Mikha'il Nu'ayma (, ; US legal name: Michael Joseph Naimy), better known in English by his pen name Mikhail Naimy (October 17, 1889 – February 28, 1988), was a Lebanese poet, novelist, and philosopher, famous for his spiritual writings, notably ''

The Book of Mirdad ''The Book of Mirdad'' is an allegorical book of philosophy by Lebanese author Mikha'il Na'ima. The book was first published in Lebanon in 1948 and was initially written in English, with Na'ima later translating it into Arabic. Na'ima initially ...

''. He is widely recognized as one of the most important figures in

modern Arabic literature The instance that marked the shift in Arabic literature towards modern Arabic literature can be attributed to the contact between Arab world and the West during the 19th and early 20th century. This contact resulted in the gradual replacement of ...

and one of the most important spiritual writers of the 20th century. In 1920, Naimy re-formed the

New York Pen League The Mahjar (, one of its more literal meanings being "the Arab diaspora") was a movement related to Romanticism migrant literary movement started by Arabic-speaking writers who had emigrated to the Americas from Ottoman-ruled Lebanon, Syria and P ...

, along with its original founders

Nasib Arida Nasib Arida (, ; 1887–1946) was a Syrian-born poet and writer of the Mahjar movement and a founding member of the New York Pen League. Life Arida was born in Homs to a Syrian Greek Orthodox family where he received his education until h ...

and Abd al-Masih Haddad, and other

Mahjar The Mahjar (, one of its more literal meanings being "the Arab diaspora") was a movement related to Romanticism migrant literary movement started by Arabic-speaking writers who had emigrated to the Americas from Ottoman-ruled Lebanon, Syria and ...

i literary figures such as

Kahlil Gibran Gibran Khalil Gibran (January 6, 1883 – April 10, 1931), usually referred to in English as Kahlil Gibran, was a Lebanese-American writer, poet and Visual arts, visual artist; he was also considered a philosopher, although he himself reject ...

Biography

Naimy was born into a

Greek Orthodox Greek Orthodox Church (, , ) is a term that can refer to any one of three classes of Christian Churches, each associated in some way with Greek Christianity, Levantine Arabic-speaking Christians or more broadly the rite used in the Eastern Rom ...

family and completed his elementary education at the

Baskinta Baskinta () is a Lebanese village situated at an altitude ranging from 1250 metres above sea level and climbs up to approximately 1800 meters of height at Qanat Bakish, making it one of the highest villages of Lebanon. It is located 43 kilometers ...

school. He then studied at the Russian Teachers' Institute in

Nazareth Nazareth is the largest Cities in Israel, city in the Northern District (Israel), Northern District of Israel. In its population was . Known as "the Arab capital of Israel", Nazareth serves as a cultural, political, religious, economic and ...

and the Theological

Seminary A seminary, school of theology, theological college, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called seminarians) in scripture and theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as cle ...

Poltava Poltava (, ; , ) is a city located on the Vorskla, Vorskla River in Central Ukraine, Central Ukraine. It serves as the administrative center of Poltava Oblast as well as Poltava Raion within the oblast. It also hosts the administration of Po ...

. He moved to the United States in 1911, joining his two older brothers in

Walla Walla, Washington Walla Walla ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Walla Walla County, Washington, United States. It had a population of 34,060 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, estimated to have decreased to 33,339 as of 2023. The combined populat ...

, where they owned a furniture store. He then moved to Seattle to study at the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...

, earning degrees in law and liberal arts. After his graduation in 1916 he moved to New York City, and in 1918 he was drafted in the U. S. Army. Algunos miembros de Al-Rabita al-Qalamiyya

Algunos miembros de Al-Rabita al-Qalamiyya

After the war, Naimy returned for a time to Walla Walla, where he began his writing career in 1919. He wrote poetry in Russian, Arabic and English. He then moved back to New York, where he joined with Khalil Gibran and eight other writers to form a movement for the rebirth of Arabic literature, the

. Gibran was its president and Naimy its secretary. In 1932, having lived in the States for 21 years, Naimy returned to Baskinta, where he lived for the rest of his life. He died of pneumonia at the age of 98 on February 28, 1988, in

Beirut Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...

. The mystic

Osho Rajneesh (born Chandra Mohan Jain; 11 December 193119 January 1990), also known as Acharya Rajneesh, Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, and later as Osho (), was an Indian godman, philosopher, mystic and founder of the Rajneesh movement. He was viewed ...

had this to say about ''The Book of Mirdad'': "There are millions of books in the world but ''The Book of Mirdad'' stands out far above any book in existence".

Selected works

Arabic works

Poetry

* ''Hams al-jufūn'', 1928.

Drama

* ''Al-ʾābāʾ wa-l-banūn'', 1918.

Short stories

* ''Kān mā Kān'', 1932; * ''ʾAkābir'', 1953; * ''ʾAbū Baṭṭa'', 1957.

Novels

*', 1948 (author's trans. ''The Memoirs of a Vagrant Soul; or, the Pitted Face'', 1952).

Autobiography

* ''Sabʿūn: ḥikāyat ʿumr'', 1959-1960.

Criticism and biography

*''Al-Ghirbal'', 1923; * ''Jibrān Khalīl Jibrān'', 1936 (author's trans. ''Kahlil Gibran: A Biography'',1950).

English works

* ''The Book of Mirdad'', Beirut, 1948.

Critical essays on Na'ima

(from the MLA database, March 2008) #Abbe, Susan. "Word Length Distribution in Arabic Letters." ''Journal of Quantitative Linguistics'' 2000 Aug; 7 (2): 121-27. #Bell, Gregory J. ''

Theosophy Theosophy is a religious movement established in the United States in the late 19th century. Founded primarily by the Russian Helena Blavatsky and based largely on her writings, it draws heavily from both older European philosophies such as Neop ...

Romanticism Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century. The purpose of the movement was to advocate for the importance of subjec ...

and Love in the Poetry of Mikhail Naimy.'' Dissertation Abstracts International, Section A: The Humanities and Social Sciences, 2002 May; 62 (11): 3804. U of Pennsylvania, 2001. #''Poeti arabi a New York. Il circolo di Gibran'', introduzione e traduzione di F. Medici, prefazione di A. Salem, Palomar, Bari 2009. #

Boullata, Issa J. Issa J. Boullata (‎; February 25, 1929 – May 1, 2019) was a Palestinian scholar, writer, and translator of Arabic literature. Biography He was born in Jerusalem on February 25, 1929 during the British Mandate of Palestine. He obtained ...

"Mikhail Naimy: Poet of Meditative Vision." ''Journal of Arabic Literature'' 1993 July; 24 (2): 173-84. #El-Barouki, Foazi. "How Arab Émigré Writers in America Kept Their Cultural Roots." ''Dialog on Language Instruction'' 1997; 12 (1-2): 31-36. #Najjar, Nada. "Mikhael Naimy (1889-1988)." ''Aljadid: A Review & Record of Arab Culture and Arts'' 2000 Summer; 6 (32): 27. #Nijland, Cornelis. "Religious Motifs and Themes in North American Mahjar Poetry." ''Representations of the Divine in Arabic Poetry.'' Ed. Gert Borg and Ed De Moor. Amsterdam, Netherlands: Rodopi; 2001. pp. 161–81

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Naima, Mikhail Lebanese writers American writers of Lebanese descent Lebanese Christians 1889 births 1988 deaths People from Walla Walla, Washington 20th-century Lebanese poets 20th-century American poets University of Washington College of Arts and Sciences alumni Lebanese emigrants to the United States Lebanese male poets 20th-century American male writers Mahjar University of Washington School of Law alumni