Bechara El Khoury

Bechara Abdallah El Khoury was born in Beirut and founded the crusading political and literary newspaper Al-Barq in 1908, fiercely condemning Ottoman tyranny. Adopting the pen name Al-Akhtal Al-Saghir (The Young Akhtal) in homage to the Umayyad classical poet, he was sentenced to death in absentia by Jamal Pasha, fleeing to the Lebanese mountains until the end of World War I.

In 1961, El Khoury was formally crowned Amir al-Shu'ara (Prince of Poets) at a historic literary congress in Cairo. His exquisite romantic ghazals, celebrated for their delicate musicality and romantic longing—such as 'Yabki wa-Yadhak' and 'Al-Siba wa-al-Jamal'—were set to music by Mohammed Abdel Wahab and sung by Fairuz, becoming immortal anthems of modern Arab love poetry.