girls?

We have, regrettably, no precise statistics on this matter, but we know with something like certainty that Lebanon was the forerunner in this field. In 1931 was recorded the graduation of the first Lebanese girl from the school of medicine at the American University of Beirut: Dr. Edma Abouchdid.

In the same year Saniyya Habbub returned from America, after an absence of seven years, bearing the degree of medicine; she was thus the first Muslim woman doctor to win this great victory and to dare open a private clinic of her own, defying tradition and custom. In this field she was preceded only by Dr. Anastas Barakat, also a graduate of America.

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It is madness itself! The idea was new and bold, because medicine, in people's minds in those days, was still reserved to men, theirs alone by right — so who might this rebel against traditions and customs be? But all the objections ended in failure, for Saniyya was determined, and she sold her diamond earrings to pay for the journey.. Her father tried at the last moment to use his authority and prevent her from traveling, but she assured him calmly that she was of age, so he yielded to her decision against his will and gave her his blessing, furnishing her with one last counsel: "Do nothing of which you would be ashamed before God and man."

There was one person among her family who urged her on and encouraged her along this road: her mother, who gave the homeland and society, besides Dr. Saniyya, Dr. Nahil Habbub, who graduated from the American University of Beirut in 1931 — the first woman dentist — and who married Dr. Mahmoud al-Dajani and now directs the Arab National Hospital in Bethlehem.

Dr. Saniyya Habbub recalls with much tenderness and gratitude the great kindness of her principal, Miss Irwin — God rest her soul — and also of Mr. and Mrs. Leavitt, who accompanied her on her first journey and were the best of guides for her faltering steps.

The first class at Beirut College for Women:

We can imagine the difficulties that stood in Saniyya Habbub's way when she resolved, in 1924–1925, to enroll in the first academic "Freshman" class attached to the American School for Girls — the class that became the nucleus of Beirut College for Women. There were only three in the class: she, Munira Barbir, and Armenouhi Mkerdjian. Every day she had to cover the distance between her school and the American University of Beirut on foot, in her wrap and veil, her books under her arm. How often men accosted her, and how many remarks and accusations were flung at her without mercy; but her will and her faith stood firm at her side, for her ambition stretched farther still.

The idea of traveling to America:

In silence she began corresponding with universities in America in order to study medicine, since the American University did not in those days accept girls. In silence, too, she began preparing for the journey, for the offers were generous. The time came for her to travel, and here Saniyya faced a wave of objections far fiercer than the first. How could a veiled Muslim girl take ship alone to a strange, far-off land to study medicine?

The battle and the struggle begin:

In Marseilles Saniyya found herself compelled to lift her veil. She felt fear for the first time, and fear weakened her resolve; for a moment it seemed to her that she had committed a grave error, and she surrendered to weeping and tears for three days running — from which she emerged with a clearer mind; her faith came back to her, and she braced her will anew to face the destiny she herself had traced and had chosen of her own full will...

And the obstacles began to collapse before her, for she found herself in America the object of everyone's interest and care. While she was at Wilson College, aid and free scholarships poured in upon her, and she paid her fees from the wages she earned for extra work, talks, and the like.

Founding her clinic in Beirut:

After a struggle of seven unbroken years, in which she knew neither rest nor truce, she returned to Beirut crowned with triumph, and set about in earnest, in the Bab Idriss district, to open a clinic. She had once more to face the rigidity of public opinion, which had not yet grown used to conceding to woman — above all the Muslim woman — the right to practice the profession of medicine! The confidence of her fellow citizens in her, particularly the men, was weak. They began putting it about that she was a "midwife," not a doctor. She had to win that confidence by proofs and by work... and before long she succeeded once again.

"The Dr. Saniyya Habbub Scholarship"

Patients streamed to her clinic. In the flush of victory she did not forget her school's kindness to her; rather she set aside the first handful of money she received as honest earnings to be granted to a Muslim girl studying medicine at Wilson College. And should no Muslim girl be found, the scholarship passes to a Lebanese girl... This generous gift is still regularly in force to this very day.

After a quarter of a century:

Time has passed over these events — a quarter of a century and more! In it Dr. Saniyya has won glory both moral and material. She has never once flagged in performing her mission toward the daughters of her sex. She is a dynamic mass of vitality and activity, with a far-reaching faith in woman's gifts and in her ability to reconcile her domestic duties with a free profession that assures her her material independence and, with it, her dignity.

In an interview she gave in 1937 to the young Muhammad al-Naqqash, then a journalist, the two agreed to be companions in life. He went on along his literary and journalistic road, and she along her medical one. Among the fruits of their happy marriage are Saniyya, soon a candidate for a master's degree in psychology from the American University of Beirut, and Iffat, finishing this year at the Ahliah National College. Neither has her mother's leanings toward medicine, though the younger one has her drive and the force of her enthusiasm.

Dr. Saniyya Habbub believes in deeds, not words. She is a housewife and "mother" before "doctor," and boasts that she is the absolute mistress of her kitchen... However far she advances in years, she will remain for the daughters of her sex an example to be followed, and one of the first pioneers on the road to woman's emancipation and material independence.