Louis Sabunji
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1838
Journalist
Louis Sabunji | |
|---|---|
| Born | John Louis Sabunji 1838 |
| Died | 1931 (aged 92–93) Los Angeles, United States |
| Occupations | Catholic priest Journalist |
| Years active | 1860s–1920s |
| Known for | founder of Al Nahla |
Louis Sabunji (1838–1931) was a Catholic priest and political figure who founded and edited various publications, most significantly Al Nahla (Arabic: The Bee) one of the first newspapers in Arabic based in London. Al Nahla was a monthly newspaper that contained anti-Ottoman propaganda directed at Muslims and inciting them to renounce the authority of the Ottoman ruler Abdulhamid II as a religious Caliph.[1] Sabunji worked with American missionaries in Beirut and later converted to Islam.[1] He also worked with the Anglican missionary George Percy Badger with whom he compiled an Arabic-English dictionary.[1] He was also one of the earliest photographers in Beirut.
Sabunji was born in Diyarbakır in 1838.[2] His family were Syriac Catholic.[3] He had two brothers, Jurji and Daoud.[4]
Sabunji received education at the seminary in the Syriac Catholic Church in Mount Lebanon in 1850.[4] Then he attended the College of Pontifical Propaganda in Rome between 1853 and 1861 and received a PhD in theology.[2][4] There he also learned photography.[4]