Al-Manār (magazine)

History and profile

Al-Manār was founded by the Sunni scholar Muhammad Rashid Rida in 1898, They were both members of the Decentralization Party. Their goal in establishing the magazine was to articulate and disseminate reformist ideas and preserve the unity of the Muslim nations.{{cite web|title=Muhammad Rashid Rida|work=Oxford Reference

Rashid Rida was the sole editor-in-chief of the magazine. Its content was heavily about Quranic interpretations. Rida published numerous articles in Al-Manār which praised the Wahhabi movement in Arabia.{{cite journal|volume=9

In addition to championing the beliefs of the Arabian Muwahhidun movement, Al-Manar also popularised the treatises of major Salafi theologians of Yemen. These included Nayl al-Autar and Irshad al-Fuhul by Al-Shawkani and Subul al-Salam by Ibn al-Amir Al-San’ani. Outlining the religious orientation of his magazine, Rashid Rida wrote:{{Cite book|author=Samir M. Seikaly|title=Configuring Identity in the Modern Arab East

Al-Manār was one of the earliest Arab publications which called attention to the Zionist threat against Palestine. The magazine claimed in 1898 that the Zionists were attempting to occupy Palestine. It repeated the same fears in 1902.{{cite thesis|author=Harold M. Cubord|title=The PFLP's changing role in the Middle East|id=|page=72

Following the death of Rashid Rida in 1935, Al-Manār was irregularly published until 1940. In October 1939 it was temporarily banned by the Egyptian government.{{cite journal|author=Christine Sixta Rinehart|title=Volatile Breeding Grounds: The Radicalization of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood|journal=Studies in Conflict & Terrorism|year=2009|volume=32|issue=11|page=961

Legacy

Al-Manar advocated for a fundamentalist revival of the methodology and doctrine of the Salaf al-Salih based on the writings of classical Hanbali theologian Ahmad ibn Taymiyyah (728 AH/1263 CE); communicating these ideas in such a way that mobilised the Muslim masses both culturally and politically. The intellectual heritage of Al-Manār has been adopted and championed by Islamic religious movements and organizations in Arab world, including the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and the Association of Algerian ‘Ulama’ in Algeria.{{cite book|author=Kosugi Yasushi|editor2=Komatsu Hisao|editor1=Stéphane A. Dudoignon|editor3=Kosugi Yasushi|title=Intellectuals in the Modern Islamic World. Transmission, Transformation and Communication|date=2006|publisher=Routledge|location=London and New York|pages=3–39|isbn=9780415549790

Al-Manār inspired various journals, including Shura, a Turkic language magazine published in Orenburg between 1908 and 1918.{{cite book|author=Stéphane A. Dudoignon

References

References

1. Joseph A. Kéchichian. (14 November 2013). "The Islamic reformer: Mohammad Rashid Reda". Gulf News.
2. Fakhry, Majid. (2006). "A History of Islamic Philosophy: Third Edition". Columbia University Press.
3. Eliezer Tauber. (1990). "The Press and the Journalist as a Vehicle in Spreading National Ideas in Syria in the Late Ottoman Period". [[Die Welt des Islams]].
4. Elie Podeh. (April 2010). "The bay'a: Modern Political Uses of Islamic Ritual in the Arab World". [[Die Welt des Islams]].
5. Fakhry, Majid. (2006). "A History of Islamic Philosophy: Third Edition". [[Columbia University Press]].
6. Roy Bar Sadeh. (Summer 2020). "Between Cairo and the Volga-Urals: Al-Manar and Islamic Modernism, 1905-17". Kritika.