Al-Jinan (magazine)

Al-Jinan (Arabic: الجنان, romanized: al-jinān; "The Gardens") was an Arabic-language political and literary bi-weekly magazine established in Beirut by Butrus al-Bustani and active between 1870 and 1886.[1][2] Its first issue appeared in January 1870.[3] Written largely by Butrus' son Salim who became its editor-in-chief in 1871,[3] the magazine finally ceased to appear because of the growing difficulties of writing freely under the rule of Abdülhamid.[4]

Al-Jinan
Categories
  • Political magazine
  • Literary magazine
FrequencyBi-weekly
FounderButrus al-Bustani
First issueJanuary 1870
Final issue1886
CountryOttoman Empire
Based inBeirut
LanguageArabic

Profile

Al-Jinan had a pan-Arab political stance.[5] It was the first important example of the kind of literary and scientific periodicals which began to appear in the 1870s in Arabic alongside the independent political newspapers.[4] The magazine was also one of the earliest Arabic magazines which covered narrative fiction such as novels, novellas and short stories.[3][5] One of the novels serialized in the magazine was Salim Butrus's historical novel Al Hayam fi Futuh al Sham (1884; Arabic: Passion during the Conquests of Syria) which is about the conquest of Syria by Muslims in the 7th century.[6]

The magazine was issued by subscription only, and was not sold in bookstores.[3] In the initial phase the readers sent their subscriptions by post to Beirut.[3] Following its success local agents were employed to collect subscriptions in the cities, including Baghdad, Basra, Cairo, Alexandria, Aleppo, Assiut, Casablanca, Tangier, London, Paris and Berlin.[3] Three years after its start Al-Jinan had nearly 1500 subscribers.[5] The readers of the magazine included the leading Muslim merchant families in Beirut.[5] It also had readers in Palestine.[2]

References
  1. Dagmar Glass (2002). "'An Ounce of Example is better than a Pound of Instruction'. Biographies in Early Arabic Magazine Journalism". In Christop Herzog; et al. (eds.). Querelles privées et contestations publiques. Le rôle de la presse dans la formation de l'opinion publique au Proche Orient (in French). Istanbul: Les Éditions Isis. p. 13.
  2. Ami Ayalon (2010). Reading Palestine: Printing and Literacy, 1900-1948. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press. pp. 49, 88. ISBN 978-0-292-78281-5.
  3. Ashraf A. Eissa (2000). "Majallat Al Jinan: Arabic Narrative Discourse in the Making". Quaderni di Studi Arabi. 18: 42. JSTOR 25802893.
  4. Albert Hourani (1983). Arabic Thought in the Liberal Age, 1798-1939. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 245. ISBN 978-0-521-27423-4.
  5. Fruma Zachs (2011). "Text and Context: The Image of the Merchant in Early Nahda Fiction". Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde des Morgenlandes. 101: 481, 488. JSTOR 23861931.
  6. "Al-Huyām fī jinān al-shām novel by Al Bustānī". Encyclopædia Britannica.
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