Farah Anton (1874 – 1922) a journalist, novelist, and a social and political writer, as well as a leader of the enlightened and the nationalist movement.

His Life

Farah Anton was born in Tripoli, Lebanon, moved to Egypt on 1897. He worked in journalism, in Alexandria and issued the magazine "Algame'aa" (The alliance) and headed the editors of the newspaper "The echo of the pyramids" for six months. He also issued a magazine titled "The Ladies" for his sister Roz Hadad and written in it under disguised names. He left to the United States on 1907 where he issued a newspaper and a magazine with the same name "The alliance). He returned back again to Cairo and resumed issuing his magazine and participated in editing several newspapers, translated and written several novels for the theatre, until he died in Egypt.

His Thought

Anton was one of the eminent social and political intellectuals in the Arab region. He read the writings of the major European renaissance thinkers and philosophers, and he got affected especially by the French social thinkers such as Rousseau, Voltaire and Montesquieu. Hence, he was an advocate of religious, social and political leniency, especially between Muslims and Christians. He read also major Islamic philosophers in the middle ages and was affected, especially by Ibn Rush, Ibn Tufail and Omar Alkhaiam. He believed in socialism as a means for human salvation.

  Through his many articles in the newspapers he wanted to spread the ideas and values of the enlightenment which was behind the advancement of the west, in the Arabic region. However, his brave writings and his modernist thought has provoked several religious and essentialist, Muslims and well as Christians. So, many of them wrote criticizing him and accusing him with secularism and atheism.

 His Writings

·                 Ibn Rushd and His Philosophy.

·                 Love until death

·                 The New Jerusalem.

·                 Religion, Science and Money.

Among his Translations:

·                             Paul and Vergennes.

·                             Zara Tustra.

·                             History of the Prophets.