She was called Jean d’Arc of the Arabs. In 1920, she stood side by side in a military uniform with Syria’s Minister of War & Commander of the Army against the French Invasion, Yousef Al Azmeh, defiant against an outcry of conservatives who viewed her as blasphemous. She is a pioneer of feminism in Syria, fighting for women’s rights, suffrage & their full inclusion in Syrian social & political life. She was the first woman to become titled ‘General’. She is Nazik Al Abid of Damascus. Born in 1887 to an educated, patriotic, and more socially-open Damascene family, she spoke French, English & German in addition to her native Arabic.

In her early 20s, during the final years of Ottoman rule in Syria, she was introduced to the liberating writings of Syrian writer & feminist Mary Ajami, founder of the Arab world’s first women’s newspaper, “Al Arus” (1910)- The Bride. Nazik contributed greatly to the newspaper & was exiled to Egypt in 1914, only to return to Damascus in 1918, when the Ottoman rule collapsed. Upon her return, Nazik founded the Red Star Association, a branch of the Red Cross in Syria that later became the Syrian Red Crescent, as well as the Nur Al Fayha’a magazine, which focused on women’s empowerment. She was also a founder of the Damascene Women’s Club, a cultural club which united the city’s elite women, and a school for the daughters of martyrs.

In 1920, during the Battle of Maysalun between Syrian & French forces (marking the beginning of the French Mandate of Syria), she saved many of her fellow men & witnessed the martyrdom of Syria’s first national army commander by the French as she tried to save him. She was titled General by the king of the Arab Kingdom of Syria (1919-1920) before official French takeover, and led several protests which again, caused her exile this time to Istanbul until 1922. Returning to Damascus on the condition of staying away from politics. She later moved to Beirut in 1929 and married Lebanese Mohammed Jamil Bayhum, a politically active intellectual & defender of women’s rights.

In Lebanon, Nazik’s drive for social & political progress continued, where she founded the Women Workers Association aimed at improving the conditions & rights of working women & mothers. Following the establishment of the Zionist state in Palestine in 1948, Nazik also founded an association that helped Palestinian refugees. At the age of 70, she established a committee aimed at improving the quality of life of Lebanese mothers, which commenced the celebration of the first Mother’s Day in Lebanon in 1959.

In August of the same year, she passed away after 72 years of life dedicated to fight for Syria’s independence, opening the eyes of our women to live as equals to men, on social, cultural & political levels, in defiance against all sorts of oppression for the sake of a prosperous Syria.