Al-Jinan (Arabic: الجنان, romanized: al-Jinān, lit. 'The Gardens') was an Arabic-language political and literary biweekly 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 in the Ottoman Empire under the rule of Sultan Abdülhamid.[4]
| Categories |
|
|---|---|
| Frequency | Bi-weekly |
| Founder | Butrus al-Bustani |
| First issue | January 1870 |
| Final issue | 1886 |
| Country | Ottoman Empire |
| Based in | Beirut |
| Language | Arabic |
Profile
editAl-Jinan had a pan-Arab political stance.[5] It was the first significant 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' historical novel Passion during the Conquests of Syria (Arabic: الهيام في فتوح الشام, romanized: Al-Ḥayām fī Futūḥ al-Shām, 1884), which is about the 634–8 Muslim conquest of the Levant.[6]
Al-Jinan 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 magazine's readers included the leading Muslim merchant families in Beirut.[5] It also had readers in Palestine.[2]
The issues of Al-Jinan are archived at Al-Aqsa Library in Jerusalem.[7]
References
edit- ^ 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. ISBN 9789754282344.
- ^ a b 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.
- ^ a b c d e f Ashraf A. Eissa (2000). "Majallat Al Jinan: Arabic Narrative Discourse in the Making". Quaderni di Studi Arabi. 18: 42. JSTOR 25802893.
- ^ a b Albert Hourani (1983). Arabic Thought in the Liberal Age, 1798-1939. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 245. ISBN 978-0-521-27423-4.
- ^ a b c d 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.
- ^ "Al-Huyām fī jinān al-shām novel by Al Bustānī". Encyclopædia Britannica.
- ^ Krystyna Matusiak; Qasem Abu Harb (24 August 2009). "Digitizing the Historical Periodical Collection at the Al-Aqsa Mosque Library in East Jerusalem" (Conference Paper). rclis.org. Retrieved 18 February 2024.