Alrayhaniat

Amin Al-Rihani is one of the most prominent writers and poets of the diaspora. He was nicknamed Al-Rihani because of the many basil trees surrounding his house. In his town of Al-Farikah, he received the principles of the Arabic and French languages. His father sent him in 1888 with his uncle to America when he was twelve years old, where he learned the principles of the English language, and his tendency to Reading. Then he left school to take a job as a bookkeeper in his uncle's store in Manhattan. In 1897, he joined the Institute of Law at New York University, and continued there for a year when he became ill and the doctor advised him to return to Lebanon, so he returned there in 1898, and there he studied English in a seminary, and learned the Arabic language in return and began writing articles in the newspaper (Al-Islah), which he used as a platform. To attack the Ottoman Empire. In 1899, Al-Rihani returned to America and worked in commerce and literature. He began publishing books, the first of which was (A Brief History of the French Revolution). He also translated into English selections from the poetry of the poet Abu Al-Ala Al-Maarri. Since then, he devoted his life to writing. In this context, the Observer newspaper acknowledges ) of London that (Amin Al-Rihani was the first to give books in English about the Arab countries and the Near East).