A Printed Muslim ‘Lighthouse’ in Cairo al-Manār ’s Early Years, Religious Aspiration and Reception (1898-1903)

On the basis of fresh documents the article tried to reconstruct a historical description of the establishment of the most well-known reformist magazine al-Manār . The personal papers of its founder Muh ̣ ammad Rašīd Rid ̣ ā uncover new information about the background of his journalistic plans and religious aspirations after his arrival in Egypt in 1897. The paper reconsiders Rid ̣ ā’s early religious formation and apprenticeship in his homeland Syria; his position in the printing press in Egypt; the early funding of his magazine; his early integration in the Egyptian life; the early circulation of al-Manār ; and his perspectives on the craft of printing in serving religious sciences.

Printing technology had its first impact on the religious world of Islam in the second half of the 19th century.The Islamic tradition was thus integrated into the new cultural production.The world of manuscripts started gradually to be on the wane.Manuscripts were no longer skillfully copied on demand as they were in the past.Printed books drastically replaced the manuscript tradition; and the non-printed tradition was withdrawn from the public.The printing press also participated into creating a new reading public, and reading became no longer a specialized activity limited to manuscripts. 2 The lines of religious authority within Islam had been mostly shaped by personal links between masters and their disciples.The traditional method of preserving, refining, and transmitting thoughts was competed by writers, editors, and publishers even with no formal religious education.Putting their words into print was a new platform for disseminating ideas.The introduction of printing into the Arab East had also tremendous impact upon the role of the press.Journals and newspapers became the most common medium through which most Arab intellectuals were able to disseminate their political ideas and cultural and religious concepts.The genesis and massive distribution of renowned literary-scientific Arabic journals was the basis of the later intellectual, political, and social conditions for modernity in the Arab world. 3he then almost 32-year-old Syro-Egyptian Muslim publicist and scholar Muḥ ammad Rašīd Riḍ ā (1865-1935) left his birthplace Tripoli in Syria for Egypt in 1897, and the next year he published the first issue of his journal al-Manār (The Lighthouse), the name which he later exploited for his own printing house in Cairo.Islamic journalism experienced its earliest zenith in Egypt with the publication of Riḍ ā's journal, as the early leading salafī scholar in the Muslim world.From the time of its foundation, al-Manār became Riḍ ā's life in which he published his reflections on the spiritual life, explanation of Islamic doctrine, endless polemics, commentary on the Qurʾān, fatwā-s, his thoughts on world politics, etc. 4 Through his journal, Riḍ ā also claimed himself to be the organ and disseminator of the reformist ideas of his teacher and the then mufti of Egypt Muḥ ammad ʿAbduh (d.1905).5 Al-Manār was the print medium which has given ʿAbduh's reformist exegesis of the Qurʾān its largest publicity among many readers all over the world.This exegesis saw light for the first time as series lectures given by ʿAbduh at Al-Azhar University.Riḍ ā, up to ʿAbduh's death in 1905, used to rework the materials and publish them in his journal after the approval of its author.Later Riḍ ā carried on the project till his death in 1935.His editing and printing of ʿAbduh's commentary on the Sacred Text of Islam and reflections on numerous theological and legal issues added to his journal more religious authority and reputation.6 As a print scholar and mufti, he was able to reach readers from all corners of the world through his voluminous and community-building works; and to take a highly prominent position in the modern Muslim intellectual life at the late 19th and the early 20th centuries.7 Throughout his whole printing and scholastic career for more than three decennia, Riḍ ā also succeeded to gather around his journal a great network of Muslim writers; and extended the influence of his religious ideas over the Muslim World from North Africa to Russia and the Far East.8 Riḍ ā's place as a Muslim journalist has been studied in Ami Ayalon's work on the history of press in the Arab Middle East.He mentions that Riḍ ā's aim was to join the intellectual debate over the issue of Islamic society's cultural and political orientation.9 Riḍ ā, though a devout ʿālim, whose paper became the voice of conservative Islam for nearly four decades, was sufficiently forward-looking to employ the new medium in order to confront secularist influences and disseminate his own principles.10Skovgaard-Petersen described Riḍ ā as one of the early prominent Muslim scholars who exploited journalism in promoting religious values among his Muslim public.Before the appearance of his journal and by the end of the century, however, the Islamic press arose in Egypt, and a dozen of "conservative" religious newspapers and journals were established.They had names like "Islam", or "Justice" or "The Straight Path".11 Dyala Hamzah, on the other hand, tried to deconstruct Riḍ ā's reputation as ʿālim or muṣ liḥ (reformer).She argued that "when read as a ʿālim, producing a theoretical work, in the framework of a time-honoured methodology, Riḍ ā is bound to appear incoherent, non-systematic, inconsistent; when read as a journalist, i.e., as a writer tuned first to his times, then his work appears as it really is: the chronicle of a world in tremendous turmoil, dictated by events and written by an author in the process of shaping his craft and in the process of being shaped by it."12 Departing from the conference's very question of "authority, and of identifying the places of print and printing authorities and their social and cultural embeddedness", the paper will specifically focus on the early institutional background of al-Manār in the light of Riḍ ā's journal and some of his remaining personal papers and documents in possession of his family in Egypt.The family archive contains Riḍ ā's correspondences, diaries, and many other documents.To understand the close social setting of the journal, we shall attempt to answer the following questions: how was his early relation to the Egyptian cultural sphere in the early years?Which places did he visit and what were the major activities and organizations in which he was involved in order to promote his career and authority as a religious scholar?How did he secure the early funding for his journal?What was the scope of his journal's circulation in the initial phase of its publication?How did Riḍ ā understand the issue of printing in the Arab world and the impact of the printed press as a medium for disseminating his theological and pedagogical aspirations?

Printing Press in Egypt
In his account of the Egyptian press in 1899, the German orientalist Martin  Hartmann (1851-1918) observed that "literary work was daily on the increase.New printing-offices, new books, new periodicals, and new men follow one another with a rapidity that is surprising in an oriental country.As a natural consequence, the former condition of printing and publishing will soon be forgotten." 13yrian immigrants in particular played a major social, economic and cultural role in the Egyptian society.The first wave of Syrian emigration occurred roughly between 1730 and 1780. 14In the second half of the 19th century Syrian immigration to the country increasingly resumed.Besides the economic and educational motives for immigration, political repression under the 'Abdulḥ amidian regime during the two decades before World War I was a major reason that some educated and politicized young Syrians ran afoul of the Ottoman secret police. 15Towards the end of the 19th century, three major socio-occupational groups among the Syrians settled in Egypt.Firstly, professionals, among whom journalists, editors and owners of periodicals were dominant, followed by employees in the various branches of the government administration.Secondly, the commercial class, which included businessmen, agents of foreign companies and contractors of development projects.Thirdly, artisans, manual labors and the poor. 16The cultural contributions and political ideas of the 'Syrian intelligentsia' in Egypt were much connected with the press. 17he press in Beirut and Syria became increasingly restricted by Ottoman censorship, while the center of journalistic and intellectual activity shifted to Egypt.Syrian immigrants made the biggest contribution in creating Egyptian journalism, and even for a while monopolized it.Between 1800 and 1914 a total of 790 newspapers and journals were founded in the country.Of these 150 (roughly one fifth) were "owned by men whose names were recognizably Syrians". 18nother statistics shows that from 1873-1907, 648 periodicals appeared on the market and 97 of them (some 15%) were started by Syrians. 19Another statistics indicates a more modest figure of 169 newspapers and journals established by 1898; and the number increased to 282 by 1913. 20ue to the fact that Syrian Christians largely maintained the Egyptian press, Islamic matters were of secondary importance.Skovgaard-Petersen argued that some of these existent newspapers would deal with Islam in a new manner, dispassionately, objectively referring to events and statements without necessarily passing judgment upon them. 21Most of those Syrian journals were run by a group of intellectuals who were mostly educated in western literary traditions in their country of origin before migration to Egypt.They mostly had showed a rather secularist tendency in dealing with religious, political, and social problems in their writings.Among the prominent names were: al-Hilāl (The Crescent) of G ̌urgī Zaydān (1861-1914), al-Muqtaṭ af (The Selected) of Yaʿqūb Ṣ arrūf (1852-1927) and Fāris Nimr  (1856-1951), al-G āmiʿa (Universalism) of Faraḥ Anṭ ūn (1874-1922), etc.

Riḍ ā's Years in Syria
Biographical information on Riḍ ā is mostly taken from his autobiography, which he primarily published more than thirty years after his migration to Egypt during his polemical debate against the anti-salafī Azharī scholar Yūsuf al-Digwī (1870-1946), a member of the Corps of Al-Azhar's High ʿulamāʾ, around the understanding and interpretation of a variety of Islamic themes. 22is famous biography of Muḥ ammad ʿAbduh: Tārīḫ al-ustāḏ al-imām is also The Position of the Syro-Egyptian Newspapers Towards British Administration 1892-1907, MA thesis, Beirut, n.d. 18 Hourani, Arabic Thought . . ., p. 229  Ḥ usayn al-G ̌isr (1845-1909), the founder of the National Islamic School of Tripoli extended to him another ig āza certifying him to teach and transmit religious knowledge (see appendix).In al-G ̌isr's school, emphasis was laid upon the combination between religious education and modern sciences, especially mathematics, natural sciences, French, alongside Arabic and Turkish. 25In the meantime, Riḍ ā's uncle, Muḥ ammad Kāmil ibn Muḥ ammad (1843-1939), taught him Arabic, and had impact on his religious knowledge. 26iḍ ā's fascination with the role of the press for the religious reform movement started when he by chance came across among his father's papers some issues of the short-lived al-ʿUrwa l-wuṯ qā (The Firmest Bond), co-published by G ̌amāl al-Dīn al-Afgānī (1839-1897) 27 and ʿAbduh during their exile in Paris.In his own words: "All I wanted to do before I read al-ʿUrwa l-wuṯ qā was to teach the tenets of Islam and the transitory nature of life on earth.Now I saw a new light: to work for the unification of the Muslim world.My duty, I now knew, lay in guiding the faithful to the ways of progress and modern civilization." 28Ayalon stressed impact of "collective reading" on the accessibility of journals, such as al-ʿUrwa l-wuṯ qā.Describing Riḍ ā as 'thinker and journalist', he relates the story that Riḍ ā first became acquainted with the journal-while listening to articles read aloud from it by the Egyptian political refugees in his hometown.Citing the Tārīḫ , he translates: "The famous Sheikh Muḥ ammad ʿAbd al-G ̌awād al-Qāyātī took [the paper] held one of those olive oil lamps in his hands, and began to read in an accentuated tone, as if he were a preacher.He paused every few sentences to give vent to the profound emotions which possessed him, and did not leave the paper until he reached the end." 29The journal began to have its full impact on Riḍ ā's thoughts by 1892-1893, in what he described as "an electric current passing through his body." 30he craft of printing was modest in the Tripoli of Riḍ ā's time.In 1889, the Syrian journalist Muḥ ammad Kāmil al-Buḥ ayrī (d.1917) established the al-Balāgȧ Press, where his town-fellows were able to have their works published in various available languages.He also founded his journal Ṭ arābulus (Tripoli) in 1893.Before the foundation of Buḥ ayrī's printing house, authors of Tripoli used to have their publications printed in Beirut, Turkey or Egypt.However, Buḥ ayrī's printing house made scholarly works written by other local ʿulamāʾ available for students in the region. 31n his village Riḍ ā started his preaching career, and took the central mosque as a place for teaching religious sciences to the people of his village, especially tafsīr lessons. 32In his autobiography, he also mentioned that he regularly went to cafes to give sermons to Muslims, who were not habitual visitors of the mosque.He also gathered women in a room inside his house, where he instructed them about the rules of rituals and worship matters. 33iḍ ā was drawn into the world of journalism when he was still in Tripoli.His master al-G ̌isr was one of the early people who introduced him to journalist circles in the town, where he wrote several articles in several journals.In the preceding years before his move to Cairo, he was offered the editorship of the journal Ṯ amarāt al-funūn (Fruits of the Arts, founded in 1876) of the Syrian journalist ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Qabbānī (1848-1935). 34Ayalon maintained that Riḍ ā was a 'victim' of censorship prior to his emigration to Egypt.Riḍ ā, according to him, also tried to get a license to start his own journal in 29 Ayalon, The Press . .Sirriyeh,"Autobiography . . .",p. 258. 33 Al-Manār wa-l-Azhar, p. 171-179.34 Hamzah, "ʿĀlim . . ." p. 7.For the journal's history, see Donald Ciota, Thamarat al-Funun:  Syria's First Islamic Newspaper, 1875-1908, PhD  Tripoli.He completed the necessary application procedure with the local authority and, having been notified of his eligibility for a license, paid the required security, whereupon his application was forward to the vali of Beirut for approval. Th vali denied his request, "for there already exists one newspaper in Tripoli, and if a second one were to be established the burden on the censor would be heavy."35 Ayalon is mistaken in his reading of Riḍ ā's statements.In that quoted article, Riḍ ā did not refer to his own initiative, but to the manager of al-Manār (discussed below), who failed to get a license to a journal in their birthplace.36Riḍ ā's ultimate goal of migrating to Egypt was, however, to initiate a private journalistic project in Cairo.37

Al-Manār's Early Funding
Concerning al-Manār's early funding, previous researchers mostly depend on Riḍ ā's own story, which he published in his biography on ʿAbduh: that he initially started the project as dependent on his own savings and, subsequently later on his subscribers.According to Riḍ ā, the only occasion of external funding involves a loan from one of ʿAbduh's associates, which Riḍ ā obtained in 1901 after Manār's administrative office was burglarized. 38On the other hand, Russian and German diplomatic sources reported that Sultan Abdülḥ amīd was upset by the Egyptian Khedive ʿAbbās Ḥ ilmī for allegedly sponsoring al-Manār.39Among Riḍ ā's papers, however, I found an agreement, which he set up a few months before his migration to Egypt with a certain ʿAbd al-Ḥ alīm b. ʿUbayd Afandī Murād al-Ṭ arābulsī, one of his acquaintances and fellow citizens in Tripoli (see appendix).According to the contract, both parties agreed to start a joint print-enterprise in Egypt, and to establish a "scientific, political and literary" journal as well.The name al-Manār was not mentioned in the agreement yet.It was settled in Tripoli-Syria in Rabīʿ al-awwal 1315/ September 1897, and contained seventeen articles.
As both parties had the privilege and full right of the journal, each of them had a copy of the contract.Riḍ ā was entrusted with all matters of writing, editing and correction of the journal, but Murād was assigned all administrative matters, such as the management and correspondence with agents and employees, and the supervision of printing matters.If the editor (Riḍ ā) needed an assistant or a translator, or the manager needed an accountant, their salaries should be paid by the journal, and not by either of the two persons; whether it was on a provisional (such as in case of illness or travel) or permanent (such as in the case of plenty of work) basis.Neither of the two partners had the right to be independent in associating any other person or appointing agents or employees or giving them payments without the permission of the other person.Murād was committed to pay all the costs of the journal and other printed materials until the profit would become enough, and then he would have the right to retrieve his assets, which are his own capital.There should be annual accounting between the two partners, and the profit should be divided between both of them after excluding all costs made by either of them.All the profits of printed books, treatises and any other publications should be shared between the two persons; whether they were earned before or after buying the printing house, whether their funds were paid by both parties or one of them individually.When Riḍ ā gifted one of his printed works to any of the ʿuẓ amāʾ (great men), and received a financial reward or any other presents in return, Murād would have no right to share it with him; but Riḍ ā should pay the regular price of that work.Murād was entitled to pay all travel and other shared costs (such as food and accommodation), till there became profits to pay the employees; but any kind of other personal costs (such as clothes, medicine and tobacco) should be paid independently.Neither of the two parties would have the right to dissolve this joint venture without their communal acceptance.If Riḍ ā dissolved the partnership, Murād would have the right of reclaiming half of the shared costs and other losses, let alone what he took as loans.But if Murād dissolved it, he would have no right to demand Riḍ ā to give any costs or losses back, and the latter would have the right to reclaim whatever costs or losses he makes.In case of Murād's financial disability to cover the costs or due failure, neither of the two parties would have the right to reclaim any money, nor sue the other.Any losses should be shared between both parties. 4040 Riḍ ā always introduced Murād in al-Manār as the manager of the journal and he was nowhere mentioned as an associate.See for example, his death announcement of Murād's mother, 2/32 (1899), p. 511.In May 1900, he made an announcement to the readers of al-Manār that Murād was dismissed from his job at the journal, and he should not be consulted in publishing matters anymore, al-Manār, 3/9 (1900) It is noticeable that Riḍ ā gives no mention to the contract he made with Murād in his reports of the financial situation of the journal.In the Tārīḫ , Riḍ ā mentioned some details about the funding of his project.He asserted that he never asked anybody for financial aid except after this burglary incident, when he as a result of his master's suggestion borrowed 50 pounds from a certain Muḥ ammad al-Wakīl in 1900 for the renewal of his work, and was not able to pay them back before 1903.He argued that his relation and constant praise of ʿAbduh in the early issues of his journal was also one of the main reasons for his financial troubles, as the Palace due to its anti-ʿAbduh stance had attempted to "resist [its publication] and induce scholars, the National Party and other high civil servants to boycott al-Manār." 41Riḍ ā's statement was a reply to those who alleged that his close relation with ʿAbduh was based on his personal financial interest.
Refuting all claims that he exploited ʿAbduh's relations to collect his wealth, Riḍ ā argued that he was well-off enough and was even in no need to sell his own piece of land in his village before his departure.He added that his savings, which he collected in Syria as a result of his job as a notary clerk in his hometown, were enough to cover the expenses of his trip and also to start his printing project.After his arrival in Egypt, he also rejected an offer made by the Lebanese journalist Bišāra Taqlā, al-Ahrām's editor-in-chief, to write articles for his paper in return for a sum of money in order to save his full energy to establish a journal. 42

Early Months in Egypt
In his diary (late 1897-early 1898) Riḍ ā gives details of his early month in Egypt.On writing ʿAbduh's biography more than twenty years later, Riḍ ā as executive manager of al-Manār.He repeatedly claimed that it was his 'sympathy' to Murād's family situation which led him to keep him in his job; but this good treatment made the latter aspire to link his name with al-Manār's reputation.According to Riḍ ā, Murād seized the opportunity of his travel to Ṭ anṭ ā, and embezzled many copies of al-Manār and never showed up, al-Manār, 3/10 (1900), p. 238.Riḍ ā filed a lawsuit against him in ʿAbdīn Court in Cairo.On 23 July of the same year, the judge of the court Muḥ ammad ʿIffat issued his verdict in absentia against Murād and his wife Umm Ṣ alāḥ al-Dīn of returning all the embezzled issues or to pay back the value of 50 Egyptian pounds, and other costs including the lawyer's fees, al-Manār, 3/16 (1900) merged some of the information mentioned in the diary in his chapter on his relation with his ʿAbduh.After Riḍ ā's death, the Syrian journalist and linguist ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Magṙibī (1867-1956) published one of Riḍ ā's early letters in the Egyptian weekly al-Risāla (The Message), which also contained information about his early days in the country. 43Due to the limitation of the paper, I will only focus on his primary efforts related to strengthening and guaranteeing success of his journal, substantiating his information with ʿAbduh's Tārīḫ and Magṙibī's letter in order to get a rather complete picture about his primary effort to enhance his printing project.
According to the diary, Riḍ ā arrived in Alexandria on Friday 8 Rajab 1315/ 3 December 1897 on an Austrian ship with his travel-fellow Faraḥ Anṭ ūn.He was impressed by the city, its lights, buildings, gardens and cafes.The next day he visited the school of al-ʿUrwa l-wuṯ qā Association, headed by ʿAbd al-Qādir Afandī Sirrī.It was an elementary school where children could learn Arabic, theology, ḥ anafī jurisprudence, arithmetic, geography and history.About two hundred male and female students were enrolled in that school, and were also taught works written by the Egyptian ʿAlī Mubārak (1824-1893).Riḍ ā directly started to make acquaintance with the journalistic atmosphere in the city.On Sunday in the afternoon he visited the printing house of the daily paper Lisān al-ʿArab (The language of the Arabs) under the joint editorship of the two Christian brothers Nagīb al-Ḥ addād and Amīn al-Ḥ addād and the Muslim ʿAbduh Badrān. 44Later he met and talked with Antonios ʿAbduh, one of al-Ahrām's editors, about the state of journalism in the country.He was surprised to be informed that al-Ahrām ranked second in terms of circulation after the daily al-Muʾayyad of Sheikh ʿAlī Yūsuf (1863-1913), and not al-Muqaṭ ṭ am as he had thought before.Antonios also informed him that al-Ahrām was published in 3000 copies of its daily edition and had around 1000 subscribers abroad, but al-Muqaṭ ṭ am was only printed in 2000 copies, but al-Muʾayyad was printed in 5000.He also added to him that besides their good payment for employees, al-Ahrām printing house was run with steam power and was considered the biggest and best press for publishing journals in Egypt.
Riḍ ā made a tour around Northern towns of Egypt in order to get more familiar with the cultural, religious and intellectual atmosphere of the country.A couple of days later, he left Alexandria for Ṭ anṭ ā (the capital of al-G ȧrbiyya province-the Egyptian Delta).Upon arrival, he visited the mosque of al-Sayyid al-Badawī.During his stay in Ṭ antā, he was hosted by Sayyid 43 Al-Risāla, 3/114 (1935), p. 1452-1455. 44 Muḥ ammad ʿAbd al-Raḥ īm, the sheikh of the Šāḏ iliyya Qāwuqgǐyya Ṭ arīqa, 45 who notified Riḍ ā that his would-be journal was not to circulate easily in Egypt, especially among the notables.But to get introduced to them would probably make them acquainted with the tendency of the journal before any publication.He stressed that there appeared many newspapers in Egypt, which in the beginning defended the nationalist cause, and then later they would change their ideas.According to him, the Egyptians strongly believed that any Syrian migrating to Egypt with the intention of establishing a journal would excessively praise Abū l-Hudā l-Ṣ ayyādī (1850-1909), the sultan's Syrian advisor; and disseminate his ideas on its pages. 46He also warned Riḍ ā that without flattering Abū l-Hudā, his potential journal would not be easily accessible to readers in the Sultanate.Riḍ ā left for al-Manṣ ūra, another town in Northern Egypt.On the train, he met with some of al-Azhar students on their way back from Cairo to their hometowns.He started to discuss with them the new reform regulations of their institution, and the significance of reading geography and other modern arts.Having known of Riḍ ā's plan of initiating a journal, one of the students asked Riḍ ā if it was possible to appoint the latter's brother as agent for his journal in the province.Riḍ ā visited ʿAbd al-Rāziq Afandī al-Rāfiʿī, the šarʿī judge of the town, in his house, where he made acquaintance with some local religious leaders, such as Sheikh ʿAbd al-Raḥ mān al-Salamantī, the mufti of al-Manṣ ūra.
After his three-day stay in al-Manṣ ūra, Riḍ ā left for the Mediterranean city Damiette, where he met for the first time with the later well-known Muslim fervent propagandist and Egyptian nationalist Muḥ ammad Farīd Wagďī (circa  1878-1954). 47His father Muṣ ṭ afā Wagďī was the then deputy of Damiette Governorate.As a young boy, Wagďī wrote his first work titled: al-Falsafa l-ḥ aqqa (or the True Philosophy), which was not welcomed by the inhabitants of Damiette.Riḍ ā described him as "a zealous and fervent young man for the 45 The ṭ arīqa was founded by Sheikh Abū l-Maḥ āsin Muḥ ammad al-Qāwuqgī of Tripoli (1809-1887).In his early educational stages, Riḍ ā attended some of Qāwuqgī's ḥ adīṯ lessons, and was delivered his igāza in Dalāʾil al-ḫ ayrāt.Although he admired his teacher's state of Sufism, Riḍ ā did not agree all the time on his views.See, al-Manār, 14/4 (1911), p. 425.About Sheikh Muḥ ammad ʿAbd al-Raḥ īm's, see, Catherine Mayeur-Jaouen, Histoire d'un pèlerinage légendaire en islam.Le mouled de Tantâ, Paris, Aubier, 2004, p. 159-160. 46 About his life, see, Thomas Eich, Abū l-Hudā al-Ṣ ayyādī: Eine Studie zu den sufischen Netzwerken und den genealogischen Kontroversen im spätosmanischen Reich, Berlin, 2003; id., "The Forgotten Salafī-Abū l-Hudā al-Ṣ ayyādī", Die Welt des Islams, 43/1 (2003), p. 61-87; Julia Gonnella, Islamische Heiligenverehrung im urbanen Kontext am Beispiel von Aleppo (Syrien), Berlin, Klaus Schwarz, 1995.  4About his life and works, see, Muḥ ammad Ṭ aha l-Hāgǐrī, Muḥ ammad Farīd Waǧdī: ḥ ayātuhu wa-āṯ āruhu.Cairo, The Arab League, 1970.umma and the religion."He informed Riḍ ā that he was writing a French book in which he would try to demonstrate the "privileges" of Islam. 48In 1898, Wagďī published his famous book Taṭ bīq al-diyāna l-islāmiyya ʿalā nawāmīs al-madaniyya (Applying the Islamic Religion to the Norms of Civilization), 49 and Riḍ ā signified its scholarly quality as to come in the second place after Muḥ ammad ʿAbduh's Risālat al-Tawḥ īd. 50fter his return to Cairo, Riḍ ā went immediately to meet Muḥ ammad ʿAbduh in his house situated in ʿAyn Šams on 19 December 1897.During their first meeting, Riḍ ā discussed with ʿAbduh the issue of reforming al-Azhar and the rigidity of its šuyūḫ .In their early consequent meetings, they discussed various religious, social and political matters, but did not talk about his journalistic plan.He told ʿAbduh about his plan for the first time during their fourth meeting on 13 December, but ʿAbduh was already informed by the wālī (governor) of Beirut that Riḍ ā's purpose of establishing a journal in Egypt was to attack government agencies.In his reply, Riḍ ā stressed that his initiative was greater than talking about persons.In the beginning ʿAbduh was not very enthusiastic about the idea, and warned Riḍ ā against failure to get a great deal of subscribers for his journal.He also discouraged him by elucidating that the Egyptians paid no attention to literary, educational or scholarly developments; and they were only interested in their national news about the government and its policy, which they could easily get from the dailies, al-Muqaṭ ṭ am, al-Muʾayyad and al-Ahrām.He also added that the majority of al-Azhar or high school students were not engaged into literature or language.To ʿAbduh, editors of many Egyptian journals exaggerate the number of their subscribers and count each name registered in their administration with no regard whether he already paid his subscription or not.He did not believe Riḍ ā, for example, when he reported to him that subscribers of al-Hilāl surmounted to 3500 persons.
Riḍ ā maintained that his intention was to practice writing on significant and useful themes.ʿAbduh, on the other hand, advised him to publish books instead, if he aimed at reaching a big number of readers.Riḍ ā insistently replied that he was ready to cover the costs of the journal, and did not expect any profit for the first two years.ʿAbduh became later convinced with the project.He chose the name al-Manār among other titles suggested by Riḍ ā. 51 The usage of the name al-Manār was quoted from the prophetic ḥ adīṯ indicating that Islam in its role in one's life represents a "lighthouse" or a "beacon" for human guidance. 52n an early meeting, Riḍ ā earnestly explained to ʿAbduh the need for publishing a modern commentary on the Qurʾān.In the beginning ʿAbduh was not convinced that another commentary was necessary; but he finally yielded so far as to begin a series of lectures on the Qurʾān in al-Azhar University.Riḍ ā attended these lectures and took notes, which he afterwards revised and enlarged.The result was shown to ʿAbduh who approved, or corrected as necessary.These lectures began to appear in al-Manār as early as 1900. 53Other items included in the journal later were proposed in order to serve the editor's purpose of promoting social, religious, and economic reforms; to prove the suitability of Islam as a religious system under the present conditions and the compatibility of the Divine Law as an instrument by the government; to remove superstitions that don not belong to Islam, etc.The editor devoted a special section for giving fatwā-s (religious legal advice) on matters sent to him by his readers. 54n another meeting (6 January 1898), ʿAbduh advised Riḍ ā that in order to guard his newly born project the journal should not become a tool of any existing political party, nor should he write rejoinders against any newspaper.He also suggested to make use of the class of Egyptian notables for circulating the journal, but not to provide them with any support of giving them the journal as a platform for achieving their purposes.Although dealing with the Amīriyya Press, the state-owned Press, was more expensive than any other place, ʿAbduh proposed that he had to make use of it in publishing the journal in order to avoid any intrigues by giving owners of other printing houses access to the journal's internal affairs.The reason for its high charge was the fees of their editing work.Therefore, he proposed to negotiate with them on the price and not to utilize their editing.ʿAbduh also added to Riḍ ā that he should be careful in dealing with the owners of presses in Egypt.He considered Christian Syrians as "untrustworthy whose hearts were filled with animosity against Islam, and they came [to Egypt] for retaliation (tašaffī )." 55 The Egyptian Muslims were, in his view, "more corrupted than the Christian Syrians." 56ʿAbduh also believed that total freedom of speech in Egypt was not 52 The ḥ adīṯ ‫ﺍﻟﻄﺮﻳﻖ"‬ ‫ﻛﻤﻨﺎﺭ‬ ‫ﺍ‬ ‫ﹰ‬ ‫ﻭﻣﻨﺎﺭ‬ ‫ﺻﻮﻯ‬ ‫ﻟﻺﺳﻼﻡ‬ ‫"ﺇﻥ‬ (Just as the road Islam has its beacon and lighthouse) was related by al-Ḥ ākim on the authority of Abū Hurayra.See, al-Manār, 10/8  (1907), p. 628. 53Charles C. Adams, Islam andModernism in Egypt, London, 1933, p. 198-199. 54 Ibid., p. 181-182. 55 Diary, 1898. 56 Ibid.
totally granted to Muslims.In the Tārīḫ , Riḍ ā omitted this last part of ʿAbduh's sharp critique of Christian and Muslim publishers in Egypt.However, Riḍ ā did not manage to print his journal in al-Amīriyya Press, and tried to gather information about other places.According to the Tārīḫ , he finally decided upon agreeing with the Coptic al-Tawfīq Press. 57In his tribute of Sheikh ʿAlī Yūsuf in 1913, Riḍ ā maintained that he printed his journal during the first two years in al-Muʾayyad Press. 58In order to facilitate his job, ʿAbduh wrote Riḍ ā a letter of introduction (14 March 1898) addressed to Niqūlā Afandī Šiḥ āda, the founder of al-Rāʾid al-miṣ rī newspaper (firstly published 1897), requesting him to give the latter the names of prominent subscribers in his journal. 59t was also of major importance for Riḍ ā to make acquaintance with the already existing Egyptian journals and printing houses.Earlier on 21 December he met with his travel-fellow and later founder of al-G ̌āmiʿa magazine Faraḥ Anṭ ūn, who accompanied him to the well-known journal and press al-Muqtaṭ af of the Arab journalist Yaʿqūb Ṣ arrūf. 60Ṣ arrūf had already heard about Riḍ ā's coming to Egypt from G ǔrgī Zaydān, the founder of al-Hilāl.Riḍ ā told Ṣ arrūf that his main intention to establish a journal was religious reform and reconciliation between Islam and Christianity.In their discussion, Ṣ arrūf explained to Riḍ ā the difference between Syria and Egypt.He attributed the spread of knowledge and reform in the Syrian territory to the consciousness of its people, but in Egypt it was thanks to the efforts of the government.As Ṣ arrūf was greatly interested in philosophy, Riḍ ā made it clear that his intended journal was besides an attempt to remove the "illusion" in the minds of the majority of Muslims that philosophy contradicts their religion. 61gain accompanied by Anṭ ūn, Riḍ ā visited G ǔrgī Zaydān in his office, where he learnt more about the state of journals, their subscription and propagation in the country.On 5 January 1898 he visited Sheikh ʿAlī Yūsuf in al-Muʾayyad Press in order to further discuss technical matters about his plan.The next day, he went to the Ḫ idīwiyya Bookstore looking through their recent publications of Baḥ r al-ansāb by the Iraqo-Persian imāmī genealogist Ibn ʿInaba (1347-1424), and the book of al-Durar al-kāfiya of the Egyptian 57 Tārīḫ . . ., p. 1003-1004. 58 Al-Manār, 16/12 (1913), p. 951. 59 The text of the letter, written in Riḍ ā's diary in ʿAbduh's handwriting, was republished in Tārīḫ . .., p. 1004 ḥ adīṯ scholar Ibn Ḥ agǎr al-ʿAsqalānī (1372-1449), but he was not impressed about their edition, because of their bad quality.

Early Circulation of the Journal
About four months after his arrival, Riḍ ā commenced upon the publication of the first issue of al-Manār (mid-March, 1898), which he wrote at the mosque of Al-Ismāʿīlī on the same street nearby ʿAbduh's house. 62The pages of each issue did not mostly exceed eight pages.By the end of the first year, Riḍ ā had decided to change the format at the request of his readers, who were interested in the issues being bound in one volume as is the case with other famous magazines. 63During its early two years Riḍ ā's journal appeared as a weekly periodical.By the third year, it was published as a bi-monthly journal, and in later years as a monthly. 64o precisely ascertain the international or national circulation and readership of any journal is difficult.One mostly depends on the subscriber lists or the author's reply to queries or correspondence with his readers.In the early years, al-Manār did not gain its expected wide circulation.The early issues saw light in about 1500 copies, which Riḍ ā sent to his acquaintances in Egypt and Syria.But the majority of his prospective Egyptian subscribers returned the journal back to him, and the Ḥ amīdian government later banned al-Manār in the Ottoman regions.The reason why the Egyptians initially turned it down was probably that Riḍ ā as a Syrian immigrant was no such an eminent publicist, and still had no affiliation with any political or religious faction in Egypt.The eminent Egyptian poet and the nationalist minister Maḥ mūd Sāmī l- Barūdī (1839-1904), however, used to translate passages of al-Manār to one of his English friends, who once told him: "Muslims would search for al-Manār and reprint it once again after fifty years." 65y the end of the third year of its publication, the number of al-Manār subscribers did not exceed three or four hundred. 66Up till 1902, Riḍ ā was also still complaining about the modest circulation of his journal.From al-Manṣ ūra and during his visit to the province to collect aids for the fire catastrophe in the town of Mīt G ȧmr, ʿAbduh asked Riḍ ā to be patient, when he was encountered with the people's lack of interest in his journal. 67But al-Manār started to gain its reputation and had its rapid increase of circulation by the fifth year of appearance (1903), especially that Riḍ ā had published a series of articles by Muḥ ammad ʿAbduh in his defense of Islam against Christianity in the field of knowledge and civilization. 68The publisher managed to sell the first issues of his first year at a fourfolded price, and reprinted them by the tenth year (1907).Riḍ ā managed to reach subscribers (individuals and institutions) in Russia, Tunisia, India, Sudan, Sierra Leon, Bosnia, China, and America. 69Abduh's assistance played a great role in the early distribution of the journal as well.Riḍ ā used to bring him copies of each issue to show the journal to his friends and visitors. 70According to Riḍ ā, ʿAbduh's constant praise endowed al-Manār with "acceptance and respect from the highest social classes in Egypt." 71The citation of al-Manār in other contemporary works had also contributed to give al-Manār celebrity among the Egyptian audiences.For instance, when the Egyptian jurist Aḥ mad Fatḥ ī Zaglūl (1863-1914) published his Arabic translation of L'islam: impressions et études, 72 by Henry de Castries (1850-1927), he cited al-Manār's views on the question of the human will and belief.A group of notable jurists and lawyers became subscribers of his journal as a result of their reading of Zaglūl's citation and appraisal of al-Manār. 73s analyzed by Hamzah, Riḍ ā attempted to propagate his plan for religious reform among a wide average of readers, especially among government officials, westernized notables with non-Islamic education, fellow journalists, writers, political activists, ʿulamāʾ, provisional notables and the literates of all walks of life. 74However, jurists remained the most significant class of his subscribers to the journal, especially in the city of Ṭ anṭ ā. 75 It is plausible to admit the difficulty of ascertaining the size of al-Manār's influence during its early years in Riḍ ā's native country.However, Riḍ ā tried to publicize his journal among religious reformers in his country of origin.
Ottoman authorities made more than one attempt to intercept and confiscate the journal in Syria.In the first place, Riḍ ā's harsh criticism of popular Sufism and his constant admiration of G ǎmāl al-Dīn al-Afgānī triggered controversy with Abū l-Hudā l-Ṣ ayyādī, who was a target for criticism by many religious reformers.In one of his early issues, Riḍ ā attacked the Rifāʿiyya and Qādiriyya orders as having incorporated forbidden innovations (bidaʿ) into their ceremonies.He cited two of Ṣ ayyādī's publications that defended their customs of snake-eating, inserting needles in one's body and walking on hot coals. 76he problem escalated with al-Ṣ ayyādī when Riḍ ā published a full review of al-Kawākibī's famous essay, Characteristics of Tyranny (Ṭ abāʾiʿ al-istibdād ) in 1901. 77According to Hourani, Kawākibī's attack on the sultan and popular religion stemmed from personal feuds between the latter's family and Ṣ ayyādī for religious influence in Aleppo. 78Riḍ ā was harshly attacked by the journal Tripoli, edited by his former Sheikh Ḥ usayn al-G ǐsr, due to his criticism of the Qādirī and Rifāʿī sufi orders in the first issues. 79n March 1898, Riḍ ā received a letter from Tripoli that the governor of Beirut had issued his decision to confiscate the second issue of al-Manār.Riḍ ā was surprised because this specific issue did not include any anti-government statements.It only contained didactic articles on the significance of motivating national enterprises and rich classes to make donations for establishing educational institutions.On the other hand, he contended that his Manār attracted many Syrian readers, who regularly sent him messages of eulogy and interest in receiving its issues.Riḍ ā did not object to the idea of censoring the press, despite its disturbance of freedom, but he was skeptical about the capability of those in charge of this job, advising the government to appoint trustworthy people to such positions. 80gain in July of the same year, his Syrian readers complained about the banning of al-Manār.His agents in Syria had also informed him that the readers, as they received no issues anymore, also discontinued paying their subscription.Riḍ ā showed his disappointment that he was a "sincere servant" of the Caliph and his state, and his journal did not deal with any political issues.He moreover requested the post office to return the issues to his address as long as they would not reach the people. 81fficials frequently tore down and destroyed al-Manār issues on purpose.In August another Syrian subscriber informed Riḍ ā that the last issue of the journal remained at the censorship office for more than five days so that they would-as he cynically indicated-examine it in "a microscopic way."He accused censors in Damascus and Beirut of abuse of office.According to the subscriber, many people in Syria had abandoned the Ottoman post services sending their things through foreign mail in order to avoid the loss of their published materials. 82yrian authorities also harassed Riḍ ā's family members.Due to al-Manār's criticism of the Rifāʿī order, al-Ṣ ayyādī requested Badrī Bāšā, his brother-inlaw and the governor of Tripoli, to hand Riḍ ā's brothers to military authorities, although they were exempted from the service on the basis of their studentship.They also beat one of his brothers on his way from Tripoli to al-Qalamūn at night and stole their horse; and they also attempted to confiscate their family mosque in the village.Riḍ ā further asserted that Ṣ ayyādī was planning to assassinate him through one of his people in Egypt. 83s early as December 1898, the Syro-Lebanese emigrant community in Brazil knew about al-Manār.Naʿūm al-Labakī (d. 1924), the founder of the Syrian journal al-Munāẓ ir (The Debater) in Sao Paulo, 85 blamed Riḍ ā for restricting the subjects of his journal to religious issues, and that he stopped his discussions on Syrian national problems and religious strife in their homeland Syria.The contents of the journal, according to him, were not in agreement with the subtitle of his journal: "scientific, literary, informative and educating journal."In his reply, Riḍ ā explained that he used to write such items before the banning of his journal in Syria, and they would have been valueless as no Syrian Muslim, Christian or Jew had access anymore to his articles.As the circle of his readers became limited to people in Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, India, Java, and a group of Syrian emigrants in America, it was more appropriate for him to deal mostly with other Islamic religious instructive issues.Riḍ ā was also convinced that his treatment of such Islamic themes was not only of benefit for his Muslim readers, but for Christians as well.He asserted that a Christian teacher at one of the high schools in Syria after having read al-Manār demanded Riḍ ā to send him all previous issues, after having persuaded the director of the school to subscribe to the journal and collect them in the school's library.He finally concluded that it was also reasonable to subtitle his journal as "informative and educating", since religious sciences are the most "venerated" fields.
After having won subscribers in various regions, Riḍ ā frequently complained about many overdue subscriptions.He classified Russian readers as the most honest in paying their subscription on due time.The worst among his readers were Indian Muslims, followed by the people of the Maghreb and Algeria.Tunisian readers occupied a moderate place in his classification.With regard to Egypt there were unparalleled examples of "truthful" and "generous" people, but there were many others who "procrastinated" and "deceived" him.Again with regard to their profession, engineers were the most honest, while the worst were unemployed and official scribes of divans.Out of his experience, judiciary and religious scholars often delayed their payment. 86

Riḍ ā's Perspective on Printing
Riḍ ā was a great advocate of the role of printing press in reforming religion and society.In the first issue of his journal, he spoke of "a loud voice in plain Arabic crying to wake up the Orientals: around them, a new world was taking shape and spreading all over the surface of the earth, nature was being conquered and work was being done." 87n his mind, the press has three major functions: taʿlīm, ḫ aṭ āba and iḥ tisāb: to teach, to preach and to promote good and forbid evil. 88Riḍ ā, himself a ḫ aṭ īb (preacher), made his journal a "podium" through which he believed to convey religious message to the Muslim public.Riḍ ā many times gave more publicity to his sermons and lectures by publishing them in his journal.In other places he also quoted sermons of other Muslim preachers. 89he press must also serve all members of the umma by "drawing the map of the country they have to traverse, showing them its roads, passes and sources." 9086 Šarabāsī, Rašīd Riḍ ā, p. 46. 87Al-Manār, 1/1 (1898), p. 1; as quoted in Skovgaard-Petersen, Defining Islam . .., p. 70. 88Skovgaard-Petersen, Defining Islam . .See, al-Manār, 6/17 (1903), p. 669;28/2 (1927).p. 150. 90"Al-G ̌arāʾid: waẓ āʾif aṣ ḥ ābihā, ḥ āluhā fī l-Šarq wa-l-G ̇arb (Newspapers: Functions of their founders, their stauts in the East and the West)," al-Manār, 1/34 (1898), p. 655-61; cf.Skovgaard-Petersen, Defining Islam . .., p. 69-70.It links all classes in the society: politicians, governors, judges, scientists, merchants, artisans, peasants, etc. Journalists might demonstrate the hidden reality of specific cases or events for judges and rulers, or accompany the army in its military expeditions and play a role of espionage upon their enemies.It should also function as a guide for teachers in their didactic methods by showing them modern discoveries and new critical scientific approaches.It is "the most honorable industry and the best work."As compared to the derogatory status of the press in the Arab world, he stressed that Europeans, as they recognized the importance of its task in promoting the society, established specialized journals in all fields of knowledge.He also esteemed the idea in the west of creating new institutes for training journalists. 91s compared to the situation in his homeland Syria, Riḍ ā attributed the progress of the Egyptian press to two reasons.First of all, the pressure practiced by Syrian authorities on printing dissuaded honest writers from being involved in journalism.One should first bribe the officials in order to get permission.Secondly, lack of freedom and strict censorship had obliged many qualified journalists and publishers to quit the idea of establishing a journal altogether.On the other hand, excessive liberty in Egypt had its disadvantage.He proposed that the Egyptian government should introduce a new set of laws in Egypt in order to regulate the trade, and prevent attacking people, gossiping, disseminating "decadent" ideas and "immoral" words. 92gain in August 1899, Riḍ ā criticized the contributions by new weekly journals in Egypt to religious matters without having the appropriate eligible knowledge.For him, the government had left journalism and printing regulations in chaos.His focal point of criticism was that essayists would not often cite prophetic traditions properly, nor did they give them any authentication.This had opened the door to the circulation of many false religious ideas among the Muslim public.Another significant point was the abundant mention of Qurʾānic verses in printed leaflets liable to abuse or ill-treatment by readers (ibtiḏ āl wa-mtihān).He himself remained very cautious in frequently quoting Qurʾānic passages in the early issues of his printed journal, although he knew well that the majority of his readers used to collect these issues to bind them in one volume. 93However he meanwhile considered printing the Qurʾān and its tafsīr (commentary) works as an obligatory task for Muslims."Printing," Riḍ ā said, "is the craft through which one could convey words correctly.And to convey the word of God is a religious duty".Riḍ ā praised the public security and freedom of the press as the biggest "favour" introduced by colonial authorities in Egypt.He was astonished that the same people who enjoyed this right were the ones who demanded the government to put restriction on its absolute freedom.The Egyptians turned journalism into affronting or showing others' faults instead of being in the service of their land.Riḍ ā compared this freedom to the air, vital for life, but it would be turned into a source of annoyance if it passed by a "carcass" and reached a group of people.Instead of removing the air, one should rather get rid of the carcass. 95e bemoaned the state of printing in the Muslim world.Cultural stagnancy and intellectual development of any nation relatively depend on the religious scholarly quality of their circulated printed works, which do not contain any elements of significant use in the society as regard to ethics, literatures and conduct.According to him, the style of books dealing with pedagogic issues was difficult to understand, and those written for public reading were full of "superstitions and illusions that spoil reason, ethics and religion." 96As compared to the early classical era of Arabic books, publicists of his time became more involved into writing on "illicit" and "irrational" subjects, while valuable Arabic works were kept in European libraries in Paris,London and Leiden. 97 Riḍ ā furthermore suggested that Muslims became in need of printing uncomplicated and abridged books on matters of language, religion, ethics, history and other fields of arts that might help in the upbringing of the young generation.Authors of such works should put in mind the variance of ages and thoughts of their readers and depend on new successful pedagogic methods.Secondly, there should be easy books available within the reach of the public on religious themes and anecdotes, and those other subjects dealing with famous tales of early "righteous" Muslims.
After five years of experience in printing, Riḍ ā advocated the idea of reforming the letter format of Arabic printers. 98Unlike the format of detached Latin (ifranǧī) letters, the layout of Arabic letters consumes less paper; but the big space of various forms represents a disadvantage for Arabic printing.The letterforms in Būlāq Press for instance exceeded nine hundred.In order to improve the Amīriyya Press, the Ministry of Finance demanded the forming of a committee to investigate ways of reform, headed by Sheikh 95 "Ḥ urriyat al-gǎrāʾid wa-l-šuʿūr bi-l-faḍ īla fī Miṣ r (Freedom of Press and Feeling Values in Egypt)," al-Manār, 5/1 (1902), p. 38-39.  9Al-Manār, 5/24 (1903), p. 954.
Ḥ amza Fatḥ Allāh, an inspector at the Ministry of Education.The committee concluded that it was significant to follow European presses, such as Oxford (282 symbols) in economizing the amount of letters to 178 including some numbers and foreign symbols used in oriental languages.The committee also recommended improving the line design, reducing the number of printing instruments, and economizing their budget, time, geometric and employees.The Ministry, as a result, appropriated eight thousand pounds for this reform plan.Riḍ ā agreed on some of the points, but the reduction of symbols would badly affect the beauty of calligraphy.He suggested that it would have been a better solution, if the plan had proposed preserving some of the omitted symbols to be used in titles, visiting cards or invitations.

Conclusion
We have studied the social setting in which Riḍ ā's voluminous work has arisen.Besides his position as a leading salafī scholar, he succeeded through al-Manār to establish himself amongst other Syrians who made Egypt their new residence.Riḍ ā's archive has been very useful in adding new information about Riḍ ā's initial religious activities in Egypt as recorded in his diaries.We now know more about the early financial sources of al-Manār through the existing agreement which he settled with his fellow-citizen ʿAbd al-Ḥ alīm Effendī Murād, But the question why did Riḍ ā always introduce Murād in the journal as the manager of the journal and he was nowhere mentioned as an associate is not clear.Al-Manār is not only depicted as a rich mine of information for the situation of the Muslim World during the early twentieth century, it also represented one of the newest and most significant printed platforms for Muslim writers to disseminate their reflections and knowledge on a wide range of religious matters, such as theology, law, historiography, Qurʾānic exegesis, etc.Its primary impact by the turn of the 19th century was meager, but it later enjoyed, besides a local or national circulation within Egypt, a dissemination that was nearly worldwide.For more than three decades, Riḍ ā above all made use of his print-medium to propagate his own religious and political ideas and to document his own life.
One ventures to argue that al-Manār would best provide a typical model of how this new craft of printing in religious ideas worked.Riḍ ā mostly produced the majority of the materials embodied in the journal, but it was also still a good podium for many contributors among outstanding Egyptian and Arab men of letters.Around his journal, he, in addition, managed to consti-Agreement of al-Manār (September, 1897)  (1908-1909) , p. 214.Under the section of 'News and Opinions' of the following issue, he regrettably maintained his frustration in Murād's behavior Downloaded from Brill.com09/17/2023 04:28:50AM via free access , p. 383.Murād later left Egypt to occupy a new position at the municipality of Beirut, al-Manār, 12/1 (1909), p. 4 Later in 1927, Riḍ ā commended Murād's co-published Muslim journal titled al-Tamaddun al-Islāmī (Islamic Civilization) in Tripoli, see al-Manār, 28/1 (1927), p. 80.