(1856 – 1885 AD = 1272 – 1302 AH)
Adib ibn Abdullah ibn Ishaq was an Armenian Catholic Syrian poet, journalist and translator. He was born in Damascus and died in Lebanon. He studied in French and in Arabic and fell in love with writing, grammar and poetry when he was only 10. He moved to Beirut upon completing his higher studies in both languages. He worked as a writer at the Department of Customs prior to retiring and moving to Alexandria, where he helped Salim Al-Naqqash in adapting Arabic novels for the stage and later founded “Al-Mahrousa” (The Guarded) newspaper in 1879. In 1877, he moved to Cairo, where he founded the “Egypt” weekly newspaper. In 1878, he returned to Alexandria and founded another daily newspaper called “Trading” with the help of Salim Al-Naqqash. In 1880, he closed both publications and moved to Paris, where he founded the “Cairo of Egypt” Arabic newspaper. He became sick and returned to Beirut, then to Egypt to work as the head of the Office of Knowledge for Writing and Translation in Cairo, then as a writer in Parliament. Among his remnants are “The Odds of Agreements,” “Egypt’s Translations of This Era,” “Charlemagne” (translated from French), “Andromache” (translated from French) and “The Parisian Beauty.” His articles were collected by Girgis Michael Nahhas in a book titled “Al-Durar” (Pearls).