Al-Asma'i (magazine)

Al-Asma'i
Cover of the first issue, 1 September 1908
EditorHanna El-Issa
EditorKhalil Sakakini
EditorIssaf Nashashibi
CategoriesLiterary and political
FrequencyBiweekly
FounderHanna El-Issa
First issue1 September 1908
Final issue
Number		1 February 1909
11
CountryOttoman Empire
Based inEdited in Jaffa, printed and distributed in Jerusalem
LanguageArabic

Al-Asma'i (Arabic: الأصمعي, romanized: al-Aṣmaʿī, lit. 'The Hearing') was a short-lived Arabic literary and political biweekly magazine published in 1908 and 1909 in Palestine, then part of the Ottoman Empire. The magazine was one of the first publications to emerge in Palestine following the lifting of press censorship.[1] It was printed and distributed in Jerusalem, while the magazine's headquarters and offices were in Jaffa.[2]

The magazine was established by Hanna El-Issa, an Arab Christian businessman from Jaffa,[3] in the wake of the 1908 Young Turk Revolution, which lifted press censorship in the empire.[1] He was intermittently joined by writers including Khalil Sakakini, Isaaf Nashashibi, and Mananah Sidawi.[2] The publication was named after Al-Asmaʿi, an early Arab scholar.[4] The first edition of Al-Asma'i was published on 1 September 1908 and the last one on 1 February 1909, for a total of eleven editions over a period of five months.[5]

Al-Asma'i presented issues facing Palestinian society, describing its difficulties and hardships, as well as conveying its demands.[6] From the start, Al-Asma'i was opposed to and fearful of Zionism, and opposed Jewish immigration to Palestine from a perspective of local patriotism and Arab nationalism.[7] The magazine frequently criticized the Zionist settlers and accused them of unfair competition with Arab craftsmen and traders, resenting the privileges they enjoyed from foreign powers, and considered them a threat to the local population.[7][8][9]

It also focused on the Arab laity's struggle against the Greek clergy dominating the Jerusalem Orthodox Patriarchate, known as the Arab Orthodox Movement. It wrote about topics of interests to Arab peasants, such as agricultural development,[2][8] and promoted women's issues, including importance of their education.[10] The magazine was discontinued due to the owner Hanna El-Issa's preoccupation with the Arab Orthodox Movement, and his death on 12 September 1909. His brother Yousef El-Issa and cousin Issa El-Issa, later went on to establish Falastin in 1911, which became one of the most influential Palestinian dailies.[11]

  1. ^ a b Mandel 1976, p. 127.
  2. ^ a b c Kabha 2007, p. xvi.
  3. ^ Morris 2011, p. 106.
  4. ^ Ben-Bassat 2011, p. 225.
  5. ^ Toksoz 2014, p. 104.
  6. ^ Kabha 2007, p. 127.
  7. ^ a b Muslih 1988, p. 80.
  8. ^ a b Khalaf 2009, p. 56.
  9. ^ Mandel 1976, p. 80.
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference QA1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference ST1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).