Nazik al-Abid

Nazik al-Abid was born into a wealthy Kurdish merchant family with ties to the Damascene nobility. She studied literature with private tutors, learned French and German, and gained a BA degree in Architecture from Istanbul’s Women’s College. However, she devoted her life to activism rather than architecture. She used a male pseudonym to write political columns in magazines, criticising the Ottoman Empire and advocating for Syrian independence and women's rights. She was exiled to Cairo by the Ottoman authorities until the end of World War I. She returned to Damascus in 1918 and founded Noor al-Fayha (Light of Damascus) society and magazine, the first women's organisation and publication in the city. She also led a delegation of Syrian women to an American commission to testify against the French mandate for occupation. In 1920, she founded the Red Star Association, an early form of the Red Crescent Society, and volunteered to serve in the Syrian army against the French forces. She was awarded the rank of "honorary president" of the Syrian Army by Prince Faysal and hailed as the Joan of Arc of the Arabs. She was photographed in military uniform and without a hijab, but returned to wearing a veil after conservative backlash. She was exiled again by the French government after the defeat of the Syrian Army, but was granted amnesty in 1921. She continued her activism for women's rights and social reform, founding a school for young girl orphans, and later the Working Women's Society, which worked on labor issues on behalf of women in Syria. She died in 1959 in Damascus, leaving behind a legacy of courage, leadership, and resistance.