Subhi Dajani was the first blind person to start a school for the blind in the Arab world. He made significant contributions to the education of the visually impaired and established a printing press that offered the first copy of the Holy Quran in braille.
Early Years
Subhi Taher Dajani was born in 1910 in the Old City of Jerusalem. He came from a well-established family with deep, longstanding roots in Jerusalem.
When he was four years old, he caught meningitis and lost his vision.
Because schools at the time were not equipped to teach blind students, Dajani got his primary education from the Schneller Orphanage (also called the Syrian Orphanage), a German Protestant orphanage that opened in 1860, when it was one of the first edifices to be built outside the Old City walls. The orphanage provided both academic and vocational training to orphaned boys and girls from the Middle East and beyond, with classes taught in German and Arabic. In 1903, the orphanage opened a school for the blind that had dormitories, classrooms, and vocational workshops. It was there that Dajani learned Arabic and English in braille. He was one of the few students who studied at that school, which functioned for just over 30 years.
Dajani liked studying the English language. In 1929, he earned a certificate from the English College in Jerusalem that was accredited by the Oxford School.
First Blind Student at the American University of Beirut (AUB)
In 1929, Dajani was accepted at the American University of Beirut (AUB), the first blind student to study there. He graduated in 1932 with a bachelor of science degree in education. An excellent orator, he was awarded the oratory prize for best speech in 1932.
He would not have been admitted to AUB had it not been for the perseverance of his older brother, Mahmoud Dajani, who was a student at the medical school. AUB initially rejected Subhi’s application because of his visual impairment, but Mahmoud convinced them to give Subhi an admission exam, which he passed easily.
Study Abroad
Upon graduation from AUB, Dajani continued his education in the United Kingdom. He gained a certificate in education and teaching from the Teachers’ College in Edinburgh (1934) and then in London (1935).
He then spent a year at the Institute of the Blind in Switzerland, which is where he met his wife, Lisa Stori. They had two children: Jarir and Naela.
An engagement party with family members of Hajj Dawud Taher al-Dajani and Hajja Khadija al-Dajani, showing children and grandchildren, at the home of Dr. Mahmoud al-Dajani, Qatamon, Jerusalem, 1945. Subhi al-Dajani, founder of the Hebron School for the Blind, is seated on the left end of the front row of seated family members. His wife, Lisa Stori, is standing to his right, and his two children stand at his knees in front of him.
Credit:
Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division [LC-DIG-matpc-14651]
The Arab Organization for the Welfare of the Blind
Dajani had a dream of establishing the first school for the blind in Palestine. Even while he was a student at AUB in 1932, he supported his friend, Jamil Hashweh, in establishing the Arab Organization for the Welfare of the Blind on Jerusalem’s Jaffa Road and served as the chairman of the board.
The Arab Organization for the Welfare of the Blind had the objective of creating a network for visually impaired people in Palestine and Jordan, and particularly for Jerusalemites, for whom it provided employment opportunities, including factories that produced wooden brushes, brooms, and cane wood stools.
First School for the Blind in the Arab World
In 1938, Dajani founded (and then directed) al-‘Ala’iyya School for the Blind in Hebron (which later moved to al-Bira) and Bethlehem.
The school accepted students from Palestine, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, and the Gulf countries. It taught (in braille) diverse subjects including languages, history, geography, math, and sciences. It also taught handcrafts and music. It had its own school choir that performed at various occasions. Among the students at al-‘Ala’iyya School for the Blind in Hebron was Raja-e Busailah, who later became a university professor in the United States and a prolific writer and poet.
Subhi Dajani teaches a class of older boys using braille textbooks at al-‘Ala’iyya School for the Blind in Hebron, July 3, 1940.
Credit:
Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division [LC-DG-matpc-20696]
Subhi Dajani stands on the front steps of al-‘Ala’iyya School for the Blind in Hebron with some of the students, 1940.
Credit:
Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division [LC-DIG-matpc-12494]
Starting Over after the War
During the 1948 War, the organization lost all its assets. Dajani wrote to UN Mediator Count Folke Bernadotte in August 1948 to alert him to the loss of the organization’s facilities during the UN-imposed ceasefire in July. (The extended Dajani family also lost their houses in the Qatamon, al-Baq‘a, and al-Nabi Da’ud [Mount Zion] neighborhoods of Jerusalem.)
Dajani and his team were determined to reopen the organization in Jerusalem. In 1952, they opened the Arab Blind Institution on Aqbet al-Mufti (Via Dolorosa Street), which still functions.
Publications in Braille
In addition to establishing a school for the blind, Dajani also established a library and a printing house (as part of al-‘Ala’iyya School) for the blind and visually impaired.
Dajani established the first printing press in braille in 1951. It printed academic and cultural books, as well as translations, particularly those related to raising awareness on blindness and braille, from English into Arabic. Dajani wrote books on these subjects and published translations of books by Robert Russell (himself a blind author).
Subhi Dajani teaching a blind student Braille, January 1, 1945
Credit:
Wikimedia Commons
Shortly after, the al-Bira branch of al-‘Ala’iyya School for the Blind published the first braille Arabic magazine. It was called Sawt al-Damir (Call of Conscience). This magazine was distributed monthly to Arab countries free of charge.
The same press printed the first braille copy of the Holy Quran. Dajani transcribed it into braille. The press also printed the first English-Arabic dictionary in braille.
Continuation of Services
The school maintained much of its work despite all challenges. The Hebron facility moved its services to al-Bira in 1949, where it still offers lessons for the blind up to the sixth grade.
The former Hebron location is now the Hebron municipality library.
Subhi Dajani (in light-colored suit) with his students on the front steps of al-‘Ala’iyya School for the Blind, Hebron, January 1, 1940
Credit:
Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division [LC-DIG-matpc-20695]
Meanwhile, the Bethlehem school is still functioning today under the umbrella of the Palestinian Social Affairs Ministry. It provides basic education (such as math and science) as well as music and vocational skills training (such as carpentry and bamboo crafting).
Subhi Dajani in the handicraft room of al-‘Ala’iyya School for the Blind in Hebron, teaching the students to work with straw and raffia, July 3, 1940
Credit:
Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division [LC-DIG-matpc-20699]
In 2009, Catholic News Agency published an article about the school for the blind in Bethlehem (and the support of the Pontifical Mission—Jerusalem), in which it described the “most moving encounter” during a visit to Bethlehem.
Al-Ala’iya has a unique teaching model, with the blind boys being taught by teachers who themselves are blind. After learning how to make brooms, brushes and even weave a rug, these students will have a way to make a living, inspite of their blindness.1
The School for the Blind in Bethlehem continues to pay tribute to its founder, Subhi Dajani. At the school’s 74th anniversary in 2012, speakers expressed gratitude for the more than 16 blind teachers who graduated from the school and who are now teachers themselves. The school still has an impressive choir, and both blind students and blind educators demonstrate various talents in poetry, singing, and theater acting.
The Arab Blind Association in Jerusalem continues to function as a nonprofit philanthropic association and is managed by an elected administrative body, all of whom are blind or visually impaired.
The association has provided financial aid and equipment to people who are visually impaired and has championed the civil rights of the blind across different locations. It has also held various seminars to identify the capabilities and talents of the blind while finding means to address and overcome their challenges. Clearly, the myriad obstacles imposed by the Israeli army on Palestinian mobility between towns and cities impede service delivery for this population as well as their own ability to move freely. (If passing through a checkpoint is a challenging endeavor for those who have their sight, imagine what it would be like for those who do not.)
Global and Regional Impact
In 1951, Dajani was delegated as supervisor at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) conference for the blind in Paris, after which he instituted centers for the blind across the Arab world, including in Iraq (1954) and Kuwait (1955).
Dajani also met with Hellen Keller (the prolific author and disability rights activist) during her visit to Amman in May 1952, and accompanied her on a visit to Jerusalem.
Left to right: Helen Keller, Polly Thomson, and Subhi Dajani. The original caption read: “Keller has a huge happy smile on her face and her eyes are closed; Thomson is fingerspelling into Keller’s hand; Dajani is speaking; captioned ‘H.K. speaking at Moslem Orphanage, Jerusalem, Dajani translating, May 16, 1952.’”
Credit:
Ali Za’arur, press photographer, Jerusalem; AFB Migel Memorial Library Collection, 2009.24.
Left to right: Polly Thomson, Helen Keller, Dr. Hussein F. Khalidi, and Subhi Dajani on a stage at St. George’s School, Jerusalem; Dajani is standing and speaking while the others are seated; Thomson is fingerspelling into Keller’s hand.
Credit:
Ali Za’arur, press photographer, Jerusalem; AFB Migel Memorial Library Collection, 2009.24.
Helen Keller, in dark print dress and flat two-tone cap, hand in hand with Polly Thomson, in dark dress and two-tone veiled hat, walking on a Jerusalem street inside Damascus Gate. The man just behind Thomson is Subhi Dajani with an unidentified woman; captioned “Street in Jerusalem.” May 1952.
In her speech in Amman, addressed to “Mr. Dajani and Friends,” Keller opened by saying:
Mr. Dajani and Friends,
It is an honor to me to salute you in a country which has so many precious associations with the Bible, and is full of history echoing through the ages. Since you have extended to me the right hand of friendship, I sincerely hope that more interest will be aroused in the blind whom I represent.
First I wish to pay tribute to Mr. Dajani, whom I have learned to know and admire deeply for his courage and brilliant abilities. It fills me with wonder to see what he has accomplished for the blind, not only of Jerusalem but of all Jordan, with small means and great odds against him, and also what he is undertaking to do for the sightless of the Near East.2
Death
Dajani died on January 9, 1975. He is buried at the Lions’ Gate cemetery in Jerusalem.
Sources
Abdul Karim, Abeer. “Al-‘Ala’iyya School in Bethlehem: The First Blind School in the Arab World.” [In Arabic.] Wafa, April 30, 2011.
“Al-‘Ala’iyya School for the Blind Celebrates 74 Years since Its Establishment." [In Arabic.] Maan News, April 3, 2012.
Alghad TV. “Who Is Subhi Dajani?” [In Arabic.] Facebook, September 6, 2019.
Dajani, Abu al-Walid. Interview with Arda Aghazarian, June 19, 2024.
“Al-Dajani, Subhi Tahir (1910-1975).” Palestinian Academic Society for the Study of International Affairs (PASSIA).
Fischbach, Michael R. Records of Dispossession: Palestinian Refugee Property and the Arab-Israeli Conflict. The Institute for Palestine Studies Series. New York: Columbia University Press, 2003.
Hirbawi, Ahmad. “The First School for the Blind in the Arab World: Al-‘Ala’iyya School in Hebron, 1938.” [In Arabic.] Cultural Symposium Club. Accessed October 19, 2024.
Helen Keller Archive. “Article Summarizing Al-Difaa Report about Helen Keller’s Arrival in Amman May 9, 1952.” May 9, 1952.
“Helen Keller’s Speech in Jordan Praising the Work of Mr. Dajani and Advocating for the Blind 1952,” Helen Keller Archive, the American Foundation for the Blind, accessed November 26, 2024.
“Jameel Hashweh.” All4Palestine. Accessed October 24, 2024.
Kleibo, Mounir. Interview by Arda Aghazarian, May 21, 2024.
“Palestinian Youth Touched by Hope Thanks to Catholic Charity.” Catholic News Agency, September 6, 2009.
Visit Hebron. Retrieved from Facebook. March 2, 2019.
Wikipedia. s.v. “Al-‘Ala’iyya School for the Blind.” [In Arabic.] Last modified January 29, 2023, 21:17.
Wikipedia. s.v. “Subhi Dajani.” [In Arabic. ] Last modified October 5, 2024, 20:37.
[Profile Photo: PASSIA]
Notes
1
“Palestinian Youth Touched by Hope Thanks to Catholic Charity,” Catholic News Agency, September 6, 2009.
2
“Helen Keller’s Speech in Jordan Praising the Work of Mr. Dajani and Advocating for the Blind 1952,” Helen Keller Archive, the American Foundation for the Blind, accessed November 26, 2024.