TRUE TO TRADITION

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XLV, Issue 10386, 4 May 1925, Page 7

TRUE TO TRADITION

"YOUNG ARABS" NEW MOVE. REVERT TO FAMILY NAMES

An interesting sign of the tendency towid moderuLtion in the customs and outlook of the «' young Arabs' is Jhe increasing importance attached to the family name. Under the lurks the custom of using only a personal name qualified by that of the father waT reSusly kept up, although many fftta families were often in conversation described by xnen famSnames. The historic old familie? of Bagdad and Iraq, generally, the Shawis, Padirchis, Saladuns and so on, were known to the public by their <reneric name, although by Turkish Km each 'individual was known officiallv and on documents as So-and-o» of So-and-so. Now that, the Arabs are free once more to follow their own bent m tilings social, the use of the family name is coming moie and more to the fore This inclination was considered by the Turks to be a mere attempt to copy the modern West, but as a matter of fact the Arab precedent can be cited forthegto from the earliest times. It would indeed be strange if this were not so, hating regard to the immense importaSoa in Arab eyes of family and tribal Sections. EVentbe great Kalipba who in Abbassid times always took a kind of descriptive name on ascending the throne (much as the Popes take a Latin name), retained their family as well as their personal names in official "In interesting example °f this can be found in Flecker's play "Hassan fu the announcement preceding the Khalif's entrance to the Dwan, where the court herald, and a wealth of honorific titles, reign as Harun "ar Raftiid (a descriptive name meaning "the good' ) and al" al-Abbas" (the family name of the Abassid dynasty, taken from their forebear). This scene is correct according to Arab precedent. It was tho Turkish influence, and not the Arab, which was responsible for the retention so long throughout the Middle East of the archaic form bound so, son of So-and-so. Christians and Jews, even under the Turks, often used their family names in public and correspondence. But in any matter dealing with the Government, such as a police warrant etc., they were compelled to use the old formula, which has been retained since tho war by tho French m Syria and tho British in Iraq as homg the custom of the conn trios. Even a European traveller in Syria, when having his passport examined by the police, may be requested to give his father's name. Public opinion is, however, growing m favour of tho u«?e of the family name, and official opinion, which always lass behind in am' social matter, will nr--1 doubtedly fellow. —"Manchester Guardian" correspondent.