Majallat al-Bayan lil-Barquqi
- Author died
- 1363 AH
- Editions
- Majallat al-Bayan lil-Barquqi
Majallat al-Bayan (مجلة البيان) was an Egyptian monthly cultural and literary periodical founded and edited by Abd al-Rahman al-Barquqi (1293–1363 AH / 1876–1944 CE), serving as a prominent forum for modern Arabic literature and translated Western thought .
Foundation and Scope
The journal was founded by Abd al-Rahman al-Barquqi alongside the writer Muhammad al-Siba'i . Its first issue appeared in 1910 according to Khayr al-Din al-Zirikli, while other accounts date its debut to August 1911 . Based on Abd al-Aziz Street in Cairo, it initially appeared at the end of each Arabic month in eighty pages, priced at an annual subscription of fifty piasters . It later adjusted its periodicity over its run, announcing weekly editions and semi-monthly releases .
The stated scope of the journal encompassed literature, history, philosophy, ethics, education, sociology, criticism, fiction, health, and domestic management, aiming to synthesize the intellectual heritage of the Arab world and the West while deliberately abstaining from partisan political and religious polemics .
Content and Literary Contributions
The journal served as an early publishing platform for emerging writers who led the modern Arabic literary revival, including Abbas Mahmud al-Aqqad, Ibrahim Abd al-Qadir al-Mazini, Abd al-Rahman Shukri, Mustafa Sadiq al-Rafi'i, Taha Husayn, Muhammad Husayn Haykal, and Salama Musa . Alongside classical Arabic texts by figures such as al-Jahiz and Ibn Sina, each issue frequently paired biographical profiles and essays from the East with counterparts from the West .
It serialized complete Arabic translations of major foreign works, including Thomas Carlyle's Heroes and Hero Worship translated by Muhammad al-Siba'i, Gustave Le Bon's The Civilization of the Arabs, Jules Simon's Duty, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Émile translated by al-Mazini . It also published translated selections from David Hume, Max Nordau, Mark Twain, Oliver Wendell Holmes, William Hazlitt, Francis Bacon, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Samuel Johnson . Through its affiliated press, Maktabat al-Bayan, it published separate volumes such as al-Siba'i's translation of Carlyle, al-Aqqad's Khulasat al-yawmiyya, and al-Rafi'i's Hadith al-qamar .
Administration, Challenges, and Reception
Al-Barquqi financed the publication from his own resources, which led to significant financial depletion . The magazine experienced intermittent publication delays caused by uncollected subscriptions, dishonest distribution agents, and severe paper price inflation during World War I . To stabilize operations, al-Barquqi eventually assigned administrative and financial management to his cousin Naji al-Barquqi .
Upon its release, Rashid Rida welcomed the periodical with praise in his magazine al-Manar . In the Iraqi journal Lughat al-Arab, Anastas al-Karmali commended its progress while criticizing its editorial self-praise and noting foreign syntactical constructions in some of its prose . In March 1918, a commemorative celebration marking seven years of its publication was held in Cairo, featuring theatrical performances and speeches by literary figures such as Khalil Mutran and Muhammad Husayn Haykal .
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