Butrus Al-Bustani - Life

Life

Al-Bustani was born to a Maronite Christian family in the village of Dibbiye in the Chouf region, in January 1819. He received primary education in the village school, where he attracted the attention of his teacher, Father Mikhail al-Boustani, because of his keen intelligence that he showed brilliantly.

The latter recommended him to the Bishop of Sidon and Beiteddine, Abdullah al-Bustani, who sent him at the age of 11 to the school at ‘Ayn Warqa, the most famous school of that period, to continue his studies there. At ‘Ayn Waraqa he learned Syriac and Latin. He spent ten years there and learned several foreign languages including French, Italian and English.

In 1840, after completing his studies at ‘Ayn Warqa’, Al-Boustani moved to Beirut and obtained his first employment outside of academia as a dragoman for the British Armed Forces assisting them in their efforts in evicting Ibrahim Pasha from Syria in the interest of preserving the Ottoman Empire. Later that year al-Boustani was hired by American Protestant Missionaries as a teacher and from that point on he worked closely with the Protestant mission in Beirut.

While working to translate the Bible, al-Bustani learned Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek, and perfected Syriac and Latin.

In Beirut he came into contact with the American Protestant missionaries with whom he worked closely until his death on May 1, 1883. Following his initial employment with the American Protestant Mission in Beirut al-Boustani spent most of his years working for the American Protestant Mission. It was during these years that al-Boustani converted to their Protestant faith and completed many of his early works. Arabic grammar and arithmetic books were among these early works along with the Van Dyck’s version of the Bible, the most popular Arabic translation of the Bible used today. Both al-Boustani and Nasif Al-Yaziji worked on Van Dyck’s version under the supervision of Eli Smith who was an American Protestant Missionary, scholar and Yale graduate. The translation project was continued unto fruition after al-Boustani under Cornelius Van Allen Van Dyck. While working to translate the Bible, Al-Bustani learned Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek, and perfected Syriac and Latin thus bringing the number of languages he mastered to 9.