Al-Muqtataf (magazine)

Al-Muqtataf was founded in 1876 by the Arabic Christians Yaqʿūb Ṣarrūf (1852-1927) and Fāris Nimr (1856-1951) at the Syrian Protestant College (SPC, today American University of Beirut) in Beirut.[3] Both of them graduated there with a bachelor of arts degree in science and worked afterwards as lecturers.[4] Ṣarrūf, who had made a name himself as an important science journalist and promoter of the modern Arabic literature, was interested predominantly in scientific and literary topics. Nimr, on the other hand, dedicated himself additionally to current politics.[5] The third publisher Šāhīn Makāriyūs (1853-1910) who was also a journalist, was responsible for the printing technology, and he developed this already in the production of the journals Našra al-Usbūʿīya (1871) and aṭ- Ṭabīb (1884-1885).[6]

The publishing course was apparently not planned from the beginning since the volumes are not furnished with a date till the fourth year.[7] The chronology was published until 1885 only according to Gregorian calendar later the Islamic dating was also added.[8] Besides Syria and Egypt the issues were also distributed in Iraq, Iran, Yemen and were spread in numerous European countries, in the USA, Canada, Latin America, Australia as well as in India and China.[9]

In 1882, the journal attracted controversy when it published a speech by an SPC professor named Edwin Lewis. The speech made favorable references to Darwinism, and was opposed by religiously conservative authorities at SPC.[10] This opposition led Ṣarrūf and Nimr to migrate to Cairo in 1884, where they produced the journal in a private printing press owned by Makāriyūs.[11][12] They published in Egypt simultaneously the daily newspaper al-Muqaṭṭam (1889-1952), the monthly journal al-Laṭāʾif (1886-1896) and Ǧarīdat as-Sūdān (The Sudan Times, 1903).[13]

Al-Muqtaṭaf was not a political but rather an encyclopaedic journal that followed European and American examples.[14] The New Yorker weekly journal American Artisan for "Arts, Mechanics, Manufactures, Engineering, Chemistry, Inventions and Patents" provided the logo of crossed hammer and feather, which was copied at the title page till the 1890s.[15] At first the subheading was "ǧarīda ʿilmīya ṣināʿīya" ("journal for science and industry") which indicates that current politics was for the most part neglected.

The publishers' aim was to inform the reader in the Arab world about the Western scientific progress of that time and how to use that knowledge in one's daily life.[16] The scientific and literary topics of the journal were varied. Articles on modern sciences were published, from anatomy to astronomy and from physics to veterinary medicine as well as agriculture and handicraft.[17] Evolutionary theory and Darwinism obtained great significance in the first years of publication and resulted in excited discussions among the authors and readers.[18] Cultural and social topics as well as literature gained over the time more relevance, and translations of European literature were increasingly published.[19]

The rubric for disputation and correspondence (Bāb al-Munāẓara wa-l-Murāsala) and the column for questions and answers (Masāʿil wa-aǧwibatuhā) enabled and promoted social, scientific and political debates.[20] Authors and readers could express their opinions, debate with other authors or ask questions.[21] The importance of interaction with the readership is also evident in numerous reader surveys, its results were continuously published.[22]

It was also important for the authors to complement the articles with numerous illustrations, first in black and white and from 1926 on for the first time coloured.[23] From March 1885 a lot of advertisings appeared, from October 1886 they were published in Arabic and English in many pages for a wider public.[24] All in all this encyclopaedic educational journal, the only one of its kind, had remarkable influence on numerous scientific, social and political debates in the Arab world. Due to its publications scientific fields, European literature as well as social topics could gain popularity and broadly be discussed.[25]

• Ayalon, Ami (1992): "Sihafa: The Arab experiment in journalism.", in: MES, Bd. XXVIII, 2, p. 258-280.
• Ayalon, Ami (1995): The Press in the Arab Middle East: A History, New York: Oxford University Press, p. 53.
• Elshakry, Mawra (2013): Reading Darwin in Arabic, 1860-1950, Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
• Farang, Nadia (1972): "The Lewis Affair and the Fortunes of al-Muqtataf", in: Middle Eastern Studies, Vol. 8, No. 1, p. 73-83.
• Glaß, Dagmar (2004): Der al-Muqtaṭaf und seine Öffentlichkeit. Aufklärung, Räsonnement und Meinungsstreit in der frühen arabischen Zeitschriftenkommunikation, 2 Bde., Würzburg: Ergon Verlag.
• Glaß, Dagmar (1995): "Die Masāʾil-Kolumne in al-Muqtaṭaf. Ein Indikator für die Rezeption einer arabischen Wissenschaftszeitschrift der 19. Jahrhunderts?", in: Herzog, Christoph/Motika, Raoul/Pistor-Hatam, Anja (Hg.): Presse und Öffentlichkeit im Nahen Osten, Heidelberg: Heidelberger Orientverlag.