Background
Yaziji's family is originally from Homs and moved before he was born in Beirut.
Yaziji's family is originally from Homs and moved before he was born in Beirut.
He belonged to the Greek Catholic population of the Mutasarrifate of Mount Lebanon. He was editor of several newspapers and magazines such as Nagah, Tabib, Diya, and was instructed by Jesuits to translate the Bible into Arabic. It was the second Bible translation in the Arabic language.
Their Bible translation appeared in 1856. One of Yaziji's most significant innovations was the creation of a greatly simplified Arab font. By reducing Arabic character forms from 300 to 60 he simplified the symbols so that they more closely resembled Latin characters.
It was a process that contributed to the creation of the Arabic typewriter. The Bible translations of Bustāni, Nasif al-Yaziji and Ibrahim al-Yaziji were the first in modern Arabic language.